Issue(s): Defenders #58, Defenders #59, Defenders #60
Cover Date: Apr-Jun 78
Title: "Agents of fortune" / "Tyranny and mutation" / "The revenge of Vera Gemini!"
Credits:
David Anthony Kraft / David Anthony Kraft & Ed Hannigan - Writer
Ed Hannigan - Penciler
Dan Green & Klaus Janson / Dan Green - Inker

Review/plot:
Dr. Strange is attacked in his home by a strange man in a chicken hood, and the Eye of Agomotto is stolen

Meanwhile, Dollar Bill takes the Valkyrie and Bruce Banner out to dinner at the Felix Club. At the same time, two other diners are having an argument. One turns out to be a member of the chicken cult, and the other is the crusader known as Devil-Slayer.

They get into a physical fight, and Val takes the wrong side, attacking Devil-Slayer. The Hulk joins in as well.

The Devil-Slayer has a shadow cloak which opens to another dimension that he can use to store weapons or trap people in.

The cult in question is looking to trigger something called Xenogenesis, which would essentially restore Earth to the days of the Elder Gods. After Devil-Slayer and the Defenders conclude their misunderstanding fight, they do the standard team-up to fight demons and save the world type of thing. There is a cool bit where Dr. Strange's astral form gets grafted onto some sort of amalgam monster...

...and the Valkyrie has to kill the astral form in order to restore consciousness in Dr. Strange's real body.

Nighthawk gets his jetpack back this issue, and it's a new and improved model with some extra tricks.

Hellcat winds up with her own shadow cloak. Meanwhile, Russian scientists worry about being able to contain the Red Guardian, who continues to be radioactive.

The main cult leader in this arc is named Vera Gemini, which was a Blue Oyster Cult song. Some of the other lingo used in the arc is also based on Blue Oyster Cult song and albums titles. All of the gobbedly gook lingo used in demon stories is generally off-putting enough; when you stretch to make the names match song titles, it gets really bad.

I stumbled upon this random comment from Jim Shooter:

David Kraft did one of those "homage" ripoffs based on the lyrics of a Blue Oyster Cult album in Defenders. He didn't think he was doing anything wrong, apparently. I found out about the ripoff when Eric Bloom, the BOC drummer, paid me a visit. He wasn't angry. In fact he loved it. He was (is?) a big comics fan and we discussed some possibilities about doing other BOC based stories. Nothing came of it, but we remained friendly. I haven't seen him for years.

And a response from Kraft:

Jim:

I think you do me a disservice, regarding the Blue Oyster Cult inspired issues of Defenders. Those were all-original stories with the added whimsy of allusions to some of the songs, not in any way rip-offs. Ed Hannigan and I labored lovingly on them. Perhaps you don't remember, but the issues carried a dedication to the band, and a press release went out from Marvel to the media drawing attention to the homage. I'd already met Eric Bloom backstage at concerts in Toronto and New York City, and I was the one who invited him up to Marvel to see the Bullpen and to meet you. It was something of a coup, and I don't deserve to suffer guilt-by-association with rip-offs in a thread labeled plagiarism.

DAK

The best thing about these Defenders issues is the Hulk ("Hulk knew this would happen! Soldiers always attack Hulk sooner or later!"). Otherwise, the story here is a little generic.

There's also a brief check in with the Red Guardian, who is being studied by Soviet scientists that confirm she remains transformed after her encounter with the Presence.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: A comment by a police officer at the initial Devil-Slayer fight seems to indicate that he's already responded to a few other super-hero related disturbances during the same day. The footnote lists Ms. Marvel #10, Daredevil #144, and Amazing Spider-Man #175.

The comment could also be interpreted to mean that he's had a busy day and seen a lot of recent super-hero activity (but not all on the same day). Ms. Marvel appeared in Defenders #57 after Ms. Marvel #10. There's no way Ms. Marvel #10 can take place on the same day as Defenders #58. And Daredevil #144 was printed a year earlier.

References:

• The Devil-Slayer previously appeared in Marvel Spotlight #33 alongside Deathlok, although that is not explicitly referenced.
  
• The policeman's referenced events: Ms. Marvel #10, Daredevil #144, and Amazing Spider-Man #175.
  
• Jack Norriss, still trying to get in touch with Nick Fury, tries to get into the Avengers Mansion after Fury offered him a job in Defenders #51. After his encounter with Wonder Man in Defenders #47, he knows the Avengers can contact Nick Fury. Jack finds the door to the Avengers Mansion unlocked and walks in, only to be attacked by the Mansion's automated systems, plus Iron Man, the Beast, the Scarlet Witch, and Captain America. Jack won't be seen again until issue #87.
  
• Val and Dollar Bill's friend Ledge has been in the hospital since he was attacked by Lunatik in Defenders #56.
  
• Nighthawk lets Hellcat drive a fancy sports car he brought over from England after Marvel Two-In-One #34.
  
• Nighthawk's original jetpack was destroyed in his battle with the Ringer in Defenders #51.
  
• Nighthawk continues to be an ineffective leader. Valkyrie wonders if she should have accepted the role when Dr. Strange offered it to her in Defenders #42. However, that never actually happened. Nighthawk became the de facto leader of the group around Defenders #46 when Dr. Strange, Power Man, and the Red Guardian quit, but there was never a scene where the leadership was offered to Val as far as i know (although she ought to have been the leader).

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

In FOOM #19, there are pictures of a chicken-cult costume that Ed Hannigan made for art reference here. It didn't look good in real life either.

Eric Bloom was actually BOC's lead singer; Alphonse Bouchard was the drummer.

FOOM#18 announced future appearances by Deathlok and the Zodiac LMD Gemini.

@Mark Drummond ALBERT Bouchard was BOC's drummer, his brother Joe was the bassist, they had no brother named Alphonse I know of.

@Mark Perhaps you got crossed up with Alphonse Mouzon, the late jazz fusion drummer who once played with Weather Report? (As an aside: Mouzon AND Jaco Pastorius on bass? Don't recall if they were in Weather Report at the same time, but that's one hell of a rhythm section!)

Mouzon was gone for a few years before Jaco joined Weather Report. I'm not sure if they ever worked together elsewhere.

Haven't read the issue in question in a while. I seem to recall not being overwhelmed, but maybe it just needed a little more cowbell.

Wow - looking at that first panel you included of the Hulk/Devil-Slayer fight, I saw Dollar Bill's caption and it reminded me that he spent what I thought at the time was an inordinate amount of time during this issue calling Banner "Bob" instead of Bruce. Of course, in hindsight I now realize that was an in-joke directed at Stan, but the first time I read this it just seemed like "normal" Dollar Bill behavior. I wonder if he ever met Peter Parker and insisted on calling him Peter Palmer.

I think Kraft and/or Hannigan should have used a couple other tracks from BOC's "Agents of Fortune" album as story titles: "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) and "Sinful Love". The latter song has a fun chorus with a Marvelesque twist: "Dare-devil, she-devil, printer's devil, evil!/ I love you like sin, but I won't be your pigeon!"