The Last Defenders

[PhotoJones]

Because I understand that not everyone knows everyone in the MU?

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Exactamundo!

It also wouldn't be that hard for one of the team members to ask around about a horse-faced creature dressed like Thor. Somebody's gotta know who he is, there aren't too many aliens looking like him running around.

 

[Dread]

I thought War Machine was the poor man's Iron Man.

Where was it said that Gargoyle will appear? I miss him. After the Immonen's teased us with using him in his human form, I need more.

Joe Casey said that in terms of the Defenders, "Nighthawk was a poor man's Iron Man" because he has been with the team in various incarnations for ages, is rich, employs some technology in his costume (his superpowered physique I believe still only activates at night), and has tried to lead the Defenders before for various peroids (most often when Dr. Strange was too busy to do so himself).

As for Gargoyle, Casey mentioned in at the end of the Newsarama interview:

What I would say to any retailer is that, hopefully, we're making their job easier by providing them with a quality product. Jim's art -- with the great Cam Smith inking -- is phenomenal. The book is jam packed with stuff, too. Forget decompression... this book is bringing Recompression to the comic book storytelling lexicon. Aside from Nighthawk, She-Hulk, Colossus and the Blazing Skull, in the first issue alone you'll be seeing Iron Man, Gargoyle, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Ancient One, the Brothers Grimm, the High Evolutionary's base on Wundagore Mt., the Scorcher, a Rigellian Recorder, the Sons of the Serpent, the new Defenders' headquarters and possibly even Donald Trump. Not to mention the main villain of the series, a character that's been around for almost forty years. And even with all that, I'm actually leaving out a few surprise characters that make pretty significant appearances. Obviously, we're firm believers in the More Bang For Your Buck mentality.

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=140235

So I was just thinking about Colossus being on the Defenders and people acting like its out of place. It does seem out of place for Colossusto be part of another team that doesnt have an X in it, but previews have shown that after MC many members of the X-Men will be going there own ways. On the cover of one of the X-titles, it shows Colossus as one of the mutants going his own way. With mutants going there own ways and having to choose whats right for themselves could have us seeing mutants becoming a more major part in the rest of the Marvel U, including the Initiative. So it looks as if Colossus will be leaving one team for another.

That's been the main rumbling from those reading MC, which I'm not. The thing is, I see no middle ground here for Colossus; either Casey finds a way to write/use him brilliantly and this proves to be a good stepping stone for him, or, Casey fails, Piotr plays background character to She-Hulk or some of the others, and is interchangable with any tanker character (the mistake some past X-writers made with him during the late 90's into 2001, when he was sacrificed for 3.5 years).

Joe Casey's record is full of about as many misses as his hits, and a few words of mediocre quality. He did write the Uncanny X-Men for a year, but that was during when Colossus was dead and all eyes were on Morrison. Of course, people still herald his WILDC.A.T.S. stuff and some of his AVENGERS flashback material has done well. Gauging him is difficult, so for now it is a "wait and see" approach.

but yeah...Stingray is awesome....I just recently realized that in the Age of Apocalypse he was the captain of that Submarine in X-Calibre.......

Yes, he did. Stingray is indeed cool, and underused.

I liked Dread's suggestion of the Black Knight, but I'm hoping Cornell snatches him up for Excalibur. I think he'd be great alongside Captain Britain, with whom he's already good friends.

Frankly, both Black Knight AND Valkyrie should be out for Al Kravenoff's blood for blowing up Aragorn in the last issue of PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL. Unless, of course, that Aragorn was a Skrull, and in that case all of Kraven's captives are now the Skrull Kill Crew.

I'd like to see the Initiative utilize Black Knight because he is a solid mix of mystical stuff and science, but if he goes into the relaunched EXCALIBER, whatever.

Alas for us...

Frankly, I wouldn't really want an OF series without Oeming, at least. I thought it was pretty ****ed up how Marvel screwed him and Kolins on that.

Yeah, it was. On the one hand, I could understand Marvel wanting to be wary, but with OF it really backfired on them because it was selling very well and they cut out it's feet from under it. I probably wouldn't want it without Oeming either. The MCP story is a taste of that, and while it isn't bad, it isn't the same, either.

Thor probably should go looking for Beta Ray Bill at some point. That's in JMS' court. THOR is a Top 10 seller so no one will be allowed to use Thor elsewhere in major ways. That's how things work at Marvel these days.

 

[PhotoJones]

As for Gargoyle, Casey mentioned in at the end of the Newsarama interview:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=140235

That's good. I hope he makes the cut and stays on the team. He's a good character.

 

[Dread]

That's good. I hope he makes the cut and stays on the team. He's a good character.

Yeah, I hope so too. Besides, I bet he would have some interesting interplay with Blazing Skull, as they're both old guys, but one is a cynic and the other is less so.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Wasn't the Gargoyle that Isaac dude? He was all human-like in that Hellcat story.

Technically, Beta Ray Bill should be able to get himself out of his predicament. Stormbreaker can open dimensional portals, just like Mjolnir. The question is whether he'd get a chance to, since he's pretty much the only non-demon in that dimension and is probably busy fighting off all the demons. Having Thor search for Bill in an arc in his ongoing would be great, but JMS seems to have a very definite idea of what he wants to do with Thor, and it doesn't seem to involve revisiting non-mythological characters from his past right now. Anything's possible, though.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Technically, Beta Ray Bill should be able to get himself out of his predicament. Stormbreaker can open dimensional portals, just like Mjolnir. The question is whether he'd get a chance to, since he's pretty much the only non-demon in that dimension and is probably busy fighting off all the demons. Having Thor search for Bill in an arc in his ongoing would be great, but JMS seems to have a very definite idea of what he wants to do with Thor, and it doesn't seem to involve revisiting non-mythological characters from his past right now. Anything's possible, though.

:

There's no hurry(well there is, but you know what I mean lol); Thor can get to Bill after he's done populating Asgard or whatever he has to do next.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's possible Omega Flight may not have even happened yet. We have no common events to gauge where OF is compared to Thor in the timeline.

 

[PhotoJones]

Wasn't the Gargoyle that Isaac dude? He was all human-like in that Hellcat story.

Gargoyle is Isaac Christians. He can change back and forth from his human form to his gargoyle form.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

It's possible Omega Flight may not have even happened yet. We have no common events to gauge where OF is compared to Thor in the timeline.

Very true. Thor could save him next July and Bill might have only been there for a week.

 

[deemar325]

fellas

 

[Dread]

Wasn't the Gargoyle that Isaac dude? He was all human-like in that Hellcat story.

Gargoyle is Isaac Christians. He can change back and forth from his human form to his gargoyle form.

Asked and answered. Gargoyle gained the ability to transform from gargoyle to his elderly human form during an adventure with Moondragon's old pal Sundragon (I believe). In some ways he reminds me a lot of DC's Entrigan the Demon, only without the rhyming.

Technically, Beta Ray Bill should be able to get himself out of his predicament. Stormbreaker can open dimensional portals, just like Mjolnir. The question is whether he'd get a chance to, since he's pretty much the only non-demon in that dimension and is probably busy fighting off all the demons. Having Thor search for Bill in an arc in his ongoing would be great, but JMS seems to have a very definite idea of what he wants to do with Thor, and it doesn't seem to involve revisiting non-mythological characters from his past right now. Anything's possible, though.

Beta Ray Bill also may want to remain there to ensure that the demons never leave that realm. That isn't to say that Thor can't happen upon him and see what is up. Thor's priorities are probably on locating "just the right Asgardians" (as in, everyone but Loki most likely), which may take a while.

In his interview, Joe Casey claimed his big villain for THE LAST DEFENDERS would be someone "who has been around 40 years", implying someone from the Silver Age. Any ideas?

Historically, while the Defenders have battled all kinds of threats, the majority of the time they seem to be mystical or extradimensional. Considering Dr. Strange was their longtime founder & leader, it isn't uncommon. However, this is another 50 State Initiative team, so it may not be something like that.

Oh, one other minor thing: Joe Casey in his interview ( http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=140235 ) claimed that the team as he has figured it so far "look ****ing great together", so I decided to see for myself for fun.

There are images that were drawn and created by an artist on www.superbuddies.net/forum who is named Ronnie Thunderbolts. He has adapted a style that began as a varient of Steven E. Gordon's style from the X-MEN EVOLUTION cartoon but has had enough practice to add in his own elements. I believe he has a name on SHH and has posted some of his art here, especially in the AVENGERS: INITIATIVE topic.

Anyway, I took his images of the four Defenders Casey has cast and stuck them side by side on Paint just to see what they look like. Once again, these are NOT mine, they are Ronnie Thunderbolts', and I thank him in advance for his art.

 

[PhotoJones]

They do look pretty good together. Putting the Blazing Skull in this book was a stroke of genius on Casey's part.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Casey's a genius stroker.

Wait, that didn't come out right...

 

[PhotoJones]

It's such a shame that he's going to be doing that Youngblood relaunch. It looks like it'll have great art and be a ton of fun. If it was anything else, another group of a heroes or even all new ones, I'd totally be into it. But it's Rob Liefeld's thing. And I can't, in good conscience, buy that.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Okay, Cable-lover...

 

[PhotoJones]

That's different. Isn't it?

 

[Anubis]

Nope

 

[PhotoJones]

Actually, it is. Liefeld's got no creative control over Cable, where as he owns the Youngblood characters. By buying that book, you're not only supporting Liefeld's creative control, but you're also putting money in his pockets. I'm not doing that.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's always fun to see someone's illusions shatter before your eyes.

 

[PhotoJones]

You justify buying Liefeld's crap any way you like, dude.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh, I was never going to buy Youngblood. Nothing about that team has ever looked the least bit interesting to me.

 

[PhotoJones]

The good art and Joe Casey's name sounded interesting. Then I saw the Liefeld cover for the first issue and I remembered everything.

 

[Anubis]

Actually, it is. Liefeld's got no creative control over Cable, where as he owns the Youngblood characters. By buying that book, you're not only supporting Liefeld's creative control, but you're also putting money in his pockets. I'm not doing that.

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

[PhotoJones]

Knowing the Liefeld doesn't get rich off of me definitely helps me sleep at night.