Hey there, Defenders-heads! Long time coming and finally here: my book report on Steve Gerber's DEFENDERS! Erm, part 1: issues 20-26
These...are some rad comics! Wow! Groovy and fun and...politically charged! Primo 70-ies Marvel fare.
A small story recap: the current Defenders are Strange, Hulk (On and off), OG Nighthawk and Valkyrie. The team tackles a weird cult obsessed with Valkyrie in a team up with a THING, then they deal with a fun cadre of Mad Science types before tackling the Sons of the Serpent in the first long arc (Luke Cage, Son of Satan (my beloved) and Daredevil guest). The last ish is a Guardians of the Galaxy team-up!
To me, Valkyrie's the clear standout character. Her story--possessing the body of a married woman and shunning the husband who's a stranger to her--is certainly unique. She's a literalized "New Woman," empowered and emancipated. A platonic ideal of a feminist woman. Aside from feminism, another allegory that comes up is Divorce--at one point Val is chastised by an Old Lady who posits that she's a gold-digger looking to make a buck off the divorce. The husband chases her mercilessly--really curious what that ends up in.
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Gerber avoids making Val too perfect and unrelatable--she grieves over the life of Barbara she can't recall. Also, her pronounced weakness is the inability to harm other women. It's a neat, comic-booky spin on female solidarity: feminism triumphs, unless there is division in the ranks.
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Another notable things--notice the way Val's character traits affect Gerber's worldbuilding. The sisterhood of Badoon, introduced in #26-27, is crafted specifically to challenge Val, but has stuck around in Marvel Space as a major power (and like one of three interesting things about the Badoon, lmao)