Last month, we took a look at the first half of Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema’s “Sons of the Serpent” storyline with a single blog post covering Defenders #22 and #23. Today, we’ll be wrapping things up in a similar fashion, with one post serving for our survey of both the third and fourth chapters of this half-century old graphic narrative.
Before we get into the story itself, however, I invite you to take a closer look at Defenders #24’s excellent (if just a bit crowded) cover by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson (and also by John Romita, per the Grand Comics Database). Specifically, at the blurb trumpeting the presence within of “5 fearsome Defenders and 3 startling guest stars“. Five Defenders? I guess that means that Yellowjacket’s been bumped up to full membership status, huh? That’s certainly what the anonymous Marvel Comics bullpenner who wrote that copy appears to have thought, at any rate. (Of course, if you accept the notion of the Defenders being a “non-team”, as your humble blogger has always chosen to do, it’s basically a moot point, since any superhero who shows up in any issue may reasonably be called a member. Or a non-member. You know what I mean.)
And now, on with the show…
Joining the creative contingent for this issue was inker Bob McLeod, who was just then breaking in to Marvel’s color comics after first spending some time in the company’s production department, and then drawing a few strips for its black-and-white magazine line. While my younger self might have seen some of the inking McLeod had previously done as a member of the “Crusty Bunkers” (the amorphous collection of talents based out of Neal Adams and Dick Giordano’s Continuity Studios), this was probably the first job I’d seen credited under the young artist’s own name. (If it wasn’t the very first, that’s only because I read the other job of his that was published on March 18, 1975 before I got around to cracking open Defenders #24; for the record, that other job was Marvel Spotlight #22, which, coincidentally, was another Gerber-Buscema joint, headlining one of this issue’s guest stars, the Son of Satan.)
I can recall taking to McLeod’s stuff immediately; like his peer Klaus Janson, he was able to bring a welcome added texture and depth to Sal Buscema’s pencils (partly, but not entirely, through the liberal application of screentone) that made the whole package considerably more appealing, at least to me.
The specific, step-by-step beats of the Sons of the Serpent’s nightmarish vision may seem as unlikely today as they did half a century ago; but, at least for this reader, the underlying core concept of a civil war fought in America’s streets actually feels less far-fetched today than it did then. I wish that weren’t the case, but here we are.
Valkyrie tears into the Sons of the Serpent, laying them out right and left. But she’s brought up short when the helmet falls off a “Son” she’s about to deck, revealing this particular object of her wrath to be a woman — and thereby triggering the magical inhibition laid on Val by the Enchantress which bars her from striking a fellow female…
We’ll pause a moment here to take stock of the six “others” referred to (and pictured) in the next to last panel above, since, although we’ve covered the previous Defending activities of most of them in previous posts, there are a couple that we haven’t.
Beginning with what we can consider “known quantities” as far as this blog is concerned: the Sub-Mariner had of course been a founding member of the team, appearing in their debut outing in Marvel Feature #1 (Dec., 1971); so, in a sense, had the Silver Surfer, who’d been part of the “proto-Defenders” assemblage known as the “Titans Three” before coming together with the “official” iteration of the team in Defenders #2 (Oct., 1972). Later, the longtime Avenger called Hawkeye had found his way into a temporary association with the Defenders in issue #7 (Aug., 1973), sticking around only through the end of the Avengers-Defenders War in #11 (Dec., 1973). More recently, Daredevil had met and fought alongside the team in Giant-Size Defenders #3 (Jan., 1975).
Art by Ron Wilson and Al Milgrom.
Art by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson (and maybe John Romita).
That leaves Daimon Hellstrom, aka the Son of Satan, whose one encounter with the Defenders to date had come in Giant-Size Defenders #2 (Oct., 1974), where they’d all stood together against one of the Sons of Satannish; and Luke Cage, aka Hero for Hire, aka Power Man, who’d joined the team’s fight against the Wrecking Crew in Defenders #17-19 (Nov., 1974 through Jan., 1975). Both of these characters had come into the Defenders’ orbit during the tenure of Steve Gerber’s predecessor as the feature’s writer, Len Wein, who for most of his run followed a policy of “rotating” guest stars to fill the spot previously held down by the Sub-Mariner. (Interestingly, one “guest star” who showed up during Wein’s run — Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, who turned up for a two-parter in issues #15-16 — doesn’t even come in for a mention in our present story. Perhaps Gerber just couldn’t think of a way to give him a meaningful role here; or perhaps Wein was holding him in reserve for Giant-Size X-Men #1, which would be coming out the same month as Defenders #25. One can only speculate.)
Steve Gerber had been writing the Son of Satan feature in Marvel Spotlight ever since its third installment — about fifteen months. But while he’d almost immediately moved Daimon Hellstrom’s main base of operations from the fictional Fire Lake in Massachusetts to St. Louis, Missouri, he’d never gotten around to re-stabling Daimon’s “demon-steeds” — and so, we get this fairly awkward business of the hell-spawned equne trio having to haul the Son of Satan’s chariot all the way from MA to MO, then back east to NY. But, whatever.
As with the Son of Satan, Gerber was very well acquainted with Daredevil, having scripted the Man Without Fear’s adventures in an almost-unbroken run from DD #97 (Mar., 1973) through #117 (Jan., 1975); he’d also been the primary writer for the hero’s previous outing with the Defenders in GSD #3, dialoguing from a plot by himself, Len Wein, and Jim Starlin.
After reaching out to both Daimon Hellstrom and Daredevil, Clea’s power is too depleted to allow her to continue, at least for the present. So Bruce Banner takes matters into his own hands, by reaching out to the only one of the remaining heroes on their list of six who has a good chance of having a local listed number… though apparently Dr. Strange doesn’t have keep a current phone book on the Sanctum Sanctorum’s premises, which means Bruce has to place a call to Directory Assistance (remember them?) and hope he can get through…
Of our three guest stars, Luke Cage is the only one Gerber hadn’t written before this; but, of course, considering the nature of the foes the Defenders are currently going up against, one can hardly imagine him being left out of this storyline.
Let’s pause at this point just long enough to commemorate the Secret Origin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Defenders, as two of the four members of that iteration of the team meet here for the very first time…
As the new arrivals get debriefed, and then begin to consider their next move, the scene shifts back to the Sons of the Serpent’s secret base, where not only are Dr. Strange, Nighthawk, and Yellowjacket still prisoners, but the Sorcerer Supreme remains out cold. Luckily, however, Yellowjacket has a pretty good trick up his bright yellow sleeve..
Returning to normal size, YJ attempts to free Nighthawk — but even with both heroes putting their backs into it, the coils won’t budge. So Hank goes off to explore the base’s corridors, hoping to find an exit — only to turn a corner and be suddenly stupefied…
Meanwhile, back at the Sanctum, Daimon tries to use hypnosis to pry the location of the Sons’ base from the lone prisoner they captured in the previous issue, but runs into trouble due to a psychological block the Sons have programmed into their membership to prevent such. This leads Luke to try a more direct approach…
Daredevil considers trying to tell the Hulk that their allies haven’t disappeared of their own accord, but decides there’s no point; after all, “the angrier Hulk gets, the stronger he becomes”, and DD figures they can use any advantage they can get…
Back in 1975, we Defenders fans had to wait a whole month to find out how our heroes were going to get out of this one; today, however, we have the freedom to skip ahead from March to April and go right into Defenders #25, and that’s just what we’re going to do. Of course, we’ll first take a moment to note that this issue’s cover was by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia (once again with minor touch-ups by John Romita, according to the GCD); we’ll also point out something that you can of course read for yourself in the credits provided on the opening splash page below; namely, that Bob McLeod has already moved on, being replaced here as inker by the veteran artist Jack Abel. Abel’s work is entirely professional, of course, but it lacks the extra “something” that McLeod’s finishes brought to Sal Buscema’s pencils (at least to this reader’s eye).
As the Son of Satan helps his still-dazed fellow magic-wielder down from the metal stake, Yellowjacket returns to the prison chamber… and is naturally stopped dead in his tracks by what he sees…
YJ gives his fellow heroes the bad news about them being trapped at the bottom of the ocean; but the Son of Satan reasons that the Sons of the Serpent must have had some way to exit as well as enter this place, and he’s confident he can suss it out with his psychic powers. And that’s just what he does, leading the others through the corridors until he comes to one section of steel wall that looks just like all the others, whereupon he announces they’ve arrived at their goal…
Meanwhile, back at the scene of the Valkyrie’s intended crucifixion/immolation combo, poor blind Hulk is still thrashing about helplessly; thankfully, however, Daredevil is beginning to return to awareness…
“Ya don’t gotta burn ’em alive, just because ya don’t like ’em!” The implicit message of this scene seems to be that casual, everyday racism is really no big deal, because way deep down most people are decent sorts willing to live and let live; alas, that’s a message that hasn’t aged terribly well, at least not in my opinion.
Together, Daredevil and Jack Norriss bring Valkyrie down from the cross/pyre; meanwhile, the Hulk’s vision returns. With everything now mostly under control, DD suggests they head back to Dr. Strange’s place: “I’m betting that’s where we’ll find Hellstrom and Cage — and maybe the other Defenders.”
Daimon Hellstrom certainly does need to retrieve his fiery conveyance, not to mention the three living (?) creatures who haul it for him. But how does he plan to get them all up the ladder and through that narrow manhole? I guess they’ll show us later…
And there it is — the very first appearance (but certainly not the last) of one of the most memorable (and confounding) characters ever to appear in Steve Gerber’s whole run on Defenders: the Elf with a Gun!
Back in April, 1975, my seventeen-year-old self had no idea where Gerber might be headed with this bizarre new subplot. As it turned out, neither did he — but that’s a discussion we’ll save for another post, further down the road.
At this point, we’ll interrupt our narrative just long enough to note that while Kyle Richmond’s business manager J.C. Pennysworth — first introduced by Len Wein back in Defenders #15 — had been seen on panel before this, his face had been hidden; so our storytellers are basically playing fair, here. (I say “basically” only because we did get a good look at his hands in a couple of panels, and they were colored Caucasian; still, that’s a small point.)
When I first read this story in 1975, I was unfamiliar with the Sons of the Serpent’s previous appearances in Avengers #32-33 and #73-74. And so, the revelation that the current Serpent Supreme is himself Black* landed pretty much the way I’m sure Steve Gerber and company intended — delivering the message that “evil has no skin color”. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that message, in and of itself. But, given that this is the third time in a row where the leadership of the Sons has been shown to be operating from motives beyond “mere” bigotry (as you’ll recall, the first Serpent Supreme was an East Asian Communist leader, while the second was a pair of greedy TV talk show hosts, one white and one Black), it’s hard to read this story today and not conclude that, almost a whole decade following the Sons of the Serpent’s first appearance, the folks at Marvel — maybe we should make that the white men at Marvel — were still having a really hard time framing a murderously violent white supremacist organization as being sufficiently evil and dangerous on its own to be worthy of the attention of its superheroes. And that’s disappointing.
We return now to our story — but as we do, please note that Daimon Hellstrom has now rejoined his comrades. And please note as well that we’re never told how the Son of Satan managed to get his chariot and demon-steeds up into, let alone out of, J.C. Pennysworth’s office. Guess we’ll have to chalk it all up to… magic!
Although it’s not mentioned in this story, Luke Cage is the one hero among the Defenders’ guests who actually has some prior experience with Kyle Richmond’s erstwhile employee, as it had been Pennysworth’s employing Luke to safeguard one of Kyle’s construction projects that brought the Hero for Hire into contact with the Defenders in the first place, back in issue #17. I think it’s safe for us to assume that the two men must have handled all their business at that time by phone…
As our story comes to a close, all its focus is on Kyle Richmond, and his guilt over how his money has been put to ill purposes while he wasn’t looking. Once again, there’s nothing exactly wrong with hitting that character beat; Nighthawk is one of the only two “regular” Defenders whose fictional life is solely in Steve Gerber’s hands, and it’s reasonable for the writer to want to take this opportunity to further the development of that character. On the other hand, given the real-world relevance of much of this story arc’s content, centering its finale on the problems of a rich white guy seems just a little bit off. Didn’t this story begin with Valkyrie’s discovery of the horrors of inner-city poverty? The Sons of the Serpent may have been defeated for now; but the inequality and injustice responsible for the squalor in which Elena and her baby have been forced to live remains (even if their former home has itself been destroyed by those self-same Sons). As was previously noted by reader Anonymous Sparrow in their comment on our Defenders #23 post, Elena never shows up again after this storyline; indeed, she disappears completely from this one after calling the Defenders to come look at the TV in the middle of issue #24. And yes, I know… it’s not that hard for any of us to imagine for ourselves how Dr. Strange might make a few calls the next day (maybe with some help from Daredevil’s “friend”, attorney Matt Murdock?) and, if nothing else, secure for the young mother and child the short-term assistance they require; still, it would have been nice if Gerber could have at least given us a line or two to that effect.
I’ve gone into some detail here about what I see as this storyline’s shortcomings; however, I don’t want to give the impression that I consider it a complete failure, by any means. Another commenter on Defenders #23, Colin Stuart, noted the value of its anti-racist message to him as he was growing up in 1970s Britain; and as someone who grew up in 1970s America — more specifically, in the Deep South, attending not only an all-white Southern Baptist church, but also an all-white Southern Baptist high school (a “segregation academy”, as we never called it at the time) — I can only echo that sentiment. Every single anti-racist message I received in my formative years helped shape who I am today — even the imperfect ones. And I’m grateful for all of them.
We’ll close this post on a somewhat lighter note by returning to its beginning, and the observation we made then that, at least as far as the cover copy of issue #24 was concerned, Yellowjacket was now officially a Defender. As things turned out, that assertion was made in error — or was at least a bit premature. Because the final panel of #25 was the last we’d see of Dr. Henry Pym in this series, in or out of any of his various costumes, until issue #78, over four years later. What happened? Well, given that Yellowjacket’s next appearance would be in Avengers #137 (which was actually published simultaneously with Defenders #25, on April 15, 1975), it seems reasonable to conclude that Hank’s old team simply called dibs on him. But we’ll have more to say about all that when we take a look at that very issue of Avengers, coming next month.
*No, Pennysworth’s never explicitly identified as the masked leader we saw in issue #22, but the fact that the way in and out of the Sons’ secret lair leads directly through his office, not to mention that he had the Defenders’ confiscated gear stashed in his own damn closet, indicates that he’s much more than just a behind-the-scenes money-man.
The twist with Pennyworth seemed clever when I first read it but no, it hasn’t aged well (“Sure, white supremacy is bad, but black people can be bad too!” feels like a CYA move). And I hate Gerber’s handling of Valkyrie. Despite its flaws, an effective story.
But seriously, after three major outings where they turn out to be dupes for POC, who the hell would want to join the Sons of the Serpent?
Great conclusion to the review of one of my favourite Marvel four parters. Defenders 23 being the first ever Marvel All Colour US comic I ever managed to get my hands on. I still have all four and will be digging them out to peruse. I enjoyed the whole series of the Defenders until it went strange somewhere around issue 44. The Elf I had forgotten about and I now remember his fate down the line being a anti-climax.
Yes, I found the finish much less amusing than I assume Gerber did.
I loved the conclusion. It had its own surreal logic, and was completely unexpected and different. A subplot that went nowhere and was ultimately pointless but diverting. A metaphor for life, really.
That certainly is a cluttered cover. Not completely aesthetically pleasing, but admirable in its professionalism. Kudos to Gil Kane for making it as effective as it is, considering all the characters he was required to include.
I’d been a long time Luke Cage fan when I finally picked up these issues – yeah, Gerber nailed the attitude right! Fool, Sugar, Sweet Sister, Jivin – I don’t need much to make me smile and Gerber got it right.
When I started reading the Elf issues I naturally assumed I missed an issue somewhere that tied it all together (I’m still missing a nice #27)…when I asked my 10 year old son which issue explains it and he was as confused as I was! Sometimes life is like that.
Was it ever “explained” as opposed to “disposed of?”
Nope, it’s a metaphor for life, random things happen…Gerber got to experiment with this kind of thing in Omega the Unknown – the idea of starting glimpses into plot threads that just go nowhere. Omega is a very strange book but I do appreciate it.
Gerber took it to his grave too – he never expanded on what it was going to be (if anything)
Gerber was my all time favorite Defenders writer, followed by DeMateis and Gillis. The Elf was another bit of business, like Omega’s fate, that was handled very badly by the next writer to handle it. Most times Marvel back then would have been better off not tying up loose ends with different writers down the line. The one exception was that awful story writing Ms Marvel out of the Avengers because it led to an excellent run in X-Men and her eventual return as first Ms then Captain Marvel.
I don’t think I had read the previous Serpents stories at this point and it did hit hard for me. I didn’t take the crowd reaction as casual racism being okay, but that even casual racists thought murder and teh other mayhem that was promised for racism’s sake was abhorrent.
And who knows? If Pym had stayed a Defender the chain of events that eventually led to the wife slapping and then his now being characterized as generally mentally unstable would not have happened. Too bad. Gerber would certainly have given YJ enough great character beats that the domestic violence wouldn’t be one of only two memorable story beats for the character, creating Ultron being the other. It’s hard to rehab a character when there’s no well to go to for lasting change.
The non-Serpent racists remind me of a line from All in the Family: “Archie wouldn’t burn a cross on someone’s lawn.” “No, but if he found one burning he might roast a marshmallow.”
As the real trigger for them fighting back seems to have been Jack defending Val, it might have made more sense to emphasize that in the dialog.
I had that thought, too.
Mike Friedrich using Ant-Man and the Wasp in CPT Marvel seemed to put a “bee in both Gerber & Englehart’s bonnets” (sorry!) about the characters.
Most of the mis-steps seemed to come from Jim Shooter during his run . . . . (not to pick on him).
I loved the Defenders, but my enjoyment of this issue was lessened only by the inclusion of Damion Hellstrom, whose origins offended my Southern Baptist upbringing. That upbringing doesn’t hold quite the sway over me today that it did then (though it will rise up, unexpectedly at the strangest times), but I still find the Son of Satan to be a poorly-designed and thought-out character. Regardless, I was more than ready to get into this story and see the Sons of the Serpent FINALLY get what was coming to them.
Overall, I thought Gerber’s treatment of the main storyline was handled well. Steve gave Clea something to do, which was rare enough, and she handled the task well. I also thought the Serpents’ rhetoric was appropriate for the time and situation. The fact that Marvel could have dropped this story into current continuity as a new story and not have to change much of it at all, however, is depressing. I liked how Kyle Richmond’s lack of attention to his business responsibilities led to his fortune being used to fund the Serpents, but Pennyworth’s desire to “escape from his own people” was specious and the thinking that since Richmond was OK with a little pollution, he’d be OK with white supremacy and genocide was a huge leap the story didn’t quite clear. I probably thought the reveal that Pennysworth was black himself was cool, but I didn’t read the Avengers in those days and probably didn’t know that this was a trick Marvel kept pulling out of the deck. Looking back, the fact that the leaders of the movement weren’t really as worried about white supremacy as they were wealth and power was probably more accurate than anyone knew (it’s certainly true today), but it does seem like someone at Marvel was trying to water down the over-all evil of the idea in general.
Like Alan, I also got a lot of my “liberal education” from comics. A lot of it was confused and twisted up with both the casual and malignant racism and Republicanism inherent in the Deep South at the time, but I worked it out eventually and realize that many of the reasons I’m not a racist today came from the stories I read in comics as a kid, for which I’m eternally grateful.
As for the Elf with a Gun, I had forgotten him until I saw that picture of him holding the gun in this story, and seeing him made me laugh. Obviously, my self-conscious enjoyed this storyline back in the day, but current me doesn’t remember where this went at all, so I look forward to reading it anew here. Thanks, Alan!
Alan:
J.C. (for Jean Claude) Pennysworth didn’t get visibly unmasked as the Supreme Serpent (or Serpent Supreme, if you prefer), so I felt a little disappointed there, as I didn’t with General Chen (in *Avengers* #33) or Dan Dunn and Montague Hale (in *Avengers*#74).
I like the idea of Dr. Strange calling in a favor and finding Elena and her son a better place to live: it reminds me of how Stephen got Soviet doctor Tania Belinsky to perform the necessary brain surgery for Kyle Richmond in #36. (Taylor Charles could have been a little more gracious, though.)
Still, going by an issue of FOOM, it seems typical of Steve Gerber’s approach to storytelling: throw a lot of things out, go with some, account for others and just forget the rest. (A movie title claims that “they saved Hitler’s brain,” but what happened to Chondu’s after Tania’s surgery? Or the fawn the Hulk rescued? Who gave Nagan permission to perform surgery on Chondu? Where did Ruby Thursday come from?) Elena was meant to be a guide for the Valkyrie to her new environment and while Jack Norriss took over some of that, he couldn’t give us “the fierce and beautiful world” (phrase nicked from Andrei Platonov: thinking of the Red Guardian is bringing out the Russian literature reader in me) that she could have.
I’ve joked before about Elena opening the wrong door in the Sanctum Sanctorum and becoming the queen of another dimension, but a more prosaic comparison might be to Hans Rooten, the mascot of the Howling Commandos, who was left in the care of Reb Ralston’s parents in *Sgt. Fury* #24 and then never seen again.
I’m sure he was happy with them, and wherever Elena and son went, I’d like to think that they’re happy, too.
Wah-hoo to us, everyone!
(P.S. Good call on Professor X, who could have summoned Hawkeye, the Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner and saved Bruce Banner from running up Dr. Strange’s telephone bill. How interesting to reflect that the first run of the *Defenders* title ended with three of the Professor’s students in the group…but I’d better stop there, lest I bring up the fact that before there was Elena, there was Candy Southern, who disappeared for a long time before she returned…)
Brian Cronin’s done whole blog posts about comics’ many, many loose ends. One of my favorites is that when Spymaster debuts in Iron Man he’s clearly got a personal reason for going after Stark, which he’s hiding from his team, but nobody ever follows up on that. After that story he’s just a straight corporate saboteur.
Frasersherman, I believe you’re referencing Iron Man 33-35 (1970) with Spymaster’s first appearance. I always thought it seemed to be strongly hinted there that Spymaster was really supposed to be Alex Nevsky/Niven, the second Crimson Dynamo. He had a huge grudge against Iron Man, blaming him for the death of Janice Cord (who both Nevsky and Tony Stark were in love with). She was actually killed by the Titanium Man in Iron Man 22 (1969). Nevsky appeared a few more times in Avengers and Iron Man in 1974 and 1975 but otherwise disappeared and I’m not sure whatever happened to him. But when David Micheline decided to use Spymaster again in Iron Man 117 it seems that he jettisoned his past motivations and made him just an industrial spy as you noted above. Michelinie also later decided to kill him off and I don’t recall if we ever found out who he really was…..
I hadn’t encountered that theory before. It’s not bad.
I liked Nevsky’s revenge plan: becoming a greater hero than Iron Man, build Cord Electronics into a bigger company than Stark. But that never went anywhere after that.
Trivia note, Spymaster’s original team, the Espionage Elite, are clearly modeled on TV’s Mission Impossible — a master of disguise named “London” for Leonard Nimoy’s Paris, for instance.
According to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Alex was killed by the KGB and his armor confiscated.
This wasn’t the first time that Clea had used mystical means to summon superheroes to save Dr. Strange. She actually did so in the second official appearance of the Defenders, way back in Marvel Feature # 2, when she contacted the Hulk and Sub-Mariner to rescue the good doctor from a group of cultists who had kidnapped him and taken him to the “fictional” town of Rutland, Vermont, in order to bring Dormammu back to Earth’s dimension. Also, the protracted saga of the Elf was finally resolved in Defenders # 122-123 (a whole 8 years later in 1983), in a story penned by J. M. DeMatteis.
Correction: The original Elf sub-plot was resolved in Defenders # 46. DeMatteis resurrected the concept for iteration of the Elf.
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/elf-with-a-gun/4005-24827/; https://peerlesspower.blogspot.com/2021/07/this-elf-is-packing.html; https://peerlesspower.blogspot.com/2021/07/this-elf-is-packing.html.
Wow, an improperly Bluebook-ed string cite . . . .
Thanks for another excellent review Alan. Again it is interesting to have the perspective of so many years to look back on this story. I certainly remember that I was riveted to this storyline when I first read it 50 years. And it is certainly sad that a lot of themes in this story are still relevant now perhaps more than ever. I agree with many of your comments. Bob McLeod who developed into a very fine artist in his own right did an excellent job on issue 24 and I was actually fine with Jack Abel’s inking on issue 25. Regarding the cover copy on issue 24, that usually came from the editor so we can presume that was Len Wein’s idea to name ” 5 Fearsome Defenders” and Include Yellowjacket. It’s interesting to note that several blogs have discussed Giant Size Defenders 4 (a favorite of mine) and called it “Yellowjacket’s finest hour”. I would agree but also believe he was handle very well in this storyline also. It is also interesting to note that in later letter columns there were complaints that Dr. Strange was basically knocked out for the entirety of issue 24! But of course Dr. Strange is a problematic character to deal with in this book. As the Sorcerer Supreme he could technically wipe the floor with the Sons of the Serpent in less than half an issue. So it was explained that Gerber did what he had to. Understandable, but a tricky problem. And I seem to recall that eventually Englehart was less than pleased with how Gerber handled Dr. Strange, and similarly Len became unhappy with how Gerber handled the Hulk. I’m not sure that was ever really dealt with.
Regarding Pennysworth…it certainly appears that Len, who apparently created him, had intended him to be white, but an important and slightly mysterious character in Kyle’s background. Len may have intended to do something with him since his face was never shown, but we’ll never know. But what Gerber did…. talk about thinking out of the box! I remember being completely shocked by the revelation. I had read Avengers 73-74 and by this time had seen Avengers 32-33 as back issues, so eventually it did feel wrong to me that again a super racist group that is actually the comic equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan is led or funded by a minority person. Also, now in retrospect…I don’t understand…were the Sons of the Serpent actually working with Pennysworth (how would that be possible given their virulent racism?) or was he in disguise? Did Pennysworth actually take the Defenders’ weaponry and hide it in a closet?! There were a lot of loose ends and a lot that was not explained for a 4 part story. Who was the Supreme Serpent? Was it actually Pennysworth? Why didn’t they unmask Nighthawk when he was captured? Yes I know those Sons of the Serpent are not very bright….
Regarding the ending…yes I agree, focusing on Nighthawk at the very end after the heavy themes of this story seems strange although I’m sure I did not consider it at the time. Gerber did a pretty good job of adding a lot of depth to Nighthawk who was kind of a blank slate until Gerber came along.
However, regarding Valkyrie, sorry folks, but I always found her to be a really boring character (nicely drawn of course). She had very little personality. Gerber tried to have interesting things happen to her, but it should be noted again and again…she is NOT Barbara Norris. Jack Norris started off as a really annoying character and just became more annoying. Yes Jack did save Val’s life in issue 25, but beyond that…it is not clear where Gerber intended to take Jack Norris. A possible love interest for Val? I suspect Gerber had no idea. But of course Gerber would leave and although Jack Norris would hang around the Defenders for a while longer he would eventually disappear.
Did Pennysworth ever appear again (other than a flashback in issue 32)? Just wondering.
Anyway thanks for another trip down memory lane, Alan.
He was shown going to prison in a flashback years later. That was it (http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/pennysworthjc.htm)
Jack Norris seems like a Gerber character, a normal guy thrust into weirdness much like Richard Rory in Man-Thing,
I forgive you for finding Valkyrie dull, even though you are so wrong the legend of your error will be whispered of a hundred years from now.
Gerber’s “Dr. Strange has the power level the story needs” annoyed me on rereading his Defenders run as I knew way more about Stephen than I did when these stories were fresh.
Your points about how the heck Pennyworth pulled this off are valid. They can be explained but Gerber apparently didn’t put much thought into it beyond the big reveal.
Defenders # 24’s a favourite of mine ( it’s in my top 10! ). On SDC’s ‘Speak Your Brain’ last week, I reviewed it, too. Bob McLeod’s inks also impressed me. It’s very validating Defenders # 24 being important to yourself, and other readers too. Our childhood favourites aren’t shared by all comics fans, after all. When they are…well, that’s a bonus! ‘Rampage Weekly’ was where I read this ( in black & white). The colours for the Luke Cage & Daredevil’s panels you’ve selected, however, look terrific – vivid reds and yellows!
The Silver Surfer & the Submariner ( plus Hulk & Dr.Strange), made the Defenders too powerful, perhaps. Had Clea contacted them, like with the Hulk, the Serpents could have blinded Namor. But an undersea alien had already blinded the Submariner in his own mag ( I forget the issue), so that would be repetitive. Moreover, the Silver Surfer could defeat the Serpents singlehandedly. The Yellowjacket, Daimon Hellstrom, Daredevil & Luke Cage quartet was a far better choice, story-wise.
An absolutely riveting review, Alan – keep up the good work!
Warlock’s going stratospheric very soon – I bet you’ve got Adam in your sights, too!
Best regards,
Phillip
Is there a link to your Defenders #24 review, Phillip? I’d like to check it out, and I imagine others might, as well.
Also, in case you missed them, I reviewed the first two installments of Jim Starlin’s Warlock in November and January, and a Strange Tales #180 post will be out one week from Saturday. 😉
Alan,
I’m afraid the spacing’s out of kilter (I cut & pasted it), & also I’ve pasted the same paragraph twice. Nevertheless, here’s the link:
https://stevedoescomics.blogspot.com/2025/02/speak-your-brain-part-97.html
Strange Tales # 180’s the one I’m thinking of. It was my first Warlock ( in Star Wars Weekly), and therefore my favourite! I’ve written most of an essay on that, too!
Phillip
Arriving a bit late to this party. Was too busy with work and then spending time with friends playing trivia, etc. I had tried to post some commentary late last night but something went wrong and it all disappeared! The elf made a magic comeback and killed my words! Anyhoo … back in the day, I’d read the first three chapters of this story but then never saw the conclusion on the racks of the NEX where I got my four-color fix 50 years ago and as they never carried any of the Giant-Size mags, even if I’d had the extra quarters on me I didn’t have the opportunity to get the first chapter of the Defenders & Guardians of the Galaxy (more or less original version) mashup, but at least I got the next four issues of that. To tell the truth, I’m willing to cut Gerber some slack on holding to the tradition of a surprise twist as to who was behind the Sons of the Serpent. From the perspective of the present, Pennysworth sort of brings to my mind U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas who owes his entire career to taking advantage of affirmative action policies but has spent much of time on the USSC working to burn the ladders that helped him get a leg up, and supporting the aims of racist politicians to keep people who share his dark skin tone impoverished and/or imprisoned. Of course, all that came decades after Gerber’s story was published. I’ve no idea if he might have been inspired by any real, well-known person with a similar ultra-conservative, all-in for whatever brings in the big bucks, no matter what harm is caused. I don’t think Gerber meant for Pennysworth to be the head-honcho of this iteration of the SotS but clearly in close contact with whoever it was, both cynically using each other. Alas, Gerber left all that rather muddled in murk before moving on to the next epic. Many comics writers of the Silver & Bronze age tended to do that, even ol’ King Kirby. I appreciate that many of the best writers of comics in the ’80s and later, particularly Alan Moore, were much more meticulous in their long-term plotting, while the likes of Gerber & Englehart were mostly flying by the seat of their pants while plotting.
Still, overall, I loved this epic despite its flaws. I noticed that this story and the Mad Viking/Book Burning trilogy over in Man-Thing mostly overlapped in their publishing, and both had similar themes of the horrors of extremism and hatred for the “other”, whether of someone of darker skin, or different beliefs on human origins, religion and sex education. The Mad Viking and his bible-thumping fans in Citrusville and the Sons of the Serpent both represented real life forces attempting to drag humanity to a new dark age and who appear even more dominant in our nation now than they were 50 years ago! Shudder! As befits it being a horror mag, the Man-Thing tale was far darker than its superhero counterpart in the Defenders, but although the forces of darkness were thwarted in their immediate goals, neither story had a genuine happy ending. And as is the way in periodical fantasies, Gerber moved on to other scenarios and concerns, leaving several dangling threads.
A sort of imperfect scattershot approach, but what appeals to me about Gerber’s writing was his willingness to take on subjects that were if not outright forbidden by the CCA were still fairly taboo topics most other mainstream comics writers shied away from in the 1970s or took a far more cautious approach to. But Gerber also kept his tales entertaining (at least IMO!), and generally didn’t make everything seem utterly hopeless, even if a sock in the jaw to the bad guy (or reducing him to a sudsy mess, as Manny did to the Mad Viking) hardly solves the larger horrors that haunt humanity.
Lot of food for thought in these little epics! Enjoyed reading your thoughts on this one, Alan, as well as those of the other participants herein. 🙂
Good point about Thomas, Fred. I hadn’t made that connection. He’s an equal-opportunity @$$hole, for sure.
There’s also the Ice Demons battling Daimon Hellstrom in Marvel Spotlight 14 as the embodiment of not only physical ice but freezing thought and belief so they can’t change.
I didn’t want to say anything before because I didn’t want to get too political, but since frednotfaith2 already said it, I’ll say it too: J.C. Pennysworth definitely reminds me of Clarence Thomas.
Something that doesn’t make sense, and is probably a result of Steve Gerber’s on-the-fly plotting: if the only way in & out of the Sons of the Serpent’s underwater base is through a secret entrance in Pennysworth’s office, how could the Serpents not have realized that he was the one financing them? And didn’t anyone at Richmond Enterprises notice all of the armed & costumed soldiers going in & out of the place? Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense.
I’ve always felt that the first time that the leader of the Sons of the Serpent was unmasked as an outsider, namely General Chen, it made perfect sense, because it’s actually a diabolically logical idea to try to destroy an enemy country from within. I look at the fictional Chen, and I am instantly reminded of the very real life Vladimir Putin. Dunn & Hale being the secret leaders of the second iteration of the Sons is a bit less effective, but it does bring to mind how Fox News has spent decades magnifying American fears & hatreds for profit. By the time we get to Pennysworth, though, it feels a bit like Gerber’s grasping for straws, though, like he feels compelled to also have a shock reveal for the Sons’ leader, even if it doesn’t make all that much sense.
So, it’s probably for the best that since the Sons of the Serpent were brought back in the 1990s they were just depicted as a straightforward hate group, with no “secret mastermind” egging them on. Well, okay, there was the new version of the Hate Monger, whoever he was. And then there was Nicholas Scratch, too. Okay, so the Sons *still* seem to easily fall under the sway of various charismatic figures who are ultimately just using them.
I don’t know. Maybe you could make the case that the Sons’ rank & file are so blinded by bigotry that it makes them incredibly easy to be fooled & co-opted by anyone with an agenda. That feels like a very real-world observation.
Letting bigotry turn people into suckers is certainly true to life, agreed.
I suppose Pennyworth could explain he’s really fronting for Kyle who’s the real financier but that doesn’t entirely work as a solution.
Maybe Kyle’s dad had been the original financier, working with Chen, and Pennysworth just kept it going after daddy died and Kyle inherited the fortune but had no interest in actually running the company or in figuring out how the money was made or invested. And maybe they somehow made a tunnel to connect the Richmond office to Doc Ock’s old Master Planner underwater headquarters. After repairing all that damage from Spidey’s fight with Doc Ock, that is. At this point we can pretty much make up any scenario we like to try to make the odder aspects of the fantasy make more sense. Admittedly, my pre-teen self (I’d turn 13 a few months after this story was published) didn’t think too deeply about most of this stuff at the time. When my adult self finally read the concluding chapter with the reveal of Pennysworth’s involvement, I just rolled with it. “Oh, course, Kyle’s primo financial handler who just happens to be a black man was investing in and providing a headquarters for a racist baddies. How utterly shocking.” By then, I’d seen such twists a few too many times in comics. But leave it to Moore to up the scale on comics’ twists — “stop me? I already did it a half hour ago.”
I always assumed that there was more than one way into the base and that this was Pennysworth’s secret entrance and that SOS just happened to come across it first.
Oops! I completely forgot to mention the fantastic work by Our Pal Sal Buscema penciling these issues! That double-page spread in issue #25 of the Defenders fighting the Sons of the Serpent is fantastic!
The Romita contributions to the covers, I think, would be the Hulk’s face on #24 and the faces of Cage, Dr Strange and Daimon Hellstrom on #25 (possibly the Hulk again, but the inking makes it hard to tell).
Have to echo the disappointment that, yet again the leader of Marvel’s white supremacist hate group turns out not to be an out-and-out white supremacist. It was a surprise once, but three times in a row?
Two things, Alan.
In contrast to the Valkyrie’s dominant and aggressive personality under Steve Englehart’s run, it was very atypical to see her depicted by Steve Gerber as a helpless sacrificial victim on a cross at the hands of the Sons of the Serpent in Defenders # 25. Coincidentally, in the very same month over in Marvel Team-Up # 35, Val is depicted by Gerry Conway as a helpless sacrificial victim on an altar at the hands of the false prophet Jeremiah. Doubly coincidental is that one of her rescuers is again the good Dr. Strange, who was assisted by guest host the Human Torch, filling in for Spider-Man while he was teaming up with the Man-Thing in Giant-Size Spider-Man # 5.
Also, I had been hoping this month that you would be reviewing Giant-Size Invaders # 1. Will you be covering any of Roy Thomas’s first retcon series?
That’s interesting about the Valkyrie-as-sacrifice story parallels, Jay — I didn’t remember any of that, although I know I bought and read that MTU issue and surely noticed at the time.
As regards Giant-Size Invaders #1, however, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. 🙁 I’m not sure why or how it happened, but I missed that particular book when it first came out and had to buy it later as a back issue. While I’ve considered folding the basics into a post on Invaders #1 (which I did buy off the stands), a recent re-reading of that issue (and the conclusion of the storyline in #2) left me rather less than enthused at the prospect. Sorry! I do have fond memories of some of the later Invaders stories — especially the Baron Blood/Union Jack stuff — so there’s still a good chance we’ll have some posts on the book coming up, a little further down the road.
1 and 2 (originally intended for Giant-Size 2) weren’t the series’ best, though they do foreshadow Roy’s enthusiasm for Teutonic gods and myths (leading to the interminable Wagner’s Ring adaptation in Thor down the road). While I read my brother’s copies of the early issues, I didn’t start buying the book myself until the arc that started with #5 and introduced the Liberty Legion.
This appears to have been a favourite story arc for many, including myself, in spite of the flaws ( one not mentioned was Banner being able to remember all the heroes that the Defenders had worked with in the past…I didn’t think that Banner could remember much of what happens when he becomes the Hulk!).
Yes, missed opportunities by Gerber, especially with the Val and inner city poverty storyline, a point you make well Alan. I thought the ending focusing on Nighthawk’s troubled conscious was apt though; I believe that Gerber was making 2 messages here:
– that there should be personal responsibility, whoever you are, in whatever you do. Richmond is a dilettante, only doing the super-hero bit for his own kicks, and not seriously looking to see how he could fully benefit society, both with his anti criminal actions AND his assets; this can be said for many of us, who hold large pension assets but don’t specifically know in what or how they are being invested. At the beginning of the arc it could be that Holliman, the racist landlord, was the villain, but in the end who was the bigger villain, Holliman, or Richmond, an absentee landlord who was blasé about his wealth, and who could have done so much to improve the lives of others?
– that there is continuous secret funding of many insidious organisations. When you think of all the wars going on in the world ( and there are many more than just Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan) who indeed is funding these? Could we be funding these, unwittingly?
Kyle Richmond is a flawed, entitled character, and Gerber started playing around giving him life’s lessons, first with the injury to Trixie Starr, now here with Pennysworth. You are not inured from life’s slings and arrows, whoever you might be ( of course having money does alleviate some problems, as well as giving others!). I don’t know whether The Wayne Foundation had been set up over in Batman at this point…if not, it may well be that these issues were a starting point. Len after all did create the Lucius Fox character over at DC, having come up with Pennysworth in the Defenders.
Top art marks here for Sal, who handled all the characters well, and to Bob (who I saw next inking Don Heck wonderfully on the Morbius strip in Fear) and to Jack Abel too ( who I hold in more esteem than some others do).
Apologies for (almost always) being 3 months behind!
ps like you Alan, I found the scenes of the refugee creation chilling now, but not then. How times have changed…or is it that we are more aware?
Just FYI, Spirit — the Wayne Foundation goes back at least to Detective Comics #328 (Jun., 1964), when it was set up as “the Alfred Foundation” in honor of you-know-who (Alfie was supposed to be dead at the time, and hadn’t been given the surname “Pennyworth” yet, either). According to the DC Database wiki (see https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Wayne_Foundation ), one of its first projects was the Gotham Wax Museum, of all things — so it may not have been until the mid-’70s or even later that DC’s writers began having it focus on serious societal problems. 🙂