To Be Continued Next Month!

After a misunderstanding with the Hulk, Hawkeye joined the Defenders (#7), largely because his solo career after quitting the Avengers wasn't working out. But the avenging archer left the non-team after only four issues and easily dropped out of the picture.

More important about Defenders #7 was an announcement printed on the last page. The note alerted readers that the Defenders was becoming a monthly series (instead of coming out every other month). This was big news in 1973, and evidence of the growing popularity of the title.

As promised, Defenders #8 appeared one month later, with a September cover date.

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!

Valkyrie, the Determined Defender

Of all the heroes to call themselves Defenders, Valkyrie was the most dedicated to the team. Yet she joined their ranks in the most roundabout way.

Realizing the malevolent intent of a secret ceremony, Barbara Norriss sacrificed herself into another dimension to spare an innocent man that fate. That man was Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk #126). Hulk and his non-teammates later rescued Norriss from her otherworldly imprisonment. But they were saddened to find that the horrors she experienced there, in the clutches of the Nameless One, had driven Norriss mad (Defenders #3).

Immediately afterward, the Defenders encountered the unscrupulous Enchantress, who had magically enslaved the Black Knight. The Asgardian sorceress placed the spirit of a valkyrie into the body of Norriss, expecting to control her as well. Yet the reborn valkyrie proved to have a mind of her own. The Enchantress fled, turning Black Knight to stone as she left (#4; Dr. Strange reversed the spell in #11).

Valkyrie assumed custody of Black Knight's winged horse, Aragorn, and sought membership into the Defenders.

Namor: One minute now! The Defenders have no "members." We have only fought together for common causes. This is not the Avengers!

Dr. Strange: Further--with all due modesty, we are three of the most powerful people in the world. What could we possibly need you for?

Valkyrie didn't take long to prove herself. When Omegatron (from Marvel Feature #1) unexpectedly returned, Valkyrie's combination of magical origin and physical force injured the mystical robot in ways the others could not, finally laying the creature to rest (Defenders #5).

Valkyrie was the only early Defender to stay with the team through the creation of the New Defenders (#125) and the end of the series (#152).

Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 5. April 1973. "World Without End." Steve Englehart (author), Sal Buscema (artist), F. McLaughlin (inker), Charlotte Jetter (letterer), Glynis Wein (colorist), Roy Thomas (editor). The illustration of Valkyrie at the top appeared in the fourth issue.

The Silver Subplot

When the Defenders formed in Marvel Feature #1, Sub-Mariner and Hulk weren't the only ones Dr. Strange tried to reach. After summoning the Prince of Atlantis, the master of the mystic arts visualized the whereabouts of Silver Surfer, only to watch him crash into an invisible barrier in the sky.

Dr. Strange: Happily, I can sense he is not badly hurt. Yet, he'll not recover in time to help us--or our threatened planet. Then, since time grows short--and immortal Thor is doubtless battling menaces on worlds beyond our ken---there is but one with power enough to help us. In truth, there is only---the Hulk!

That scene in the Defenders' origin issue laid important groundwork for the first several issues of their own series.

Tricked to believe that Silver Surfer had become a servant of evil, the Defenders spent two months tracking down the cosmic-powered champion (Defenders #1-2). Further investigation led Dr. Strange, Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Silver Surfer into battle against the horrific Nameless One in his home dimension (#3).

Afterward, as the Defenders returned to our own dimension, Dr. Strange hoped to transport Silver Surfer into the cosmos so he could go back to his native planet of Zenn-La. But even magic couldn't take the Surfer beyond the barrier that Galactus put in place to confine him to Earth.

Silver Surfer: I am trapped like a rat on this insane planet! Once more the Silver Surfer has trusted men--and once more men have shattered that trust!

The Surfer flew off but soon returned to apologetically assist the Defenders (#6. He returned again in #8-11 and for a handful of later missions). Thor, by the way, never joined the non-team but helped subdue a disgruntled Hulk in Defenders #10, during a crossover story with the Avengers.

Steve Englehart wrote Defenders #1-11. Sal Buscema illustrated those issues. The Silver Surfer image at the top comes from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

New Cover Versions

When the lineup stabilized in #125, the New Defenders took an original cover concept and ran with it.

Of all these group portraits, I like Defenders #138 the best.
Given the team's habitually unofficial status, the flag in the background was a nice touch. The moniker Sgt. Fury and His Howling Defenders appeared only on the cover of #147.