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Defenders, The #62: Review

Aug 1978
David Kraft, Jim Mooney

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Story Name:

Membership Madness! Dollar Bill’s Documentary Disaster Part 1!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Defenders, The #62 Review by (July 25, 2023)
Review: Herein begins the story arc called “Defenders for a Day” and any longer would have completely destroyed the city. It’s fast paced madness all the way, starting with the Frisbee game and Bill’s ridiculous documentary, finally ramping up the crazy factor when the prospective heroes arrive. Now some of these people should have the dignity not to behave like they are at summer camp while others wouldn’t have wanted to join the non-team at all but chaos is funny (so we are told) but without people doing dumb things there wouldn’t be any comedy. And so we wait for the next issue, knowing full well what is going to happen to those fools who have jumped on the Hulk…. Anticipation is also a major factor in comedy.  

Comments: Part one of three parts. Prospective Defenders are Hercules, Marvel Man (a/k/a Quasar), Nova, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Stingray, Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Black Goliath, Iron Fist, Son of Satan, Polaris, Jack of Hearts, Falcon, Prowler, Paladin, Torpedo, Captain Ultra, White Tiger, Havok, Tagak. Tagak has only four comic appearances: DAREDEVIL #72 and DEFENDERS #62-64. Likewise, this is Captain Ultra’s second appearance after FANTASTIC FOUR #177 though he has a few more appearances. Several characters appear on the cover but not in the story: Iron Man, Spider-Woman, Angel, and Luke Cage; Iron Man appears in the next issue but not as a prospective Defender.  





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Defenders, The #62 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The Defenders are on their lawn playing Frisbee, though Hulk doesn’t quite understand the rules and the disc becomes a deadly weapon in his hands, knocking Valkyrie flat. Dollar Bill rushes out of the house to tell them that the documentary film he made about them is on television. The Defenders are surprised, confused, and angered (especially Nighthawk) as none of them knew he was making such a film and certainly not showing it publicly. They sit down in front of the TV and watch the show. It turns out to be heavily Bill-centric, even referring to the non-team as “Dollar Bill’s dynamic Defenders,” which doesn’t sit well with the heroes. The film also reveals how Lunatik escaped in the previous issue: by hiding inside the statue’s hollow base, which none of the heroes thought of (or how Lunatik knew it was there). Nighthawk is enraged at how Bill portrayed them, Val resigned to their loss of anonymity, and Hellcat flattered at the fame this will bring her. But the big problem is that Bill stated that anyone willing can join the non-team, giving the academy’s address, which promises problems….

In the Russian Forbidden Zone, the Presence broods over the disasters the Zone is hiding, having humbled the scientific elite….

The next day at the academy, there is a lot of noisy knocking at the front door. Nighthawk opens it to discover dozens of heroes wanting to join the team. His first reaction is to literally kick Dollar Bill out of the house. Then NH gets into a quarrel with the Falcon and they begin chasing each other through the sky. Hellcat is thrilled at the large turnout while Valkyrie takes Hulk to reluctantly prepare coffee for their unwanted guests, while talking Hulk out of smashing them all. Nova, Marvel Man (future Quasar), and White Tiger decide to go ride the horses. A small group of newcomers decides to elect a leader among themselves; they choose Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) but he declines and nominates Hercules, who is elected. The guys riding the horses receive a painful lesson in horsemanship but when the horses have finally settled down, Falcon and Nighthawk swoop overhead, scaring the steeds. Then Val and Hulk serve coffee, her first attempt at brewing the beverage and it is undrinkable. Hellcat flirts with Jack of Hearts and Captain Ultra and soon the two men are fighting over her—until they are nearly run over by the stampeding horses. A handful of heroes decide that Hulk is a menace and should be captured. While Hulk is sitting alone and brooding, they jump out of the bushes to nab him….

Also in the story: Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Stingray, Black Goliath, Son of Satan, Polaris, Prowler, Paladin, Torpedo, Havok, Tagak.



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Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Jim Mooney
Jim Mooney
Bob Sharen
John Romita Jr. (Cover Penciler)
Bob Layton (Cover Inker)
Carl Gafford (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: Sal Buscema. Letterer: John Costanza.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel

(Mar-Vell)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Hellcat
Hellcat

(Patsy Walker)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Jack of Hearts
Jack of Hearts

(Jonathan Hart)
Ms. Marvel
Ms. Marvel

(Carol Danvers)
Nighthawk
Nighthawk

(Kyle Richmond)
Nova
Nova

(Richard Rider)
Polaris
Polaris

(Lorna Dane)
Prowler
Prowler

(Hobie Brown)
Son of Satan
Son of Satan

(Daimon Hellstrom)
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(Brunnhilda)

Plus: Black Goliath (Bill Foster), Captain Ultra (Griffin Gogol), Defenders, Dollar Bill (Aaron English), Havok (Alex Summers), Marvel Man (Wendell Vaughn), Paladin, Presence, Stingray (Walter Newell), Torpedo (Brock Jones), White Tiger (Hector Ayala).

> Defenders, The: Book info and issue index

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