The Defenders: RFD

You've gotta at least have those three, though -- otherwise you miss Gerber!

Dematteis did all the New Agey mystical stuff -- but he also brought in Hellstrom as a Defender, and I think he was responsible for the Hellstrom/Hellcat romance, which was fun stuff. It wasn't called New Defenders until later, I think, but according to the link, it was still during his run (the tail end of it).

Me? I'm quivering with anticipation.

Having just acquainted myself with the joys of B1tT0rrent & .cbr files, I recently acquired a HUGE collection of Defenders stuff. It includes the entire series, all pertinent crossovers (including various Avengers / Defenders brouhahas AND the Death of Captain Marvel GN!), a folder filled with semi-pertinent pre-Defenders Defender stuff (the three part story that directly preceeded the title; back issues of The Hulk & Strange Tales; Timely-era Sub Mariner stories AND Pasty Walker romance comics!), all issues of Secret Defenders (oink) and the recent Defenders / Order stuff (ehhh), and (and!) an issue of A-Next (an early 2K What-Iffy series where kids of superfolk became Avengers). Granted, the further I got down the list, the less impressive the inclusions become, but, still, I'M STOKED!

Martin is right about the Scorpio story in the Kraft run, too. I don't remember liking Kraft overall, but it's been a long time since I've read more than a scattered issue here and there from the quarter bins from that part of the title.

I was wrong about 15 issues per volume upthread, too, wasn't I? I always underestimate just how much fits into an Essentials volume.

So two Defenders volumes could potentially include Englehart, Gerber, and Kraft's "Who Remembers Scorpio?", depending on whether or not they included the pre-Defenders Defenders (which, granted, they probably should).

Aside: what kind of world is it where TOMB OF DRACULA gets collected in the Essentials Format before the entirety of the Lee / Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR run? Criminal...

(Not that I'm knocking the Lee/Kirby FFs. Do higher-numbered Essentials volumes just not sell as well or something? If anything, there are some titles -- Avengers, for instance -- that I'm waiting to get higher in number so they can hit the runs I really like.)

(Have I mentioned I get to leave work in an hour? You can imagine I'm looking forward to it, yessir.)

Okay, on the one hand, I don't think it's necessary to collect those pre-Defenders appearances. Shades of ESSENTIAL PUNISHER.

On the other, they're more than forgiven, because they include the Avengers-Defenders War issues from the Avengers.

so I supremely overpaid for a wide swath of Defenders on eBay the other week, and spent the weekend (when not watching ATL) permanently drunk and reading furiously. And as great as Gerber's run is, and that Headmen / Nebulon stuff in particular, I think I was more interested in both the ads and assorted other nonsense. The Bullpen Bulletin page really is quite better when you've got Stan's rambling, self-promotional diatribes taking up space, instead of Quesada's amazingly useless little squirt o' nothing. And I always dig spotting the names of future creators in the letters columns, even when those names are Jo Duffy and Ralph Macchio.

So did anybody ever actually read an issue of Grit?