Written by Steve Englehart, Len Wein and Tony Isabella.
Penciled by Sal Buscema, Bob Brown and Jim Starlin.
Inked by Frank Bolle, Frank McLaughlin, Jack Abel, Klaus Janson, Dan Green, Mike Esposito, Al Milgrom and Frank Giacoia.
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| Variant cover. |
Valkyrie, Hulk and Namor, the Sub-Mariner, all members of the Defenders, encounter the archer superhero Hawkeye. He's recently left the Avengers and wants to find a new direction in life. After a less-than-friendly encounter with Hulk and Valkyrie, order is restored and Hawkeye is invited to join the Non-Team.
Suddenly, an Atlantean arrives at their headquarters and tells Namor that his old foe Attuma is preparing to attack Atlantic City. The Defenders head to the Jersey Shore to battle Attuma and his minions. In a short battle, Namor, Hawkeye and Valkyrie are captured and imprisoned on Attuma's ship.
The heroes learn that Attuma's new partner is the Red Ghost. The Ghost uses cosmic rays to mentally control the captured Defenders and orders them to attack Atlantis. Thankfully, the Defenders' leader, Doctor Strange, returns and brings Silver Surfer with him to take on Attuma and Red Ghost.
Shortly after that, Loki, Asgardian god of mischief falls off a cliff after being blinded in a battle with his brother Thor. Loki is rescued by the dread Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension. Dormammu tells Loki he will restore his eyesight if Loki will assist him in his "grandest scheme."
Dormammu wants to recover the Evil Eye, a device that will give him the power to destroy the Earth. He manipulates the Defenders into finding the pieces of the Evil Eye, which are scattered all over the world. The Black Knight, a friend of the Defenders has been turned to stone. Dormammu tricks the Non-Team into believing that only the Evil Eye will restore the Knight's humanity.
But Loki has second thoughts. He believes Dormammu will destroy Asgard after he eliminates Earth. Loki secretly contacts the Avengers and tells them that the Defenders are evil and willingly aiding Dormammu. After hearing Loki's tale, the Avengers go in search of the Evil Eye. This leads to a clash of epic proportions between the Defenders and the Avengers!
On an island in the South Pacific, Silver Surfer battles the Vision on top of an active volcano!
Iron Man takes on his old Avengers teammate Hawkeye in Mexico!
Valkyrie and Swordsman engage in a sword-fight in a Bolivian castle!
Doctor Strange faces off against Mantis and Black Panther in an Indiana cornfield!
Captain America seeks the Evil Eye in Osaka, Japan and is confronted by Namor!
Last but definitely not least, two of the mightiest beings on Earth, Hulk and Thor, duel in Los Angeles.
Eventually, the Defenders and Avengers realize they've been duped and team up to battle Dormammu. But to defeat him, they'll have to enter the Dark Dimension, where Dormammu reigns supreme.
After the clash with the Avengers, the Defenders still have to free the Black Knight from his stone prison. This requires them to time-travel back to the Crusades! The Defenders are surprised when they find the Black Knight battling giant gnomes! These gnomes are a difficult obstacle for the heroes to overcome.
Sometime later, Hulk is attacked by the Defenders' old foe Xemnu, the Living Titan. Doctor Strange and Valkyrie come to his rescue and help Ol' Greenskin battle Xemnu.
Next up, the supervillain Nighthawk pays a visit to Doctor Strange's Greenwich Village home, which serves as the Defenders' unofficial base of operations. Nighthawk has recently quit the criminal team known as the Squadron Sinister over their latest scheme.
The Squadron, which consists of Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer, has "sold" Earth to an alien "geologist" called Nebulon, the Celestial Man. Nighthawk left the Squadron when he learned of Nebulon's plan. The alien has created a laser gun that will melt the polar icecaps and cover the entirety of Earth in water!
Nighthawk tells the Defenders about this and convinces the Non-Team to join him in tackling the Squadron. They arrive at the Squadron's base and quickly gain the upper hand on the villains. But Nebulon arrives and easily beats the Defenders. He imprisons the Defenders in an energy globe and blasts them into space.
The Defenders ultimately come out on top, thanks to the intervention of Nighthawk. The former villain says he wants to fight crime now and is granted membership in the Defenders!
Lastly, Doctor Strange receives a mental contact from Charles Xavier, known to the world as Professor X, leader of the X-Men. Xavier has discovered something amazing in the Carlsbad Canyons in New Mexico.
But shortly after the Defenders arrive in Carlsbad, they're attacked by Magneto and his new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Defenders defeat the Brotherhood, but Magneto has a secret weapon.
Suddenly, an Atlantean arrives at their headquarters and tells Namor that his old foe Attuma is preparing to attack Atlantic City. The Defenders head to the Jersey Shore to battle Attuma and his minions. In a short battle, Namor, Hawkeye and Valkyrie are captured and imprisoned on Attuma's ship.
The heroes learn that Attuma's new partner is the Red Ghost. The Ghost uses cosmic rays to mentally control the captured Defenders and orders them to attack Atlantis. Thankfully, the Defenders' leader, Doctor Strange, returns and brings Silver Surfer with him to take on Attuma and Red Ghost.
Shortly after that, Loki, Asgardian god of mischief falls off a cliff after being blinded in a battle with his brother Thor. Loki is rescued by the dread Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension. Dormammu tells Loki he will restore his eyesight if Loki will assist him in his "grandest scheme."
Dormammu wants to recover the Evil Eye, a device that will give him the power to destroy the Earth. He manipulates the Defenders into finding the pieces of the Evil Eye, which are scattered all over the world. The Black Knight, a friend of the Defenders has been turned to stone. Dormammu tricks the Non-Team into believing that only the Evil Eye will restore the Knight's humanity.
But Loki has second thoughts. He believes Dormammu will destroy Asgard after he eliminates Earth. Loki secretly contacts the Avengers and tells them that the Defenders are evil and willingly aiding Dormammu. After hearing Loki's tale, the Avengers go in search of the Evil Eye. This leads to a clash of epic proportions between the Defenders and the Avengers!
On an island in the South Pacific, Silver Surfer battles the Vision on top of an active volcano!
Iron Man takes on his old Avengers teammate Hawkeye in Mexico!
Valkyrie and Swordsman engage in a sword-fight in a Bolivian castle!
Doctor Strange faces off against Mantis and Black Panther in an Indiana cornfield!
Captain America seeks the Evil Eye in Osaka, Japan and is confronted by Namor!
Last but definitely not least, two of the mightiest beings on Earth, Hulk and Thor, duel in Los Angeles.
Eventually, the Defenders and Avengers realize they've been duped and team up to battle Dormammu. But to defeat him, they'll have to enter the Dark Dimension, where Dormammu reigns supreme.
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| The Avengers & Defenders unite to battle Dormammu! |
After the clash with the Avengers, the Defenders still have to free the Black Knight from his stone prison. This requires them to time-travel back to the Crusades! The Defenders are surprised when they find the Black Knight battling giant gnomes! These gnomes are a difficult obstacle for the heroes to overcome.
Sometime later, Hulk is attacked by the Defenders' old foe Xemnu, the Living Titan. Doctor Strange and Valkyrie come to his rescue and help Ol' Greenskin battle Xemnu.
Next up, the supervillain Nighthawk pays a visit to Doctor Strange's Greenwich Village home, which serves as the Defenders' unofficial base of operations. Nighthawk has recently quit the criminal team known as the Squadron Sinister over their latest scheme.
The Squadron, which consists of Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer, has "sold" Earth to an alien "geologist" called Nebulon, the Celestial Man. Nighthawk left the Squadron when he learned of Nebulon's plan. The alien has created a laser gun that will melt the polar icecaps and cover the entirety of Earth in water!
Nighthawk tells the Defenders about this and convinces the Non-Team to join him in tackling the Squadron. They arrive at the Squadron's base and quickly gain the upper hand on the villains. But Nebulon arrives and easily beats the Defenders. He imprisons the Defenders in an energy globe and blasts them into space.
The Defenders ultimately come out on top, thanks to the intervention of Nighthawk. The former villain says he wants to fight crime now and is granted membership in the Defenders!
Lastly, Doctor Strange receives a mental contact from Charles Xavier, known to the world as Professor X, leader of the X-Men. Xavier has discovered something amazing in the Carlsbad Canyons in New Mexico.
But shortly after the Defenders arrive in Carlsbad, they're attacked by Magneto and his new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Defenders defeat the Brotherhood, but Magneto has a secret weapon.
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| The Defenders face off against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. |
The master of magnetism has discovered alien technology that gives him the power to create new forms of life. He uses this tech to create Alpha, the ultimate mutant. Alpha easily beats the Defenders and he departs with the Brotherhood to New York. Magneto walks into the United Nations and declares himself ruler of the world. Alpha's power makes Magneto seemingly unbeatable. But as long as the Defenders are alive, there's hope for Earth's survival!
Review:
I'm a huge fan of the Defenders and this is one of my favorite lineups of the Non-Team.
Story:
Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Volume 2 features stories from one of the classic eras of the Defenders. Even in the context of Bronze Age comic books, the Defenders shouldn't work. But somehow they do. It's always fun to watch Doctor Strange, Hulk, Valkyrie and Sub-Mariner interact with one another. The Non-Team nature means the cast is always rotating, so you never get bored with characters. Hawkeye and Silver Surfer don't stick around very long. But Nighthawk arrives shortly after their departure and Kyle Richmond goes on to become a Defenders mainstay for many years to come.
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| The Defenders are no match for Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant! |
Review:
I'm a huge fan of the Defenders and this is one of my favorite lineups of the Non-Team.
Story:
Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Volume 2 features stories from one of the classic eras of the Defenders. Even in the context of Bronze Age comic books, the Defenders shouldn't work. But somehow they do. It's always fun to watch Doctor Strange, Hulk, Valkyrie and Sub-Mariner interact with one another. The Non-Team nature means the cast is always rotating, so you never get bored with characters. Hawkeye and Silver Surfer don't stick around very long. But Nighthawk arrives shortly after their departure and Kyle Richmond goes on to become a Defenders mainstay for many years to come.
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| The Defenders meet the Avengers and explain that they are on the same side. |
I especially love how the Hulk is written in these Defenders tales. I still laugh
when he calls Doctor Strange "dumb magician" and refers to Nighthawk as "bird-nose"! It's also nice to see the
Hulk be happy for a fleeting minute or two. Like in this panel, where
he realizes his fellow Defenders are his friends.
The centerpiece of this book is what's become know as "The Avengers/Defenders War." This is one of Steve Englehart's crowning achievements and one of the most entertaining stories of the Bronze Age...with one caveat. During the Vision's fight with the Silver Surfer, Scarlet Witch is around for the sole purpose of being a victim. This is silly, since Wanda had already been established as a heavy hitter. Englehart makes up for it later by having Scarlet Witch play a major role in the battle against Dormammu, but it's still silly.
The other Defender vs. Avenger fights are all excellent. I was surprised when I re-read this to see that the Defenders won every battle, or at least walked away with the piece of the Evil Eye they were seeking. Maybe Englehart wanted to help the new team build their reputation against the old one. I was also surprised to see the Swordsman stab someone to death. It doesn't bother me, since Swordsman was a recently reformed villain engaging in self-defense, but I'm still shocked Englehart would write a story where an Avenger kills someone. The Hulk-Thor conflict is the highlight of the book and Englehart does a great job in the narration building up the powers of "Jade Jaws" and the thunder god.
Len Wein takes over after Englehart and the stories remain strong. The conflict with the evil mutants takes place during an interesting era for Marvel's mutant characters. The X-men series had been cancelled and turned into a reprint title. But Professor X and the X-men made sporadic appearances in other Marvel series between the end of the old team and the first appearance of the new X-men.
It should be noted that Magneto is written here like a cartoonish madman villain dedicated to world domination. That's fine by me, but modern readers may be surprised by this, since the story was written about 8 years before the retcon that established Magneto as a survivor of the Final Solution.
Of course superheroes need quality opponents. Any book of Bronze Age reprints that features Dormammu, Loki, and Magneto as villains has to be good! Plus we get appearances by Nebulon, the Squadron Sinister, Attuma, and the Red Ghost, who aren't exactly slouches either.
Good stories all around from Englehart and Wein.
Art:
The art is as good as the writing here, if not better.
Sal Buscema pencils the Defenders stories. This book shows Buscema at the peak of his Bronze Age powers. He gives us lots of great fight scenes. Buscema was the definitive Bronze Age penciler of the Defenders series and his work still looks great today.
If there's any problem with the art in this book, it's the lack of a steady inker. But Sal B.'s work shines through no matter who inks him. Klaus Janson inks two of the issues reprinted here, I thought he was the best inker of the bunch. Here's a great two-pager, where Nighthawk describes what the Squadron and Nebulon will do to Earth if they aren't defeated:
Nice work by Buscema and Janson!
Bob Brown was the Avengers penciler at the time and he provides some good art as well. Brown received a special on-page commendation for his art in Avengers #118, which required him to draw 14 superheroes, a few SHIELD agents, Loki, Dormammu, a few other heroes making cameos. Plus, Brown does a nice job depicting Dormannu's Dark Dimension. Brown was 20+ years into his career at this point, but the art in the Avengers/Defenders War is one of his finest hours as a penciler.
Giant-Size Defenders #1 consisted of reprints, but it also included new "wraparound" pages penciled by Jim Starlin and inked by Al Milgrom. Their art is great and leaves you wanting more.
How does it look?:
I dug out my old copy of Defenders #16, here's a scan from that issue:
The same pages look like this in the Marvel Masterworks version:
Looks pretty good to me, no weird recoloring.
Extras:
A nice 4-page introduction from Steve Englehart where he talks about writing the Avengers-Defenders war. One gets the impression that Englehart is very proud of that storyline 40 years later, and rightly so.
We also get three non-Bronze Age stories. As I mentioned above, Giant-Size Defenders #1 featured reprints with new filler material. A Sub-Mariner story from the Golden Age is reprinted, along with Silver Age stories that feature Hulk and Doctor Strange. I'm not crazy about this, since it means we get one less Defenders story.
Marvel Masterworks: Defenders Volume 2 is worth buying just to have the Avengers/Defenders battle, but the other stories are fun and action packed as well. Plus, this book features work by some of the finest writers and artists from of the Bronze Age and easily earns my highest grade.
J.A. Morris' rating:
4 Sals!
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| Hulk smiles when he realizes "Dumb Magician" is his friend. It's nice to see Hulk happy every now and then. |
The centerpiece of this book is what's become know as "The Avengers/Defenders War." This is one of Steve Englehart's crowning achievements and one of the most entertaining stories of the Bronze Age...with one caveat. During the Vision's fight with the Silver Surfer, Scarlet Witch is around for the sole purpose of being a victim. This is silly, since Wanda had already been established as a heavy hitter. Englehart makes up for it later by having Scarlet Witch play a major role in the battle against Dormammu, but it's still silly.
The other Defender vs. Avenger fights are all excellent. I was surprised when I re-read this to see that the Defenders won every battle, or at least walked away with the piece of the Evil Eye they were seeking. Maybe Englehart wanted to help the new team build their reputation against the old one. I was also surprised to see the Swordsman stab someone to death. It doesn't bother me, since Swordsman was a recently reformed villain engaging in self-defense, but I'm still shocked Englehart would write a story where an Avenger kills someone. The Hulk-Thor conflict is the highlight of the book and Englehart does a great job in the narration building up the powers of "Jade Jaws" and the thunder god.
Len Wein takes over after Englehart and the stories remain strong. The conflict with the evil mutants takes place during an interesting era for Marvel's mutant characters. The X-men series had been cancelled and turned into a reprint title. But Professor X and the X-men made sporadic appearances in other Marvel series between the end of the old team and the first appearance of the new X-men.
Of course superheroes need quality opponents. Any book of Bronze Age reprints that features Dormammu, Loki, and Magneto as villains has to be good! Plus we get appearances by Nebulon, the Squadron Sinister, Attuma, and the Red Ghost, who aren't exactly slouches either.
Good stories all around from Englehart and Wein.
Art:
The art is as good as the writing here, if not better.
Sal Buscema pencils the Defenders stories. This book shows Buscema at the peak of his Bronze Age powers. He gives us lots of great fight scenes. Buscema was the definitive Bronze Age penciler of the Defenders series and his work still looks great today.
If there's any problem with the art in this book, it's the lack of a steady inker. But Sal B.'s work shines through no matter who inks him. Klaus Janson inks two of the issues reprinted here, I thought he was the best inker of the bunch. Here's a great two-pager, where Nighthawk describes what the Squadron and Nebulon will do to Earth if they aren't defeated:
Nice work by Buscema and Janson!
Bob Brown was the Avengers penciler at the time and he provides some good art as well. Brown received a special on-page commendation for his art in Avengers #118, which required him to draw 14 superheroes, a few SHIELD agents, Loki, Dormammu, a few other heroes making cameos. Plus, Brown does a nice job depicting Dormannu's Dark Dimension. Brown was 20+ years into his career at this point, but the art in the Avengers/Defenders War is one of his finest hours as a penciler.
Giant-Size Defenders #1 consisted of reprints, but it also included new "wraparound" pages penciled by Jim Starlin and inked by Al Milgrom. Their art is great and leaves you wanting more.
How does it look?:
I dug out my old copy of Defenders #16, here's a scan from that issue:
The same pages look like this in the Marvel Masterworks version:
Looks pretty good to me, no weird recoloring.
Extras:
A nice 4-page introduction from Steve Englehart where he talks about writing the Avengers-Defenders war. One gets the impression that Englehart is very proud of that storyline 40 years later, and rightly so.
We also get three non-Bronze Age stories. As I mentioned above, Giant-Size Defenders #1 featured reprints with new filler material. A Sub-Mariner story from the Golden Age is reprinted, along with Silver Age stories that feature Hulk and Doctor Strange. I'm not crazy about this, since it means we get one less Defenders story.
Marvel Masterworks: Defenders Volume 2 is worth buying just to have the Avengers/Defenders battle, but the other stories are fun and action packed as well. Plus, this book features work by some of the finest writers and artists from of the Bronze Age and easily earns my highest grade.
J.A. Morris' rating:
4 Sals!
