The Defenders Vol 4 (featuring Iron Fist)

Welcome back Anons! Last time, we finished up the team-up of Victor Alvarez, the second Power Man, and Danny Rand. Today, we see Fraction's second attempt at writing Iron Fist, and in a team book this time!

I'm having incredible deja-vu. Wasn't this storytimed recently?

By an user who's been running a lot of Fraction books, yes.

HEY, REMEMBER FEAR ITSELF?!

As I've implied a few times during this, I tend to run through the entire history of a character in a few weeks. So I went from Ditko to this in, let's say a month. You REALLY notice the character shifts when you do that.

Remember Anons, thanks to Bendis, Strange is no longer the Sorcerer Supreme at this point.

I haven't read much Hulk outside of PAD's and brief bits of Paks. Why could Hulk speak in perfect sentences around this time?

>water man
>not fish man

I've read too much Defenders to not get annoyed at that.

Okay, so Hulk has full inteligence this time, and not a Professor Hulk instance, where he still thinks of himself as Banner.

... Okay, I know Power Cosmic is second only to Speed Force in terms of "Fuck you, I do what I want", but this is a trick I can't say I've seen the Surfer pull before.

Has anyone given her back her powers since Duggan took them away, or are the only Hulks around now Cho, Ewing's Red Hulk, and Jennifer (who's actively trying to NOT transform)?

Get used to the "big-ass sword" bits, because they never stop.

Aw man, I was hoping for more suit-wearing Silver Surfer. Oh well, it was funny for a page.

Nobody can seem to make up their mind if Danny's rich or not anymore.

Huh, turns out the Urumi is a real thing. Looks too stupid to be real.

>"What's got two thumbs and didn't boot in front of millions of people while inventing Zero-G Kung Fu?"

Really Fraction? A Scrubs reference?

Hey.
Well, this can't possibly be worse than the last Defenders we read together.

Probably won't be staying up for the whole thing tonight, but that's what leaving tabs open forever is for.

>Danny and Misty sharing the same bed

Don't get too excited about this Anons, it literally goes nowhere.

And apparently Danny reads Marvelman on the side. I won't lie, I wouldn't have called that.

Oh no, a plane crash! Doctor Strange's cloak is useless in these conditions!

No, I won't stop talking shit about Bendis, especially after that interview about his Defenders.

>hitting the ground so hard it knocks out a Hulk

God damn, that's one hell of an impact.

What do you mean? We read Gerber last time.

Danny's on the ground, and he's basically the only one there who can be hurt by bullets, so why are they so worried?

Mature themes have often only served to make characters shallower and more infantile.

>Surfer, Strange, Ross, and Danny on the cover
>fuck that Namor though

Those 70s style hype footnotes are kinda jarringly out of place next to Dodson art.

Remember Anons, the Iron Fist power can do a lot more than just punch, despite what Danny's appearances in literally everything besides the comics imply.

Yeah, this is about what I was expecting with that last issue's ending. REALLY hard to be threatened by armed furries when you've got a Herald of Galactus in your corner.

Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I think this lines up with the Hulk Family/Agents of SMASH situation, and turning Rick Jones into a Hulk turned me right off.

I can't even think of many other books in this era that did that.

>The Surfer renders him into nothing but Atoms

And THIS is what happens when you pick a fight with a damn Herald.

Maybe it's because most of my experience with Rick Jones is from Captain Marvel books, which is admittedly not the norm for him, but seeing him turn into a Hulk permanently just seems weird.

Wait, fucking WHAT? Didn't that thing get destroyed during the Avengers/Defenders crossover in the 70's?

Oh god damn it, it's another Time Travel arc, isn't it?

India has tons of stupid, impractical weapons!

I should probably look up how Nul and Hulk split, but to be honest? I really don't care.

So do people still live near Wundagore in Marvel? After all the spooky shit that goes down there, you'd expect everyone nearby to fuck off.

>especially after that interview about his Defenders.

Something tells me I'm once again glad to be ignoring comics media.

...

This line up is pretty cool.

Shame about the writing tho.

Basically, the interview had a lot of talk about Luke and Jessica, a few comments about Daredevil, and Iron Fist (one of the guys on the cover) NEVER came up.

He also made a reference to a Jessica vs. Val fight, but I REALLY hope he's just taking the piss, or teasing people like me who enjoy seeing Jessica get the shit beaten out of her.

Really? I thought the last Defenders we hit was more... Fearless.

And even then, before that, I think we had Secret Defenders since the last time Gerber came up.

THIS is why you restrain your Hulks. Because they can change size.

And that's the second "big-ass sword" reference. Did she do this in her own book often, or did Fraction just like bringing it up?

Oh right, I forgot we did Secret Defenders.

Depending on how sadistic I'm feeling, we may do Fearless one more time though.

That applies to a lot of modern Marvel, as it turns out.

Well, the High Evolutionary's New Men have been threats to Adam Warlock and Thor in the past, so it's not completely out of the question.

Also, I forget what Prestor John's power level is but if I remember my pre-Messiah Complex Cable right he's a pretty heavy bruiser too.

The Dodsons' art style makes anyone bald look like goddamn children.

I forget, can the Evil Eye actually kill the Surfer, or is this just shit writing?

This Danny probably doesn't even remember the White Tiger that wanted his Iron Stick.

I forget, was this written anywhere near the time of Hickman's Avengers run, or was the whole "everything is dying" just a coincidence?

Looks like someone trying to rip off a Kirby design if you ask me.

>The stunning conclusion of Avengers: Children's Crusade is coming soon

And only like 3 years too late to properly finish of Heinberg's Young Avengers while it was still a hot property!

Did Adam ever actually fight the New-Men besides the Man-Wolf? I thought once Starlin got his hands on him, he ended up being mostly divorced from his pre-cosmic self.

I mean, it's been years, he may have genuinely forgot that. It's not like a Tiger that was transformed into a human that wants to jump his bones isn't the weirdest thing that's ever happened to him.

All right Anons, last issue for the night.

Turning Rick into anything BUT Captain Marvel permanently is kind of bullshit, yeah.

Even as a Hulk character, Rick was much more "the Hulk's human collaborator." So much so that he had a radio network that was essentially the original communications avenue for the Avengers.

Yeah, but the only Young Avengers anybody cares about now is Gillen's. And the only Gillen Young Avengers that anybody cares about are Wiccan and America/Kateeye.

Seriously, the fact that Marvel does NOTHING with Hulkling besides being Wiccan's boyfriend will never NOT infuriate me.

Seriously though, is the Evil Eye really strong enough to kill the Surfer like this, or does Fraction have no idea what he's talking about? Anyone?

Oh boy, this shouldn't end up being a total curbstomp...

>Turning Rick into anything BUT Captain Marvel permanently is kind of bullshit, yeah.

It's not like they'd even have to do a lot of re-working to get around it. During Englehart's run, there was a bit where Rick got one of Mar-Vell's Nega-Bands and he was able to use them to do minor matter manipulation, as opposed to Mar-Vell's super strength, flight, and Photon Blasts. Between that, his Captain America-trained combat skills, and general experience being the biggest bicycle in the Marvel Universe, he has enough to get by.

That's not even counting Spencer deciding to turn him into a Super Hacker.

You know, before fucking killing him off for no reason. It can't even be to get attention, because I don't believe anybody but a handful of people even know about Rick Jones, let alone care if he dies.

So Nul has Xenomorph saliva? Did that come up in any of his other appearances?

Well, that all sounds like par for the course for Bendis. Playing favourites, etc.

Also, clearly Val will lose, because she isn't one of The Select of Bendis and also so she can die and come back black for SYNERGY in time for the movie.

I'm pretty sure he was a teenager when he fought Shao-Lou, but whatever, "a boy", let's roll with it.

>The Creep

>Strange.
>Not Namor.

Fucking hell, Fraction, this is Bendis tier giving a shit.

Yeah Surfer, don't bother trying to help stop the rampaging Hulk. You just keep talking to the comatose old man.

>also so she can die and come back black for SYNERGY in time for the movie.
I forget, has she appeared anywhere since Fearless? Maybe she just possesses a Black Woman for a while instead of "thirst as fuck lesbian" until she gets her real body back.

The only way he would've gotten into the movies is if he was Coulson's intern.

I can only assume she says he's a creep because of what he whispered into her ear. I don't believe we're ever told what it is though.

That's Betty's blood.

>"Why is it this world is always the one upon which the fate of everything hinges? Why do the miracles and nightmares always seem to come from here?"

Yes, it's going to be one of THOSE books.

Yeah Surfer, just let the rest deal with a pissed off Hulk, I'm sure they can handle it.

And that's how you can tell I'm both tired and REALLY not interested in some of the bits of the book. Still, question's still valid.

Okay, that's one issue dealt with...

Ah yes, the Doctor Strange "superhero outfit". Not exactly one of Roy Thomas's better ideas. I think it was Roy Thomas, anyway.

Oh hey, thanks for finally helping, you old fossil.

What the literal hell took you so long?!

h-Hayai

Namor's just wearing a variant on his classic costume, Danny's doing the same, but what the hell is Ross wearing?

I admit, I wasn't paying attention, but I forget. Why did they not want these guys to leave, besides the general "the bad guy's can't be allowed to escape"?

And that's it for tonight Anons! See you next time, to see if we get any information about this Kirby-reject looking thing!

My point is that if anyone ought to be written as the creep, it's Namor, because he is one, but Fraction is going with Stephen Strange: Skeevy University Professor in this series.

So, the Margins started commenting on THIS story in a weirdly metafictional way.

Shit man, I didn't even KNOW Prester John was a Marvel Comics character.

Oh yeah, that's a weird character trait for this book that sticks around.

He doesn't have many appearances, but yeah.