Over the last 2 months I've been reading the Defenders 2000 series by Busiek and Erik Larsen, followed by the 6 issue The Order series. It's one long story that follows Dr. Strange, Namor the Hulk and the Silver Surfer in a story that has them drawn together magically, every time there is a world threatening event. It's not voluntary, it's a result of a dying spell by one of their earliest opponents called Yandroth. 




The 12 issue series is followed by The Order. In this series the 4 take over the world to circumvent the spell. and we find out what is really behind their aggressive behavior. 

I didn't read either of these. But it is cool to see Strange in his Superhero costume. And it looks like he is juicing and hitting the gym.

I haven't read The Order but I own the Busiek/Larson Defenders run (#1 is autographed by the man who refers to me as "Other Kurt"). Great art, great dialogue, and the real Defenders together again. What's not to love?

Cei-U!
I summon the world's greatest non-team!

I got Showcase Presents: Martain Manhunter, Volume Two, a few weeks ago, and I've been working my way through part of it, but I haven't got around to writing anything about it. I read the "Idol-Head of Diabolu" arc and I finished it today, so I decided to write a few paragraphs.

This volume reprints the Martian Manhunter stories from Detective Comics #305 to #326 and House of Mystery #143 to #173. That's a lot! More than 50 stories! Almost 600 pages! It's the Martian Manhunter solo series from 1962 to 1968.

I didn't read the stories from Detective Comics. I have all the original issues of Detective from this era, and I just read them all late last year as part of my project to read all the consecutive issues in my Detective Comics collection from #244 (1956) to the present. I didn't want to read them again so soon. They're a bit hit and miss. (Plus I just read them in color! The Showcase series reprints everything in black and white. If I want to read these stories again, I'll want to read them in color!)

I bought this book so I could read the Manhunter's series in The House of Mystery.

The Manhunter's last story in Detective presented the set-up for his move to The House of Mystery. His secret identity (Police Detective John Jones) was killed off and he left Middletown with his alien associate Zook to pursue the Idol-Head of Diabolu. Supporting characters Captain Harding and Lt. Diane Meade mourned the death of Jones and were no longer appearing in the Manhunter's adventures.

Which brings us to the Idol-Head of Diabolu. It's a bizarrely shaped stone head. It was created by a wizard named Diabolu several thousand years ago. As he was dying, Diabolu enchanted the idol-head statue with the essence of a bunch of monsters. It was activated in Detective Comics #326. During the full moon, the top opens up and a monster comes out and starts threatening the populace. So for the next two years or so, the Manhunter and Zook chase the elusive Idol-Head around the country and fight the various that pop out of it.

The Idol-Head of Diabolu story arc starts in Detective Comics #326, moves to House of Mystery as of #143 (where the monster turns people (and Zooks!) into giants!) and concludes in House of Mystery #158.

Not all the stories in this range are about the Idol-Head. The Manhunter gets a break from Diabolu's device in House of Mystery #153 when Professor Arnold Hugo breaks jail and comes after him for REVENGE! (He activates some giant, petrified cavemen he finds in a cave.)

In #154, a gangster who was put away by the Manhunter breaks jail and manages to lure his enemy to a warehouse where the Manhunter is exposed to a magic mirror that creates an evil, distorted version of the Manhunter. 

Professor Arnold Hugo returns in #157 with a plot to turn the Martian Manhunter into a laughingstock, thus ruining his reputation among the populace. It ends up backfiring on Professor Hugo.

The Diabolu arc is resolved in #158 when the Manhunter enters the Idol-Head and goes back in time to ancient Babylonia and defeats Diabolu in his own time.

The whole story arc is very hit and miss. I like the Professor Arnold stories. The one with the giant Zook is hilarious. There's a few other fun Silly Silver Age monsters, but more than a few really corny Idol-Head creatures.

Zook is hilarious! I love that little orange space-monkey. But I sure do miss Captain Harding and Diane Meade.

This volume still has about 15 stories to go, to the end of the Manhunter's run in House of Mystery. I guess this is the Marco Xavier era, and I've never read any of these. I'm looking forward to them. 

I am really missing Captain Harding and Diane Meade, that’s for sure.

I read Defenders Epic Collection vol. 9: The End of All Songs, reprinting New Defenders #138-152 and Gargoyle #1-4. I have now read the entire original run of Defenders.

The New Defenders issues here are written by Peter B. Gillis, drawn by Don Perlin (with guest pencils by Luke McDonnell and Sal Buscema), and inked by various inkers. Old Defenders scribe J.M. DeMatteis and artist Mark Badger handle the Gargoyle mini. I'll start with the mini-series. It was nice to see DeMatteis return to write a character he co-created. It's a very moody, melancholy story. Badger's art is really beautiful. I think I'd only previously read a story he'd drawn after dealing with MS really transformed his art style. I have one quibble. We get to see how Isaac Christians looked before his transformation into Gargoyle, and he's not how I imagined him. He's tall and stately, whereas I pictured someone shorter and with an unassuming bearing.

Regarding New Defenders itself, I feel like Gillis has hit his stride in the early issues of this TPB. Down the stretch, things start to sputter and lose direction. I'm curious as to when Gillis learned the series would be canceled. The ongoing subplot of whether Moondragon can be trusted gets a lot of earlier attention. We get some elaboration on her origin, an explanation of her abrasive nature, and a semi-redemption that appears to promise some evolution to her character while not completing blunting her edge. Given how the intra-team tension of her clashes with other characters have been, it's an intriguing development. But then it gets reversed, and she gets temporarily written out of the series to be brought back to her villainous ways for the finale.

New Defenders #140 is one-off story that involves racial prejudice and a rape accusation. Perhaps in part due to dancing around the Comics Code, it takes a meandering, aimless turn toward the end of the story. The sense of random aimlessness is unfortunately something that pervades several of these issues. New Defenders #141 is a very good body horror story that leaves behind a victim who looms in the background of later issues. I was curious how the New Defenders fits into X-Men history with three of the original 5 on the roster. New Defenders #142 has a guest appearance by Senator Robert Kelly and is the strongest effort to work the anti-mutant hysteria into an issue of the series.

Toward the end of this run, the Runner and Andromeda make their first appearances. Andromeda actually ends up joining the team. I didn't realize that both characters debuted here until I looked it up. Part of that is because neither the cosmic stuff nor Atlantis were really my thing, so I just assumed both characters showed up before the mid-80s. Another part is how nonchalant Gillis is with the character introductions. I didn't get the weightiness of a first appearance. Also, Andromeda's introduction is so weird and her explanation for showing up doesn't really resonate. Once again, it feels like a part of the home stretch that's aimless. I do wonder whether Gillis had bigger plans for Andromeda that got cut short by the cancellation. On the other hand, her introduction paired with the psychopath Manslaughter joining in the penultimate issue suggests maybe Gillis wanted some extra bodies on the roster to up the body count in the series finale. Another seemingly aimless character moment: Johnny Blaze and his girlfriend Roxanne show up. It's more of a "where are they now" thing, because there doesn't seem to be any other story purpose to it.

Along the way, we get one last chance to see Daimon and Patsy in a fill-in story in #148 that breaks from the ongoing storyline. It's a humorous follow-up to the an earlier story Gillis did about a couple of private investigators. Or it's intended to be humorous, but the humor doesn't really hit. It's good to see Daimon and Patsy again, but they don't get nearly enough focus. 

In #150, we gets a revised origin for Cloud, along with a new explanation of why Cloud has appeared both female and male. It's a meandering journey before we get the answer, but it's interesting in its off-the-wall way. Cloud's gender switches are another thing that's better in concept than in execution. The impact on Bobby is a big part of subplot, as the switch is disturbing to him because of his crush on Cloud. The problem is that Gillis didn't lay the groundwork. There's maybe a slight hint at Bobby's crush beforehand; it only gets explored after the switch. You can't really disrupt the status quo effectively if you haven't established it in your story. We also get a quick, offhand explanation of Overmind's Chuck Cunningham Syndrome exit from the series. It's an odd way to tie up a loose end.

There are a few odds and ends to discuss. Although sometimes Gillis's humor misses, I really like the gags involving the Defenders holographic security system.  Beast's dog Sassafras has been an underrated presence in the series, so it was nice to see him show up at the end with the former X-Men as a survivor of the bloodbath.

Finally, one of the underrated subplots is Beast's struggling relationship with his girlfriend Vera. It gets a few pages in a couple of different issues. In contrast to the randomness of some of Gillis's storytelling, the sparse attention to this subplot makes sense. The theme is that Hank has this big personality, but he doesn't realize how his neglect is painful to Vera. It's a contrast to how integrated Warren's girlfriend Candy Southern in the series as the team leader. It's also interesting to see how a fan favorite character is portrayed as personally flawed in this aspect of his life.

I have a couple follow-up reading ideas. I think I'm going to read the transition stories (Beast's appearance in Dazzler #42, the return of Jean Grey) into the start of X-Factor and the first few issues, to see how the transition from New Defenders to X-Factor feels. I've read those stories before, but this may be a new perspective. I also read an arc from the Dr. Strange feature from Strange Tales vol. 2 that picked up threads from the New Defenders finale. I may re-read that because it may make more sense now.