Secret Defenders: Featuring the Heroes for Hire

Welcome back Anons! Last time we saw how Davos finally came back to life after being dead for almost 20 years! Tonight, as voted by one user, we're doing Luke and Danny's appearances in Secret Defenders!

HOLY FUCKING SHIT DR. DRUID HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It's probably for the best that I didn't do the entire series, now that I think about it. Linkara did a review of a few issues a few years ago, back when he was still skinny.

>Writer
>Tom Brevoort

Oh, this should be good...

That's not what the Death card means, you fucking hacks.

Yet again, I haven't read a book that something I'm covering is referencing. Why is Doctor Strange's costume talking back?

I guess that explains why this got a digital rip and not other, worthier comics.

That's not what ANY of those cards mean!

X-user, you've read a lot of Claremont. Does this seem rape-y to you?

Well, if it IS supposed to be rape-y, he got over it quickly.

Let's see if he can put his money where his mouth is

He's weirdly buff for a freaking Wizard.

Well, he's getting strangled by a snek (not on the naughty bits tho!) and crying like a pussy, so I'm gonna go ahead and say "yes".

Honestly, I don't really mind the digital coloring on this, if only because it means we don't have to deal with what was probably ungodly awful 90's coloring.
And as we saw in the last few threads, that can get really shit.

God, they weren't even trying to make Druid not look evil at this point. He's like a palette swap away from being Gideon from X-Force.

Spider-Woman...?

>"I have needs which must be fulfilled"
>"Needs who's satisfaction demands the use of expendable minions."

Is this some kind of sex thing?

>Doctor Strange
>No mustache
>'Strange' in the background

This is looking bad already.

Nope, Sepulchre. Only other books I've seen her in are Ellis's Thunderbolts, and Bendis's New Avengers, and she was only in THAT for a montage gag.

At this point Stephen had created like, a golem named Strange that had a lot of his powers.
It was weird, I don't have much of the story.

Basically, Doctor Strange was two different people at this point, that's all you probably need to know.

Cage, just because your skin is invincible doesn't mean you don't feel things.

Wait, what? This is the same chick from Ellis' Thunderbolts? Why does she look exactly like Spider-Woman?

>Deadpool
>Using white text boxes

This man is now one of the most important editors in Marvel comics, and he's making fuck-ups even I'd catch.

Is this like Fate then? They both even dropped the "Doctor" part.

This is an older identity, "Shadowoman". As for why she's dressed like Spider-Woman? Who knows.

Especially since while he was an Avenger he very much had a Dad Bod. He was also bald.

I guess he hit the gym and got Rogaine for the 90s.

Also, a Nocturne ripoff wearing Jessica Drew's costume?

He didn't always have yellow text boxes

I figured, but it's fun to take the piss at Brevoort.

Yeah, they were white with red borders at first, then white with yellow borders and then finally, yellow.

Dude's got a six pack showing under his costume. Fuck hitting the gyms, he cast a spell of gains on himself.

>Luke is hired to protect a museum
>Still Kool Aid Mans through the wall.

That's some ANATOMY in that third panel.
Torso sized head.

Despite the pride he takes in his job, when collateral damage is calculated, Luke actually sucks at it.

This is before the yellow boxes. He has red borders instead.
The yellow boxes come in with Malibu colours IIRC.

Not really. Stephen Strange is still there, most of his magic is just contained in a seperate body that he controls.

Wait, her name is Shade now?

Well, I mostly meant the "90's retooling" part.

Since the colorist fucked up and made her costume red this time, you can tell how obviously she looks like Jessica Drew.

So besides Wade being Wade, is there any reason he's going on about Power Rangers? Did I forget a season where there was a Minotaur megazord?

How much do you want to bet that nobody involved in this comic has any idea what the Fool tarot actually means?

It means the beginning of a journey.

Welp, I guess Shadowoman fucked off between issues.

It's May of 1994, and Power Rangers is the hottest shit in the world?

It's what the kids like.

Like Claremont's incessant Star Wars references

In other words, "no, there isn't." Makes as much since as most things he says.

She didn't rate a cover appearance last issue either. I think she's here from now on though, because she's Druid's sidekick.

...

>Enchiladas!

God, Gerry Duggan has saved Deadpool.
I really need to buy those books. I only own the all-flashbacks trade, which I bought on a whim.
I think I may go for the hardcovers, omnibuses seem like they're hard to read most of the time.

>"You do me a disservice, Luke Cage!"

To be fair, I vaguely recall you spending most of your time with the Avengers as their token evil member.

He was the token "nobody's favorite" member. Granted, I'm not big on the Avengers, but I have never, ever heard anyone say their favorite Avenger is Dr. Druid.

What's the Venom Symbiote doing here?

They're doing an Omni of the pre-Secret Wars series.

I'm actually gonna try and sell my Hardcovers on eBay if I ever sell my DnA Guardians trades.

Oh, and someone FINALLY bidded on one of the trades. Been trying to sell those things for months.

So does anybody else know the deal with these characters?

Going by this entire backstory, I get the feeling she was invented for this story.

You can tell it's a comic book, since a man can go to a university with Satanic images in a lecture, and it was never heard of.

I'm pretty sure Malachi was the running antagonist in this series, but I only own like, the first two, which had all mysterious antagonists, and a later issue about the Wand of Watoomb.

Strength is...not totally misused?

Maybe, I never actually read this story in my "research" for these storytimes.

So we're getting her entire backstory, and she doesn't bother mentioning Spider-Woman and her costume.

...

...

...

Secret Defenders is an absolute work of art and I'm so fucking happy that it's getting an omnibus. I kept spamming Brevort's formspring for years with requests for it and I'd like to think that I'm partially responsible for making it happen.

The series really is something special.

Her original name was Shadowoman.

There's an Omni? I know there's at least one paperback coming out.

>the coloring on luke's biceps
The transitioning to digital coloring is going to be painful, isn't it?

Yeah, but why is Malachi calling her Shade?

im not a faggot dad

So apparently she's calling her that based on her shadow powers, and that wasn't just a third name I wasn't aware of.

With Claremont's references, I think he's actually a fan.

Or the hero of a story. Not really insulting.

Was he? I know Dave Cockrum probably was, based on the whole Shi'Ar thing.

People (especially younger people, like Kitty), are always referencing Star Wars, even after Cockrum or even Byrne.

I wonder what he thinks of the prequels?

...

Ah, yeah, looks like it's just the first 11 issues in paperbacks, and it's been renamed "Dr. Strange and the Secret Defenders" presumably because those are the issues where he leads the team before Thanos does then Druid.

Got bad info from my LCS I guess.

Less hype now. My favorite issues are the 9-10 arc (Silver Surfer, War Machine and Thunderstrike) and the Thanos' Secret Defenders arc (12-14), so it'll only have the one. Issue 11 has my single favorite spread of Richard Rider though so there's that.

No user, there's another paperback called Deadpool and the Secret Defenders which has 15-25. We're going through half of that paperback's contents tonight.

Oh cool, the 1st/2nd time Deadpool has been with the Heroes for Hire if you know what I mean.

...

Oh, perfect!

Wait, but that still means no Thanos' Secret Defenders. It's only a 3 issue arc so I can't see them getting their own trade. Dammit.

And we'll later see the 2nd/3rd time.

>As for why she's dressed like Spider-Woman? Who knows.
Maybe she was a Spiderwoman villain?

IM NOT A FAGGOT DAD!!!!

I'll probably be doing that in a few months when I do my Captain Marvel/Adam Warlock storytime, since that has Genis-Vell meet Nitro for the first time.

This is basically the finale of Stone Ocean, years before Araki wrote it.
Fucking hack, first he ripped off X-Men, now he's ripping off Secret Defenders.

Man, what a fantastic exchange that is.

noone cares
button lee noone

user, every time I say something stupid, just assume I'm taking the piss. More often than not, I am.

For instance, this time I'm making the joke before someone else does.

...

noone cares
button lee noone

Is Nick-At-Nite even still a thing?

Nope, it seems she had no connection to Spider woman early in her life.

IDK what to think.

...

I don't think so?

>Hey, we need a costume for this new character!
>Oh, just give her Spider-Woman's costume but purple. No one cares about her anyway
>Seriously?
>Yeah
>...OK then, I'm still getting paid though

Wait, why does turning younger/healing mean you suddenly lose your Gandalf beard?

Despite what Bendis and Modern Marvel wants us to believe, there was a long period where nobody gave a shit about Jessica Drew.

Well, at this point "Spider-Woman" was Julia Carpenter, a member in good standing of Force Works.

>there was a long period where nobody gave a shit about Jessica Drew.
I don't think we care about her now. I can't remember the last time I saw her comic storytimed.

The better question is when did anyone care about her?

...

That period continues to this day.

And for a single panel, we got Cage back in his classic yellow silk.

And since when does Luke know how to fight with a sword?

Chris Claremont cared about her, which is why he put Julia in Freedom Force. He was super salty about her existence and Jess getting sidelined.