Defenders #’s 4 & 5 (of 5)

Marvel Comics
Script & Art: Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire

Do you think Quesada is regretting the offer to pay Giffen and DeMatteis by the word?

In these final two installments the Dreaded Dormammu has succeeded in remaking the world in an image more to his liking. It’s never made entirely clear what that means except all the world’s heroes are now evil demons, the Dr. Strange doppelganger is Dormammu’s head henchman, Namor’s, er, Prince Namor’s is human and Banner’s is a sniveling, Gollum knock-off. (New rule: no more Gollum references, no matter how vague.) The evil demon supertypes are dispensed with in issue four, despite what you see fronting issue five above – which is actually pretty cool cover. 

The hallmark of this series, and the finale is no release, has been the incessant bickering amongst pretty much everybody. I would compare it to the bickering of children but I have three children and even they take breathers now and again. No luck here. Strange bickers with Dormammu who bickers with Umar who bickers with Namor who bickers with pretty much everyone, including his human self and Banner, who somehow manages to bicker with Hulk. The whole thing reminds me of Giffen and DeMatteis' recent JLA: CLASSIFIED run except that arc actually had some nice moments and a lot more imagination.

At the end of the day everything is made as it was; no surprise there. But sadly we’ve gotten no character movement, no insight and the story itself isn’t very fun. The humor is spotty and worn out by the books end and the few straight moments are labored and pointless. If you were planning to pick this one up in trade I would advise you to save your hard-earned sheckles.

Comments

[Guy LeCharles Gonzalez]

I wonder if this was more appealing to readers unfamiliar with the Giffen/DeMatteis schtick? Because I was bored by the third issue, and the infrequent chuckle wasn't worth the cost of admission.

[Kurt]

Possibly. Although I think it just as likely it would scare people away from future Giffen/DeMatteis books. And that's too bad because they've shown elsewhere they can move beyond the shtick - just not here.

[Chris]

Count me as one severely disappointed by this series. Dull, dull, dull, and punctuated only by the occasional terrible "joke".