30 issues in, the original 1972 volume of The Defenders finally hit peak Steve Gerber absurdity.
Sure, the book had absurd moments under different writers (this is the series, you might remember, where Len Wein de-aged Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and left them that way for years), and Gerber had been strange throughout his earlier run. It isn’t until the issues collected in Defenders Epic Collection: World Gone Sane that the book finally hit its most flamboyant, dadaist stride.
Gerber was no stranger to making Marvel weird. He had taken over Adventure into Fear’s Man-Thing in 1972 and introduced Howard the Duck in that book exactly a year after taking the job; in the years since he has become synonymous with the two characters (particularly Howard).
Marvel
But Gerber wasn’t only a muck man and a duck man; he was writing all over the place in the 1970s. A run on Daredevil here, and a bit of Son of Satan there, Gerber was becoming a trusted and reliable fill-in writer. As his career at Marvel advanced, he began taking bigger and bigger leaps into the zany and off-the-wall. Backed by legendary artist Sal Buscema, Gerber was handed the keys to two classic characters – Doctor Strange and the Hulk – and allowed to build whatever team and strangeness he wanted around them.
Marvel
The world built around the Defenders is one populated with evil fawns, elves with guns, and clown-faced cult members. Brains are swapped, prisons riot and presidents are shrunk. Things get goofy without ever tipping the title fully into the territory of parody; these are still superhero stories. They are just superhero stories that appreciate open-ended creativity.
Marvel
The World Gone Sane begins with a Guardians of the Galaxy crossover (it’s saying something that this is the tamest the book gets); the rest of the book balances between two conflicting villainous subplots, one by the grotesque Headmen and one by Nebulon the Celestial Man. While the Headmen are abducting Nighthawk and swapping brains, Nebulon is attempting to take over the earth as an unassuming cult leader.
Marvel
With both threats coexisting, the Defenders are constantly on the back foot and completely confused as to why any of these things are happening. As a result, the book feels like an endlessly escalating, non-stop barrage of oddities. It’s constantly engaging.
Defenders Epic Collection: World Gone Sane celebrates the absurdity of the Marvel Universe, allowing major characters to brush up against the hilarious without losing touch of their self-serious melodrama. It’s a book by legendary creators who leveraged their title to expand what a Marvel story could be.
You must be logged in to post a comment.