Art by Jim Starlin (and maybe John Romita).
Art by John Romita (and maybe Tony Mortellaro).
Fifty years ago, in November, 1974, Steve Gerber began his tenure as the regular writer of Marvel Comics’ Defenders series with the very issue we’re discussing here today. But, as we’ve covered in a couple of recent posts, Gerber had already been warming up for his new assignment for several months. In October, he’d scripted the third issue of the “non-team”‘s quarterly vehicle, Giant-Size Defenders, working from a plot by himself, artist Jim Starlin, and incumbent Defenders writer Len Wein. But even beyond that, readers picking up Defenders #20 in November found that they weren’t just buying the first issue of the group’s monthly title to carry Gerber’s name in the credits; rather, they were coming in on the third chapter of a continued storyline that had begun back in August in the pages of another Gerber book, Marvel Two-in-One, which regularly featured the Fantastic Four’s Thing teamed up with a rotating roster of guest stars — in this case, the two Defenders known respectively as Doctor Strange, who’d co-headlined with Ben Grimm in MTiO #6, and the Valkyrie, who’d done the same in MTiO #7.
What hadn’t been clear from either of those two comics, however — though it was strongly indicated by this book’s cover (of uncertain provenance, but probably by Gil Kane and John Romita) — was that the Defenders’ new scribe was, for his first solo outing, casting back to the earliest formative days of the loosely-organized collection of superheroes who’d eventually come to be known as the Defenders.
Just how deeply Steve Gerber would be delving into the non-team’s origins (or, really, pre-origins) wouldn’t become evident until several pages into the story, however; so, without further ado…
Gerber and his primary artistic collaborator this issue, penciller Sal Buscema, pick up here immediately where Marvel Two-in One #7 ended. Buscema, who’d been the regular penciller on Defenders since the title’s first issue (and would continue in that role for another couple of years) had illustrated that chapter of the story as well; however, his inker for that story, Mike Esposito, is here replaced by the equally prolific Vince Colletta.
As regular readers of this blog will recall, the two primary villains of this storyline’s previous installment — i.e., the Asgardian ne’er-do-wells known as the Executioner and the Enchantress — were defeated in its climax, but not permanently dispatched. So it’s understandable that Gerber and Buscema opt to get a little action into this issue’s opening pages by having the strongman of that perfidious pair recover long enough to throw down with the Thing for a page or two. Still, the duo’s respective parts as significant players in this story are already over and done with — so we’re going to skip ahead to the part where the Executioner attempts to ram Ben with a broken tree trunk, only to find his charge halted by an invisible barrier…
Dr. Strange reminds Ben that they still haven’t solved the mystery of the magical harmonica, labeled “Celestia”, whose destiny-channeling power set this entire adventure in motion in the first place, back in MTiO #6. He asks the Thing to sit tight and keep the mouth organ safe until he can get there in person, along with “another… friend of Valkyrie’s.” Ben agrees, and settles down under a tree to wait; while he does, he begins to doze, and thence to dream — and, wouldn’t you know it, his dreams provide a detailed sequential recap of the events of MTiO #6 and #7. That summary must have been much appreciated by regular Defenders readers of 1974 who hadn’t been buying Marvel Two-in-One — but it’s superfluous for our purposes here today, so once again we’ll skip ahead, picking up just after the recap’s concluding explanation of how, after Alvin Denton had inadvertently destroyed the Earth by blowing the harmonica, Ben had restored reality to normal by blowing it a second time…
The Valkyrie’s quest to discover the truth of her past — or, rather more accurately, of the past of the mortal woman whose body she “wears” — had begun several issues ago, on the watch of previous scripter (now editor) Len Wein. As indicated by the footnote in the second panel above, Val’s arrival in Cobbler’s Roost in issue #18 had been observed by a fellow who, having been drawn by Sal Buscema as a stock gangster-type, surely meant her no good. But, given that this observer only referenced a “boss” in that issue, without actually naming him as Van Nyborg (a villainous cult leader who’d previously appeared in Hulk #126), it’s anyone’s guess as to whether Gerber was following up here on what Wein had already planned in regards to this subplot, or if he’d decided to go his own way in resolving the mystery, instead.
Text by Roy Thomas; art by Herb Trimpe.
Art by Herb Trimpe.
The aforementioned Hulk #126 (Apr., 1970) had introduced readers to a couple of young members of the demon-worshiping cult headed by the also-aforementioned Van Nyborg; referred to there only by the names “Barbara” and “Jack”, they were clearly closely connected, but could have been siblings, or lovers, or even just good friends, as easily as what we now know them to have been all along: husband and wife.
Sheriff Tom offers to “open the place up” for “Barb”; but Val demurs, indicating she’d rather be alone for the present (though her real concern is that Tom will get suspicious when she shows no familiarity whatsoever with the house’s interior). Meanwhile…
Y’know, the more I see of this guy, the less inclined I am to think that Len Wein originally intended for him and his “boss” to be magic-savvy cultists, rather than mundane, ordinary criminals (not that it actually matters, of course)…
Art by Herb Trimpe.
The note referring readers to check out the latest issue of Hulk to learn why Ol’ Greenskin simply couldn’t appear in Defenders this month is obviously disingenuous, since we all know that if Steve Gerber had truly wanted to have the Hulk participate in “The Woman She Was…!” he’d simply have written him into the story, with no more thought given to Hulk #184 than he’d afforded to Doctor Strange #6 or Fantastic Four #155 in regards to using those comics’ stars. Still, if one needs an excuse to exclude everyone’s favorite Emerald Behemoth from the present proceedings, his now-on-sale dust-up with Warlord Kaa, aka the Living Shadow, is as good as any — and, you never know, by referring Defenders readers to that issue, you might actually move a few copies of Hulk #184 that would have otherwise gone unsold. (Not that my seventeen-year-old self took the bait.)
And, as we’ll soon learn, Gerber does have a good reason for keeping the Hulk out of the present narrative — one that goes beyond the obvious fact that having both him and the Thing on hand would inevitably distract from the main plotline, as every reader would be constantly wondering when are they gonna fight?
Cover to Doctor Strange (1st series) #183 (Nov., 1969). Art by Gene Colan and Bill Everett.
Cover to Sub-Mariner #22 (Feb., 1970). Art by Marie Severin and Frank Giacoia.
As we suggested near the beginning of this post, Steve Gerber’s first solo Defenders storyline doesn’t just draw on the history of the team, but its prehistory. Back in 1969, Roy Thomas was just getting started with the original “Undying Ones” saga in Doctor Strange when the Master of the Mystic Arts’ series was abruptly cancelled with issue #183; unwilling to leave the story unfinished, Thomas had picked up its threads a few months later in an issue of Sub-Mariner, #22, and then wrapped the whole thing up in Hulk #126, which came out just another couple of months after that. While Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, and Hulk didn’t meet as a trio in any of those issues, the latter two did at least each team up individually with Doc in their respective chapters of the storyline; thus, in retrospect, one could hardly help viewing the three-parter as the first of the two unofficial “pre-origins” of the Defenders, prior to the team’s actual debut in Marvel Feature #1 (Dec, 1971).*
An earlier Defenders scribe, Steve Englehart, had already returned to the “Undying Ones” well once before this, tapping it for the storyline that ran from the first through third issues of the group’s own brand-new title — and then led directly into issue #4, which established the young female cultist still known only as “Barbara” as the new host for the Enchantress-created persona called the Valkyrie; a figure whose character concept had, at that point, nothing at all to do with the Undying Ones.
Gerber’s clever conceit here is to weave the original three Defenders’ “prehistory” together with the history of the fourth hero to become a regular, ongoing Defender — i.e., the Valkyrie (yeah, I’m arbitrarily excluding the Silver Surfer, who never hung around for longer than four issues at a stretch) — in a more explicit fashion than his predecessors had done. He pretty much pulls it off, albeit with one significant narrative gap, which we’ll get to in a minute.
And now, we finally understand the real reason for the Hulk’s not being a part of this story.
“A simple hypnotic spell should suffice” to “dispense with these cultists“, says Doc. Um, maybe, if the spell fully wipes their memories of ever being cultists, and doesn’t just send them all sleepwalking back to their homes, allowing them to later regroup and get up to more sinister shenanigans. Otherwise, this would seem to be just kicking the can a ways down the road… so let’s go with that “fully wipes” option, OK?
A somewhat more difficult problem to hand-wave away is presented by that huge narrative gap I mentioned before, to wit: If the harmonica had originally been in the possession of the disfigured recluse Celestia Denton, how did it get to the New York subway platform where we first see it at the beginning of Marvel Two-in-One #6? Following on from that, why in the world would Destiny incorporate as a teenage girl to play the harmonica at that particular place and time? And, finally, if the key to thwarting the Nameless One’s scheme all along was the physical destruction of the instrument, why was Destiny-girl so keen for Dr. Strange to save it from being smashed by the oncoming subway train in the first place? Yes, I’m sure we’re all capable of engaging our imaginations and coming up with our own individual answers to those questions (and we may well even enjoy doing so); but I trust you’ll forgive me for thinking that that was kinda sorta Steve Gerber’s job back in ’75, not ours as readers.
All that said, I still find this a satisfying story overall, and an auspicious “official” debut on the Defenders feature for Steve Gerber. He’s clearly already got a good handle on the fractious interpersonal dynamics inherent in the “non-team” concept as established by his predecessors, as well as a solid understanding of the potential of the core members’ prior histories — as individuals and as a group — for seeding new storylines; plus, he’s clearly on board with the idea of bringing in guest stars (or, as your humble blogger prefers to think of them, “temporary new Defenders”) to keep things fresh and unpredictable. As for the other major distinction of Gerber’s Defenders run — his willingness to embrace absurdity — we’ll be getting our first taste of that with the very next issue’s entrance of the Headmen. I hope to see you here next month for that one.
*The second official pre-origin story was of course the two-parter in Sub-Mariner #34 (Feb., 1971) and #35 (Mar., 1971) that brought Subby, Hulk, and the Silver Surfer together as the “Titans Three”.
Dear to my heart! My son was 9 when the covid pandemic hit and we used comics as a way of passing our hours whilst in lockdown (we’re down here in Melbourne, Australia), children find their own path however I was still surprised when he’d looked through our boxes and done his research and decided that he’d like me to buy him a Defenders issue – ignoring the first 100 issues of the new X-Men, Wolverine or even the various Spidey books. So we started buying Defenders, deciding that the first 50 issues seemed to be the sweet spot…reading them in no particular order was amazing, one week you’d be flipping through a Englehart or Wein standard-superhero fare deal, the next week some Gerber absurdity.
Alan, you’ve chosen a great issue to discuss and yes – it has so many threads that pull at the very beginnings – it’s one of those books when you read it and research it you suddenly have a want-list of another half-dozen books (we still don’t have a Sub #22 or #35 in our collection, but Hulk #126 and Sub #34 have been procured!).
I think a huge majority of my books will all eventually be dispersed to other collectors – but I do hope that my son holds onto our assembled Defenders series (and it’s pre-quels / tie-ins) and the Neal Adams books he holds in high regard too. That would make me smile.
Kudos to your kid for not only going old school but even forsaking newer more trendy material to do so. Now if you tell me he actually listens to rock music instead of auto tuned hip hop and pop country crap, then I will give you a Premium Parent of the Year award🤘
One of my favourite memories was taking him to the largest comic shop in the city, we passed all the graphic novels and funko pop figurines and went downstairs and I was looking at the new comics area and I turned around and my sin was talking with the 70 year old shop assistant and telling him he doesn’t like the new books and he much prefers his Defenders books and the guy was just over the moon – a 9 year old and a 70 year old laughing over their favourite issues (I hadn’t started reading them at this point so it all sounded very absurd) was a good example of what makes this hobby so wonderful.
To quote the classic Dylan album title, with this issue, Gerber was “bringing it all back home” for the Defenders, getting to the roots that had tied together the original trio, even if not all at once, as well as well as inadvertently leading to the origin of the first regular “New Defender”. I’d missed most of that pre-history of the Defenders, as well as their first several outings as a team before Val’s intro in issue #4 (I once had #2 but somehow that got lost). Anyhow, although I wouldn’t regard this whole Celestia/Harmonica trio a genuine classic, it was entertaining enough, even with the few plot holes and riddles you referenced, Alan. And Gerber does show a very good handle on the main characters. I have to presume something unnatural happened to Celestia Denton to have transformed her from a beautiful 40ish woman in 1968 to an ancient-appearing hag just 6 years later. No one in reality changes that much in so short of time unless something truly calamitous, whether disease or accident or whatever, has happened to them. Whatever happened to Celestia, I don’t recall that Gerber specified and as far as I know no one else ever delved into that matter.
Overall, this trilogy hints at much tragedy that led to Celestia Denton’s involvement with demonic cult, Alvin Denton’s fall from well-to-do to drunken impoverishment, something akin to the fall of Stephen Strange, M.D., from respected, highly-paid and supremely arrogant surgeon to a derelict stage before he made his fateful trip to Tibet. And then Barbara and her husband Jack becoming involved in that same cult. Hmmm – was it really Celestia who got Barbara into the cult, through which she met Jack and they got married before things got really crazy? And all in a small town in New England where everyone “knows” each other. It was amusing having so many people recognize “Barbara” as inhabited by Valkyrie’s persona and all of whom Val has no knowledge of and she’s having to do her best to not let them realize that she’s not really the Barbara that they knew from years before.
I also liked that although Ben Grimm has not been previously exposed to much in the way of the magical trappings of the world of Dr. Strange, he’s still experienced enough bizarre events since he was transformed into the Thing that as written by Gerber he pretty much goes with the flow and figures things out without getting dumbfounded by any of it. And thus Ben joins the growing number of heroes who earned a badge as a Defender for a Day or Two.
Looking forward to your overview of the next Defenders’ outing, Alan, the entrance of the enigmatic Headmen!
“Whatever happened to Celestia, I don’t recall that Gerber specified and as far as I know no one else ever delved into that matter.”
I always assumed that Celestia’s disfigurement was from the car accident that had supposedly killed her (as Alvin Denton related to Ben Grimm back in MTIO #7).
Ah, I forgot that little nugget. I’m sure I didn’t think about any of these things when I read those comics 50 years ago, but now I can’t help but wonder about what led all these imaginary characters to such a bizarre cult. Back in those days, it would have been rare for any mainstream comics writer to delve into those sort of details. What also strikes me now as funny is that even after Jack Norris became a regular supporting character on the series, he hardly seemed the type to have gone into such a cult involving actual demonic creatures from other realms. He was bemoaning “Barbara” being involved with “freaky” people but he appears to have been responsible for getting the real Barbara involved with far freakier people at the risk of her life and eventual destruction of her sanity.
I’m glad you discount Silver Surfer as a major part of the Defenders line up. To me, there’s two categories: Full Timers and Temps. Surfer was always just a Temp. Yes, he was part of the Titans Three but my understanding is that Stan Lee would not approve anyone else writing the character for any length so he couldn’t appear in ANY team book enough to be considered a member.
I’ve also figured out ruminating on Gerber’s run why he had so much more creative success at Marvel than DC. A number of Marvel titles misfired back then but not Gerber’s Defenders. I think it’s down to how editorial differed between the two companies back then. DC was editorial driven while Marvel was more loosey goosey with what made it through. Gerber’s seat of the pants plotting, backed by great writing chops, would never make it past the company that (rightly) revered the likes of Julius Schwartz. The sheer insanity coming of the Headmen, Nebulon’s return, and the Bozo Cult proves that to me.
I also miss the takes on Kyle and Val established in this era. Current asshole Kyle and uptight Asgardian Val (when she’s not dead) are not bad characterizations but the Kyle who was clearly third string but so earnest about achieving beyond his capabilities especially is missed by me. I even miss Jack Norris.
By the way, who else thinks that all fourth issues of Marvel team books should be required to add a new regular member who’s a call back? It worked wonderfully for Avengers and Defenders, right?
and of course FF#4…with the Human Torch unearthing the Sub-Mariner, who then unknowing caused Cap to de-freeze in Avengers#4.
Then there was Fantastic Four #4, which brought the Sub-Mariner into the Marvel era, just as Avengers #4 later did for Captain America. Namor didn’t join the FF, of course, but along with Dr. Doom appeared so regularly over much of the next three years before he got his own series that he qualified as a supporting character. X-Men #4 introduced Quicksilver & the Scarlet Witch, who wouldn’t join that team but later joined the Avengers. Likely just a coincidence that so many 4th issues of the team books introduced or re-introduced key characters into the Marvel mythos, but an interesting pattern I noticed sometime back in the 1970s after I became aware of the significance of the 4th issues of the FF & Avengers, alongside that of Defenders #4, and even FF Annual #4 which brought the original Human Torch into the Marvel era, even if only to kill him off again, although he didn’t quite stay dead forever.
Well, as I’ve said before, I loved the Defenders, even though you couldn’t get me to pick up one of their solo books if you gave it to me for free (Brunner’s Doctor Strange being the exception). I don’t know why I preferred these non-traditional heroes in a group when I didn’t care for their solo adventures, but I assume a lot of it has to do with the efforts of Englehart and Gerber. Their attempts to honor the spirit of the group–the non-team of it all, if you will–as well as trying to craft a true dynamic among the individual members was unique, even for Marvel.
The thing for me though, despite all the attention given to Namor, Hulk and the Surfer, is that the real nucleus of the group was the teamwork of Strange, Nighthawk and Valkyrie. Those three are the true core of the group. Gerber, and Englehart to a slightly lesser extent, knew there had to be some sort of consistency beyond the presence of Doctor Strange and they found it in two characters who really had few, if any, adventures anywhere else. Nighthawk desperately wanted to redeem himself from his earlier villainy and find a place for himself amongst the heroes of the Marvel age and Val just wanted to know who the hell she was and how she fit in. Neither of them had anywhere else to go, and along with the later addition of Hellcat, provided the group’s beating heart. Furthermore, they humanized Strange, a character I’d always found to be cold and aloof in other books. Strange truly cared for Val/Barbara and respected Nighthawk’s heroism and that humanized him in a way his relationships with Wong and Clea in his own book did not.
As to this particular issue, I loved the way Gerber tied in all the different cords of Defenders history into one more or less complete tale. I hadn’t really realized how the founding of the Defenders is more or less based on the trials and tribulations of Barbara Denton Norris in the first place. Watching Valkyrie realize over the years (depending on the writer) that her found family in the Defenders could be as fulfilling as any relationship she could have had with Barbara’s past, was truly a story of growth worth reading. As to the art, I know some of you don’t like the Sal/Vinnie team, but I always have, so the pictures here suited me just fine. Thanks, Alan!
I’m reminded of an online acquaintance who summed up the “real” Defenders as “Hulk. Birdnose. Sword girl. Stupid magician.”
Much as Fred points out about Jack above, the book never acknowledges what a bad ‘un Nighthawk was. As a member of the Squadron Supreme he was willing to let the Grandmaster destroy Earth as long as he survived. Easy to explain (the Grandmaster’s formula for doubling his abilities drove him nuts, say) but I don’t think anyone ever has.
Hulk’s way with names never fails to delight me. If I’m reading a Hulk book and I’m chuckling it’s usually that – in reality I suspect it aligns with the way a lot of men think when looking at their collegues!
In 1974-’75, my favorite comics were Man-Thing and the Defenders by Steve Gerber. I liked Man-Thing since Gerber started writing it, the Defenders were more off and on. there was a LOT of filler in the Englehart run but some was great and Wein was weighting a feel good superhero book about outsiders (sort of like Drake’s Doom Patrol.
From GS-Man-Thing #3, that book was on fire until it was cancelled. Decay Meets the Mad Viking, A Book Burns in Citrusville, A Kid’s Night Out, just classic stuff,
With the next issue of The Dfenders, with the Headsmen. the return of Yellowjacket in the next Gian-t Sized Defenders, through the reurn of the Sons of the surface and The Guardians of the Galaxy and the Baddon., just neat work.
I also bought most of those books at a little book store that also sold comics That went out of business in late April of 1975.
A great time in my life. They say. the “‘Golden Age’ is 12” Mine might have been more 14, but a great time . . . .
I also read the Lord of Rings Trilogy, C.S, Lewis’s Space Trilogy and read Azimov’s Nine Tomorrows. A good year in my life . . . .
I missed most of the Man-Thing series when it was new on the racks during my early teen years but got them much later as an adult and much enjoyed Gerber’s writing on some serious topics which are still relevant today, sad to say.
I think the whole “everything is part of a pattern” bugged me a lot. “Everything that came to pass was destined” was always a tough sell for me. That aside, good issue — particularly Val coping with people who think they know her, as someone said above.
I think it is more: Nothing that happens is not governed by the existing “state of the word” but we have free will within that constrained space;. On that point modern science. ancient Stoicism and the Catholic Magisterium. agree.
*Defenders* #21 begins with Thing taking his leave of the Defenders and saying something to the effect that “wish I could say it was fun, guys.”
I stopped reading comics with *Defenders* #36 and didn’t find out the Headmen arc ended until decades later with the *Essential* volume covering #31-60.
When I finished it properly (if in black-and-white) I felt terribly disappointed, and if I agreed with my friend Kevin that Steve Gerber was the Grant Morrison of the 1970s, it didn’t reflect well on either Gerber or Morrison.
But that weird wonder tale (a No-Prize to all who see what I did here!) won’t get a prelude for at least a month, and afterwards it’ll have to wait for the Sons of the Serpent, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Tapping Tommy, so I’ll say thank you, Alan, for another astute analysis and call it a night after some vintage “Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends.”
Hokey Smokes to all. May the Hulk never leave you with multiple mortgages on piles of rubble!
I got it! I got it! You’re referencing Weird Wonder Tales 7, which reprinted the original stories of the characters who became the Headmen. I’m pathetically delighted that I didn’t need to look up that info…