The Secret Defenders #2

When characters like Wolverine team up with guys like Nomad, it’s easy to tell the "Secret" is cross-promotion.

I have found memories of The Defenders. Not the original band of four (Namor, Hulk, Sub-mariner and Dr. Strange), mind you. But the guys who were calling themselves The Defenders when I got back into comics. They were heroes who had no other place to go, guys whose solo sales wouldn’t support a monthly and/or had been discarded from other team books like so much chattel. My Defender team, the team I remember as “The Defenders” were the ones that carried the mantel from issue 125 until its cancellation in issue 152. These were the “New Defenders” and the team consisted of Nighthawk, Valkyrie, the Gargoyle, and 3/5s of the original X-Men (Beast, Iceman and Angel). So I’m not too picky that Marvel decided to change the lineup when they started “The Secret Defenders.”

What I do find pretty insulting is the blatant attempt at cross-promoting by using a popular character like Wolverine in this series. The setup for The Secret Defenders is to have Dr. Strange call together groups of heroes as he needs them for tasks that he cannot handle. For the first story arc, our team consists of the ever-present Wolverine, SpiderWoman II (Julia Carpenter), Darkhawk, Nomad and Dr. Strange (who’s curiously absent). SpiderWoman had recently been inducted into West Coast Avengers, a magazine that would be nixed the following year. Darkhawk’s own series was only two years underway and would be cancelled due to poor sales in less than two more. Nomad’s title was also on a short leash, ending the very next year as well. So all of these heroes joining Marvel’s number one mutant sales machine before their series are pulled seems a bit of a coincidence, no?

Whatever the reason for the odd grouping, it doesn’t really matter if the resulting story is good. Unfortunately The Secret Defenders misses the boat here as well. Our heroes have been left in Phoenix, Arizona with very vague information on what they are supposed to do. In the last issue, Wolvie and SpiderWoman clobbered two superpowered muscle men. Now this new villain shows up to challenge them.

Dreadlox power works like this: when she runs her fingers through her hair she makes people see what they most dread. No, I'm not making that up. For Wolverine it’s carving up his X-Men buddies. For SpiderWoman it’s seeing her daughter die over and over again. Not a bad power, but the fact that she has to touch her hair to use it is really odd. It’s like saying she can only use her power when eating out-of-date bagel spread. (Get it? Dread Lox? No? Never mind).

Dreadlox’s two buddies wake up and they leave SpiderWoman and Wolvie to burn to death in a tenement fire. Before you laugh yourself silly, remember this book was published in the early 90’s. Wolvie hadn’t been overpowered to the point where nothing shy of a long swim in molecular acid would kill him. Burning to death was still a very real possibility. But of course they don’t. Darkhawk and Nomad come across a clue about these new superpowered individuals. Seems they are old bums magically made younger.

Our team reassembles and compares notes. Bums are turning into youthful supervillains is the only thing they have to go on. So they do the obvious thing, telephone Dr. Strange since none of them are detectives. You’d think Strange would bring on one hero known for critical thinking. No, maybe not. The doctor is out and all Wolvie gets is his answering machine. So he does something totally in character.

I’d hate to get Wolverine’s order wrong at the drive thru or be the driver who cuts him off on the freeway. I love it when writers make Logan into a lunatic with ginsu knives instead of an actual three dimensional character. It makes him so much more edgy and marketable. So failing to find the doc that way, our none-too-bright band decides to try holding hands and chanting. No, really! And they contact the good Doctor as he is battling Nightmare in another dimension. But Stephen has no time to chit-chat and instantly sends them back.

I love Logan’s line here. “If you say so.” I imagine him saying that in a dopey stupid voice. Left to their own devices they are still clueless. Darkhawk finally gets the idea of asking around some of the local bums. Maybe he’s the smart one of the group. He gets a lead. Someone is handing out cards from the “Second Chance Insititute” offering a chance for renewed health and vigor. Darkhawk decides to investigate it alone in his civilian identity. Without telling anyone else on the team. I take back what I said about him being smart. Of course he is captured by Macabre, the leader of this little gathering. Not to fear, even without knowing anything or having a clue what to do, the rest of our band of heroes arrives just in time to save him

Their spectacular wall-smashing entrance has some unforeseen consequences. On the good side they knock out Dreadlox. But they also slam the crowd of hornswoggled bums with many brick projectiles. I know they may be villain-supporting bystanders at this point, but still you don’t pelt ordinary people with bricks. It’s just bad form, heroes. Macabre issues an ultimatum using Darkhawk and another girl as hostages.

Three? Buckle my shoe? Freddy’s coming for you? This book of wannabe’s doesn’t hold a candle to the original Defenders, or even my New Defenders, nor was it a success at promoting these characters solo titles, Wolverine's not withstanding.The more secret we keep these Defenders, the better.

Solar, Man of the Atom #31

I’ve seen the light and it is Solar, Man of the Atom.

Once in a great while, a book comes along that feels not only true to the ideals of the superhero genre but also gives you a tangible impression of real life in its characters, situations, and dialogue. Invincible is one of those books. And so is Solar, Man of the Atom.

In the 1990’s Valiant licensed Solar from Gold Key along with a string of other titles to be part of Jim Shooter’s (boy does he get around) superhero line. Valiant significantly changed Solar’s origin and brought in Barry-Windsor Smith and Bob Layton to handle the art chores. By issue 31, Smith had moved on to other projects and Layton was now EIC of Valiant.

What is there to like about this book? The dialogue for one. Take this exchange at the beginning of the book. Solar has brought home one of his villains all trussed up like a Christmas turkey. His girlfriend is more than a bit annoyed by this intrusion into their holiday plans. Watch how this plays out and see if you don’t feel a bit of that ole Invincible magic…

See how they react like real live people? This whole issue is chock full of stuff like that. Looks like Phil Seleski/Solar is going to have to figure out a way to keep his girlfriend happy. So they end up heading to their friend’s Christmas party with Ravenous in tow. Lucky for them, their host knows about Phil’s secret identity.

Usually I just bring the host a bottle of wine. All goes well until Ravenous slips his ropes and attempts to snack on a few of the guests.

 
 

Gayle gets involved in helping Phil contain Ravenous, when suddenly he begins to drain Gayle’s lifeforce. Solar dispatches him and heals Gayle’s injury. This leads to some very dramatic scenes where we can easily grasp just how alienated Gayle must feel from Phil/Solar.

There’s more in the issue. Solar locks Ravenous away for good, Gayle’s Mom makes a surprise visit that ends up with her moving into Gayle’s house and Gayle’s new boss just happens to be Phil’s Father. All of these are handled very well and appear to be setups for things to come in future issues.

Solar may have me digging through back issue bins. It’s just that good.

Omega The Unknown # 4

 Death by CATS!

Steve Gerber, the legendary creator of Man-Thing and Howard the Duck, shares co-creator rights with Mary Skrenes on 1976's Omega the Unknown title. And while Gerber is the big name working on this mess, Skrenes has the more interesting background. A long-time collaborator of Gerber, Skrenes contributed charaters for both The Defenders and the original Guardians of the Galaxy. She was even the inspiration for Beverly Switzer, Howard the Duck's love interest...eww!...in both the book and movie versions. She has a long publishing history of horror stories under the pseudonym "Virgil North," adopting the false name due to an ongoing feud with DC editor Joe Orlando.  

No matter how much talent was brought to this title, I'm still left scratching my head at the resultant book and character. Marvel labels Omega as the “Man of mystery from beyond the stars!” and I have to admit that many things about Omega mystify me. Like how does he gets wet wood to not only catch fire, but to continue burning in the pouring rain? 

Like why do his thought bubbles fill up more page space than the character art for a majority of the magazine? Yet Omega himself rarely speaks.

And most intriguing of all: How is a man with the strength enough to stop a speeding car (note the three tons comment)…

…taken down by a large pack of alley cats? Can I assume there were four tons of cats in these pictures?

To be fair, Omega is meant to leave the reader with more questions than answers. Marvel made everything about him sketchy, including his origin. Somehow he’s linked to a twelve-year-old boy named James-Michael Starling. JM was raised in isolation by parents who turned out to be robots. As a result, JM talks like a Vulcan. That’s okay though, he’s given a cast of secondary characters that provide his daily doses of drama. He’s picked on by bullies at school, has a tomboy love interest and a glasses wearing “Friday” type as a best friend. Best of all is Amber, one of the two twenty-somethings he lives with (their relationship to him is never explained).

Note that pet name she has for him: The Punk. Where’s Marvel’s version of CPS?

There is so much time spent on JM, that you'd assume the title was actually his. In fact it was. Omega was a bit character put in and "linked" to JM in a mysterious way so that Gerber and Skrenes could write a gritty story of the life of an school age boy. The superhero stuff is pretty much rote action pieces that act as filler between JM's life struggles. 

This particular issue is pretty lame.  JM attends school where some bullies hassle him and mess up a science experiment. JM’s friend is caught by the same bullies later for a little shadow boxing, with him playing the shadow.  

Omega saves someone who jumps off a bridge. He takes the potential suicide to stay with this old man who talks a mile-a-minute. The old man explains that the neighborhood burjo, or witch doctor, wants to take her as his wife. Omega tries to stop the burjo, who calls himself El Gato, from abducting the woman. El Gato sics a bunch of cats on Omega and escapes with her.

This series is really pretty third-rate, both art and story-wise. The title was cancelled after issue 10, which means it didn't last a year. Gerber and Skrenes never got around to explaining the link between JM and Omega, the whole dead robot parent deal or why Omega’s mute through most of the issues. Omega ended up killed off in issue 10 and other writers tied up the loose ends of JM's life in the pages of The Defenders. 

The dialogue is overkill and the thought balloons (especially Omega’s) tend to grate. They are supposed to be adding atmosphere and mystery, but end up being clichéd and repetitive. However Omega has a cult following among comics fans and one of their number, novelist Jonathan Lethem revived the character in 2007 for a 10 issue limited series. Lethem's take even garnered a nomination for an Eisner for Best Limited Series.

Go figure.