Issue(s): Defenders #61
Cover Date: Jul 78
Title: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of Lunatik!"
Credits:
David Anthony Kraft - Writer
Ed Hannigan - Penciler
Bob Lubbers - Inker

Review/plot:
Hellcat shows off her Shadow Cloak to the rest of the Defenders. Only the Hulk raises an objection to Hellcat using a demonic device, but he's absolutely right. On the one hand, Patsy Walker has received mystical training from Moondragon. On the other hand, she's generally depicted as being completely frivolous and irresponsible.

The Defenders then decide to go after Lunatik. They seek the advice of a professor at Val & Dollar BIll's college (who is pretty obviously Lunatik's alter ego), who helps suggest a wacky plot involving a Spider-Man statue. Hulk is meant to hide inside the statue until Lunatik, who is known to not like vigilantes, appears. Once again, the Hulk is the voice of reason, calling the idea stupid and leaping away.

The Defenders go forward with the plan anyway, and the statue attracts Spidey's attention as well. Lunatik shows up, but he subsequently escapes.

The statue turns out to be an avante-garde piece.

The art in this issue is particularly bad. It is very sketchy and doesn't look like it was drawn by a professional artist. Ed Hannigan is never great but typically better than this so i don't know if it was a rushed issue or if Bob Lubbers is a bad inker.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This has been moved forward in time a little bit to get past the period where the Hulk is residing at Gamma Base. After the Hulk left Gamma Base, it makes sense that he would seek refuge with his other friends at Nighthawk's place.

References:

• Lunatik put Dollar Bill's friend Ledge in the hospital in Defenders #56.
  
• The Presence has been in a funk since the Red Guardian rejected him at the end of the arc in Defenders #52-55. He goes to a Soviet Forbidden Zone in this issue.
  
• Spider-Man met the Cat in Marvel Team-Up #8 and is initially confused when he meets Hellcat.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Bob Lubbers was a Golden Age comics artist who primarily worked for Fox, Classics Illustrated, and other smaller companies. Chances are he hadn't worked in comics for quite a while before doing this(and he had certainly never worked for Marvel before).

A contemporary review of this asked "What was Spidey's web attached to in the battle scene?"

Suffice it to say Defenders readers weren't "lubbers" of Bob's inking.:)