Product Description: Dr. Strange. Namor. The Hulk. The Silver Surfer. Set apart from others by nature and choice, this team of Marvel's mightiest loners embarked a string of strange adventures rarely equaled since - joined by some of the most off-kilter heroes of their time. Sorcery! Super-science! The war of the super-heroes! Learn how the "non-team" got its non-start in this multi-title compilation! Collects Dr. Strange #183, Sub-Mariner #22 and 34-35, Incredible Hulk #126, Marvel Feature #1-3, Defenders #1-14, and Avengers #115-118.
Amazon.com: Essential Defenders Vol. 1 is one of the more invaluable manifestations of Marvel's budget Essentials series. It captures the formation and early stages of the Defenders, a "non-team" of heroes that didn't have a headquarters or a formal charter, and didn't even like to hang out together. They just combined their considerable forces when needed. The 26 issues collected in this volume include the first times the characters crossed paths in their individual books--Dr. Strange 183, Sub-Mariner 22 and 34-35, and Incredible Hulk 126--followed by their appearances in Marvel Feature 1-3 and then the first 14 issues of their own book. Most of the early adventures were mystical Dr. Strange tales backed by the muscle of the Hulk and Sub-Mariner, but the group took better shape with the addition of the Silver Surfer in issue 2, and the beginning of the Black Knight saga in issue 4, which not only introduced the Valkyrie but led to the epic Avengers-Defenders clash, also included here in its entirety. Even though the individual Defenders were well-known in the Marvel Universe, the conflict with the better-established Avengers helped put the "group" on the map. The volume concludes with the two-part Nighthawk/Squadron Supreme story line. While there are drawbacks to the black-and-white format (for example, the Mohammedan's glimpse of the Hulk's green foot in issue 11), the price for this much content is low, and who knows when a Masterworks edition will arrive. (The Avengers-Defenders clash was previously released as a stand-alone trade paperback.) Better to grab Essential Defenders Vol. 1 now and hope for volume 2. --David Horiuchi
Black & white reprints of classic four-color comics...? I honestly don't get the appeal of these books. Why bother making (or reading) black & white reprints of classic four-color comics...? I mean, yeah, the stories are still great and the original comics are hard to find, but a huge part of what made these comics great was the eye-popping artwork, including the bright primary colors: reading them in dull B&W is just plain wrong. Sure, the printing costs are lower, so you can get more pages for your money, but it's more pages of boring, not more pages of fun. It's really a travesty.
On the other hand, it recently occurred to me that these could be used as coloring books... Maybe you could buy a box of crayons to go along with all the artwork that the publishers ruined in this format. (Axton)
Perhaps the most character driven of the Essential volumes I approached this volume without any prior knowledge of or interest in the Defenders, so this review won't discuss the monumental events contained within that may or may not have shaped Defenders history. Instead, as a complete novice to this "un-team," what really resonates about this volume is the intense characterization that Steve Englehart brings to the stories. I'm used to tedious early essential volumes that show the history of how it all began, but which are generally limited by dated style and narrative, as well as a less than fleshed out understanding of the character or team. When, for example, you want to read the best Fantastic Four stories ever printed, you don't go back to the very first issues. And yet, only a few stories into this first Defenders volume, the characterization begins to soar in ways that would make modern day writers kneel in awe.
The pre-Defenders stories in this volume fall short in most respects (they are included for historical/continuity reasons), and the first three stories in Marvel Feature are true sleepers. Yet, somehow, these stories left the fans demanding more Defenders stories, and that brings us to Defenders #1, where Steve Englehart takes over as writer, ably backed by artist Sal Buscema. This is the stretch that really makes vol. 1 an absolute delight to experience. I first realize what Englehart is bringing to these characters when I experience passages like "They pass an oddly disturbing painting, and enter a stairwell that seems, to Sub-Mariner, to rise higher than the scope of the house, and it occurs to Namor--as it has occurred to others--how little he truly knows about the mystic called...Dr. Strange." Here, a simple description of Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, as perceived by Namor, casts a powerful aura about the character of Doctor Strange. He feels real and mysterious instead of colorful and two-dimensional.
This character-intensive treatment continues as we explore the intricate morality of Namor, seeing The Sub-Mariner go off in a blind rage to repay Silver Surfer for attacking him, yet stopping to prevent the Hulk from engaging an army of giant apes affiliated with The Surfer because the apes have not made the first move. Namor in particular, frequently becomes a vehicle through which Englehart is able to explore the differing moralities and codes of ethics belonging to each member of the team. Sure enough, each member has a clear sense of right and wrong, but those senses are not always compatible.
Englehart's mastery also includes the further development of The Silver Surfer, an advanced and generally benign cosmic entity trapped on Earth. Englehart puts the Surfer on a path to make sense of his situation and, more than that, allows the character to become a contradiction. In the past, Norrin Radd had always been the perfect, Christ-like entity who judged and yet forgave the human race for its fear and rashness. Yet, in this volume, though the Surfer still espouses these beliefs, we also see him make rash judgments and even confess to Doctor Strange that he fears him because he does not understand his powers. For someone who has followed The Surfer from the beginning (as I have), these are big steps in the development of his character. After all, it's far easier to identify with a hero who possesses flaws, and it's far easier to admire a hero who is aware of those flaws.
There is, perhaps, less to be done with a simple character like the Hulk, but Englehart still makes him shine, delivering outrageously fun lines like "Shut up, monkey! Hulk does not want to hear you!" while charging into combat with a giant man-ape. The Hulk also explores his own limited sense of ethics/morality as he muses on the value of friendship and his continual irritation at being ordered around and used by the Defenders.
Of course, there's also the fascinating character of Valkyrie, introduced partway through this volume, who must reconcile the fact that she is a singularly strong-willed Nordic goddess sharing a body with an insane woman. If that's not a compelling premise for a character, I'm not sure what is.
Rare is an Essential volume that is truly worth reading from beginning to end. Rarer yet is a volume of stories done so well that their quality easily rivals or surpasses what's being printed today. Essential Defenders vol. 1 features some of the best characterization you'll ever find in a Marvel Essential edition, plus it features the historic beginning of a time-honored comic book team. Whether you approach this volume looking for history, strong art, tight continuity, "Shut up, Monkey!" action, or abundant characterization, this volume will not disappoint.
500-plus pages of strange villains and a grudging superhero alliance. What's not to like? Great old early 70's Marvel, featuring tales produced during the company's second creative heyday, when several new writers were just beginning to contribute their own spin and quirks to Stan Lee's classic superheroes-with-foibles formula. And the "non-team" approach of "The Defenders" was quirky to begin with, resulting in some memorably entertaining tales right out of the box. And those are the tales you get here, along with a nice sampling of other Marvel titles of the period (each with a "Defenders" connection), including "Incredible Hulk", "Sub-Mariner", "Dr. Strange", and "the Avengers" (of which we get four full issues).
My favorite stories in this initial "Essential Defenders" volume are the evil sorcerous computer story from Marvel Feature #1 (a battle for the life of the planet takes place in a lonely corner of Maine seacoast) and the "Nebulon, the Celestial Man" two-parter that closes the volume (the icky revelation of Nebulon's true nature still got me, decades after I first read the story in an old "Marvel Treasury" reprint). But there's lots of other good stuff, too, including a big ol' seven-or-eight issue long Avengers/Defenders epic featuring the dread Dormammu and Loki, God of Mischief.
The mainstream Marvel superhero melodrama formula (bless its soul) is still the guiding force in these early Defenders stories, with the quirks and weirdness being more seasoning than the tales' bedrock. And that's fine. But the next volume will slowly get around to the stories where the quirks, weirdness, and eccentricity form the foundation of the tales, and then things really cook.
But, make no mistake, this initial volume of Defenders tales is still supremely entertaining, thank you very much. Whether you're new to these stories or re-discovering them after many years (myself, I was previously familiar with many of these issues but hadn't read many others), Essential Defenders Volume 1 is not to be missed.
Graphic SF Reader Throw together a bunch of really powerful misfit heroes and not quite heroes and you get a pretty good story. Have them fight the Avengers and you get even more fun.
Later on, the addition of the Black Knight and the Valkyrie spice things up even more, and I am definitely looking forward to more volumes of The Defenders.
Crazy 70s Nostalgia I remember reading these issues in black and white British reprints when I was kid on Summer holiday.
That's why I rated it Four Stars.
If you have never read them before I would suspect the true rating is closer to Three Stars; however there are are a couple of wonderful moments (a drawn-out plot-point across most of the issues that is very well done and the conclusion of the Avengers-Defenders war) which make the collection worthwhile.
It is always amusing to see stupid whiny Hulk again since nowadays he has to be complex.
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