2010 Reading #72: Defenders: Indefensible by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire

[snurri]

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
71. Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

72. Defenders: Indefensible by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. The Defenders were one of my first fandoms (after "Sesame Street," "Gilligan's Island," and "The Monkees"), and the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire team was responsible for my favorite JLA run--so why hadn't I read this before? 'Cause it came out when comics and I were taking a break, that's why. And honestly . . . this one is skippable. It's not dreadful, but it's got the irreverence of the JLA run amped up by about a third, and the jokes, sadly, just aren't that funny. In the JLA run, at least Batman and J'onn J'onzz were allowed some (if only occasional) gravitas: here Dr. Strange and Namor are just pompous swelled heads, and the Silver Surfer is a space case. Possibly literally. I'm not sure that applies. Anyway, it's too bad.

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I have never understood why Namor was popular. I disliked him as a villain in Avengers #4, and never found anything redeeming about the character after that. He's always struck me as being a complete jerk. Despite that, and despite that I never particularly cared for Dr. Strange or the Hulk, either, I have most of the first few years worth of issues. Inertia (I was pretty much buying every book available back then) and later Steve Gerber probably had a lot to do with that.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

My favorite Defenders aren't the original team, with the exception of the Hulk and Dr. Strange; I think the book got a lot more interesting once the second-stringers like Hellcat and Valkyrie came to the forefront. Not a big Nighthawk fan, though. He's kind of whiny and dull.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

Late comment, but the Defenders were way up there for me too, one of the many B-character books that I've realized over the years I liked much more than a lot of the flagships. Sadly, they've become sort of a comics punchline over the last couple of years. The Ultimate books in particular have the Defenders as a gigantic joke.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I really loved the Valkyrie/Hulk/Hellcat/Doc Strange team. Nighthawk was there, too, but he was always a bit whiny.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

That's about where I started, up through the the Beast/Angel/Iceman trio which pretty much recreated the best parts of the original X-men. The best thing about the book was sheer randomness; it really seemed like anybody could join.