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Selector

Defenders #94

Apr 1981
J. M. DeMatteis, Joe Sinnott

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Story Name:

Beware... The Six-Fingered Hand!


Synopsis

Defenders #94 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 3.5 stars

In response to a panicked call for help from Patsy Walker while they were in London, Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, and Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan, dash to her home in Montclair, New Jersey, in their most spectacular fashion, terrifying the neighbors. Hellstrom’s trident detects something amiss so Strange casts a spell that reveals the house is a ruin, the basement full of spears to kill anyone who unwittingly walked through the door. They find a seriously injured Dolly Donahue in the ruins. She relates how she saw Patsy carried off through the air by a gargoyle, who turned and demolished the house with a gesture as he fled….

In the Christiansboro, Virginia, City Hall, the Gargoyle is presiding over a service worshipping the demon lord Avarrish, which will involve sacrificing Patsy….

Hellstrom blames himself for this. Sometime earlier, he had been trying to aid a possessed girl who spoke of a cadre of demons called the Six-Fingered Hand and saw a vision of them menacing the Defenders but said nothing. With his magic he learns of Patsy’s whereabouts and the three of them fly to her rescue, Dr. Strange pausing to tell Clea he’ll be out late. Clea, meanwhile, goes upstairs at the Sanctum Sanctorum to find that the paralyzed Nighthawk is missing…and a fearsome stranger is outside….

Dr. Strange, Val, and SoS arrive in Christiansboro, Virginia, but Avarrish detected their arrival and dispatched a horde of weird demons, led by the Gargoyle, to defeat them. There is a huge battle in the streets, Hellstrom enjoying his destruction of the enemies while Gargoyle tries to tell him that Avarrish helped the town, not harming it, and advises him to leave before he ruins everything. And then the real Hellcat arrives, Patsy as possessed by Avarrish and she battles her friends. She takes down Hellstrom, then Strange, but when she engages with Valkyrie, Val talks her into fighting the demon inside her and it is cast out. The citizens of the town emerge from City Hall, having been freed of the binding spell which made them worship the demon. They all go to the Mayor’s office to confront the town father Isaac Christians and discover he is the Gargoyle. He confesses that the town’s descent into poverty and ruin led him unwisely to dabble in black magic. Avarrish promised to help the town in exchange for Christians being transformed temporarily into Gargoyle and helping capture Patsy. But because he tried to warn the Defenders, he was punished by becoming Gargoyle permanently. Strange is determined to destroy the Six-Fingered Hand and Gargoyle asks to join them. But Patsy’s greater trauma…is that her life was promised to the demons, by her mother….



 

Review / Commentaries


Defenders #94 Review by (June 19, 2024)

Review: “Beware the six-fingered hand?” Do I look like Inigo Montoya to you? (PRINCESS BRIDE reference).

So…surprise. Usually I dislike Satanist/demon stories because they tend to be nasty and stupid and the art from Don Perlin pretty mediocre but I really enjoyed this story arc. It was silly enough to be fun and set up like a video game with the six demon lords being like Pokémon Masters who have to be defeated to progress in the game. And there’s five more of them to come from that giant hand with demon fingertips like collectible erasers.

Comments: Part one of seven parts. First appearance of Gargoyle (Isaac Christians) who will be around for quite a while as he joins the non-team. First appearance of the Six-Fingered Hand. Al Milgrom contributed to the art.



> Defenders comic book info and issue index

Elektra
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Excelsioring your collection:
Diamond Select Toys Marvel Gallery: Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness PVC Statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
George Roussos
Michael Golden (Cover Penciler)
Michael Golden (Cover Inker)
Michael Golden (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Layouts: Don Perlin. Letterer: Diana Albers.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Gargoyle
Gargoyle

(Isaac Christians)
Hellcat
Hellcat

(Patricia Walker)
Son of Satan
Son of Satan

(Daimon Hellstrom)
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(Brunnhilda)