"In The Jaws Of The Serpent!"

In what would be their third foray into inciting racial violence in the United States, the Sons of the Serpent, as we've already seen in the first two parts of a four-part story, have reorganized and begun launching attacks in New York City designed to stoke fear in their foreign-born and non-white victims and hopefully gain the attention of those like-minded white Americans supportive of their cause. Yet they've also drawn the attention of the dynamic Defenders (and their guest, the Avenger known as Yellowjacket), thanks to both the Valkyrie and Nighthawk having become involved with two individuals who have had exposure to the Sons' activities: Elena, a young woman forced to vacate a building in Manhattan's lower east side due to deplorable conditions ignored by her landlord, Harold Holliman... and Holliman himself, a real estate tycoon of little to no conscience who wishes to build a high-rise on the site and has courted fellow tycoon Kyle Richmond (Nighthawk) as a potential investor. Richmond never warmed up to Holliman or his proposal, his instincts toward the man having apparently been justified when Holliman is blamed (albeit cleared) in the firebombing which later destroyed Elena's building and resulted in loss of life, but whose name is later floated as the possible power behind the Sons of the Serpent.

As for the Defenders, they have been identified by the Sons as traitors to their race and captured, to soon face public execution. And now, apparently helpless, they're forced to listen as the Sons proudly explain their role in the purging of their country of those they consider impure--an explanation that includes their justification for mass murder.

It's a scenario that carries apocalyptic overtones, if only domestically--a plan that would require widespread outreach and public support for the Sons' goals to reach fruition, which bespeaks a level of sophistication and resources that would indicate the Sons have already marshaled considerable support and swelled their ranks from all corners of the country. Can the Defenders hope to stop such an organized and committed group, even if they somehow succeed in shutting them down locally? For that matter, can they escape their fate at present?

Well, we did say that they were apparently helpless...

...but aside from Dr. Strange, two of these captives possess the means to escape their constrictive metal bindings. Only one, however, is visibly infuriated enough by the vile nature of those they face to strike back without delay.

Fortunately, the Hulk, who was with the Defenders at the time they were taken captive, was left behind by the Sons due to the impracticality of attempting to carry him (as well as devising a means to hold him)--nor was the departing group witness to his subsequent transformation back to Bruce Banner. In addition, at the close of the PPC's earlier post was the teaser that the Defenders would be getting some backup--and those pieces begin to fall into place when Banner returns to Strange's sanctum and advises Strange's mystic disciple, Clea, of the situation. (Quite a feat for Banner, given that his memories during the time when he's the Hulk are either missing entirely or sketchy enough to further the story's plot, depending on his writer.)

At Banner's suggestion, Clea attempts to duplicate Strange's ability to summon those who have aided the Defenders in the past. Yet she is only able to reach two such men before she collapses from the effort--while Banner, using more conventional means, manages to reach a third. Soon enough, all three are converging at Strange's home--though the last arrival startles two men who, even with their combined experience, have never beheld the like.

Meanwhile, Yellowjacket has used his ability to shrink in size in order to escape his bindings, and, after failing to free Nighthawk, attempts to find an exit from their prison--only to later discover that they're being held at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, where the Sons apparently felt no need to leave an armed detachment on guard.

But help may or may not be forthcoming, depending on how successful the Defenders' new "posse" is in extracting information from the Sons operative who was taken captive by Yellowjacket earlier. Though we discover it's mostly a matter of deciding on the right means of, ah, persuasion.

Yet before our snake-garbed canary can sing, another broadcast by the Sons grabs everyone's attention--and rightly so, since the Sons have expedited the planned execution of the Valkyrie and prepare to carry it out live, in order to set an example to any whites who take the side of those who the Sons have sworn to expel from America's shores.

It's arguably the wrong message to send when you're seeking to indoctrinate hearts and minds to your point of view--though perhaps the Sons feel confident that they'll rally the numbers they need regardless, because of their belief that public accord for their cause is already there and simply waiting for the call to arms.  Perhaps they also feel that execution is not so far removed from what they'll be asking their viewers and those already in alignment with their goals to take part in.

Of course there's little doubt how Hellstrom, Cage, Daredevil, and a very unsettled Banner will react to the Sons' little announcement.

Regrettably, however, the Valkyrie's rescue party is whittled down to two, as Hellstrom's chariot (along with its occupants) vanish into thin area shortly before arriving at the scene--a most unexpected development, judging by their reaction. That leaves Daredevil and the Hulk to prevent the Valkrie's execution; but despite the fact that the Hulk alone is capable of laying waste to the opposition, after what happens next it's fair to wonder if even the Avengers would have prevailed against these wily, determined foes who seem to have teamwork down to a science.

With Daredevil on his way to the Valkyrie's flaming pyre to join her in death, we might as well turn our attention to Cage and Hellstrom, who have unknowingly been caught in Clea's spell which has made contact with Strange--or, more importantly, his mystic amulet, to produce a conduit which allows Hellstrom's fiery chariot to reach the Sons' earlier captives.

The four men are joined by Yellowjacket, who returns after unsuccessfully attempting to find a means of escape from their watery prison. With Strange still in a weakened state, it falls to Hellstrom to discover whatever exit the Sons had used to depart (assuming they don't have a small sub at their disposal--they seem to have access to just about everything else), and so he does--a tunnel to the surface, which they begin to ascend to freedom.

But what of their endangered comrades? Unlike Nighthawk and the others, who have no choice but to hope that Daredevil and the Hulk were successful, we know differently. Nevertheless, things spiral out of control for the Sons soon after Daredevil breaks free from his captors, as an unexpected factor enters this situation--Jack Norriss, the husband of the Valkyrie's human host, Barbara, newly returned to find his wife outfitted in the garb of a goddess and fighting alongside costumed figures. At this point, all he knows is that she is in danger--and his selfless action spurs the bystanders into finding their collective spine, and perhaps their conscience.

Elsewhere, Hellstrom, Nighthawk and the others have emerged from the Sons' tunnel, only to find a well-furnished office--followed by, in Nighthawk's case, a shocking realization.

The news is certainly a wake-up call for Richmond, who has always delegated the management and dispensation of his finances to his consultant, J.C. Pennysworth, and has taken a mostly hands-off approach to his business and its holdings. But while the fact that the Sons' repugnant operations have been financed by his money would have been jarring enough, there is an equally demoralizing aspect to this situation for him to resolve--concerning the man who, prior to this point, has always been pictured in shadow when taking calls from his employer.

Writer Steve Gerber covers the base of Pennysworth's loyalties reasonably enough; but while it may not be necessary (and indeed irrelevant, as Pennysworth implies) to delve into Pennysworth's reasons for feeling antipathy toward those of his race, there is no real explanation provided for his actions vis-à-vis the Sons, except the wish to line Richmond's coffers--which leads us to assume that (a) Pennysworth is basically a misguided individual who has formed the impression that his employer is uncaring when it comes to how his fortune is made, and (b) murder and suffering fall within his employer's level of tolerance. The confusing part here is how all the bloodshed and upheaval that will result from the country being plunged into the purging that the Sons have in mind will be good for business. Even if by some miracle an investigation doesn't uncover the fact that the Sons are funded by Richmond, the market will go into a virtual tailspin as lives are upended nationwide, with Richmond's assets following suit. Exactly what balance sheet is Pennysworth using that shows Richmond Enterprises will be enriched by this conflagration?

But his employer's stern rejection is by no means the harshest part of Pennysworth's day.

Since we're just a double-page spread away from the conclusion of this story, it's almost disappointing that Gerber has placed most if not all of its stock in this revelation, since it has the effect of reducing the Sons of the Serpent and their plans to window dressing. Because despite all we've heard, all we've been told of the Sons' preparations and nationwide reach, their eradication all comes down to a nest of the vipers localized in one base in New York--armed fanatics the Defenders only now are able to overwhelm, faster than you can say "sweet Christmas."

Left out of this tidy if profound ending are the blanks we have to fill in that effectively bring the Sons of the Serpent down to the level of costumed hoodlums. For instance, how about the fact that two or three paddy wagons were probably enough to haul them all to jail, figuratively closing the door to their threat? Or that their arrest wipes the slate of any repercussions from their inflammatory broadcasts to the entire country? Nothing further on their spokesperson and figurehead, the "Serpent Supreme"? Not even a couple of panels in the next issue of Richmond explaining how he's been helping the police and F.B.I. mop up the group's operations, to say nothing of making restitution to those who were impacted by their firebombing? Unlike the Avengers stories featuring this group, which focused on revealing the Sons' corrupt and self-serving leaders, there is no smoking gun here that reveals to the public how they had been used--there is only the incarceration of the messengers, whose unrefuted message is left to resonate.

Perhaps the important thing which Gerber does make a point to impress on the reader--and it's no small thing--is the baseless rhetoric that such hate groups employ to affect the sensibilities of those who feel cheated or otherwise betrayed by those in government and industry, while blaming their misfortunes on other ethnicities or those who aren't natural-born citizens of the U.S. Gerber pulled no punches in this respect--and it's admittedly the more important takeaway from this story than whether the legacy of the Sons of the Serpent was effectively dealt with, lingering as it does in the real world to this day.

The Defenders #s 24-25 Script: Steve Gerber Pencils: Sal Buscema Inks: Bob McLeod and Jack Abel Letterers: Tom Orzechowski and Ray Holloway