When we last left the Defenders, back in September, the Defenders themselves were, well, leaving.  Most of them, anyway.  As was the writer who’d been chronicling their adventures since they’d graduated from Marvel Feature into their own title some sixteen months earlier: Steve Englehart.

Just in case you missed it, Englehart had concluded his double-title, multi-issue crossover epic, the Avengers/Defenders War (or, if you prefer, the Quest for the Black Knight’s Soul) in Defenders #11 with a scene that saw four of the six heroes who’d carried the banner of the junior team in that classic match-up — the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner, the Silver Surfer, and even raw recruit Hawkeye — departing to pursue other interests.  That left only de facto team leader Doctor Strange, as well as the Valkyrie (who had nowhere else to go, really) on hand to say farewell from the window of the Sorcerer Supreme’s Sanctum Sanctorum — and also left incoming new regular writer Len Wein with the challenge either of contriving a way to bring some or all of the wayward members back, or of quickly  introducing new members to the mix.  (Or of having Doc and Val face down the menace of Xemnu the Titan all on their own, which I don’t think anyone expected — or especially wanted, for that matter — to see happen.)  As we’ll soon discover, he ended up employing a combination of those first two strategies… although it would take several issues for that process to be complete. 

Wein’s initial effort in Defenders #12 (which, behind its John Romita cover, was drawn by the same artist who’d been illustrating the book since issue #1, Sal Buscema) brought back the Hulk — easily the most popular of the characters who’d taken off at the end of #11, as well as the one who (speaking in “in-universe” terms) was the most unpredictable and suggestible — by the simple (but entirely credible) narrative expedient of having the Emerald Behemoth wish really hard that “Dumb Magician” was with him when he was attacked by Xemnu.  Since the Hulk’s “brutish brain” (as Dr. Strange puts it) had somehow become attuned over time to the mage’s “mystic vibrations”, that was enough to bring Doc and Valkyrie running (OK, flying) to their erstwhile comrade’s aid.  This was a done-in-one story, which, following the Titan’s defeat, ended with the Hulk — fully convinced now that both Doc and Val were truly his friends — happily following them back home.

Defenders #13 presented the initial chapter of Wein’s first continued story for the series.  Fronted by a Gil Kane-pencilled cover, the issue was also the first of the title to feature the inking of Klaus Janson — an inker whose name I’d probably first glimpsed in Batman #219 (Feb., 1970), where he’d had a fan letter printed extolling the inking of Dick Giordano (not that my younger self was likely to have remembered that fact in February, 1974).  Since then, the now-22-year-old Janson had parleyed a stint serving as assistant to (who else?) Dick Giordano into a nascent solo inking career at Marvel.

As issue #14’s story begins, it’s evening, and the three Defenders are just hanging out  — you know, like friends do — when, all of a sudden, the front door of the Sanctum explodes inwards…

Back in 1974, my younger self knew Nighthawk, aka wealthy businessman Kyle Richmond, from his initial appearances with his fellow members of the Squadron Sinister in Avengers #69 (Oct., 1969) and #70 (Nov., 1969), the latter of which had found him getting his ass handed to him by Captain America.  I’d missed his next (and, until now, last*) appearance in Daredevil #62 (March, 1970) which had found him getting his ass handed to him once again, this time by, well, take a guess; but it seems unlikely that that latter story would have done much to alter my impression of the guy as a C-list supervillain who, other than a fairly cool name and a surface resemblance to a certain DC Comics superstar, didn’t really have all that much to recommend him.

As you’d expect, the Defenders don’t take very well to Nighthawk’s home invasion — or at least Hulk and Valkyrie don’t.  They each take a swing or two at “Bird-Nose” (as Hulk immediately, and appropriately, dubs him); but then Dr. Strange, somehow intuiting that this costumed intruder actually means them no harm, steps in…

Nighthawk explains how, six nights before, he’d traveled to the Crayton Observatory in response to an unsigned letter to Kyle Richmond, threatening to expose his dual identity if he didn’t show.  At the time, he’d wondered who on Earth knew enough bout his “brief criminal career” (wording which, we should note, suggests that he’s given that all up now) to blackmail him…

At the time this story came out, Len Wein had been the regular writer on DC’s Justice League of America for close to two years — so one might have expected him to play more into the Squadron Sinister’s parodic qualities (for those who came in late: Nighthawk is an analogue of Batman, Hyperion of Superman, Doctor Spectrum of Green Lantern, and the Whizzer of the Flash).  But, as will quickly become evident, Wein pretty much treats them here as just another standard Marvel villain group.  Perhaps the writer thought that with the advent of the team’s heroic, alternate-Earth counterparts, the Squadron Supreme, in Avengers #85-86 (a story for which an uncredited Wein happens to have assisted writer Roy Thomas in developing new JLA analogues to fill out the team’s heroic roster), there was now a more appropriate venue for playing with parallels between Marvel’s characters and the DC heroes who’d inspired them… or, as seems equally possible, he just wasn’t all that interested.

As Nighthawk explains to the Defenders, he didn’t feel as though he had much choice than to go along, at least for the time being.  So he said yes, and so Nebulon freed him from his stasis beam; and then the Squadron explained their plan — which involved delivering Earth to Nebulon in the state he preferred, i.e., underwater:

It’s not very clear why the other Squadron members specifically need Nighthawk to help build their laser weapon — maybe they’re interested in getting a discount on parts through Kyle Richmond’s business contacts? — but, whatever.  As to the logical question of how the three baddies expect to survive the coming catastrophe themselves, Nighthawk responds that he’s not sure they care if they do; Hyperion is consumed with desire for revenge on Earth for having destroyed his atom-sized world with a cyclotron, Dr. Spectrum would just as soon see the Earth destroyed if he can’t rule it, and the Whizzer is probably “just flat-out crazy!”  (As it happens, the Squadron does have an exit strategy in mind, but we won’t learn what it is until the following issue.)

But why has Nighthawk come to the Defenders for aid?  For that matter, how is he even aware of their existence?  It turns out that he’d tried the Avengers first, but discovered at that time that his fellow Squadders had made the preemptive move of having Nebulon arrange for any or all of them to become invisible and intangible should Earth’s Mightiest Heroes come near (or vice versa).  Luckily, however, when Nighthawk made his futile attempt to communicate with the A-team at their Mansion, they happened to be discussing what a great group of folks the Defenders were, having just helped save the world from Loki and Dormammu and all that.  And so, in desperation, Nighthawk made his way to the Sanctum Sanctorum to beg assistance from the Defenders… and now that they know the whole story, he wants to know: are they gonna step up and help, or not?

Welp.  Guess that’s all she wrote for Nighthawk.  (Or so it appears for the next few pages, anyway.)  But the Defenders have no time to stand around and mourn, since, per the (presumed) late Mr. Richmond, the surviving Squadders are planning to fire up their laser and melt the North Polar icecap starting at sunrise.

Nevertheless, Dr. Strange thinks that they should have “a full company of Defenders” before they head into action, and so he sends an emanation to request the presence of the Sub-Mariner.  But Subby’s not interested in answering the call this time, regardless of what the reason might be…

Valkyrie steps in at this point, and after she calmly explains the gravity of the current situation, Namor reluctantly agrees to join the mission.  He’s still disgruntled, however, so much so that when Hulk and Val inquire about his new costume, he blows them both off.

And with that, the quartet heads out for the frozen North…

The inevitable super-brawl now begins, with Hulk going up against Hyperion, Dr. Strange against Dr. Spectrum, and Sub-Mariner against the Whizzer; meanwhile, the Valkyrie attempts to slice through the energy globe restraining Nighthawk, albeit without much success.

After roughly three pages of this roughhousing, the three original Defenders appear to have their opponents on the ropes…

And with that, we come to April, 1974, and Defenders #14.  Behind a cover both pencilled and inked by Sal Buscema, the opening splash confirms that while Buscema and Len Wein remain in place, Klaus Janson has moved on for now, yielding his supporting role to another young artist, Dan Green.  Green (who sadly passed away last August) had begun his career at DC a couple of years earlier; there, he’d mostly provided full pencils and inks for titles like Weird Worlds and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion.  At Marvel, however, he’d concentrate more on inking (Captain Marvel #28, #31 and #32 being among his earliest such jobs), although he’d also provide “finishes” (as in, complete pencils and inks over another artist’s layouts), which may in fact be the case here.

“…report to the corner of Madison Avenue and 57th Street…”  Which is of course where you’ll find 575 Madison Ave. — the building where Marvel Comics’ offices were located in 1974.

Hyperion launches into a recap of his origin story from Avengers #70, as well as his battle that issue with Thor — a battle which, as noted by Nighthawk back in Defenders #13, ended with him trapped in a small glass globe.  How’d he get out of that situation, anyway?  Seems it had something to do with the Grandmaster — the games-loving alien entity who had contrived to bring about not only the origins of the Squadron Supreme, but their battle with the Avengers…

For months, Hyperion drifted helplessly through space; eventually, however, a starship happened by.  It first caught Hyperion’s globe in a grapple-beam, then pulled it within itself…

With all of their enemies now conveniently confined together, the Whizzer is ready to “get down to the killin’ already!”  But Hyperion, who’s obviously been through some Comic-Book Supervillain training that Whiz skipped, says no way.  “Death is too swift a punishment for these so-called Defenders!” he declares.  “They must be made to suffer as I have suffered — made to drift helplessly thru space as I did — without hope of salvation!”  And so…

A quick word here about the sword Valkyrie now wields: As you may recall, she’d “borrowed” the Black Knight’s Ebony Blade after that hero got turned to stone, back in Defenders #4.  When they met again in the 12th century, in issue #11, she’d quite properly returned that weapon to its rightful (and no longer petrified) owner.  That left her rather under-armed; but fortunately, Dr. Strange literally had a spare magic sword lying around at home.  Its name is Dragonfang, and its blade is usually colored yellow (as in gold), though colorist Glynis Oliver has given it a white (as in steel, or silver) hue in this issue.

(UPDATE, 4/13/24, 3:30 pm:  As pointed out by DontheArtistformerly… in his comment below, Dr. Spectrum’s remark concerning Nighthawk having “helped design” the laser cannon offers a somewhat belated reason for why the other Squaddies thought they needed his help in the first place.)

Directing Hyperion and his crew to keep focused on firing the laser cannon, Nebulon states that he’ll take care of the Defenders on his own.  He promptly creates a giant out of ice and sics him on our heroes, but, naturally, it only takes a couple of pages for their combined efforts to subdue and destroy this unliving monster.  Now what?

After the Hulk falls, Valkyrie and Nighthawk try to rush Nebulon together, but he draws on his power of teleportation to send them crashing into each other instead.  Dr. Strange realizes that they need to try a different strategy…

I’m pretty sure that when I first read this story in April, 1974, I had the reaction that the storytellers intended I have — “Oooh, what an icky, yucky, slimy monster!” — whereas today, it’s hard to read the captions on this page, with their use of phrases like “maniac’s nightmare” and “unnervingly repulsive obscenity” and not think, “Um, pro-humanoid bias, much?”  On the other hand, the sudden surprise of this big reveal still works as a dramatic story beat, and the irony of a clearly inhuman being proudly proclaiming himself “the Celestial Man!” still lands.

Nighthawk turns the laser-cannon on Nebulon; its first effect is to disrupt the alien’s concentration, preventing him from resuming his humanoid form.  Nebulon then tries to absorb the laser energy into his own body, but there’s so much of it that he soon begins to have trouble…

Do I even need to note here that, of course, neither Nebulon nor the Squadron Sinister were gone for good?  All four baddies would in fact be back — and not just in the pages of any old Marvel comic, but in one that said “Defenders” on the cover — in less than a year.

I’m reasonably confident that when I first read this story half a century ago, I was less than elated at the prospect of Sub-Mariner being subbed out for Nighthawk on the Defenders’ roster.  Not that I had anything against the guy, but he certainly didn’t have the stature of Namor — one of Marvel’s oldest characters, and (speaking in “in-universe” terms) one of its heaviest hitters, besides.  Still, as long as Dr. Strange and Hulk were going to keep hanging around, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

Intriguingly, most of the moves made in regards to the team’s lineup during Len Wein’s run seem to have originated with someone else.  In an article that appeared in the 19th issue of Marvel’s official fanzine, FOOM Magazine (cover-dated Fall, 1977), the writer reported that the addition of Nighthawk had originated with his predecessor:

Steve [Englehart] made a few suggestions; he was planning to bring in Nighthawk.  I used the character, because I thought it was a good idea to bring in somebody with a sense of humor that would add a little lightness to the book.  Everybody else was so grim all the time.

Hmm. Speaking just for myself, I can’t see that Kyle Richmond added much “lightness” in this debut outing.  But, hey, maybe he’ll have more of a chance to demonstrate his sense of humor in forthcoming stories.

As for the Sub-Mariner — whom Englehart had already written out of the book, of course, but who, unlike the similarly benched Hulk, didn’t almost immediately make a full-time return, Wein asserted:

It wasn’t my decision to take the Sub- Mariner out of the series.  It was about the time SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP was in the planning stages, and Roy wanted the Sub-Mariner for that book.**  The first issue of THE DEFENDERS that I wrote didn’t have the Sub-Mariner in it, but I brought him in as guest star in the next issue.  Rather than have another character replace him immediately, Roy suggested that we play musical super-heroes and try different characters every issue, to fill in his space — so Professor X, Son of Satan, and Daredevil all showed up as one-shot guest replacements.

The fruits of that “musical super-heroes” approach could of course be taken for “one-shot guest replacements” for the Sub-Mariner, if you chose to see things that way.  But you could also take them (as my younger self chose to) for new additions to the Defenders’ roster, as legitimate “members” in their own way as were Dr. Strange or the Hulk.  After all, if the team was in fact a non-team, then all you had to do to belong was to show up, right?***

That “non-team” concept may have irritated some fans, but not your humble blogger.  As far as I was concerned, it was probably the primary justification for Marvel having a series about a group of otherwise unconnected superheroes that weren’t the Avengers in the first place.  Still, even I could see that, looked at from a certain angle, the whole notion was kind of absurd.

Of course, that very absurdity would make it a perfect fit for writer Steve Gerber’s unique sensibilities when he succeeded Len Wein as the regular writer on Defenders, later in 1974.  But, naturally, that’s a discussion for future posts.

 

*For the record, I’m not counting the first appearances of Nighthawk’s alternate-Earth good-guy counterpart, who debuted alongside his Squadron Supreme teammates in Avengers #85-86 (Feb. & Mar., 1971).

**The timing of this claim seems a little dodgy, considering that when Defenders #13 and #14 came out, Subby’s own solo book was still a going concern — its last issue, #72, wouldn’t ship until June — and the first issue of Super-Villain Team-Up (which, to be entirely accurate, was in fact the hyper-hyphenated Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1) wouldn’t see the light of day until December.  But, hey, maybe Thomas was thinking really far ahead.

***Naturally, this idea would eventually be taken to its logical extreme in David Anthomy Kraft’s “Defenders for a Day” storyline, presented four years hence in issues #62-64.  We won’t get to those issues for quite some time, obviously, but if you can’t wait, my fellow blogger [also an occasional commenter on this blog] Tom Brevoort has you covered here, here, and also here.