Defenders #33 (March, 1976)
Fifty years ago, behind a cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia (and maybe Mike Esposito), the latest chapter of the “Headmen” saga opened upon a sight that was strikingly bizarre, even for this series: Read More
Steve Gerber
Defenders #32 (February, 1976)
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? Read More
Howard the Duck #1 (January, 1976)
What a difference a couple of years can make.
From Fear #19 (Dec., 1973). Text by Steve Gerber; art by Val Mayerik and Sal Trapani.
From Man-Thing #1 (Jan., 1974). Text by Steve Gerber; art by Val Mayerik and Sal Trapani.
In the autumn of 1973, Howard the Duck’s debut in the last few pages of the “Man-Thing” story in Fear #19 had been followed just one month later by his apparent demise in the first few pages of Man-Thing #1. Marvel Comics’ editor-in-chief at that time, Roy Thomas, hadn’t thought that the publisher’s readers were ready for a “funny animal”-style character in what was at least ostensibly a horror comic, and had asked Man-Thing writer Steve Gerber to get Howard out of the book as quickly as possible. But Thomas turned out to be wrong; the fan response to the acerbic waterfowl was overwhelmingly favorable, and Gerber was eventually given the go-ahead to resurrect Howard in his own solo backup feature in Giant-Size Man-Thing. After two such stories had appeared, and were again well-received, the author pitched Marvel publisher Stan Lee on the idea of giving Howard his very own solo title — and Lee, who not all that long before had reportedly been utterly bewildered when attendees at his college campus appearances quizzed him about when Howard the Duck would be coming back, immediately said yes. And thus it came to pass that in late October, 1975, Howard the Duck #1 — featuring a guest-appearance by Marvel flagship character Spider-Man, no less — was hatched into the comic-book-buying world. Read More
Defenders #31 (January, 1976)
Back in Defenders #21 (Mar., 1975), which was published ten months prior to the comic book we’ll be discussing today, writer Steve Gerber had introduced Marvel Comics readers to a new alliance of would-be world-conquering villains called the Headmen — or, if you prefer, reintroduced them, as all three of these bad guys — Dr. Nagan, Jerry Morgan, and Chondu the Mystic — had been plucked from a trio of one-off, completely unrelated comic book stories of the late 1950’s and early ’60s (recently, and randomly, reprinted together in Weird Wonder Tales #7 [Dec., 1974]), before being set to collectively become a major new adversary for Marvel’s premier non-team. Read More
Defenders #29 (November, 1975)
Back in May we took a look at Defenders #26, which ended with our favorite superhero non-team deciding to join the time-traveling Guardians of the Galaxy back to their home century (the 31st, if you’ve forgotten) in the hope of liberating the people of planet Earth (and its colonies and allies) from the tyranny of the Brotherhood of Badoon. That crusade kicked into high gear with the next issue, Defenders #27, whose cover by Gil Kane and John Romita you can peruse at right.
On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t take too close a look at that cover, as its copy gives away a surprise that wasn’t actually supposed to be revealed until the middle of the next issue, #28. Nice going, editor Len Wein (whose culpability would revealed to the world a few months later, in the letters column of Defenders #30)! Read More
Man-Thing #22 (October, 1975)
When we last checked in with the Man-Thing back in March, at the end of his 18th issue, it was for the finale of the three-part “Mad Viking” trilogy — one of the most intense and memorable storylines to have yet appeared in the feature, perhaps matched only by “The Kid’s Night Out!” (which had in fact been published concurrently with it, in the Man-Thing’s quarterly Giant-Size vehicle). As you may recall, Man-Thing #18 concluded with Manny, his human friend Richard Rory, and a distressed teenager named Carol Selby abandoning the small Florida town of Citrusville in the wake of a book burning incident at the town’s high school in which people as well as pages had perished. That downbeat ending presaged a significant change in direction for the series — one which writer Steve Gerber and artist Jim Mooney would manage to explore in depth for only three issues before having to abruptly wrap up everything as best they could in the title’s terminal release, Man-Thing #22. Read More
Defenders #26 (August, 1975)
The subject of today’s post is the first of four regular issues of Defenders that guest-starred the original Guardians of the Galaxy. But the storyline actually kicked off in the fifth (and last) issue of the non-team’s other vehicle, Giant-Size Defenders, so you can probably guess what that means — yep, we’ll be taking a look at that one first.
Although, considering that we’ve never really discussed the OG Guardians on the blog prior to this post, and given that GSD #5 represented only their third non-reprint appearance overall at the time it was released, maybe we should look at least briefly at the prior history of the team? Sure, let’s do that. Read More
Man-Thing #18 (June, 1975)
Last month, we took a look at Giant-Size Man-Thing #4, whose lead story centered around the high school in Citrusville, Florida — the fictional small town built on the edge of the swamp that the muck-encrusted star of the title called his home. In this post, we’ll be covering a trilogy of issues of the monthly Man-Thing series that not only came out concurrently with “The Kid’s Night Out!”, but also shared its setting, at least in part — and whose storyline in some ways incorporated both the events and the themes of that other story. Read More
Defenders #24 (June, 1975)
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… Read More
Defenders #23 (May, 1975)
The fifty-year-old comic book referred to in the title line of this blog post presents the second chapter of a four-part storyline. And, seeing how we didn’t feature a post about Defenders #22 here in this space last month, regular readers of the blog know what that means: we’ll be covering that issue before moving on to our ostensible main topic, i.e., Defenders #23. But wait, there’s more! Because, although the story chronicled in another half-century-old comic, Giant-Size Defenders #4, isn’t technically part of the same arc, its events do preface those of the main Defenders title’s “Sons of the Serpent” saga in some significant ways. For that reason, we’ll be spending a little quality time with it before proceeding even as far as Defenders #22. It’s a three-fer today, folks. Read More