The Defenders, now a trio, are spending a quiet night at home when Nighthawk blows down the door and somehow manages to hold his own against Hulk and Valkyrie before Dr. Strange breaks up the fight.
Nighthawk then tells them he’s here to warn them, not fight them, in a close up of his face that shows a critical need to modify his costume. That orange beak looks ridiculous.
Nighthawk advises that the Squadron Sinister have reformed, and their new leader is Nebulon the Celestial Man.
Nighthawk then confirms a few things. First, the Squadron Sinister did NOT go back to their own reality after Avengers #70, which in turn confirms that the Doctor Spectrum Iron Man fought in #63-66 was the same one from those Avengers issues. We already learned that Nighthawk has an identity here in the 616 and great wealth. So, I’m assuming now that the Squadron Sinister are an Earth 616 group? It’s very confusing. I re-read those Avengers issues multiple times and it is clear as mud. In their 1980s miniseries, Mark Gruenwald attempts to clarify by saying that the Sinister were actually created in the 616 by Grandmaster but were based on the alternate Earth team of heroes, The Squadron Supreme.
Whatever. Let’s just try to have fun. Because this is fun.
Nighthawk reveals that Nebulon has “bought” the Earth from Hyperion, and plans to melt the polar icecaps and turn the planet into a swimming pool.
Which of course is convenient, since Sub-Mariner is in this comic. (Although wouldn’t Subby LIKE IT if the Earth were flooded?)
And then we get the obligatory battles. Hulk vs. Hyperion! Strange vs. Dr. Spectrum! Namor vs. Whizzer! And Val…Sidelined? Hmph. (Incidentally, there is a reference to Spectrum’s prism being destroyed by Iron Man, which it was, but apparently Nebulon just recreated it.)
Anyway, all that is in just one issue. A great issue. In the next one, Nebulon transforms from a gold-skinned Adonis to this…
This is about as close as Len Wein gets to the kind of weirdness that was a staple of The Defenders under Steve Englehart. And it’s not really all that weird.
In the boss battle, Nighthawk dies and Dr. Strange reveals that he has the power to restore the dead…
After which, Namor quits (again), saying (again) “Do not seek to summon me again, Strange-for if I come it will not be as an ally.” Then, Nighthawk joins.
Hulk likes him!
This is a much more straightforward superhero book than we’re used to from this title, but it’s well done. I’m okay with Defenders proceeding in this manner for a while.
I must say- I really don’t understand at all the difficulty of understanding that the “Squadron Sinister” is just a bunch of nasty knockoffs of an other-dimensional super-team called the “Squadron Supreme”, ( or ‘The Justice League of America’, if you would prefer ) created by the Grandmaster for the purpose of battling Earth-616’s The Avengers, to help him and Kang the Conqueror knock off a slow afternoon, as we so enjoyably witnessed in 1969’s ‘Avengers #70! If, for some reason, this remains difficult to understand, the rather brilliant ( and, unfortunately late ) Mr. Mark Gruenwald breaks it all down for the lay-folks amongst us quite eloquently in his 1985-86 Magnum Opus masterpiece, “The Squadron Supreme”. Enough said about that. These two issues of ‘The Defenders” stands out in my memory as being one of my five personal all-time favorite ‘Defenders’ storylines ( the other four being 1973’s incredible “Avengers/Defenders War”, the entire year of 1975’s “Sons of the Serpents” saga-issues 22-25- immediately followed up by the blast into the Thirty-First Century with the “REAL” Guardians of the Galaxy, from ‘Giant-Size Defenders’ #5, and issues #26-29, and, lastly, the simply-gripping “Six-Fingered Hand” opus, from issues#94-100, with it’s equally-brilliant epilogue in issue #101-“Renewal!” ) due to several factors, including the rather straightforward nature of this adventure at the Arctic Circle, which, as noted above, played out as a rather typical “superheroes versus supervillains” showdown, as opposed to the off-beat, metaphysical head-trips which the Defenders are otherwise infamous for. The remainder of 1974’s issues featuring Magneto and, and in their penultimate-final appearance, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, immediately followed by a team-up with Power Man against the Wrecking Crew, would also fall into that same refreshing flavor of normalcy, but, by issue #20, all would be weird again! The normal-straightforward flavor of these two issues with the evil Nebulon, and his super-goons the Squadron Sinister are heavily complimented by the ever-reliably straightforward, crisp, clean artwork of Our Pal Sal Buscema, who, while never a superstar artist, nevertheless, never disappoints!! I just love Sal, and his more-legendary brother, Big John Buscema! They are PURE MARVEL!! Furthermore, on the visuals, this adventure is one of the only two times in which the Sub-Mariner will get to dazzle his Defenders buddies with his awesome “Reed Richards Rebreather Rig” from the mid=Seventies! ( the only other being in ‘Giant-Size Defenders’ #3’s rather-cleverly titled “Games Godlings Play!” – I don’t include it’s appearance in that same year’s ‘Dr. Strange’ #2, because the sequence in which Namor is wearing it appears to be a hallucinatory-dream-sequence, of some sort- a typical Dr, Strange “head-trip”, although it IS noteworthy to point out that Doc’s subconscious mind included an outfit which he had only actually seen in reality once before- in this ‘Nebulon’ adventure! ) I will regret-and hate- to my dying day ( and, knowing my grudge-holding nature, well into The Beyond ) Marvel’s decision to write the awesome ‘”Reed Richards Rebreather Rig” – and, every bit AS important- Namor’s reason for NEEDING to wear it- out of the Sub-Mariner’s narrative!!!! The developments established in “Sub-Mariner” #67, as commercially unsuccessful as they were- nevertheless, gave the Sub-Mariner a sense of purpose, and PATHOS- that has, unfortunately, been totally and completely LACKING from the Namor Narrative, ever since!! Okay, I am off THAT dead ( sea ) horse, for this post!! Finally, and this is another point of visual, but that is OKAY, because funnybooks are a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT VISUAL medium- I am a very, VERY huge fan of the Barbara Norriss-‘Barbie-Doll’ version of the Valkyrie, and NOBODY at Marvel EVER drew her more adorably than Our Pal Sal!!! They often say that it’s the LITTLE things in life which makes life worth living, and, for my humble self, ONE of those little things is the petite, baby-doll, five-foot-two, 120 pound version of the Vibrant Valkyrie!! As with the Sub-Mariner’s rebreather-suit/comatose Atlanteans phase, ( I know- I said I promised to lay off! ) THIS was the Valkyrie’s most-interesting iteration, simply due to the ‘tragedy-element’ which it involved, namely, the tragedy of the lost life and marriage of Barbara Norriss, and the other-worldly imprisonment of the Valkyrie’s true ( Amazon-esque ) body, all of which was ( un ) neatly unravelled for ‘Defenders’ fans by the odious David Anthoney Kraft, in issues# 66-69! All great heroes throughout history- especially Marvel Super-Heroes- all possess that one element of tragedy, which makes them enjoyable, and relatable! The X-Men are outcasts, Daredevil is blind, Professor X is a paraplegic, the Thing, the Hulk, and the Man-Thing are all misshapen monstrosities, the Silver Surfer ( at least, used to be ) marooned here on Earth- ( another character-tragedy unwisely dispensed with! ) Iron Man is an alcoholic, Wolverine is a ( somewhat-recovered ) psychotic, the Angel is cursed with “murder-wings”, the Black Widow is loose, the Ghost Rider is an escaped demon from Hell- and so on, and so on!! When Marvel writers dispense with the element of tragedy which makes their characters relatable- they are no longer interesting! I haven’t purchased, or read, a single issue of “The Silver Surfer” since volume two, issue#1, when the Barrier was ( somehow ) side-stepped, and the Surfer was freed from his Earthly imprisonment! Why-??? Because, without the element of TRAGEDY which his Earthly imprisonment PROVIDED, the Silver Surfer is just another all-powerful super-goof from another planet who flies around beating up bad guys! Hell- I can get THAT from ANY super-hero comic!! Where’s the interest-??! Where’s the pathos-??! Sorry! Can’t support that! But- I ( rather dramatically ) digress! Those are all the reasons which I enjoyed “The Defenders” # 13 and 14 so much! Now, if someone will just TELL us how Nighthawk managed to dynamite a door off of it’s hinges on a house which is SUPPOSEDLY guarded by an incredibly elaborate series of super-potent magic spells- maybe I can finally put the cat out for the night, and go upstairs and join Goldilocks in the bed that’s just right! X-Celsior!!