...As A City Goes Mad!

 

Two issues into his notable run on The Defenders, writer Steve Gerber was continuing the effort by Len Wein to mainstream this non-team following the disbanding of the original group and chart a course for the individual characters the two had inherited: Dr. Strange, the Valkyrie, the Hulk, and Nighthawk. It had been non-stop action with Wein--but Gerber had almost immediately shown signs of balancing the adventures of the group with character development while also including elements of the bizarre, a Gerber trait.

Essentially, Gerber was having to deal with a grouping similar to the original, with the Valkyrie's strength compensating for the absence of the Sub-Mariner while her gender and Asgardian connection helped her to avoid the redundant aspect of Namor vis-à-vis the Hulk. As for Nighthawk, a charter member of the Squadron Sinister, the Defenders offered a break from his previous status as a villain, remaking his image after choosing to ally himself with the group following their prior conflict with his former group. It was likely felt that with the Hulk's continued presence, buyers would continue to show interest in the title--and so it fell to Gerber to chart a new course for the Defenders which, while now a bona fide part of the Marvel universe, didn't necessarily have them adhering to traditional protocols. (Though it wasn't for lack of trying on Nighthawk's part.)

In this particular story, Gerber begins a recurring plot which will culminate in the first (and only) Defenders Annual twenty issues later. But what of the characters? With Strange and the Hulk already firmly established, that leaves him with Nighthawk (aka Kyle Richmond, head of Richmond Enterprises) and the Valkyrie, who has begun to inquire into the life of Barbara Norris, the woman her essence currently inhabits.

Unfortunately, despite Kyle's sympathies toward the Valkyrie's situation, he is less than pleased by the other family connection that Barbara's family photo album reveals.

Since her abandonment by the Enchantress, the sorceress responsible for merging the Valkyrie's essence with Barbara's physical form, "Val" has acclimated to her new existence with the help of the Defenders; even so, there are still the unnerving facts of her body's former life to be sifted through. At this point, our information on Barbara is limited to her association with a cult of the Undying Ones and her subsequent imprisonment in the dimension of the Nameless One--but for a woman who remains ignorant of the full details of her Asgardian heritage and how Barbara fits into the picture, assimilating Barbara's human past will prove to be unsettling, and, at times, difficult, as was the case when Val wished to meet Barbara's husband.

Yet Gerber makes time to give ample attention to the threat of this Defenders issue--at present, two individuals who are preparing to add a third to their nightmarish plans, and in the process establishing themselves as a viable threat that will become more insidious in the months to come.

As a result of the attack--which to our villains is a mere diversion that will allow Nagan to gather the funds they need to continue their work--the entire city erupts into crazed chaos that carries potentially fatal consequences to all of those touched by its effects, as Kyle discovers when Trish Starr, an old friend with whom he's recently reconnected, becomes one of its many victims.

And if you think this scene is disturbing, imagine adding an insane Hulk to the city-wide pandemonium.

Only when the treatment which Nagan has administered to Chondu has run its course does the madness subside--and Gerber quietly brings the issue to a close as Nagan rejoins his accomplices, while the Defenders can only wonder as to the nature of this new threat, to little avail.

The story of the Headmen (an apt name for this trio, particularly in light of their upcoming fourth member) will eventually play out in full--even dealing in Jack Norris, Barbara's husband, while also serving to cap Gerber's memorable collection of stories in The Defenders.