Written by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by Terry and Rachel DodsonEveryone’s favorite Marvel characters banding together to solve a mysterious conspiracy deep at the heart of the Marvel Universe!
The last line of defense against the forces of the unknown!
Spinning out of the pages of Fear Itself, Marvel’s non-team of outsiders, The Defenders are back, and once again, they’ve been brought together by a threat only they can trounce. But this time they’re short the Hulk — um, the green one — and in lieu of ole Jade Jaws himself, they’ve recruited the ravishing Red She-Hulk and the Immortal Iron Fist along for the ride!
Wanna know more? Check with us after the jump!
As first issues go, Defenders #1 is definitely worth the price of admission. In a story that not only introduces an all new world breaker of a threat, but also gets the team together and away on their first outing, readers certainly get their money’s worth, that’s for sure. Add to that, two of Marvel Comics’ top tier talents like Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson, and honestly, I don’t really need to convince too many of you to pick this thing up. But I will say this: if you’re someone looking for the standard Matt Fraction fare, a la Invincible Iron Man, Thor, or even The Immortal Iron Fist, then it’s possible you’re going to be a little surprised by the direction this book looks like it might take.
Matt Fraction’s a phenomenal writer, and it’s hard to read a Marvel book that he hasn’t touched or influenced in the last couple years. But here, Fraction’s decided to set aside some of his usual tricks and style, choosing to work Marvel Style with artist Terry Dodson, and it makes for a unique premiere issue, to be sure.
Marvel Style, of course, is the collaborative method pioneered by the original Marvel Architect Stan Lee and artistic greats Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and pretty much every artist turning in pages during the Silver Age. Usually, the writer works up a plot that describes the overall story, and the artist takes it from there, breaking things down into a standard length comic. Once the art’s done, the writer goes back in and scripts over the story, bringing both sides of the puzzle together into one big, and beautiful cohesive piece of four color functionality. And this method was just about perfect when you had one guy like Lee overseeing the entire line, but over the years, as the more traditional team of writer and artist become the norm, “Marvel Style” fell out of favor.
I’ve read several interviews where Fraction spoke a little bit about why he and Dodson decided to go this route, but the “whys” don’t really matter to me. What matters is the final product, and I have to say that I was impressed, and just a little bit thankful for the result.
Defenders also seems like it might be Fraction’s spill over book, becoming the place where he’s able to pick up the character threads from his previous work on Iron Fist, Namor (Uncanny X-Men), and the Silver Surfer (Thor). Whatever his plan, it’s just great having him write Iron Fist again.
The book looks gorgeous, and I don’t think it’s going to surprise anyone when I say that Terry and Rachel Dodson knocked it out of the park. Not only that, but it’s paced incredibly well — one of the best first issues I’ve read in ages. And for that, I’m going to give most of that credit to Terry Dodson. We’ve seen Fraction and Dodson work together before in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, and while I liked those issues, they never felt like this. Dodson’s pacing and layout push the story as well as any of Fraction’s words, making me really look forward to what this experimental working arrangement produces in the coming months. And Dodson’s still one of the cleanest storytellers working today. I’m always amazed when someone can put this many characters on the page together and keep it from looking cluttered. Bravo Dodson’s!
Continued belowIf there’s a negative, it’s that Doctor Strange comes across as slightly out of character, as does the Hulk. I can give the Hulk a pass, though, since we’re not quite sure where he’s at following the finale of Fear Itself. But similarly to how he’s portrayed in New Avengers, Strange does a couple things in this issue that feel a lot more like John Constantine than Stephen Strange.
The cast members also make mention of not wanting the Avengers to know what they’re doing, but based on the opener and what we see happening in in Bucharest, I find it a little hard to believe that the Avengers don’t already know about Nul, the Breaker of Worlds.
And while it’s clever and funny, I’m still not sure about the old school “continued third page following” footers. Even though I got a good chuckle out of them, I’m frustrated with the trick. This is only the first issue, obviously, but I’d like for them to decide what these things are going to be. Are they a) affectionate nods to the way things used to be, b) promo clips for other Marvel titles, or c) commentary that underscores or foreshadows what’s going on in the book. I guess they can be all three, sure, but they can also be a little distracting and the kind of style over substance cutesiness that takes readers out of the story.
All in all, though, The Defenders #1 is a good comic, and one of the best first issues I’ve read in a while. But it’s also a dark comic, with a creepy opener that sets the stage for how bad things are going to probably get. Still, the book’s overall tenor of strange and quirky is appropriate, considering the writer most associated with the team previously was comics resident mad-genius, Steve Gerber. And based on what you see here, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a lot more of Fraction and Dodson tapping into his inner-Gerber in the coming months.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – No need to defend your purchase. We wholly endorse this one.
