The Defenders (2012) #1: "Breaker of Worlds Part 1: I Hate Myself And I Want To Die"

My last post involved the Invaders and Avengers so let's go to the third team for which Namor has been prominent member (and no, I don't count the X-Men, at least not yet).

Much of this book, as is often the case with teams coming together or reuniting, involves the recruiting process. Interestingly, Hulk is doing the recruiting. He first contacts Doctor Strange then directs his attention to "the water man".

Sadly, the slaughter is interrupted by Strange's summons. The non-team then seeks to collect the Silver Surfer as Hulk explains the situation to them a bit more....

...But when the Surfer asks when they leave to stop/smash/kill Nul, Hulk bails on them.

Sure, you messed up now everyone can bail your green ass out, but you feel really really bad about it.

Meh, I don't really like the Hulk as a team member anyway. At least he recommends another member, and this is how we end up with Red She-Hulk on the team.

Iron Fist is recruited last because he provides...access to a plane. Great. Well, it's cool to see him anyway and this team should have a fluid roster.

They track this Nul character to Wundagore Mountain but as they near their destination, their plane is shot down. Making things worse for Iron Fist is that he's shot through the chest upon reaching solid ground.

This book reminds me a little too much of the 2005 Defenders book that I loathe.

To illustrate, consider that the first few pages of the book told of odd, mysterious occurrences around the planet and later The Hulk revealed a threat that even *he* was afraid of. Yet when the team's plane gets shot down, Iron Fist expresses concern about its cost. When She-Hulk is asked to join the group, her first question is whether she can bring her "big ass sword".

They don't take the threat particularly seriously, so neither do I, but at least the final page (the two images above) reestablishes a sense of danger for the team. It has a better balance so while I probably won't be in any hurry to move further along in the series, I didn't detest it like the 2005 book.

Avengers/Invaders (2008) #2: "Battlefield Brooklyn"

Today, we're moving ahead in the Avengers/Invaders mini series from 2008 in large part because I can hardly wait to get into issue three which features a Namor (1940s) vs. Namor (present-day) cover battle. Damn! But to get to that issue, we need to tackle #2 so let's get at it.

This bodes ill.

The Invaders time-jumped to 2008 from the 40s in the previous issue. After a battle against the Thunderbolts they, uhm, bolted. Now the Avengers want to find them. It's the whole "If he dies in the present" thing.

Here's Iron Man barking out orders to a rather lame Avengers line-up.

Ares, Sentry...Not exactly your classic team, though not lacking in power, either.

The Avengers have no difficulty tracking down the Invaders, being that the latter team is really making no effort to hide. The Invaders, coming from a time of war, assume that the Avengers are Nazis and so when Earth's Mightiest Heroes arrive, the gloves get dropped almost immediately.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Check out Namor cracking Sentry across the head. He even draws blood! That's awesome. Well worth my $1 right there.

In a bit of fighting that flows very poorly, Sentry gets a shot in in return, in mid-air, and in the very next panel, Namor is facing Ares on the ground.

Imperius Rex, bitch!

Namor's teammates do fall, however, so he is left solo against a full Avengers team. There ain't no quit in that pointy-eared boy but that's still a tough ask so when Ares tries to cheap-shot him with his ax, Namor turns the weapon to his advantage.

The man has a plan. And he knows how to make his point. After leaving this impression (left-handed, it should be noted)...

Namor flies off and no one does a thing to stop him.

The other Invaders are captured and much of the rest of the issue involves their attempts to escape. We don't see Namor the rest of the way but it appears we have plenty to look forward to in the next issue.