As regular readers of this blog will be aware, we haven’t had a post about Marvel Comics’ Defenders title since we covered issue #34 back in January — which means that our continuing coverage of writer Steve Gerber and artist Sal Buscema’s “Headmen/Nebulon Saga” must resume here not with the issue whose number and cover are shown directly above, but with the one whose cover you see pictured at left. And that Gil Kane-Mike Esposito number fronting Defenders #35 (May, 1976) is a doozy, isn’t it? If you’ve never read this comic before, I can’t wait for you to find out who that utterly bizarre unicorn-horned, bird-claw-footed, tentacle-armed monstrosity fighting the Valkyrie really is. Why, I bet you’ll be just as surprised as Chondu the Mystic was! (Wait, did I just give the whole thing away? Damn.)
Anyway, let’s get this show on the road…
Beginning with this installment of the current story arc, Klaus Janson replaces Jim Mooney as the finisher over Sal Buscema’s pencil layouts — a role he’ll remain in through the end of the serial, and beyond. This was a welcome development for my younger self in March, 1976; while I liked Mooney’s stuff just fine, Janson was already one of my favorite inkers in comics (he still is), and I appreciated the more illustrative textures he brought to Buscema’s straightforward graphic storytelling. However, as I mentioned in passing towards the end of our issue #34 post, in revisiting this material five decades later I’ve found that I sort of miss the Buscema-Mooney team’s approach, which somehow seemed to capture the “insanity in the midst of mundanity” sensibility of Steve Gerber’s writing just ever so slightly better than the Buscema-Janson combo. That said, I still consider Janson to be one of the finest of Our Pal Sal’s embellishers, and his work here remains very attractive, especially in the more conventionally superheroic action sequences.
I’m not exactly sure just what it is about this young woman’s red spandex bodysuit that puts “old Pyotr” in mind of a ballerina — except, that, of course, the Bolshoi Ballet was one of those aspects of Russian culture that everyone in the West knew about back in the Cold War era, and so it tended to get referenced a lot in American comics, TV shows, etc…. more, perhaps, than it actually did in everyday Russian life.
Cover to Avengers #43 (Aug., 1967). Art by John Buscema and George Roussos.
As longtime Marvel readers circa 1976 would know, this Red Guardian wasn’t the first costumed citizen of the Soviet Union to go by that name. The original Guardian, who’d been introduced by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema way back in 1967’s Avengers #43, was the husband of Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, who’d believed her spouse was dead at the time she took on her soon-to-be-famous codename. A loyal operative of the KGB, the Red Guardian had battled the Avengers before ultimately turning against his superiors; first to save the life of the Widow, and then a second time to save his “opposite number”, Captain America, from being dishonorably slain while unconscious. Believed killed in the climactic action of Avengers #44, the OG RG had in fact survived, and would eventually return — but in 1976, he was well and truly dead, so far as we fans knew. (Just like Bucky Barnes, you might say.)
Intriguingly, although Steve Gerber would clue us in as regards the new Red Guardian’s name and civilian occupation as early as the next page, he’d leave her precise motivations for taking up costumed vigilantism essentially a mystery. While later writers would flesh out her background to an extent, throughout the rest of Gerber’s Defenders run, we were simply asked to accept that an intelligent, rational young woman with no extra-normal abilities might decide to put on a brightly colored outfit and go out into the streets to fight crime. Hey, it was the Marvel Universe, and that kind of thing just happened there sometimes, alright? Even in the Soviet Union, where it was clearly not an officially sanctioned activity — as the distraught woman who was just rescued by the new Red Guardian learns when she asks the police why they’re firing on the person whom she believes just saved her life. “Because I have orders — from the Party Council, that’s why!” she’s told. “Whatever she did, she had no authorization!”
Jack Norris decides to tag along with Val, leaving Doc Strange alone with the inert body of Nighthawk. Meanwhile, at the Head-quarters of the Headmen, that group’s trio of mad scientists have just completed a mysterious surgical procedure…
Unlike Ruby, Nagan is not at all unhappy to see Nebulon go: “I didn’t like the look of him.” (Hmm, I wonder if he’d prefer Nebulon’s authentic appearance?)
The story now shifts forward and time, as well as to a new locale: JFK International Airport, where a Soviet jet carrying a mere three passengers is now arriving…
Gee, who do you suppose that mysterious lurker in the shadows is? If you think you know, then you’re one up on me — and possibly on Steve Gerber, who, as far as I can tell, never definitely resolved this plot thread… although one possible answer will be forthcoming in issue #40, five months further down the line.
Luckily, Hulk doesn’t have that much of a lead on Valkyrie and Jack, who are flying overhead on Aragorn when they hear shots ring out. Val leaps from the winged horse’s back, landing on her teammate with enough force to knock him off-balance. “Despite her magically-imbued strength, the fall is painful… as she knew it would be.”
I hate to be the one to break it to everybody, but the third from last panel above is the very last we’ll ever see of the fawn. While it’s possible that Gerber meant to get back to this plot thread eventually, but was removed from Defenders before he could do so, it seems more likely to me that in trying to keep multiple plates spinning in the air over an extended timeframe, he simply dropped one. To be honest, I’m not sure I even noticed this fifty years ago, while I was consuming the serial in monthly installments — but in my recent re-reading of the arc as a whole, it’s been quite obvious. And kind of a bummer, frankly.
Personally, I like to imagine that, off-panel, the baby deer regained consciousness on the table a short while after this, and wandered away while the villains weren’t paying attention. Picked up by a wildlife rehabilitation group, the animal was eventually successfully returned to the wild, where it peacefully lived out the rest of its natural lifespan. Hey, it’s my headcanon, and if I want to give Bambi an improbably happy ending, that’s what I’m going to do.
OK, now, where were we? Oh, right…
Chondu’s transformation may have been telegraphed by this issue’s cover, but Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson still do a terrific job of selling the simultaneous horror and hilarity of what Chondu’s own villainous colleagues have wreaked upon his body, apparently for no other reason than a perverse impulse of Arthur Nagan’s. Meanwhile, elsewhere…
Dr. Belinsky explains to Dr. Strange that her two escorts aren’t there for her protection, “but for the Party’s.” She is believed to be a prime candidate for defection, which she firmly denies. When Strange asks if the Soviet authorities are at all open to persuasion on behalf of her desire, Belinsky replies: “Let me put it this way, Doctor: I do not believe in magic.” Now, is that some foreshadowing, or what?
Our story returns now to Chondu, who has decided to take Ruby’s advice to steal himself another body. We see him pluck a potential candidate — a strong, young, good-looking construction worker — right off the girders of a skyscraper that’s going up in mid-Manhattan. But, coincidentally, not too many rooftops away, a couple of the other members of our cast are taking a short break from their Hulk-hunting…
We’ll be taking a look at the Hulk’s guest shot in Omega the Unknown #2 in our next post concerning that series — but for now, let’s just say that the above footnote’s promise of an explanation as to “how” the Jade Giant “vanished” is maybe a little overblown. On the other hand, one can hardly blame Steve Gerber for wanting to sneak in a little cross-promotion between the well-established Defenders and the fledgling, decidedly offbeat superhero title he, co-writer Mary Skrenes, and artist Jim Mooney had debuted back in December.
As best as I’ve been able to determine, New York City didn’t have a revolving rooftop restaurant in 1976 (its only current such establishment, the View, didn’t open until 1985); however, Gerber may have taken the name “Top of the Sevens” from a restaurant in the greater St. Louis area, where he’d grown up, Adding to the mystery, that eatery doesn’t seem to have revolved, though another one in St. Louis, Stouffer’s Top of the Rivefront, evidently did. And now you know. (UPDATE, 3/14/26, 1:30 pm: As Anonymous Sparrow has pointed out in their comment below, there was in fact a restaurant in New York at this time called “The Top of the Sixes“, located at 666 5th Avenue. No, it didn’t revolve — but as Blake Stone has pointed out to me over on the Marvel Collected Editions Message Board, Gerber’s script for Defenders #36 never claimed his “Top of the Sevens” did, either; evidently, I just made that part up. Oops. [For the record, Blake also made note of the real-life “Top of the Sixes” in Manhattan.] And now you [and I] know even more.)
Chondu hurls himself at Valkyrie, who kicks him away. He responds by hurling a bronze coffee urn at her; and while she’s unharmed by the impact, the hot beverage within spills on her arm and painfully blisters her skin. She also drops her magic sword, Dragonfang… leaving her unarmed as Chondu charges her again, intending to impale her on his horn…
We’ll proceed now to Defenders #36, which, like its predecessor, was fronted by a Gil Kane-Mike Esposito cover — and this time, the Red Guardian was represented both pictorially and via a blurb. Moving on to the opening splash page, we find the same creative team of Gerber, Buscema, and Janson in place — albeit with an additional credit for Mary Skrenes for “a special assist” in regards to the writing.
Pages 2 and 3 are given over to a condensed reprise of issue #32‘s “secret origin of Nighthawk” sequence — which doesn’t really seem like an optimal use of space, given that the original version ran only four issues ago, not to mention that Kyle Richmond’s backstory will prove to have little bearing on the events of this issue. In any event, we’re going to skip on ahead to the end… where, after a quick reference to the Defenders’ recent trip to the far future to fight alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy (and no mention whatsoever of the fill-in story that immediately followed that multi-part saga), Kyle’s reverie returns to where it began, thereby closing a circle…
The policemen assume that the three masked men were out to kidnap the wealthy Kyle Richmond — and Dr. Strange has no reason to suspect otherwise. But Tania Belinsky knows — as do we readers — that the men were actually intending to abduct her. It’s a mystery that seems likely to be connected to that guy who was watching Tania’s arrival at JFK from the shadows in issue #35 — but, as with that bit, we’ll never see it conclusively resolved (though certain events that will occur in #40 will invite us to connect the dots).
The exhausted Valkyrie is quickly booked, and then it’s off to jail…
Jack’s efforts to calm down the building’s landlord are fruitless; the man slams Jack in the torso with the butt of his rifle, sending him sprawling, and then…
The landlord’s survival is a lucky thing for him, obviously — but it’s also a lucky thing for the Hulk and his fellow Defenders, not to mention us fans that enjoy reading about them, since making the Emerald Behemoth a cold-blooded murderer would definitely make it harder to use him in a superheroic role henceforth.
Oh, well, at least the Hulk hasn’t lost his regard for the welfare of animals — even though it seems he only has room in his head (if not his heart) for one four-legged friend at a time. (Yeah, he forgets all about Bambi, too.)
Meanwhile, Doctors Strange and Belinsky are having coffee in the hospital cafeteria. While a bemused Tania wonders aloud how her American colleague managed to talk her Russian handler, Kaslov, into letting her remain in the U.S. as his guest, Stephen himself is more interested in a newspaper article headlined “Bozos into Heroes”, which is of course all about the latest fad in self-help, Celestial Mind Control…
Plantman had of course been featured on this issue’s cover, so even if you didn’t remember (or had never known) that this “C”-lister’s civilian name was Sam Smithers, that last panel would almost certainly clue you in on who we were looking at, here. For the record, Plantman had debuted as a foe of the Human Torch way back in Strange Tales #113 (Oct., 1963), and had appeared a handful of times since then, going up against the likes of the original X-Men, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America and the Falcon, usually in concert with other villains. (A couple of those very villains introduce themselves at the top of the page above — but since neither Alex Gentry or Leopold Stryke’s better-known codenames get dropped until our story’s final page, we’ll keep mum about ’em for now.)
Valkyrie is so worn out that she flops down on a vacant bottom bunk without a word — only to rebuked by the most physically imposing of her cellmates, who tells her that that bed belongs to “the kid”. When the “kid” herself says it’s nothing to worry about, the other woman tells her to stay out of it. Val then proceeds to make her way to the one available bed — the upper bunk over the older, gray-haired prisoner — but the big woman insists that she be “sociable” for a while before sacking out. “What’s your name?” she demands to know. “What’cha in for?” Barely able to keep her eyes open, Val replies, “I… do not care… to discuss it…”
En route to the hospital, Doc Strange attempts to make mental contact with the other Defenders — but Valkyrie has already fallen into a deep slumber, and the Hulk, though awake, vehemently resists the Sorcerer Supreme’s effort to communicate with him, shouting “Get out!!”
According to the most recent “official” Marvel reference source I’ve been able to locate — i.e., Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z (2008 series) #9 (Jul., 2009) — the costumed figure we see on this and later pages of this story is not the “real” Sam Smithers — despite what it says in the last panel above. Rather, it’s a Plantman duplicate called a “simuloid”, created out of vegetative materials by the actual Smithers (whom we did meet a few pages back) and sent out by him to commit crimes in his stead. It’s a moderately interesting idea — but it’s also a later retcon which really has nothing to do with Steve Gerber’s original authorial intentions, so we’ll be mostly ignoring it throughout the rest of our coverage of this storyline. Still, I thought you might want to know.
I can’t say that my younger self had been all that excited about Plantman showing up in this issue, and I doubt that I was any more enthused about the prospect of his old buddies in bargain-basement bad-guy-hood, the Eel and the Porcupine, joining him for the next one. But Power Man? Hell, yeah — why not add Luke Cage to this mad mix?
As long as we’re looking at Defenders #36’s “Next” blurb, however, here’s a thing… the “Next” blurb at the end of the last issue had promised us readers that this one would feature (among other things) “the macabre menace of… the Idiot!” — and I’ll be darned if I can figure out who or what that phrase could refer to in the 17-page graphic narrative we just finished perusing. It doesn’t quite seem to track with the Plantman, “C”-list status or no. My personal inclination is to believe that Gerber had something in mind for this issue when he wrote that blurb that, when it came time to actually plot out the story, just didn’t work. Perhaps Mary Skrenes suggested another direction when she came on to assist with the writing, though that’s just speculation on my part. Honestly, I have no idea what really happened here. In the end, it’s another one of those minor mysteries of comics history that’ll likely never be explained… though, if nothing else, it gives us all something to mull over until the next time we check in on Marvel’s mightiest non-team, two months from now.
Sal Buscema must have been in a hurry (the nature of the biz), as there are a few (not too many) panels where the perspective of the backgrounds does not properly match the figures. Even inker Klaus Janson didn’t correct these.
As for rotating restaurants, there were quite a few in California by early 1976, the earliest one being in Hawaii, and others in Tennesee, South Carolina, etc. since the 1960s. It seems the Worlds Fair of 1964-65 was a springboard for a lot of these.
As for “The Idiot,” it was certainly a strong title for Dostoyevsky’s novel, but Gerber love for the shocking and absurd didn’t make sense of its use beyond that concluding blurb.
I had an eye on Marvel and DC at the spinner racks at the time, but wasn’t buying. The Warren magazines interested me, and Alex Toth had another story in Creepy no. 80, cover dated June 1976 which you can see here:
https://pangolinbasement.blogspot.com/2014/09/toth-creepy-80-proof-positive-may-1976.html?m=0
Otherwise, some of the “pro zines” (which had a fair amount of fanzine filler) caught my eye, like Hot Stuf’ and Star*Reach. In fact, S*R no. 4, cover dated April 1976, had a Howard Chaykin wraparound cover and 20 page “Return of Cody Starbuck” story, along with a short story “Linda Lovecraft” scripted by Mary Skrenes, and other material.
Another fun round of Gerberesque absurdity. I too was befuddled by whatever Gerber may have intended by that ending promise of “the Idiot” although I can’t help but think it was in some way related to Dostoevsky’s novel of that name given his having just introduced a Russian character into the story, and maybe that skulking character giving her the eye in issue #35 would have played a part. But then, Gerber admitted he often plotted by the seat of his pants and clearly he went in a different direction with issue 36 than whatever he may have planned previously while completing issue 35. Another comics-lore mystery for sure. This issue was my introduction to the Plantman. I’d seen the Eel before, in costume, as part of the Serpent Squad in Englehart’s CA&TF but had only ever seen references to the Porcupine in the Mighty Marvel Comics Checklist in some of the oldest comics in my collection that described the basic plot of comics I didn’t have Well, actually, I may have seen him in one panel in FF Annual #10, the reprint of Annual #3, the big Reed & Sue wedding issue, in which nearly every baddie and hero in the MU up to 1965 made a cameo at least, with the notable exceptions of two-thirds of the original Defenders, namely Hulk & Namor. who somehow missed the invites for celebration and devastation, respectively from the bride & groom and Dr. Doom.
Back to the issues at hand here, Chondu’s reaction to his “improvements” was a Gerber classic! Grotesque and hilarious at once! And Val’s battle against him was among the most vicious in mainstream comics, actually cutting off one of his wings — while he was in flight no less! — and then holding on to his horn to slam his face against her knee. Of course, in hindsight, this was meant to illustrate some of the “subtle” changes the Headmen had made to the Defenders’ outlook and behavior made a few issues earlier, but it also exemplifies Gerber’s tendency to deglamorize violence in his stories. And to have given Chondu bizarre appendages enabled him to have Val go nearly all out with her sword in a way she usually couldn’t. Gerber & S. Buscema couldn’t get away with having Val chop off the arm of a typical bad guy, but a big chunk of the newly attached wing of a very freaky-looking bad guy? Hey, no problem! I don’t think even Conan had yet gotten away with chopping off limbs in any of his stories thus far printed in color comics. All leading to Val’s misadventures in a women’s prison and having to deal with a big bully, who just happens to be a woman and the Enchantress’ spell induces illness in her when she uses her own prowess against others of her own sex. Yike! Valkyrie’s prison troubles is echoed by in James-Michael Starling’s troubles in high school in Omega the Unknown, a theme Gerber explored throughout his comics-writing history, all the way up through one of his vary last series, Hard Time. Unlike Jame-Michael or poor doomed Ned in Omega, Val had the physical capacity to stand up better to her tormentors, but she still suffered from doing so. Val also likely would have been able to break herself out anytime she felt inclined, as Hulk and Namor certainly had done in similar circumstances, but had been sufficiently attuned by “civilized” norms to let the system play out, however much it seemed unjust. Fortunately, she had some good friends to help her out — at least once they became aware of her predicament.
Meanwhile, we see a couple of those friends and the new Red Guardian imprisoned in the organic cell of the Plantman. Many years later, I would meet Plantman’s DC counterpart, Jason Woodrue, aka the Floronic Man early in Moore’s run on Swamp Thing. Per Wiki, Woodrue made his debut in Atom # 1 about a year before Smithers showed up antagonize Johnny Storm in one of his solo adventures, although Woodrue didn’t take up the moniker of Floronic Man until about a year after that. I have yet to read any of the early adventures of either, aside from getting the reprint of Plantman’s fight with Sub-Mariner in the later ’70s. Moore’s take on Woodrue was fascinating, to say the least. In this story, despite his protestations, Smithers really is just another “Bozo” using his powers over the “green” to extort planting another type of green into his possession for his personal benefit.
Gerber’s biggest epic yet takes some unusual turns but I love it.
Don’t forget Dr. Strange no. 5, reviewed here a little over a year ago, in which Englehart and Brunner dodged the comics code by having Silver Dagger chop off Dr. Strange’s head and limbs — only for it to be a wax mannequin. Wein and Wrightson’s Swamp Thing no. 5, drawn in Dec. ’72/Jan. ’73 per the cover signature, has a villager chopping off the Swamp Thing’s arm with a scythe —- only for it to grow back a few pages later.
They were challenging the (recently revised) code even more.
Two reviews for the price of one! Can’t think of a better way to consume a pot of coffee while listening to Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” While there were certainly aspects of both issues that I liked (Cheers for Klaus Jansen’s inks & a hearty “hello” to the new Red Guardian), this was where for me, Steve Gerber’s wild train ride into quirky absurdity began coming off the tracks.
Maybe it was too many plates spinning as Alan aptly describes, but for one, I didn’t care for Valkyrie’s prison tenure. Why would she follow the police? She could have simply disarmed them and been on her way. For another, seeing the trio of loser villains standing up to the Defenders induced enough eye rolls that I had to schedule an appointment with my optometrist.
But on the plus side, I definitely liked the texture Janson’s inks provided, adding what I thought was also some much-needed atmosphere to pave over the story’s potholes. And while the Red Guardian is as contrived a character as ever, I truly liked Tania Belinsky. Just because she happened to be the only surgeon in the world to put Nighthawk’s brain back where it belongs as well as moonlighting as a superhero took away none of my young crush on the lovely Russian. As a result, I really despised what happened to her in later issues with the Presence, but that a gripe’s for future days.
Steve Gerber may have lost track of a spinning plate or two, but not Alan! He not only kept track of all the bizarre twists and turns, but he also gave me a happy ending for that poor fawn! Knowing his fate means I’ll sleep that much easier tonight.
I thought the Presence storyline was incomprehensibly awful. But then, most of the Defenders stories after the 50th issue struck me as subpar.
Completely agree. While I’d grown a bit tired of Steve Gerber, I’d learned the hard way that that same absurdity gave The Defenders a “personality” that separated them from so many other superteams. And a personality that no other writer could truly capture.
Your review brought out some excellent insights to this issue that I’d overlooked.
The history of this Red Guardian is one of wasted opportunity and story potential. Mind raped and used after that by a megalomaniac who altered her body without consent, her journey is one of comics’ most misogynistic ones. I Googled and apparently she was freed from the Presence only to be lost when Dire Wraiths were defeated. It’s a shame because I liked the character before the Presence garbage came along.
Gerber has his literary and filmic precedents: even author Raymond Chandler didn’t know who one victim’s murderer was in the intricate 1946 noir classic “The Big Sleep” starring Humphrey Bogart.
That would be Owen Taylor, the Sternwood chauffeur.
This may be why *The Big Sleep* strikes me as inferior to *The Lady in the Lake* in the quartet of novels which Chandler published in 1939-43.
I don’t know how to post this elsewhere, so I’ll do it here (don’t sue me, Ham):
Count Nefaria brought together the Eel, Plantman, Porcupine, Scarecrow and Unicorn to battle the X-Men in *X-Men* #22-23.
When the Cowled Commander used them in his Crime Wave in *Captain America* #158-59, the Unicorn was gone.
Here, the Scarecrow is gone, but we do have the Viper.
I wonder whether the popularity of DC’s Jonathan Crane makes Marvel reluctant to use Ebenezer Laughton.
Incidentally, Stephen Strange’s apology for his “awful” Russian puzzles me. Agatha Harkness had the sorcerous might to allow Mister Fantastic to address the entire world about the end of the threat of Galactus in *Fantastic Four* #123.
Wouldn’t the Sorcerer Supreme be able to converse easily with Tania in her native tongue?
The things you remember: in *Avengers* #82, a reader wrote to recommend that the Red Guardian return as a hero. Do you think that Steve Gerber saw that letter and thought it a good idea, if not for Alexei Shostakov?
That’s because they rewrote the book’s plot to change the killer into someone (as later film buffs pointed out) couldn’t be the killer.
These links offer some good insights and theories about who killed Owen Taylor in The Big Sleep:
https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2024/12/who-killed-chauffeur.html?m=1#:~:text=SOLUTION%20ONE:%20Joe%20Brody%20saps,tells%20him%20what%20he's%20done.
https://www.reddit.com/r/noir/comments/1eeb79u/the_myth_of_that_unsolved_murder_in_the_big_sleep/
Now to bring this back on topic (not really), this description of original art by Frank Brunner from Giant Size Man-Thing no. 4 describes Gerber’s Howard the Duck as a cross between Donald Duck and Humphrey Bogart(!) :
https://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?id=1247743
Didn’t Robert B. Parker address the chauffeur’s murder in PERCHANCE TO DREAM, his authorized sequel to THE BIG SLEEP? I haven’t read the Parker book; I only know if its existence.
“Top of the Sevens” is most likely a nod to “Top of the Sixes,” a restaurant at 666 Fifth Avenue (which DC Comics once called home, as Dave Sim’s nods in *Cerebus* to “the Beast of 666 Fifth Avenue” should make clear). It was on the 41st floor.
(In *Violet Clay,* Gail Godwin has her titular heroine eat there with her Uncle Ambrose when she arrives in New York City.)
In 1976, it had been in business for eighteen years and would close in 1996.
The Grand Havana Room, a private members cigar club, now occupies the space.
Stanley Ellin wrote a story called “The Specialty of the House,” in which a restaurant called Sbirro’s occasionally has a delicious dish called “Lamb Amirstam” for its customers. Given that the Headmen have replaced Chondu’s actual brain with an artificial one, I wonder whether a similar establishment acquired what Dr Tania Belinsky removed from Kyle Richmond and put “Cervelle de Chondu” on its bill of fare.
Bon appetit!
Time marches on: Tania’s surname should be “Belinskaya,” much as Natasha Romanoff’s should be “Romanova.” It would be today, based on Illyana Rasputina.
I like your fate of Bambi even more than my notion that Elena and her baby opened the wrong door in Stephen Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum and are now the rulers of the Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Polka Dot Bikini Dimension.
The world needs more happy endings.
What issue of Cerebus was that, Sparrow? I missed a great deal of the back half of Cerebus’ run once the book turned so mean-spirited and mysoginistic, but it might be interesting to go back and find that one.
Here’s an example in the “Letter from the Publisher” in No. 108:
Sure. I’ll do a picture of Superman and get Gerhard to put the Fortress of Solitude behind him. We’ll make money. And we can send it to Kevin Dooley. And he can print it and he can make money. Then we’ll send copies to the distributors right, Kev? And they can make money. Then we’ll get the distributors to send them to the shops and they can make money. And the Beast 666 Fifth Avenue gets free advertising for whatever the latest crop of Jerry Siegel ghost-writers and Joe Shuster ghost-artists are churning out.
Kevin, if I thought seriously of all the delight I’ve gotten from the original Superman, the real Superman, I would probably go mad from the injustice that has done to Siegel and Shuster all of their lives. The millions that would be theirs today had they been dealing with honourable people instead of scum who aren’t fit to breathe the same air as them. That any creative person would be a party to praising an injustice compounded year upon year, decade upon decade is an example of vile hypocrisy and insidious and destructive self-loathing on the part of comic book creators.
I’m not sure if Sim left out “of” or I pedantically added it.
Two issues later, the cover of *Cerebus* #110 declares MARVEL AND DECEASE, and a letter of comment thought that it should also have had FIRST AN ECLIPSE as well.
Both companies gone now.
Vootie and Kimota.
I remember First Comics seeming to sink into a black hole in 1990. It was so bizarre to see them fold up so rapidly. It was never clear to me (at the time) what actually happened. Some creators, like Bill Sienkiewicz, were not paid for their work on some comics adaptations of classics (he was doing a version of Moby Dick).
As for Eclipse, a single flood seemed to wipe out their inventory. I was also sad to see Pacific Comics go (before Eclipse). It is amazing that Fantagraphics has survived all these years, whereas most of the other indie comics companies have already come and gone. Co-founder Kim Thompson is deceased and I don’t know how involved Gary Groth is with current publishing. Dark Horse Comics, which started in 1986, is the only other one I know in the US which is still around, though founder Mike Richardson has been edged out by its new owners. Then there’s 2000AD in the UK.
Thanks for the info on “Top of the Sixes”, A.S.! I was unfamiliar with that one.
Addendum — I’ve updated the post with the new info.
I don’t remember this one. I was an avid Defenders fan and am certain I read Gerber’s entire run as it was released, but nothing about this issue has stuck with me over the last fifty years. I will say that I was surprised to find out years later that this part of the run was called “The Headman Saga” and was considered to be one long story. I knew the Headmen (and Nebulon) kept popping up again and that the quest to put Kyle’s brain back where it belonged took forever, but the whole thing just felt too unconnected to me to have considered it a single extended tale. That probably has something to do with Gerber’s practice of “writing by the seat of his pants” and not plotting the stories out as others might do, but it never occurred to me at the time.
I liked the new Red Guardian and readily over-looked the coincidence that the one neurosurgeon in the world with the skill to save Kyle also happened to be a superhero. Of such coincidences were the Marvel Universe made, and it was best if you just rolled with it and didn’t worry about the small stuff like physics and probability.
As for the technical aspects of the story-telling, I liked the art. Sal was a favorite of mine at this point in his career and Janson was a good inker for him, at least until he started inking Frank Miller on Daredevil and started trying to make every artist look like Miller. As for the story, I wasn’t thrilled with the Headmen, seeing them as ridiculous low-rent villains who would be better foils for Howard the Duck than the Defenders, and Plantman was worse. One of my major complaints about Gerber’s run on the Defenders was that the villains were seldom worthy of the team’s attention and should have been much more easily vanquished.
Taken together in a single read, what Gerber was trying to do here in Defenders #35 and 36 made more sense and fifty years down the road, it’s easier to see what he was trying to do with the entire story. Thanks for the look back, Alan!
As a teen in the ’70s, while I certainly loved the sort of cosmic epics Starlin and Englehart came up with, I also enjoyed the more street level, mundane threats Gerber threw at the Defenders, although in this story he mixed it up with the cosmic-powered Nebulon, who nevertheless took on the guise of a very extra-ordinarily nebbish-looking character launching a cult quasi-religious movement. As long as I found the story entertaining enough, it didn’t bother me that the Hulk or Dr. Strange on their own should have been able to make short work of most of the baddies they encountered during Gerber’s run. Of course, the problem with baddies like the Sons of the Serpent is that their real-life counterparts can’t be beaten away and keep coming back and now even dominate our federal and many state governments.
This also reminds me that in most of Lee’s post-Kirby run on the Avenger, the team mostly faced rather mundane threats that seemed well below their weight class, at least as long as Thor and Iron Man were on the team. Count Nefaria was just a dime-store variant of Dr. Doom.
Yeah I like Gerber a lot more on Howard the Duck where his absurdity just seems well placed. I like the idea of the Russian superhero though, just like I liked Chekov on Star Trek. Make ’em feel included, even if just in a small way. One quibble I might have however is on the title page of issue 35 is with Gerber’s description of street crime in the Soviet Union. During the time of Glasnost and before Putin arrived on the scene, there was a brief moment of truth telling and publication of sealed records and it was revealed there was indeed plenty of crime, street and otherwise in that era in that country.
Organized crime has existed in that nation since the 1930s:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia
Thanks for another excellent review Alan. I do remember being shocked and horrified by the new version of Chondu.
Again it is interesting to note various things that I either never noticed or didn’t remember from 50 years ago. For example the next issue blurb at the end of issue 35. I did not remember the mention of “The Idiot” (no idea what Gerber had in mind there) and I don’t believe that was ever explained at all. I have always considered Defenders 31-40 and Defenders Annual 1 to be all part of the Headmen/Nebulon saga. However that does not appear to be factually correct. The Headmen do not appear in Defenders 36-40 and Nebulon is not in issue 39-40, but the Headmen and Nebulon do appear in Defenders Annual 1. I suspect (but could be wrong) that Gerber was told to wrap that whole storyline up in the annual.
Looking at it now, it does seem hard to believe that C list villain the Plantman could give Dr. Strange a hard time, but of course, in retrospect it could have something to do with the treatment given by Nagan to the Defenders. And bringing in the Eel and Porcupine? I seem to remember that Captain America once wiped the floor with all of them. And I saw them once referred to as members of “Count Nefaria’s moldy supervillain club” ( a reference to X-Men 22-23 or X-Man Annual 2).
Unfortunately we continue to see how much Gerber likes the Jack Norris character (sigh), while Nighthawk has actually been out of action for five issues (32-36) even though we did see the “secret origin of Nighthawk.” The biggest mistake that Gerber made here was leaving Val in jail for four issues (36-39). I did not care for that subplot then and I find I don’t like it any better now as it’s filled with many old cliches.
I liked the new Red Guardian, and I really disliked what was later done to her. That was unnecessary and very shortsighted. I also agree that while Jim Mooney was a fine inker on this series, Klaus Janson brought some other very good qualities.
Looking forward to seeing more about this series of stories. Thanks Alan.
I don’t really know what the deal with the simuloids is, and I have just peeked at the Marvunapp entry on Plantman to try to find out. My best guess is that it results from his appearances in “Avengers” #227-232 (1982-1983), where he uses a fair number of simuloids (of other people) in a particularly ambitious scheme – far as I can tell, that was the first unequivocal display of his ability to create those beings. The name “simuloid” seems to come from Avengers #231, in fact.
Perhaps of note is that there are three distinct visual styles to Plantman. The first was in Strange Tales #13, where he uses stylish but ordinary clothes and sometimes a bandana to cover his face. John Byrne returned to that visual once, much later, in his “Namor” series. The second is the one seen here in Defenders and debuted in his second apperance, Strange Tales #121. He used this costume for quite a while, in two appearances in X-Men and later Captain America and now Defenders (and also Marvel-Team-Up). But he also appeared in Sub-Mariner #2-3 and later Avengers #227-232 with a significantly different costume that showed his whole face and had leaf-shaped flares around his head.
Coincidentally or otherwise, full-mask Plantman used handheld ray-guns and other exotic halfheld weapons to directly fight the opponent of the day, and often partnered with other villains for hire, while face-open Plantman favored being inside wandering submarines and commanding creatures from a distance. Even here in Defenders #36 we see hints that he feels a bit self-conscious about this “super-villain in costume” thing and is more interested in acquiring money than in inspiring fear and awe. Roger Stern in Avengers #231 has Smithers recalling what he did in Sub-Mariner #3, but not mentioning any of his appearances against Captain America, Falcon, Spider-Man, Defenders or the Micronauts, so there may have been an intent by that point at showing that the two Plantmen were not one and the same. That would come handy when Terraformer debuted in New Warriors.
But I don’t know that any of that was ever entirely spelled out in any Marvel publication.
As for “The Idiot”, I want to guess that this is an early hint of what would come considerably later in the form of Arisen Tyrk, the Lunatik. He is credited to David Kraft as opposed to Gerber, though. Maybe there was some early talk about the character behind the scenes?
Also, this issue may or may not be the clearest, most direct hint so far that Valkyrie has difficulty at fighting other women. That is eventually explained as a limitation due to how her body was changed by Enchantress, and it is conceivable that it was meant to tie into the presence of Jack Norris in these issues.
“I’m going to pick you apart for the entertainment of the luncheon crowd!” LOL!! That’s my big laugh for the night, thanks!! I don’t think I read these issues. Somebody had certainly been reading Lovecraft considering the number of tentacles around these stories…
Red Guardian makes no sense. I do like the character, but …
The Russian Captain America version wasn’t some icon of the Soviet state; he appeared in action once, Avengers 43-44, dying in the process. There’s no reason Tatiana would know who he was, let alone get his magic belt buckle. I don’t believe Gerber ever explained this (later writers would retcon the Red Guardian into a Cap-style WW II legend, which makes a little more sense).
That said, I like the character. Not bothered by her being the neurosurgeon they needed — as other commenters have pointed out, that’s fairly normal in comics. And yes, the Presence plotline treated her horribly (I’ve never found David Anthony Kraft’s writing palatable).
The whole Valkyrie in prison plotline sucked, as noted above.
Roy Thomas specified Plant Man was a Londoner by birth. I don’t think anyone else ever wrote him that way.
The bozo parody of est was and is amusing.
I agree with you, Alan, it seems that Steve Gerber had a lot of plates spinning simultaneously. This is a very ambitious storyline, but at the same time it does seem more than a bit disjointed. It’s clear that Gerber was making this up as he went along, and that led to certain elements apparently getting dropped without resolution. Still, I admire Gerber’s ambition here. It seems like he was trying to do something different and offbeat from the standard superhero formula that Marvel specialized in. Ah, well, I guess we could say that it is better to have a flawed work that aspires to greater things than a safe yet underwhelming formulaic storyline.
That said, I can scarcely believe that Doctor Strange would have any trouble dealing with a, as you say, C-lister such as Plant Man! Also, I’m not a fan of the whole “Valkyrie can’t fight other women” thing seen here.
As a longtime fan of Sal Buscema, I agree, he did really great work on these two issues. And the inking by Klaus Janson really adds some fantastic atmosphere to the finished artwork.
Chondu’s change to that weird unicorn tentacled thing took me right out of the story. Suspension of disbelief was shattered at this point, and I put the issue back on the spinner rack. I just couldn’t follow it.
Rats, I thought I had commented on this last week! Oh well, better late than never.
I always wondered about what seemed to be a major shift with #35, and not just the (welcome!) addition of the unstoppably cool Klaus Janson to finish Sal Buscema’s storytelling. Gerber started getting REALLY out of control here, resulting in some ideas being discarded or lost in the sauce. (I too wondered about that mysterious guy at the airport, although your comment about issue #40 might be spot-on.)
That said, I loved this for its unpredictability. And as outrageous as the plotting was, I couldn’t help but love the touches Gerber would add to the script (“YAARGH!” “The motive for their capture is as mundane as they come…”)
It saddens me to recall that it ended in a more five months – but at least Gerber and Buscema and Janson WERE able to end the storyline on (what I assume was) their own terms, unlike what would happen to the OTHER Steve whose work I followed religiously.
Thanks again for revisiting these swell stories, Alan! You’ve been covering two-thirds of my holy trinity of Marvel writers from 1972-1976. (Too bad you weren’t a McGregor fan at the time – hah!)