Last month, we looked at Defenders #31 — the proper beginning to the multi-part “Headmen/Nebulon” saga which would ultimately prove both the apex and the climax to writer Steve Gerber’s memorable run on this title. As regular readers of this blog will recall, that issue ended with our favorite non-team faced with a major mystery — namely, that the sinister sorcerer who’d just ambushed them in the guise of their teammate Nighthawk had, once handily defeated by Dr. Strange and then unmasked, turned out to actually be Nighthawk.
Of course, we fans knew one important fact still hidden from our heroes, which was that the brain of Nighthawk (aka Kyle Richmond) had been removed and replaced with that of one of the Headmen, Chondu the Mystic. But since brain transplants aren’t something you see every day, even in the Marvel Universe, you can’t blame Nighthawk’s fellow Defenders for looking to more mundane solutions first… like, say, demonic possession. And if that should indeed be the cause for Kyle’s condition, who ya gonna call?
We’ll pause here on the first page just long enough to note that Gerber continues to be ably assisted in his storytelling by the ever-dependable Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney. And now, on with the exorcism!
His earnest efforts having proven a bust, sometime Defender Daimon Hellstrom (aka the Son of Satan) offers his sincere regrets, then quietly exits our story. Dr. Strange then tries another ploy, calling on “the ultimate organ of vision”, his amulet’s Eye of Agamotto, “to illume this dark night of the soul” He meets fierce resistance from “Kyle”/Chondu, who shouts, “No! It won’t work! I won’t allow it!”
It continues to be a major irritation in these issues that, despite Jack Norriss’ alleged “acceptance” of Valkyrie’s life with the Defenders, he still insists on acting like she’s really his wife Barbara, if only she could remember. At this point, it’s hard not to conclude that Steve Gerber agrees with him, as loath as I am to admit it.
Just in case anyone’s wondering… while the three original Headmen were all plucked by Steve Gerber from old Marvel anthology comic-book stories (see our Defenders #21 post for details), Ruby — or, as we’ll soon come to call her, Ruby Thursday — is a brand-new creation, appearing here for the first time.
Back at Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, our favorite Sorcerer Supreme has traded one artifact of Agamotto (the Eye) — for another one (the Orb). As Hulk, Val, and Jack look on, Doc explains that the Orb will put them in direct touch with Kyle’s mind, allowing them to use their friend’s own perceptions to locate him…
Before we get going with our little psychodrama. did you notice that wobbily-flying figure of Nighthawk in the top panel, above? Why do you suppose that the Defenders would bring Chondu along with them — or, if they were afraid to leave Kyle’s body unattended, why would they allow him to remain conscious? It’s yet another mystery… but one that the heroes, at least, know the answer to this time (although we readers won’t be clued in until next month’s issue).
Steve Gerber had used this device of a surreally-presented autobiographical narrative at least twice before; first, in Man Thing #6’s “And When I Died…”, and then again in Giant-Size Man-Thing #4‘s The Kid’s Night Out!”.
As Kyle ruefully recalls, the “stability” he ultimately found at Westhaven Boarding School for Boys mostly consisted of getting in fights with his fellow students — something that began his very first day, when he was taunted for shedding a tear, and continued even after he “learned there was no percentage in letting your feelings show.”
Did Kyle really hit his headmaster hard enough to send the guy flying, or is this all just in his head brain? I’d be inclined to go with the latter option — on the other hand, we’re in Sal Buscema’s world here, where every punch reliably knocks the recipient off their pins, so who knows?
Fully expecting to be sent off to fight (and very possibly die) in Vietnam, Kyle was surprised when the doctors processing him for the draft discovered a previously undetected heart murmur. “And faster than you can say ‘4-F’…”
Presented in that last splash panel is an abridged version of everything we readers of 1975 had ever learned about Kyle Richmond, Nighthawk, since his debut appearance in the final panel of Avengers #69 six years earlier… everything, that is, prior to this seven-page sequence, which has given the character’s seemingly random lurches from bored rich guy to supervillain to superhero a context which, if not exactly justifying his actions, at least allows us to understand them in a way we couldn’t before. It’s very deft work from Steve Gerber — and the sort of character study that, while it might seem unremarkable to modern fans, was still pretty novel in the American superhero comics of the mid-1970s, especially when applied to a second-to-third-tier figure like Nighthawk.
Hmm, that sure doesn’t sound like Chondu talking, does it? The mystery continuess. (Though some reasonable guesses can be made at this point, surely.)
Oh, and the last time the Hulk was in Westbury, CT, back in issue #21, he didn’t encounter any of the Headmen — although he did sort-of-but-not-really accidentally smash up the house of a nice suburban family. Gee, I wonder if anything like that will happen on this visit?
(Kathryn Kuhlman, for anyone who’s forgotten — or who’s never known in the first place — was an American evangelist and faith healer who rose to fame in the early 1970s. She died just a few months after the publication of this story, in February, 1976.)
I’m sure that all of you out there have been wondering about the whereabouts (and welfare) of the baby deer rescued from hunters by the Hulk last issue — and are relieved to learn by way of this page’s “Next” blurb that your favorite fawn is still part of our storyline. Still, that line “‘Bambi’ goes berserk” sounds awfully ominous, doesn’t it? I’m not sure what my eighteen-year-old self was expecting to happen in regards to that particular plot thread in Defenders #33, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t what Gerber and company actually delivered. Many of you out there reading this already know what I’m talking about — but whether you do or not, I trust you’ll return next month to relive the madness with your humble blogger.
Now that I’ve actually read the Squadron Sinister story — I hadn’t at the time this issue came out — the idea Nighthawk joined “for kicks” when he knew the endgame was annihilating Earth — makes him a sociopath. I’m surprised nobody’s ever gone with some simple explanation like “the nighthawk formula temporarily unhinged my brain.”
“we’re in Sal Buscema’s world here, where every punch reliably knocks the recipient off their pins” Still less scary than getting a punch in Gil Kane’s world: https://atomicjunkshop.com/when-the-new-look-became-the-old-look/
As to the issue itself, it’s well-done though I seem to recall it didn’t grab me at the time. If I’m right, I imagine the problem was that I didn’t really care about Nighthawk’s backstory that much — he never struck me as someone where “who is Nighthawk and how did he come to be?” was a question needing much answering.
“I imagine the problem was that I didn’t really care about Nighthawk’s backstory that much…”. To be honest, I didn’t really care about Nighthawk… at all. As hard as Gerber tried, I never felt that I’d been given any reason to change that opinion. That’s maybe why I was never as much of a fan of Gerber as some of you guys. As hard as he tried, and as much as he had something more intelligent to say than a lot of generic writers then and since, it often felt as though his reach exceeded his grasp. I’d make an exception for his Man-Thing stories, but even then the appeal was at best uneven.
When you think of the sometimes excellent stories written around other long-suffering rich boys like Tony or Bruce, it’s difficult to sustain any interest in Kyle.
Also agree with the comment “we’re in Sal Buscema’s world here”. Even before Kyle’s ‘Sal layouts 101’ roundhouse punch showing Kyle’s swipe at the Principal, the Principal’s slap to Kyle’s face starts (according to the speed-lines) about two feet behind his own head. If Will Smith had handed out a slap like that, I might better understand the rush to condemn his actions.
I love that the Headmen became the closest the Defenders collectively had as arch-nemeses (will, maybe with the exception of Nebulon — who is somewhat related). I agree with @frasersherman that this issue was a bit of a lull in the mulit-part storyline because I wasn’t really much a fan of Nighthawk and didn’t see the need for his backstory, but it did include the introduction of Ruby — a villain so bizarre that you can’t help but love her!
I liked Nighthawk because he wasn’t Tony Stark or the other alter ego rich guys. He was a schlub just like the majority of people out here who lucked into a wealthy family and mild super powers. The fact he barely succeeded most times made him more realistic than many other heroes.
I liked this issue for its exploration of Kyle’s troubled past. As written by Roy Thomas, in the Avengers and Daredevil, he did come off as a sociopathic, cackling villain with no noticeable redeeming features and I think Fraser’s idea that the formula (with some sort of steroids perhaps) temporarily unhinged him. Obviously, Len Wein saw something in the character worth salvaging from D-grade villainy — and not just for the sake of adding a BatMan analog to the non-team! Nighthawk may be uber-wealthy, but he’s never been portrayed as being any sort of brilliant detective or strategist. But for all his past sins, irresponsible foolishness and other shortcomings, which included causing the death of a woman he loved through drunk driving, he’s attempting to redeem himself, to do good for others. Even as a 13 year old without much experience in life’s traumas and peccadillos, I could relate to Kyle as written by Gerber. My own parents both had drinking problems and I know they drove drunk several times and it’s maybe only pure luck they never got into a serious accident that cost their own or someone else’s life. In fact, I recall one day when our family still lived in Utah, my mother, who had only recently gotten a driver’s license, taking my brother and I to a friend’s home, driving over very frosty roads while clearly intoxicated – that stuck in my mind because I became ever more terrified by my mother’s erratic behavior when she was drunk.
Otherwise, Ruby was a very enigmatic addition to the Headmen, and Jerry’s less than enthusiastic response to her was amusing. I don’t recall that I sussed what was going on with the “Nighthawk” in awkward flight with the gang as they went to suburbia to confront the Headmen. In hindsight, it’s obvious. But as we’d see in coming mags, Gerber was playing all sorts of head games with these characters.
Boy, is it ever wonderful to be attacked on Wednesday as well on Saturday!
This one made me think of heroes and villains.
First, in meeting Ruby Thursday (someone would hang that name on her later), I recalled the radio Ruby, who introduces herself as “a galactic gumshoe…a good one,” and had adventures with colorful characters named And/Or, T.J. Teru, the Android Sisters and Rodant (never call him “Rodent”) Kapoor.
(My favorite finds her meeting Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, and the journey through Erishkegal.)
Second, the “poor little rich boy” backstory reminded me of Dagger (of Cloak and). In telling her story to Father Delgado and detective Brigid O’Reilly, she calls herself a “poor little rich girl” a split second before I could think “typical poor little girl story, boo hoo”* and when she did, it hit me: it doesn’t matter that this is a familiar story to me, it’s a life to Tandy Bowen** and it hurt her.
And in realizing that, while it may not have hurt me as well, it certainly moved me.
Given what happened with Mindy (she’ll get a last name later, just like Ruby: it’s Williams) and the fact that two different Kyle Richmonds have died and come back to life (I think), going back with Kyle wasn’t as powerful as I remembered. Maybe it’s because Trish Starr’s car accident occurred first for readers, though after Mindy’s in the timeline.
With Nighthawk, I kept noticing that Kyle Richmond in his flashbacks was almost always in the uniform he’d adopted in *Defenders* #15. Indeed, the only time we saw the original Nighthawk costume was in the montage panel, and it wasn’t depicting his battle with Captain America (*Avengers* #70) but his clash with Daredevil (*Daredevil* #62).
Which took me to Rutland, Vermont.
Where Tom Fagan dressed annually as the Batman in DC stories referencing the Halloween Parade…but as Nighthawk in Marvel tales (say, that would make a good title for a comic-book, wouldn’t it?). In one story (*Avengers* #83?), someone asks why Tom dresses as Nighthawk, a super-villain, and he lamely attributes it to the Halloween ambience.
I lost track of the Rutland stories after *Avengers* #119: did Tom Fagan ever wear the heroic Nighthawk costume during the Parade?
Incidentally, I like the idea that the Nighthawk serum briefly affected Kyle’s mind. It reminds me of *Justice League America* #113, when Sandy Hawkins became “the Creature in the Velvet Cage”: he seemed to have gone to the dark side, but it was only a fleeting disorientation; he was his true self decades before he broke free.
*
Cliches are saws with no teeth, but once they were razor-sharp. X-Ray Spex, anyone? Pink doesn’t have to be obscene.
**
And, dammit, you shouldn’t laugh at someone’s life, as we learned in *Miracleman* with Liz Moran.
I had to look this one up, A.S.! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_the_Galactic_Gumshoe
The real Tom Hagan dressed as Batman for the Halloween event. For reasons that should be obvious, Marvel couldn’t have Tom dress up as Batman in their comics, so Roy Thomas had him put on the Nighthawk costume for his appearance in Avengers # 83 even though at the time (1970, I believe), Nighthawk was still very much a villain, albeit one who had only shown up in two stories by that point. Perhaps Marvel could have gone with Spider-Man or Daredevil or another Marvel hero, but I suspect Thomas wanted to maintain the Batman connection although I don’t recall that was ever spelled out anywhere.
“Tom Hagan??!”
I hope the poor man wasn’t a lawyer, If he were I hope he didn’t “have a special practice . . . . handle one client.'”
I never thought of that before . . . .
The guy in Rutland was actually named Tom Fagan (Anonymous Sparrow had it right in his comment). 😉
Oops! Got the Toms mixed up!
I don’t think I’ve ever read any issues of Defenders written by Steve Gerber. So, thanks for the detailed write-ups of this storyline and the previous ones penned by Gerber.
As I have probably mentioned in the comments before, I am a HUGE fan of Sal Buscema’s work. I’m enjoying seeing his penciling on these Defenders issues. I really feel that Our Pal Sal is very underrated. Looking at this issue, he did a good job drawing the surreal flashbacks to Nighthawk’s past.
Jim Mooney was also a good, talented artist. I’ve heard it said that after a decade of drawing Supergirl for DC, Mooney really liked being able to stretch himself creatively at Marvel, especially on stories written by Gerber. Mooney does a really solid job inking Buscema here. They make a good art team.
Oh yeah… Who drew the cover to Defenders #32? Looking at it, I guessed Gil Kane & Klaus Janson. A visit to the GCD confirmed I was correct, although the GCD does also say there were John Romita alterations to the Hulk’s face.
https://www.comics.org/issue/29550/
Whoa, how did I forget to credit the cover artists for this one? Thanks for bailing me out, Ben!
Yep, definitely a Romita paste- over on the Hulk’s face. But why? Why would you mess with Gil Kane work?
I recall various instances back then of Marvel covers sporting Romita redrawn faces. Usually with gritted teeth. Romita and gritted teeth… what was that all about?
I wonder if Kane’s Hulk was facially on the early Kirby model, as with his 1960s run on Tales to Astonish?
John Romita was more on that 1970s DC orientation towards “keep it on model.” But I guess that is part of being Art Director.
Ah yes, you could well be right re: the Kane Hulk. Marvel had prior when it came to this kind of annoying nitpicking. An egregious example being Hulk Annual 1, with the fierce and expressive Steranko Hulk head replaced by a bland Marie Severin paste-over.
According to former Marvel staffer Scott Edelman on his podcast “Why Not Say What Happened,” Stan wanted particular attention paid to the expressions on the characters’ faces on covers, to convey strong emotion.
Like on Kirby’s last panel to Silver Surfer #18, which may have represented his feelings about Lee when he penciled it.
First off, I have to say that having run out of op-eds and Packer’s news to read this morning and still having half a pot of coffee needing to be consumer that it was a wonderful surprise to find this review in my email! Kudos to Alan for starting my day off with another thoroughly engaging review!
This review brought me back to a comic that I probably haven’t read more than twice since purchasing it way back in the day. What stood out then was the character of Kyle Richmond. Since he’d joined The Defenders about the same time as me, he was kind of my favorite and someone I wanted to identify with. But Gerber’s backstory diminished him considerably in my young eyes. How could he not be bothered about the Mindy’s death? Or be so indifferent to life? As an adult I know this was to put some distance between he and Bruce Wayne as well as add some complexity to an otherwise bland individual. But as a kid, I never liked the character as much after this issue.
Looking back it now, I find the issue a good transition, setting up next issue as well as others. I think what probably stands out now more than anything else is just how in the world did Ruby actually managed to take care of Dr. Strange, Valkyrie and the Hulk in just a one panel? But that was the challenge facing any Defenders with that line-up.
By November of 1975, the Defenders was my second longest Marvel Comics run, with a whopping 11 regular and two Giant-Size issues, second only to my Avengers run of 14 regular and three Giant-Size issues. Nighthawk had quickly become my favorite Defender, with such a great costume and the jet-pack hidden underneath his wings. At nine years old, I was really enjoying a whole bunch of superhero team books, including JLA, Superboy/Legion, and the return of the JSA in All-Star Comics, as well as the Brave and the Bold and a few Marvel Team-Ups. Within the next year, I would also pick up the Secret Society of Super-Villains and Freedom Fighters, and then later the Invaders as well. Other than my subscriptions to JLA and Brave and the Bold, I was still only sporadically collecting issues of all the other titles. Looking back, it would have seemed that I might have gone on to collect the Defenders indefinitely.
I had really loved Len Wein’s two-parters with the Squadron Sinister and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and I had ambivalence about the Grandmaster story in Giant-Size # 3. I then really enjoyed the debut of the Headmen in # 21 and the last three parts of the Sons of the Serpent story arc. I also found the Guardians of the Galaxy interesting when they appeared in Giant-Size # 5, although I was turned off by the combination of Don Heck artwork and that podcasting mutated Eel. So the last issue that I had bought was # 29, the conclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy multi-parter, and then I dodged a bullet by missing the Tapping Tommy fiasco.
I don’t believe I ever saw Defenders # 31, so the next issue that I did get was # 32, and boy did I find it to be tremendously confusing and off-putting. At my young age, all of the metaphorical and trippy elements really turned me off. The only element in the issue that really got my attention was the debut of Ruby, although the panels with Jerry Morgan’s misshapen head on Ruby’s body were very disturbing to me. I guess the combination of Steve Gerber’s whimsicality and the surrealism of Nighthawk’s inner imagery proved to be very unappealing to me. I never bought another Defenders issue off the stands again, although I do remember eagerly flipping through Defenders # 62 to see so many unfamiliar but intriguing-looking third-rate characters.
I would go on to collect many comics from both DC and Marvel through 1994, when the annihilation of the JSA in Zero Hour totally demoralized me, and I decided to give up comics for more grown-up pursuits. After a nine-year hiatus, I decided to resume collecting and eventually became enthralled by the Essential Marvel trade-paperbacks, and it was a great joy to read through the entirety of the adventures of my favorite non-team, especially the remaining issues of the Headmen story arc.
I’ve stated previously how much I love the Defenders and that until the rise of the XMen by Claremont and Byrne, they were my favorite Marvel team-book. And Nighthawk, that sweet dumb himbo of the super-powered set, was always my favorite Defender. Largely due to the Batman connection, I guess, but I was really very fond of the big doofus. Between his dubious faith in Pennysworth (how did they get away with naming him Pennysworth?) and his unintended support of the Sons of the Serpent, we already knew Kyle pretty much sucked as a human being. Not as much as Jack Norriss does, but it’s close. So when Gerber breaks down the secret origin of Nighthawk, it’s not so much illuminating as it is confirming what we’d already guessed. Kyle Richmond was a poor little rich boy, who lost his mother and was abandoned and abused by his father, only to use his wealth to overcome his health issues and buy into a power he doesn’t deserve. He means well, though. God knows, you could pave all the roads to hell with Kyle’s good intentions, but he’s trying his best. And poor Trish Starr. Can’t Kyle write a couple of checks and get Stark or someone to make her some robot arms? Listening to Kyle whine about how badly he’s had it all his life is only a step or two down from listening to Doctor Doom complaining about how the world doesn’t understand his genius.
Maybe Kyle should just run for office. At least then, he’d be among his own people. Thanks, Alan!
The interesting thing is that Lee, Kirby, Ayers and (if memory serves) Sinnott were all WWII vets and the US military had a drinking culture then and many vets brought that home. both from what that formative culture was and from “self-medication” when people could not talk about PTDS or “Battle Fatigue.”
I thought Lee and Ditko (who was a bit younger and served on occupation duty in the FRG after the war) showed courage in doing the story about Dr, Strange (“impaired provider” stories were not exactly all over the media then either, was there a Ben Casey episode on that topic, there is more than a little Ben Casey in Steven Strange as there is a little Jim Kildare in Donald Blake).
If you look at things like Mad Men (now, 10-15 years in the past), you can see how much consumption of alcohol (often, a LOT of alcohol) was a part of creative culture in NYC in the early 1960s. I wonder how that shaped these stories?
As the writer Dan Wakefield says about living in NYC in the 1950s, everybody drank and being able to hold your liquor was a proof of character.
But you’re wrong about Stephen. There was nothing in the first origin about his accident stemming from drunk driving.
I remember being surprised when I read Marvel’s Night Nurse book from the 1970s (on the app) and discovered the second issue does tackle a similar topic — brilliant alcoholic surgeon who knows he can’t keep operating much longer so he’s stealing drugs to finance his retirement.
I don’t recall that I ever read comics with the expectations that all superheroes would be ideal role models, although I expected that the heroes would be, for the most part, at least reasonably heroic and not too asinine, even if they were occasionally disagreeable. Stan Lee’s schict about heroes with fee of clay resonated with me, for whatever reason. So reading about Kyle Richmond’s troubled past didn’t really change my outlook on the character for good or ill, although it did subtly re-enforce on me the potential horrific consequences of drunk or otherwise reckless driving. It would still be about another 4 years before I even started driver’s education at age 17 and I didn’t actually get my first driver’s license until I was 19. Yes, I was a bit of an odd duck in that regard. My younger brother Terry (by 10 months) got his license about two years before I got mine, but then he did have a much more active social life. Anyhow, by this point, having read Dr. Strange’s backstory in Origins of Marvel Comics, I knew Doc himself had nearly gotten himself killed and derailed his surgical career via drunk driving, although no one else suffered as a consequence of his irresponsible behavior. Defenders # 32 came out about 5 years before the founding of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) by a distraught mother whose 13 year old daughter had been killed by a drunk driver.
A good friend of mine, Michael (“Fitz) Fitzgerald, a musician and scholar who has written several books about “Southern Rock” and the musical history of Florida and Jacksonville (where he moved to from California in 1968 at age 15) told me about his experiences with Allen Collins, a founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a survivor of the plane crash that killed original lead vocalist and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant in 1977. In 1985 Collins had invited Fitz to join a new band he was putting together and they hung out for a couple of weeks during which time Fitz learned for himself that Collins was a very nice guy when he was sober, which didn’t last long because nearly every day he was rip-roaring drunk by noon and often engaged in self-destructive behavior. This went back well before the 1977 plane crash as one of the songs Van Zant wrote for the last album he completed with LS (Street Survivors) was “That Smell”, directly influenced by the drugs and alcohol induced recklessness several band members (including himself), but specifically after guitarist Gary Rossington slammed his car into an oak tree here in Jacksonville (where I’ve lived since 1999). By 1986, Collins’ driver’s license had long since been permanently suspended due to many violations but even as a passenger he was dangerous – Fitz told me that Collins would slam his foot on that of the driver while it was on the accelerator to force the car to go faster, nearly causing accidents. Fitz told me he quit the band because he felt Collins was a disaster waiting to happen and he didn’t want to be in the vicinity when it happened and possibly risk his own life! Not too long afterwards, Collins went out on a high-speed spin with his girlfriend in the passenger seat (yes, he was driving without a valid license). He got into a wreck that killed his girlfriend and left him paralyzed from the neck down. As part of a plea bargain, as a new version of Lynyrd Skynyrd was then touring, he would attend, pushed onto the stage in his wheelchair and speak to the audience before the show about the dangers of drunk driving. Of course, he was in no condition to perform with his other surviving bandmates. He died in 1990 from pneumonia and complications of his paralysis.
Now, I didn’t bring all that up because I’m a big fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd – I have two collections of their songs, one on vinyl I got around 1982, the other a CD someone gave me more recently. I have about 15 or so Neil Young cds. Even Fitz told me he didn’t particularly like “southern rock” but a chance to play with someone who was already a big name in the industry initially struck him as a gig too good to pass up. Meanwhile, back to Kyle’s situation, after Kyle’s wreck, as per Gerber’s narrative, he seemed ready to “commit suicide” by getting himself shot at by the Vietcong in service to Uncle Sam, but fate decreed otherwise. Assuming that serum left him deranged for a spell, apparently it had worn off by the time the other Squadronaires sought to include him in Nebulon’s goal of putting Earth’s land surface well under water and also maybe whatever suicidal inclinations he’d had earlier were overwhelmed by the horror that instilled in him and, just maybe, a sense of guilt over his past misbehavior, including causing the death of his own girlfriend, caused him to risk his life to do what he could to stop Nebulon’s plans. He couldn’t rase his shameful past, but he could at least strive to devote his life to helping people, even if he still screwed up via negligence in overseeing how his fortune was being spent behind his back. Kyle may have been able to fly higher as a hero than he ever could as a villain, but he still had feet of clay.
I was never at risk for drunk driving. Browsing articles about How I Became An Alcoholic in my parents’ magazines, my impression of the process was “one day, I took a drink and suddenly I was an addict” which seemed pretty horrifying (I’m not sure if the articles were badly written or assumed readers would have a context to interpret it properly). When I finally did try booze I discovered I hated it anyway. It’s only effect on me is numbness and I hate being numb.
While I do drink alcoholic beverages occasionally, and in my younger years enough to get sick a few times, I never drank regularly. Even now, I’m pretty sure the last time I drank alcohol was at Thanksgiving dinner last year hosted by one of my stepsisters (both live near Florida’s west coast). They were doing toasts after which all the adults drank shots of whiskey (which tastes dreadful to me) I never developed much of tolerance for alcohol, so only two or three beers or two standard portions of harder drinks are enough to make me woozy. I purposely avoid exceeding my personal limit if I have to drive anywhere afterwards. Anymore, and I’d be emptying out my stomach, which is never pleasant! Been about 30 years since I last drank enough to get sick, and that was when I was living in Crete, Greece, after having a bottle and a half of Amstel. My dad (who is 85 now) doesn’t drink nearly as much as he used to. My mother, who died aged 70 in 2014, stopped drinking after spending a month in a hospital for alcoholism in 1985.
Thinking about this story, at least in the Marvel era, I think after the origin story of Dr. Strange from 1963 or ’64, this was only the 2nd story to feature a hero (or to be more exact, someone who would later become a hero) engaged in heavy drinking, leading to tragedy. In late 1975, it was still several years before we’d see Tony Stark trying to escape his troubles by draining bottles of booze.
My BFF and I were out many years ago and just for a heck of it, I tried a sip of her rum and coke. Turns out my physical reaction to anything stronger than wine is … not good. Perhaps I could have built up a tolerance but why bother?
I believe you’re correct about heroes drinking. IIRC most of the drunks we saw back then were when the flying saucer appears and they wondered if they had the DTs.
My Dad had an… interesting approach to initiating me in the ways of booze. When I was 15, he took me out drinking (this was on holiday in Spain in the mid-70s – no legal age limit) and got me completely rat-arsed. Next day I felt like hell. He told me, “Now you know what it’s like. The rest is up to you.” Anyhow, it worked, as I’ve not been interested in drinking since. Not a parental lesson I would recommend, however.
There’s a great bit in William Messner Loeb’s Epicurius the Sage where the protagonist makes his case that acing a spelling test is more fun than drinking. When you drink it starts out feeling great, then you feel worse … and worse … whereas every time you spell the word properly you feel great, and the next time, and the next time! So there you are, QED.
At some point in 1976, myself and a fellow comic fan were out in Sandbach, Cheshire (where we went to school) one rainy lunchtime; back in those halcyon days, pupils were allowed to leave school grounds during the lunch break and go into the nearby town. Whilst we were buying some B&W British Marvel re-prints, the shop assistant (maybe she was the owner or manager, I really don’t know and, after fifty years, never will) asked us if we collected the “colourful American ones”? As thirteen or fourteen-year olds tend to do, we hesitated before replying and that is when she asked if we wanted some for “nowt” (Cheshire dialect to nothing / free / gratis)?
No hesitation at this point and so she went into the rear of the shop and returned with three plastic shopping bags stuffed full of American comics. I THINK she said something about their belonging to her son, but I really don’t remember giving much thought at all as to the reason for her largesse.
Thankfully, both Peter (my friend) and I had our briefcases with us – yeah, at Grammar school in those days, pupils all had large briefcases in which to carry around their books and materials – and we managed to get much of our windfall into them whilst the rest, in plastic bags, went beneath our blazers to protect them as we rushed back to school in time for the bell signalling the end of lunch at 13.50.
As we were in separate forms, we weren’t able to divvy up our astonishing treasure until we got together on the bus taking us back to Congleton at 15.55 that evening.
I got most of the haul for the simple reason that Peter’s father, the Head of Physics at our school, didn’t approve of his son collecting “comics” whilst my father, a Headmaster at another school, was perfectly happy for me not only to read them, but also to fund my four colour habit. Thus, Peter would frequently come to my house, take a few of the comics and cycle home with them elastic-bandied beneath his over-clothes so as to hide them from his father.
Point of note: Peter’s mother was actually one of my father’s teaching staff! Looking back, I can’t imagine that he never mentioned Peter’s regular visits to our house… and the strange stiff-legged manner in which he would cycle away.
Anyhow, the above is a long-winded way of explaining how I originally came into possession of this issue of The Defenders (along with a few other issues of the same title from around this period). Frankly, having not previously been able to access The Defenders, they were all a little confusing and much re-reading was required to make (some) sense of the storyline. That is probably why they still stick in my head after half a century.
Second point of note: I really cannot remember all the titles that fell into our possession that day, but I do know that there were a lot of Black Panther (including the whole “Panther’s Rage” arc), some Luke Cage: Hero for Hire, the odd issue of Warlock, Captain Marvel, War of the Worlds / Killraven… and a shed load of B&W Marvel magazines, particularly Planet of the Apes. There were also quite a few DC, but apart from some old Scalphunter and Black Hawk, I don’t recall any of them.