The Last Defenders

[Colossal Spoons]

He's all yours lol

 

[Egotastic]

Sweet. I'll take a dude who's beat Nazi ass over some ******ed clown any day.

 

[RockSP]

The crazy guy who just wants to bust heads.

Yeah that's who he was in the few issues of the New Invaders I read.

 

[Dread]

Paul O'Brien sounds a bit biased because he apparently never liked the Defenders due to their not having a really solid fundamental concept behind them. I don't really care what their initial concept was; Casey seems to have a good idea for a concept in mind for this particular incarnation--namely, the black sheep of the Initiative (although not quite so much as the Great Lakes Whatevers).

Wait, 52 teams? Do Puerto Rico and Washington, DC get teams too or something?

The Initiative is for all 50 states. However, it makes sense that Washington, D.C. would get a seperate team. Puerto Rico is a bit of an oddball because it isn't technically a state, basically because the citizens voted against U.S. taxes, but it is a commonwealth and the U.S. is responsible for defending it. Or something. So it could be on the radar for a team.

Yeah, I often enjoy O'Brien's reviews, but he seems to have less of a sense of humor than I do. Anything fun he almost always hates unless it is SUPER funny. He often worships the keyboards of Morrison or Ennis, though.

Casey isn't writing the Defenders as jokes even if there is a sense of humor to the book. They weren't inept in that fight with the Sons of the Serpent, just unused to battling together and thus not in tandum.

Who cares what Paul O'Brien thinks anyway? His reviews are always terrible.

Some people care.

Skull really annoyed me in this.

But everything else was good.

I have no exposure to the Blazing Skull prior to this, so I can't really judge whether Casey's kept him in line with his established character. But the Skull was basically exactly what Casey promised he'd be in his interviews prior to the issue's release.

Deadpool is a crazy guy who just wants to bust heads. Blazing skull is just a nuisance.

Blazing Skull is awesome.

This is my first exposure to Blazing Skull as well, and Casey writes him a bit sillier than I expected. I was expecting someone more grizzled and cynical, and Skull is simply loopy. He's only a few notches saner than Slapstick here. But he did amuse me, so I will tolerate it for now. Part of me is sick of every fire-powered character acting almost the same, but Skull's alright. He's a Golden Age veteran, and you have to respect that. Especially since his old design actually didn't need much modern tweaking when INVADERS launched a few years back.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I think he's "grizzled" in that he's likely to kill people in a fight. Old soldier and all that. Plus, y'know, crazy, as we've established.

 

[Franklin Richards]

We gotta get the Skull and Gargoyle together. Couple of old warhorses!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I wouldn't put it past Casey in this very mini. I'm already looking forward to what Atlas'll bring to the book.

 

[Egotastic]

All Atlas brings are big shoes. He sucks.

 

[Dread]

I think he's "grizzled" in that he's likely to kill people in a fight. Old soldier and all that. Plus, y'know, crazy, as we've established.

And burning hot enough for Colossus, who can resist some 7,000-9,000 degrees F or so, to feel it.

I think he's more crazy than grizzled. Like, Nick Fury is grizzled. Blazing Skull could feel at home with Deadpool and Slapstick. But, so long as his one liners are amusing, I won't mind. Muniz hasn't drawn him to look too spooky and the colors don't help that, so maybe it is for the best. Like, Ghost Rider is the scary one and Blazing Skull is lighter. Or at least as light as a maniac can be.

I wouldn't put it past Casey in this very mini. I'm already looking forward to what Atlas'll bring to the book.

Well, like Nighthawk, Atlas is someone who was once a bad guy who then tried to go straight. But, he's another "big man". But every team needs a "giant size" guy.

 

[Harlekin]

First issue didn't impress me as much as I hoped, honestly. Might stick out to see what happens with Junta.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Casey answers Newsarama readers' questions

Kind of sucked that he dodged the question about Valkyrie for me, since I'm interested in anything Asgard-related, but he answers a lot of other questions seriously.

 

[Egotastic]

God, some of the those questions were dumb.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Some always are. There were a lot of repeats, too. I would've thought Newsarama would cut a few of those out.

 

[Egotastic]

Newsarama sucks pretty hard sometimes.

 

[Dread]

The irony is Joe Casey explains Colossus' reason better in that Q&A than in the first issue. Joining the team to get the Initiative off the X-Men's backs now that they have "retired" or at least want a break is a fine gesture. Maybe it will come up in another issue. I mean that sounds slightly better than, "X-Men are disbanded for now, so I need to keep busy."

He brushed off a few questions and some of the information was general and whatnot, but it wasn't bad. At least Newsarama is trying to build buzz for this. I wonder why people were willing to get obscure enough to ask about Tagak the Leopard lord but not mention why Colossus "felt" Blazing Skull's fire and if Casey remembers Colossus' immunity, or at least high resistance, to black magic, because that is a darn useful ability considering the exotic threats the Defenders often face.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, a little panel referencing that conversation between Cyclops and Iron Man or Cyclops asking Colossus to take one for the team would've been nice. Casey seems to be treating TLD as a Nighthawk story first and foremost, though.

 

[Dread]

Yeah, a little panel referencing that conversation between Cyclops and Iron Man or Cyclops asking Colossus to take one for the team would've been nice. Casey seems to be treating TLD as a Nighthawk story first and foremost, though.

Yes, he is.

As I actually liked the issue (I am willing to show faith and benefit-of-the-doubt with works and creators I actually like, and those who see that as hypocritical, I only ask, don't you all do the same?), I am willing to give Casey a chance to embellish Colossus and do more with him in the next 5 issues. I mean, issue 1 was already packed to the gills.

Sadly, while he may love the tone of the old JLI comics, that tone rarely equals sales these days, so I do wonder how issue one sold.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Probably not very good. It's a mini, though; sales generally don't matter for the mini itself, only any potential ongoings that may come out of it, and, be honest, who really expects another Defenders ongoing, like, ever?

 

[RockSP]

and, be honest, who really expects another Defenders ongoing, like, ever?

The same people who expected a new Iron Fist ongoing, probably...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, those people already got their once-in-a-lifetime shocker, so they're as screwed as the rest of us with the Defenders.

 

[RockSP]

Well they can always make a compromise. A new Defenders on going written by Bendis. Guaranteed sales.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Then NONE of the original Defenders will be on the team.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd be gravely dismayed.

 

[RockSP]

Then NONE of the original Defenders will be on the team.

Doctor "I can't do crap" Strange would probably be there...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Poor bastard. Illusions are for *****es.