Well this is a major bummer.
In the same article that announces the purpose and describes the content of Matt Fraction’s upcoming runs on “Fantastic Four” and “FF” with Mark Bagley and Mike Allred, the announcement that “Defenders” would end was snuck in there as well. The news comes from the following quote, regarding She-Hulk’s role in the FF:
She-Hulk has a pedigree with the team since she has been a member of the Fantastic Four, plus she’d be Ben’s pick because she’s “the one person he knew he could never lick,” says Fraction, who writes Red She-Hulk in Defenders, which ends its run at issue 12 in November.
This will of course allow Red She-Hulk to be “free” just in time for her new ongoing (which begins in October at #59), but is still a bummer either way. Born out of “Fear Itself,” the book picked up a few leftover pieces before running headfirst into it’s own fantastic direction, and it’s by far one of the most entertaining books from Marvel on a monthly basis and offering up a sequel of sorts to Fraction’s popular “Immortal Iron Fist” run with David Aja. It will be sorely missed.
While this remark is obviously personal, I can’t help but be disappointed that “Defenders” isn’t going to exist in the new Marvel Now! world. That would have assumedly been a great time to give it a boost to bring in new readers who come into shops for all these fancy #1’s, and with a book that stars both Iron Fist and Doctor Strange and has illustrations by Jamie McKelvie, I’m fine with calling it an underrated gem. If you haven’t checked it out already, now might be a great time to head to shops and pick up the current issues. (#4 is a personal favorite of mine.)
I mean, come on. Death Celestials. How are more people not excited about that!
