Marvel's Non-Team: Defenders Appreciation 2018

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http://13thdimension.com/13-covers-a-sal-buscema-birthday-celebration/ http://comicsalliance.com/tribute-sal-buscema/ http://peerlesspower.blogspot.nl/201...workhorse.html

[Reviresco]

Sal Buscema was definitely one of my favorite Defenders artists. A very under rated artist.

[Custodes]

Happy Birthday Sal. I spent my youth discussing your art and it seems I still am.

Nice splash 616.

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Thanks for your writing on The Order. http://www.ladiesmakingcomics.com/po...-mary-jo-duffy http://comicsbulletin.com/btft-fred-...rvel-universe/

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Of course everyone knows names like Kirby, Buscema, Romita, and Colan, but there is a plethora of other guys (and girls), that need to be given a great deal of credit for the success of Marvel Comics. These others helped forge a new pathway, and their number needs to be counted. Like Ron Wilson who deserves more respect than he’s gotten over the years.
http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.nl/2010/01/looking-back-with-ron-wilson.html

[Reviresco]

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.nl/2010/01/looking-back-with-ron-wilson.html

Wow. Ron Wilson did this one? I'd have guessed Johnny Romita all the way.

Also, I remember buying this one off the stands! Good times!

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Gil Kane is beloved by his fans for his unique style of art that utilizes strong forms in beautiful compositions. His layouts are usually as breathtaking as his finished work.

[Nomads1]

Kane was AMAZING! However, an endless source of frustration for me. I Remember his oh so many exciting covers for Marvel in the 70's, but it was so rare to find him doing interiors. I'll never forget my excitement for seeing him do fabulous covers for, say, the Invaders, and my huge disappointment at finding Frank Robbins, who was never much to my liking, doing interiors.

Peace

[Reviresco]

Kane was AMAZING! However, an endless source of frustration for me. I Remember his oh so many exciting covers for Marvel in the 70's, but it was so rare to find him doing interiors. I'll never forget my excitement for seeing him do fabulous covers for, say, the Invaders, and my huge disappointment at finding Frank Robbins, who was never much to my liking, doing interiors.

Peace

LOL! I have to agree 100% on that Invaders disappointment. Robbins art actually put me off reading that series for decades.

He did do a Team Up with Namor and Namorita that I recall fondly. Or was it a Two In One? But the longest running Marvel work he did was for John Carter wasn't it? And Thongor? Oh, and of course the first Iron Fist.

[Lee Stone]

I picked up the trade collection when it came out a couple of years ago.

The New Defenders was my favorite, as well.
And those covers.... so many great ones for that team. But a few clunkers, too, made even more inferior due to contrast.

What I liked most about the Defenders, both New and the Original team+Valkyrie was that the team was pretty much made up of representatives of different corners of the Marvel Universe.
An Asgardian here, an Atlantean there, a cosmic character, a mystic character, a science-based character, a monster, a traditional superhero, a mutant...

If it was formed today, I'd go with Namor, Hercules, Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Valkyrie, Moondragon, Iron Fist, Wolfsbane and an Inhuman. Probably Crystal.

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Wow. Ron Wilson did this one? I'd have guessed Johnny Romita all the way.

Also, I remember buying this one off the stands! Good times!

Defenders # 12 Cover Artists are Ron Wilson AND John Romita Sr. Defenders # 17 Cover Artists are Ron Wilson, Al Milgrom and Dan Crespi.

I really, really wish for the MCU Bruce Banner to show up in the Netflix Defenders series, since in the movies he, to me, doesn't seem to MATTER much.
Also, I'd like to think that actor Mark Rufallo will have great chemistry with actors Charlie Cox, Rosario Dawson, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter and Finn Jones!

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"The Day of the Defenders!"

Published: December 1971

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Ross Andru

Inker: Bill Everett

Letterer: Sam Rosen

Editor: Stan Lee

This issue also features a "fabulous fifties featurette" backup story called Sub-Mariner and the Icebergs which tells the story of a young Namor who blockades a fleet of ships with icebergs because he thought they were going to attack his nation. In the end, we learn that they were merely searching for uranium. A truce is called when the surface dwellers warn Namor that his moving the icebergs has caused a massive underwater avalanche. Namor's empire is evacuated before disaster strikes. His nation destroyed, but his people saved, Namor and his people set out to rebuild there world.
This story is not summarized completely as it has no bearing on the Defenders series or the team

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Touch.

[codystarbuck]

For me it was always the Gerber Defenders, then the David Anthony Kraft and DeMatteis. In fact, it was that slightly loopy, satirical edge that Gerber gave the Defenders that laid the foundation for my love of the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI series. Gerber's Defenders was about the absurdity of superheroes and the threats they faced, ramped even higher. Kraft didn't quite reach those levels, but he put in a darn good effort. DeMatteis was more in tune with Gerber, though in a more restrained manner.

Sal Buscema is the quintessential Defenders artist, with Keith Giffen, in his younger days, not far behind. Giffen, in that period, was a nice blend of Kirby and Adams.

As for the team, I was always partial to the main block of Dr Strange, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and the Hulk. Silver Surfer was too powerful and too wrapped up in cosmic things and Namor really felt like he shouldn't be in groups, though I did think the original trio of Strange, Namor and Hulk had a good dynamic. Once you went beyond them, i felt that Namor and Surfer didn't work as well. I could also do without Strange, for long stretches. When you took his rather vaguely defined powers out of the mix, I felt it lent itself to more drama. It was similar to the problem of Superman, in the JLA.

I'd like to see a cinematic Defenders; but a classic roster, not what Netflix is cooking. Actually, I'd like to see an animated series, along the lines of a Venture Brothers, where the satirical elements could really come to play.

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LOL "Touch", simple and effective