I was about to do the next issue, when I discovered it takes place after Giant Size Defenders #4 and realized I had been skipping those. So, we'll play catch-up.
Giant Size Defenders #1
Creative Team: Tony Isabella-writer, Jim Starlin-artist, Al Milgrom-inker, Dave Hunt-letterer, Starlin & Petra Goldberg-colorists, Roy Thomas-editor
That's for the framing sequences. The issue features reprints of Incredible Hulk #3 (Stan & Jack, Dick Ayers), Sub-Mariner #41 (Bill Everett), Strange Tales #145 (Denny O'Neil & Steve Ditko), FF Annual #5 (Stan & Jack, Frank Giacoia). The issue came out the same month as Defenders #14. The framing sequences have Clea filling in Val about the past of the other Defenders. Starlin's art looks rather different than the usual Sal Buscema, and even by Starlin's standards it's a bit different. he does a pretty sexy Clea and Val...
His Hulk is a bit.....different.......
Clea's spells, using the Book of Vishanti, cause some problems, as they lock the Defenders in the past and then they are assaulted by Rasputin (yes, as in the Russian monk, just like in Hellboy) and Doc and the boys have to set things right. That's what happens when you let icky girls into your clubhouse!
Giant Size Defenders #2
Creative Team: Len Wein-writer, Gil Kane & Klaus Janson-artists, Dave Hunt-letterer, Glynis Wein-colorist (natch) and Roy Thomas-editor.
This issue came out the same month as Defenders #16; so, no time wasted there.
Synopsis: The police are after the Hulk and he is "Puny humanin'" and "Hulk smashin'" left and right. The National Guard show up in tanks (a neat trick, in new York) and have a robot (given that the guard usually gets hand-me-downs, it's probably from WW2) and Hulk turns it into tinker toys, then runs away. he runs into a little girl who says she has come a long way to help him. She takes his hand and calms him, then leads him down stairways, into caverns, and then turns into a demon, saying she has brought him to Hell, and he is tormented by visions of Banner. A spirit shows thisto the Defenders, to force them to aid its master. The gang go out to find Hulkie, but can't locate him anywhere. Doc hits on the idea of consulting Damian Hellstrom, aka The Son of Satan (how Marvel ever got away with that is still beyond belief). Ol' Sonny boy leads them to the right spot and they descend. Doc is attacked by ghosts of his past, Val by faceless amazonian giants, and Nighthawk by robbed guys with a judge and gallows. Damian sees his mother being tormented by demons (she isn't named; but, I assume it's Rosemary), but is stopped by an invisible barrier. Watching all of this is Asmodeus, a high (or is that Low) demon. Doc dispells his ghosts, then finds Val looking like she laughed at Charlie X and restores her. Dragonfang slices through Nighthawk's noose and Hulk beats Banner. They meet up with Damian and then go a tumblin down, until they meet up with Asmodeus (who looks like a cross between Batman, Daredevil, and Zoltar, from Battle of the Planets). ...
His powers don't work on Damian, who opens up a portal and Satannish shows up and pulls him into Hell.
The rest of the issue reprints a Sub-Mariner tale from Young Men #25 (Bill Everett), a Black Knight story from BK #4 (Fred Kida), and Strange Tales #119 (Stan and Steve).
Thoughts: Pretty good issue, helped greatly by excellent il Kane art. Check out this shot of Satan's youngun...
Not to mention how creepy he makes the visions tormenting the gang...
That's some scary stuff!
Giant Size defenders #3
Creative Team: Steve Gerber, Jim Starlin and Len Wein plot; Gerber script, Starlin layouts; Dan Adkins, Don Newton and Jim Mooney finishes, Charlotte Jeter-letters, Glynis Wein-colors, Roy Thomas-edits.
Issue was on sale the same month as defenders #19.
Synopsis: The Grandmaster and Prime Mover are playing a game of chess, with the Defenders and Daredevil. Nighthawk had gone to Daredevil for help; but, DD still thinks Bird-nose is a villain. Bird-Nose brabs his grappling line and zooms up above the city, dangling Hornhead and tells him he needs his help and he works with the Defenders. DD isn't buying it, at first; but agrees, rather than go splat. They then vanish. We cut to the gameboard, where Hulk, Namor, Dr Strange and Valkyrie stand motionless. Now DD believes Bird-nose. Grandmaster recounts the creation of the Squadron Sinister, to battle Kang & the Avengers, then how the Defenders beat the Squadron, thanks to Nighthawk's help and then tells them that they play for the Earth. if PM wins, he enslaves it; if GM wins, the planet goes free. PM recounts his past, as a creation of Dr Doom and his game against him, using SHIELD and the Yellow Claw (Steranko Strange Tales, with the double gatefold interior page that is so freakin' awesome!). The game begins, with the defenders acting for GM. The Defenders battle against monsters and demons, in various pairings and win (of course). PM throws a tempter tantrum, when he loses; but, GM wins, then reneges on his promise to let the Earth go free. The Defenders attack and get swatted away. Hornhead stood by and now challenges GM to a coin toss, using a leftover disc, with an X on one side. he tosses the "coin" and the GM calls "tails." It's heads and DD wins and Earth goes free. He doesn't tell the defenders that he could tell exactly how to toss the coin for it to come up heads.
The rest is a story form Sub-Mariner #38 (Bill Everett, and Strange Tales #120 (Stan & Steve).
Thoughts: Decent. I'm not much of a fan of these Gamemaster "chess" stories. There is usually little strategy involved and the ending is usually predictable. Prime Mover is a robot and thinks everything is perfectly planned; but, he gets whooped and blows his circuits. DD basically shows up the entire Defenders team. There are several pages of text, done like an illustrated prose work...
The Starlin et al art is suitably bold and fun. here's Prime Mover throwing a fit and knocking over the board...
I'm betting that was Gerber, though Starlin has that kind of sense of humor, too. The text pieces are likely Gerber, as he had similar things in Howard the Duck.
Giant Size Defenders #4
Creative Team: Gerber-story, Don Heck & Vince Coletta-art, Hunt and Goldberg-letters and colors, Wein-edits
Yellowjacket is along for this one and the Squadron Sinister return. On sale coincides with Defenders #22 and leads into that issue.
Synopsis: Kyle richmond and Trish Starr are out on the town, with paparazzi following. They get into Kyle's car, turn the key and.....
Emergency personnel arrive and the couple are taken to the hospital. Doc and Val show up, in civies. Stephen runs into an old friend, who is Kyle's surgeon. he assists in the OR, though his mind is elsewhere. Kyle is saved and Hulk turns up, bypassing the nurse's station by busting through a wall. Val stops him and they leave, since visiting hours are over. They go back to the Sanctum, to puzzle over the bomb and why Kyle's car had no gas (which saved them, in the explosion. Meanwhile, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne watch the news. They see the news about the explosion and Hank recognizes Trish Starr as trixie, niece of Egghead, who helped him when he was trapped at Ant-Man's size, when Egghead tried to shoot him. He thinks Egghead is involved and goes hunting, telling Jan to stay behind, which she actually does. He heads out as Yellowjacket. Down in the Bowery, Egghead turns up at a flophouse (probably the one where Johnny Storm found Namor) He gets no respect, sparks a fight and gets kicked out on his....wider end. Hank sneaks into the hospital, scares some nurses with excited questions about Egghead, then sneaks into Trish's room. She says she might lose her left arm and that Egghead contacted her, looking for money and she refused. Hank shakes a fist at the ceiling and goes hunting Egghead. Doc and Val visit the recovering Kyle and he thinks the Squadron were behind it. A cop yells at Hulk for having a pegasus parked in a hospital zone and Hulk is about to show him where he can stick the ticket, when Doc and Val show up and take him away to hunt the Squadron. Hank finds Egghead (coincidentally) and he admits to setting the bomb and siphoning the gas, to maim Trish, for revenge; but, not to kill her. Hank slaps him around a bit then goes back to the hospital, where Trish's left arm has been amputated. He looks in on Kyle, who tells him he is Nighthawk (can anyone on this team keep a secret identity secret?) He still says the Squadron is involved. They are at Crayton Observatory, planning revenge on Nighthawk, but, are surprised when the Hulk smashes in...
Doctor Spectrum turns their new weapon on him and he turns into Banner. Hyperion joins the #MeToo s@#$-list by bear -hugging Val, and Doc Spectrum and Whizzer beat Doc Strange. They wake up in a cell, with the Tubes playing...
Doc is running around in astral form and contacts Yellowjacket, leading him to Zed's lair (wait, that was Pulp Fiction) and he wakes up the Hulk, who smashes everyone free. The Squadron attacks Kyle at the hospital and the Defenders show up and open up a can of Sinister whoop-ass. They win, Kyl and Trish are out of the hospital and she dumps him, because of her arm, he says she's crazy, she says he won't commit, he says that's because he is footloose and nothing to do with her arm; she walks. Sucks to be Nighthawk.
Rest of the issue is a Sub_mariner tale from Human Torch #3 (Bill Everett) and Strange Tales #121 (Stan and Steve).
Thoughts: Um, yeah..........not the best use of the Squadron, ever. Egghead is basically played as a sap. he gets less respect than the Riddler or Stilt-Man. Hank kind of telegraphs his anger issues (then again, the whole Yellowjacket personna was built around his violence and instability). Heck and Coletta make a lousy team. Heck did some fine Avengers stuff; but, superheroes were never his strength (great romance and western artist). Coletta adds nothing. This would have been much better with Sal and Janson or Kane & Janson; or anyone, really.
I've noticed that the women in these issues, especially with Len Wein and some others, are all but useless. Clea F's up, Val is ineffective, Jan is told to stay home; not the most liberated period for Marvel. definite boys club and Sean Howe's book paints a behind the scene of no girls allowed, unless you are a writer/editor's girlfriend/wife, or Marie Severin, who could draw circles around the bunch and who intimidated the boys, if only because she was John's sister and had worked with Wally Wood and the rest of the EC gang. Claremont was a breath of fresh air, by that time.
Okay, back to our regular book, already in progress....
