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| Essential Defenders, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials) | 
| Authors: Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Steve Gerber, Bill Mantlo, Mary Skrenes, Tony Isabella, Jim Starlin, Don Mcgregor, Roger Slifer, Gerry Conway, Scott Edelman, Sal Buscema, Klaus Janson, Vince Colletta, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, John Tartaglione, Sam Grainger, Jim Mooney, Gil Kane
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $2.70
You Save: $14.29 (84%)
New (36) from $2.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 330261
Media: Paperback
Edition: Direct Ed
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 616
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 6.6 x 1.4
ISBN: 0785121501
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780785121503
ASIN: 0785121501
Publication Date: January 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: THIS BOOK IS NEW AND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION SAME DAY SHIPPING WEEKDAYS BEFORE 3:00PM EST
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Get ready for another 500+ pages of non-stop non-team action! Essential Defenders vol. 2 collects 16 more issues of The Defenders, plus five crossover issues, four giant-size stories, and a Marvel Treasury featuring Howard the Duck. Beginning with a throwaway issue of Giant-Size Defenders 1 (which is mostly reprints anyway), the real Defenders arc starts in issue 15, with the now-settled lineup of Dr. Strange, Valkyrie (except when she's off in search of her identity), Nighthawk, and (usually) Hulk (Silver Surfer being completely gone and the Sub-Mariner almost completely). They face Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in their quest to create the ultimate mutant; the Wrecking Crew with the help of Luke Cage, Power Man; and the Sons of the Serpent in an all-out war that swells the non-team roster as never before. Particularly welcome are the Giant-Size issues, which feature a meeting with the Son of Satan, a confrontation alongside Daredevil with the games-playing Grandmaster, a development in Nighthawk's personal life that leads to a meeting with Yellowjacket and then a faceoff with the Squadron Sinister, and a meeting with the super-cool Guardians of the Galaxy that brings the Defenders to the 30th century to free the human race from the clutches of the Badoon. This 1974-76 run of Defenders was mostly written by Len Wein and Steve Gerber, with the bulk of the pencils by Sal Buscema, and this edition, like all of Marvel's Essentials, is printed in black and white. --David Horiuchi
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| Customer Reviews:
 More great "Defenders" tales August 6, 2008
Essential Defenders Volume 2 is good fun, nicely mixing straight-up 1970's superhero stories with a peppering of the strange and offbeat. Highlights include a reprint of an actual 1940's-era Submariner story (embedded within an issue of Giant-Size Defenders that appears early in the volume), and a classic team-up with Howard the Duck. I liked the fact that, as I moved through this 500-plus page collection, I never knew what I was going to get... a quirky one-part adventure highlighting one team member, a multi-part science-fiction epic with a couple of guest stars, a story heavy on horror elements, a satire with a talking duck, etc. I got all that and more. And I enjoyed lots of great art along the way, too (shout outs to Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson). Fun, fun stuff. In fact, I think I'm about ready for Volume 3 now.
Defending good taste in comic books July 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Essential Defenders Volume II: from the very start (the confrontation with Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in issues 15 and 16, by far the best ones there) to the ending (Tapping Tommy and the Maggia goons in issue 30) it's a hit!!! Fine storytelling and artwork (especially by a certain Mr. Buscema), rather interesting characters and the "non-team status" that made this a supergroup different from all the others catch your attention and manage never to lose it. Looking forward to Volume III.
 More fun with Marvel's non-team April 22, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In the Marvel Universe, the big three superhero teams are the Fantastic Four, the Avengers (including various incarnations like West Coast Avengers) and the X-Men (with related teams X-Force, Excalibur, etc.). There were other teams also, and of those, my favorite has always been the Defenders, the "non-team" that had its heyday in the 1970s and `80s and is probably the biggest second-tier team (the Champions and Infinity Watch are definitely less memorable).
Essential Defenders Volume 2 begins to really give the team its identity. In previous issues, it featured several heavy hitters (the Silver Surfer, Sub-Mariner, Hulk and Dr. Strange), all of whom were not team players. Eventually, as this volume kicks in, the Silver Surfer and Sub-Mariner have gone their separate ways and have been replaced by Valkyrie and Nighthawk. It's these new heroes who help give the team more character. Also, this volume features the beginning of Steve Gerber's writing run; Gerber, also the creative force behind Howard the Duck, would give the Defenders a little bit of an off-beat quality (although, admittedly, this happens more in later issues).
In this set, the Defenders take on several big villains like Magneto, the Enchantress and the Badoon, along with lesser know villains like the Sons of the Serpent and Tapping Tommy. There are plenty of guest heroes too, including Son of Satan, Luke Cage, Spiderman, the Human Torch, the Thing, Daredevil and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
While it might be too much to say that this is really great writing and art, most of the material is at least good and it's all fun reading. For another look at what made Marvel entertaining thirty years ago, this is a good book to pick up.
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