Valiant Pin-Up

This pin-up of Valkyrie riding Aragorn comes from Rampage #11 (Dec. 28, 1977). Also pictured: Dr. Strange, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, and Hulk.

Daring Pin-Up

This pin-up of the Daring Defenders comes from Rampage #8 (Dec. 7, 1977). That issue of the weekly U.K. magazine reprinted the story from Defenders #7, Hawkeye's introduction to the non-team.

Pictured clockwise: Hulk, Valkyrie, Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Hawkeye.

More Fun and Games

Defenders fans had reason to enjoy Fun and Games Magazine #11 (July 1980). One activity showed how to draw Nighthawk. Printed sideways across pages 16-17 was a poster of Valkyrie—easily detachable by removing the staples between the two pages. Mazes and word puzzles featuring other Marvel characters appeared elsewhere in the magazine.

Portfolio Page

Marvel Fanfare #20 (May 1985) closed with several stand-alone pages of artwork by Charles Vess. The portfolio included this full-page image of the New Defenders.

Roll Call: Gargoyle, Iceman, Valkyrie (riding Aragorn), Cloud, Angel, Beast, and Moondragon.

Nighthawk's Ranch

One of the earliest posts on this site showed rough schematics of Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, the original headquarters of the Defenders. Here at last is an image of Nighthawk's ranch, which served as the group's base of operations from Defenders #17-75.

Keith Giffen illustrated this view of the Defenders' Hang-Out, which appeared in #50, and David Kraft wrote that issue.

The Dynamic Defenders

This artwork by Sal Buscema appeared on the last page of Defenders #6 (then reproduced as a two-page spread in Giant-Size Defenders #1). Although pin-up pages sometimes felt like filler, this piece did a nice job capturing the early team. While common during the Silver Age, these features all but faded out in the 1970s. The "once-in-a-lifetime" text (reproduced below) that originally accompanied the illustration may not have been exaggerating, as this the first Defenders pin-up page I've seen.

HERE THEY ARE: THE MIGHTIEST
NON-TEAM OF SUPER-DOERS EVER
ASSEMBLED IN ONE GLORIOUS, ONCE-
IN-A LIFETIME PIN-UP PAGE
DIRECT FROM MAGNANIMOUS
MARVEL TO YOU!