Well, we’re at the point where DEFENDERS became a series of few joys, an interminable slog to get through for the next two years or so. Despite this fact, I never once toyed with dropping it, as I would occasionally do with other books. Why? Beats the hell out of me! I really wasn’t enjoying it, nor was it getting any better for the longest time. But having succumbed to the idea that all of the central Marvel super hero books were important to one another, I think that’s why I hung in there. It was one thing to drop a title that was more on the fringes, but this series included the Hulk and Doctor Strange, who seemed pretty central. So I was a comic book chump just like so many others over the years.
This is the storyline in which new writer Ed Hannigan explains just who and what Lunatik is. I had seen the character in one of the first DEFENDERS issues that I had bought, and liked him well enough. But this story took what was seemingly a simple premise and convoluted it up into impenetrability, damaging the character along the way. I can only assume that this happened because Hannigan hadn’t created Lunatik and had no particular attachment to him. He was just another bit of business left over from previous writer David A. Kraft that had to be tied up.
So last issue, the Defenders succeeded in rounding up three different Lunatiks, all of whom were causing chaos on the Empire State University campus. But by the end of that issue, Drama Professor Harrison Turk came forward to tell the defenders that he was actually Lunatik. So as this issue opens, the team has gathered around with their prisoners to hear Turk’s story. Hannigan–or this may have been Kraft’s intent earlier–ties this all into a pair of Man-Wolf stories, revealing that Turk is actually Arisen Tyrk, the overthrown ruler of an otherworldly realm who had once battled John Jameson’s alter ego. Having been bested by the Man-Wolf, Tyrk attempted to use a damaged mystical portal to teleport himself to safety, and instead wound up shredded into dozens of separate shards of his former self.
One such fragment made its way to Earth, where it set itself up with an identity and a job as Harrison Turk, professor of drama. Which makes one question the rigorousness of the Empire State University hiring process, really. But shortly thereafter, on the night of the full moon, another Tyrk appeared, this one homicidal and demented. This one adopted the identity of Lunatik and went on a righteous murder spree. Thereafter, a third and fourth Tyrk also came through and followed in the footsteps of Lunatik, giving us three of them and one Turk. Rather than looking to punish anybody for this chain of events, the Defenders instead decide that the thing to do is to attempt to unify Turk’s fragmented pieces, restoring him to being whole. But to do that, they’re going to need to venture to another dimension.
So the Defenders and company seek out Doctor Strange at his Greenwich Village Sanctum. Unfortunately, the Doctor isn’t in. But happily, Clea, Strange’s disciple, thinks that she can get the group where they need to go. She seeks out the energies that empower Lunatik, locating a large mass on a particular otherworldly planet, then uses her sorcery to open a gateway to that world. Exploring their surroundings, the defenders find themselves caught up in the midst of a running conflict, and they’re attacked, mistaken for soldiers of the opposing side. With no other alternative left to them, the Defenders are forced to defend themselves.
In the midst of this attack, Professor Turk takes the opportunity to turn nefarious. He liberates his three other selves, and then the quartet clobbers Hellcat, taking her with them as they escape. Meanwhile, the fight is going badly–at least until a strange gray stone golem enters the fight, scattering the attackers with his awesome strength. this turns out to be none other than the Incredible Hulk in disguise, a bit of convenient Deus ex Machina that allows the popular television sensation to be a part of this story.
And as the issue wraps up, we learn that this world, Tunnel World, is where Doctor Strange had gone to as well. He and the Hulk were operating undercover, for reasons as-yet undisclosed. But the Green Giant couldn’t restrain himself when he saw his friends in trouble. However, in the melee, the four Lunatiks have escaped with Hellcat, and Valkyrie is missing as well. and it’s on that note that the story is To Be Continued. It sure was a bunch of stuff that happened, but not having read those earlier Man-Wolf stories, I can’t say that i really cared about any of it. And the defenders themselves almost seemed like passengers in their own magazine. Clearly Hannigan loved a fantasy realm, but all of the Tunnel World stuff left me cold.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Agree 100%.
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To bad Editors or new writers ( Ed ) never asked the previous writer ( David A. Kraft ) what their intent was in situations like this ( I know from reading the Wikipedia that Omega the Unknown’s co-creator wasn’t happy with the origin Defender’s writer came up with. I guess that why he should have done it early — even if it isn’t complete ). Unlike the X-Men-Alpha Flight, X-Men-Moses Magnum, X-Men-Magneto, X-Men-Hellfire Club, X-Men-Proteus, X-Men-Arcade ( Claremont-Byrne ) or certain Avengers stories this period of the Defenders just does not measure up.
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I’m not sure Kraft had a worked-out intent. His approach, like Gerber’s, was often to write himself into a corner, and then try to figure a way out. One advantage of this, Kraft felt, was that the readers couldn’t outguess him. I’m not sure Gerber and/or Skrenes had a back-story for OMEGA worked out, either. Gerber, at least, didn’t plan like that. I’m sure he didn’t care for what Steven Grant came up with when Grant resolved the OMEGA material, but I don’t know any alternative had been developed by him and/or Skrenes.. It’s likely Gerber was just being a tease in fanzine interviews when he said there was.
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They’re hardly unique in that. Rereading Silver and Bronze Age comics, I keep spotting promising plotlines where the creators (including Stan and Jack at times) wound up going blank when it came time to wrap things up.
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Skrenes at one point said that Gerber had told her the plan for Omega. After he dies she vowed not to reveal it.
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Talk is cheap. And butthurt egos who are talking from frustration are even cheaper. If there was a real commitment to get the material out there, they would get it out.
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In other words, it seems Skrenes is more invested in the martyrdom narrative than the integrity of the material.
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Claremont made a career out of never resolving his own plotlines, at least post Phoenix.
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Deep in what I call the Kyle’s Kooky Quartet era. Defenders just limping along at this point. I can picture multiple editorial meetings with someone saying “Should we publish Defenders this month?” and everybody just shrugging and saying “I guess.” That the title survived another 7 years really lends credence to the idea of Marvel Zombies just buying every book just because.
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How Lunatik eventually kinda sorta became Lobo, Ambush Bug, and that other Lunatik that was also kinda sorta Lobo, is some of my favorite “behind-the-scenes” comic stuff. RIP Mr. Giffen.
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I wanted to like this series so much. I loved the fact that they included 4 of Marvel’s free agent powerhouses. They could’ve been “Earth’s other mightiest heroes”, instead of Marvel’s mightiest misfits. And the art never matched the peak of Sal & Klaus. It could have. I’d lose interest, then try again. Then give up.
The only thing I liked about the eventual “New Defenders” were the striking covers. But the interiors never delivered. And without the forceful four founders (& 1st recruit), it lost its appeal to me. Plus, I thought Nighthawk got sabotaged. Yeah, he was redundant. But he also felt like a personification of the Bronze Age of comicbooks itself.
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I flipped through issues in the store but I had no interest in buying the book at this point.
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Ditto, my friend!
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even reading this recap of Lunatik was too much for me.
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“Hannigan–or this may have been Kraft’s intent earlier–ties this all into a pair of Man-Wolf stories, revealing that Turk is actually…”
I would hazard a guess that this was at least partially Kraft’s intent, since he’d written Man-Wolf and would have been more likely to tie into that mythos than anyone else.
I don’t remember for sure if this story is where I quit DEFENDERS, or if it was when they went back to Tunnelworld. I thought Tunnelworld was boring and stupid, and it was at least a part of the last straw for me. If I quit here, I did come back long enough to see the Omega wrap-up, which I didn’t like either. But Gerber wasn’t telling, and someone at Marvel wanted it tied up.
I didn’t read most of the rest of what followed until Erik Larsen and I were doing DEFENDERS and I filled out my run of the book (and related books) for reference, as I tend to do. If I’d known the book wouldn’t last, I might not have bothered.
I did come back for the beginnings of the DeMatteis run and later the Gillis run, but I didn’t like the art, wasn’t interested in the kind of horror stuff the DeMatteis run delved into or the X-style book Gillis clearly wanted to write. But those, too, I read when I took over DEFENDERS. I may have spent more time re/reading DEFENDERS and SECRET DEFENDERS and GARGOYLE and DOCTOR STRANGE and HULK and so on than I did working on the book…!
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Between Gerber and DeMateis was a vast wasteland in retrospect but I didn’t give up either. I liked Hulk, Nighthawk, Patsy, Strange, and Val as a combo so much that not even Hannigan could drive me away.
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I was a pretty loyal reader of the Defenders through the David Anthony Kraft era, which I still enjoyed even if it didn’t equal Steve Gerber’s take on the team. Once Kraft was off the book, though, I didn’t last for much longer.
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I wasn’t a fan of Kraft’s Defenders, partly due to Giffen’s early style and this thread had me checking his bibliography. Turns out that I’d forgotten he wrote the original She-Hulk series that I loved very much. I was disappointed pretty much nothing from it ever was used again. The weirdest thing was seeing Heathcliff on the list.
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I gave up the title just a few issues before this, and didn’t come back until I heard some good things about JMD’s run. I eventually went back and got these as back-issues, and realized I really didn’t miss anything. It felt like an awkward attempt to be Gerber/Kraft weirdness, but fell flat. I’m a fan of Trimpe as a whole, but his art here did nothing for me. I agree with 100% of Mr. Breevort’s observations here.
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I’d given up on the title a few issues before this, as it felt like Hannigan was awkwardly trying to capture the fun weirdness of Gerber/Kraft. Although I was a fan of Trimpe overall, his art couldn’t save the book at this time. 100% agree with Mr. Breevort’s observations.
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The Defenders including Doctor Strange are as dumb as Brer Fox and Brer Bear in this story.
I don’t recall all of the particulars that might make it make some sense, but I do remember thinking at the time that it seemed stupid for the entire team to go on a dangerous trip to another realm to help an obvious bad guy get reintegrated and get their a$$es kicked.
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I must admit that you are a better (?) man (or should I say teen?) than I was, Tom!
I started collecting The Defenders at issue #14 and up until about issue #66 I enjoyed the book consistently.
Probably due to a combination of not having enough money from my paperboy route, and being incredibly picky when it came to which artist was on a book (I either was buying or thinking about buying) I stopped reading The Defenders at this point. Forgive me if I’m wrong but I doubt I missed much! I’d still flip though a new issue each Thursday at Beach Stationary in Far Rockaway, but I never purchased another one.
However, those 50 or so issues still hold a special place in my collection to this day.
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