Beware The Heroes Of... The Dream Dome!

 

It's September of 1976, and here's how things were shaping up in the Marvel Universe:

• The incredible Hulk, once again on the sub-atomic world of Jarella, was finally dishing out some hurt on Psyklop when this agent of the Dark Gods faced the brute mano a... uh, whatever you'd call Psyklop;
  
• The Fantastic Four, along with the High Evolutionary, were compelled to search the galaxy for a world which would willingly give itself over to the hunger of Galactus in place of the devourer's first choice, Counter-Earth (and if you were among those readers anticipating a battle between the Evolutionary and Galactus, well...);
  
• Iron Man is trying to get the Controller under control;
  
• Thor investigates the possibility that the missing Odin is in the dimension of Death;
  
• The Avengers finally settle on their new lineup, only to have the walking-dead Wonder Man crash the public announcement;
  
• The new X-Men, their title still being published bimonthly, are in the midst of battling their way out of Steven Lang's Project Armageddon;
  
• The amazing Spider-Man is running for his life from his more amazing Spider-mobile, which has no driver at the wheel (a fate that probably awaits some of us from today's self-driving cars, folks);
  
• Captain America and the Falcon are trying to solve the mystery of Jack Kirby's Night People; and, last but not least...
  
• Dr. Strange faces a new enemy in Stygyro, while his disciple Clea is seduced by Ben Franklin. (Come on, you may say "ewwww!" and insist you won't click that link, but we both know otherwise.)

Meanwhile, Amazing Adventures, with its "War Of The Worlds" adaptation, is one issue away from cancellation--which is usually the time when Marvel pulls out all the stops in an effort to benefit from a sales spike before the axe falls.

All Signs Point To... Death!

While the villain known as Scorpio prepares to unleash a new grouping of Zodiac to the world, the Defenders have moved to invade his New Jersey headquarters in an effort to save two of their own as well as put an end to his plans. But one angry Defender has been carefully (and, to say the least, recklessly) herded to arrive ahead of them--a behemoth who has clashed with Scorpio before, and who wishes to express very specific sentiments on how the score between them will be settled:

It's the bludgeoning, beer-popping conclusion to the classic 1977 tale featuring the Defenders vs. the new Zodiac--and just in time for the group's knockout fiftieth issue!

The Defenders face the power of the Zodiac key, plus 4 to 1 odds against them--or do they?

Who Remembers Scorpio?

There seems to be little argument that the three-part 1977 story from The Defenders, "Who Remembers Scorpio?", is a fan favorite, spotlighting as it does this arachnid member of Zodiac and the exploration of his character in depth by writer David Kraft. Scorpio--whose identity is again that of Jake Fury, the brother of the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury--is a mixture of introspection and cynicism, critical of the world's social ills and pressures and mired in depression over his solitude. Yet he has the Zodiac key, as well as the means to alleviate his loneliness--while his ruthlessness and resources drive him to sweep aside the societal constraints that he regards as dangerous and self-defeating and establish his own supremacy.

In this tale, Kraft writes Scorpio as if the character were delivering the lines in a one-man show, with the Defenders waiting in the wings while he moves ahead with his plans. His headquarters, a building in Belleville, New Jersey, almost comes across as a carefully lit set, with its dimness and many shadows only sparsely broken up by pieces of equipment and recessed lighting. One could easily make the case that the environment matches his contemplative mood; yet it's that mood that drives him to act to alleviate his state of frustration, and he is no less the "super-villain" because of it. There are many villains who wish to alter their circumstances through the use of force--people such as Magneto, or Doom, or Loki--but instead of using their broad brush, Scorpio seeks to strike back at the core of society, rejecting its dictates while becoming his own ideal. To do that, he'll need some sort of positive reinforcement in place that provides him with affirmation and support, which will come to him from two sources--each of which will be something of a surprise in terms of what form they take. (And as the story's events fall into place, we'll see just how literal that description should be regarded.)

In a prior issue, a prelude to Scorpio's involvement with the Defenders (as well as the introduction to this arc's title) has already taken place, when he made an incursion at the heroes' riding academy H.Q. in an apparent effort to kidnap Kyle Richmond. When his plan failed, he was forced to adopt a contingency plan and set his sights on Jack Norriss, who had been married to the Valkyrie's human host, Barbara, and who has remained in the Defenders' orbit only to be frustrated by his inability to reach Barbara on any level. Norriss has consequently become embedded with the Defenders to a certain extent, and his activities in a recent power play by the Headmen have brought him to the attention of SHIELD, interrogated but subsequently released by Fury.

But Norriss soon found that Fury was after him again, and this time he wasn't asking for Norriss' cooperation. Yet Fury's heavy-handed treatment of Norriss draws the attention of the adventurer known as Moon Night, who manages to drive off Fury and his agents and then informally becomes Norriss' protector in order to get to the bottom of the mystery.

(Selected scenes from issue #47)

It's a splendid introduction of Moon Knight to the book--and there's no denying the impact he makes on the story, since taking on Fury and his agents is nothing short of impressive, buoyed by the fact that Moon Knight operates on the strength of his convictions and his loyalties are to whomever he's trying to help. After an altercation between the Defenders and Wonder Man, one of the Avengers, it comes as something of a surprise when Fury changes his approach vis-à-vis Norriss, deciding to substitute diplomacy for the use of force.

Norriss' instinct proves to be correct, since the Defenders are convinced that Fury wouldn't circumvent the law and that no harm will come to Norriss.

Unfortunately, in the opening of Kraft's follow-up story that will bring Scorpio's plans front and center, we're not so sure anymore that the Defenders made the right call--and even less sure of Fury's good intentions.

You might want to pop open a Schlitz and relax while you can--Scorpio's melancholy won't last.

This One You Dare Not Miss!

A fight between the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner tends to play out like any fight scene from "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"--lots of punches and sound effects indicating a savage fight, but none of it amounting to the slightest injury. You almost feel like paraphrasing that old tree-falls-in-a-forest saying: If one hell of a fight happens, but no one needs so much as a Band-Aid when it's over, did it really happen? Spider-Man seems to be the only Marvel character who takes a beating and has the bruises to show for it. Reed Richards or Johnny Storm looked like they'd been through a brawl occasionally, at least when Jack Kirby was drawing them.

I suppose it's understandable that the Hulk always walks (or leaps) away from a fight unscathed. But Namor? In all those battles on land, never so much as a sore fist? He once walked away from a knock-down drag-out with Iron Man as if the entire fight had only inconveniently delayed him. As weak as he grows the longer he's out of contact with water, I didn't think that translated to invulnerability.

Namor returns to the pages of The Defenders after an absence of almost forty issues (over three years, our time) in what would lead to a conflict on Russian soil with "the Presence"; but before that kicks off, writer David Kraft takes the opportunity to orchestrate another battle between Namor and the Hulk. The fight between these two has all the back-and-forth between them that you'd expect, in terms of both dialog and blows, so it's standard Hulk/Namor fare throughout. But it does have the distinction of being pencilled by Keith Giffen, which you may find interesting. And Giffen certainly gives Namor quite the entrance:

Consider: Namor is on his way to the Fantastic Four to make an urgent plea for help in dealing with a crisis in Atlantis. Yet the situation apparently isn't so urgent that Namor can't take the time to walk his way to the Baxter Building, consequently being deterred by law enforcement and certainly by crowds. But "orchestrating" a fight means putting improbable elements into play, and you'll have to admit it doesn't get more improbable than this:

Go on. Take three guesses how the Hulk will react to being shoved...

...and then guess how long it will take before Namor escalates matters.

In fact, just go ahead and imagine the rest. You'll likely be right.