Defenders Dialogue: The Old Order Changeth

The letters page of Defenders #15 addressed whether two founding members of the Defenders had an ongoing place in the non-team.

Dear Marvel,

Just as you phased the original Avengers out of their comic so many, many years ago, I believe you're planning to do the same, eventually, with the Defenders. Apart from the implausibility of the string of coincidences involved in having a group-that-isn't-a-group meeting time after time, the Hulk and Sub-Mariner simply are not teamwork characters. Namor is too arrogant and haughty to take orders or even advice from anybody, and the Hulk is too unpredictable and (let's face it) stupid to be of any real value to a group. His only contribution is his enormous strength, which could be provided by the other members of the group in combination. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner Hulk and Namor say "bye-bye" to the Defenders, the better.

Mike Cruden
England

Here was the editorial reply:

Well, Mike, as you know, Namor has indeed taken a leave of absence from the group to concentrate on his not inconsiderable troubles in Atlantis. And, too, we'll probably be doing an occasional issue now and then without the Hulk. And furthermore, you'll be seeing a number of heroes sort of filling in for Sub-Mariner while he's away. (Which is even weirder, since, as you point out, this is a group that isn't a group … so how can somebody fill in when somebody's not missing from something that supposedly doesn't even exist? HALP!!!)