DEFENDERS DECIPHERED! DISCOVERED! DETAILED!

Doctor Strange #183 (by Roy Thomas, Gene Colan)



A brooding, masked Doctor Strange is flying home is the rain using his enchanted cloak of levitation; even the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto cannot pierce
the gloom of the weather or of his mind. There no longer is a Stephen Strange, but Doctor Strange remembers how this came about just one night ago:
he was embracing his love Clea and a telegram, and, as he did so, the name on it changed from Stephen Strange to Stephen Sanders. What's happened
is that Eternity has stepped in, because Dr. Strange revealed his true name and was now therefoer vulnerable. So… new secret identity time.

Weird. You figure instead of changing all of reality, swapping names on birth and medical degrees, Eternity could have just, I don't know, changed that bit
where Doc confessed his name? Anyhoo, the telegram is from Kenneth Ward, someone from Stephen's past who helped sponsor Doc's medical education.
So, even though Clea fears it may be a trap, Strange visits Kenneth… as normal Stephen Sanders. Kenneth is very sick and employing a man-servant and
two armed bodyguards. Kenneth, now wheelchair bound and sitting in the dark, barely remembers the telegram or why he sent it. He just knew that there
was need to see Stephen. The butler explains an accident but Stephen knows Ken is under some type of spell. He shown to a room and locked in. Doc
leaves a sleeping image of himself and goes again as Strange to see Ken. Ken responds to some magic and starts relaying what he discovered in Asia in
the Himalayans: grotesquely-carved monster statues, apparently guarding a small idol between them. So Ken immediately grabs it and a statue cracks and
nearly falls on him. But he got the idol, which has an inscription on its base that makes Ken fear for all humanity. Ken must have returned to the US after
that and sent Stephen a telegram. Then he was visited by three creatures of the night.

These same three creatures (the butler and two guards) are revealed to be hideous gargoyles. They know he is Doctor Strange. They want the idol. They
attack with spells that Doc has never encountered before. He tries defeating them with illusions, but, though he senses the three are just minions of some
other entity, each is as powerful as he. But, Doc, remembering they said they were creatures of the night, hears the clock toll, and he rips the curtains from
the windows, bathing the room in morning's light. They turn to dust, but the strain has been too much for poor Kenneth, who also perishes. Doc then feels
that he needs to find the idol for which they sought. Where is it? Who wants it?

Ummm… we'll never know. Because despite the Next Issue Blurb: The Searchers! Doctor Strange was cancelled with this issue, #183.

If only, the author, Roy Thomas, was writing another book where he could sneak in Strange and finish his story idea, even though, well, the comic-buying
public might not have really been into wanting it.

I thought I might properly revisit (actually "visit" is a more appropriate term) the early days of the Defenders, because I had reached about the point in my
Avengers reviews that the Defenders team was just assembling. I didn't start buying the Defenders regularly until the Avengers/Defenders War. For time
reference, Doctor Strange #183 comes out in August 1969, the same month as Avengers 69. Their war is still several years away.

We don't see this Doctor Strange story continued until Sub-Mariner #22, which comes out in November 1969, the same month as Avengers #72.
And then Doc Strange shows up next in Incredible Hulk #126 in January 1970, the same month as Avengers #74.

In this thread, I will review Defenders-related books up to The Defenders #19, where the Defenders Omnibus ends. It's really where my Defenders'
knowledge is the weakest because I have just a little over 50% of these books, and it will be my first time ever reading the earliest stories all in sequence.

The Sub-Mariner #22 (by Roy Thomas, Marie Severin)


Namor the Sub-Mariner (wearing an oxygen helmet) returns home to Atlantis, where, in the hall of science, the wise Ikthon awaits the procedure. Namor then
recalls being abducted by aliens, who closed up his gills and made him a air breather for some reason. Triton was involved and save him, and now, I think,
during the operation, Dr. Strange calls out to Namor's mind and tells him about The Undying Ones, demons from another realm who once ruled over ancient
mankaind, until men grew stronger and the Undying Ones grew weaker. They had to flee back to their home dimension to regather strength. The idol from the
last Dr. Strange issue is the portal device between the two realms. Strange bades Namor locate it.

Namor recovers, is able to breathe water again, and swims to Boston. He swipes some clothes from a house of charity and goes to Kenneth War'd home, and
Namor is greeted at the door by a woman who has been waiting for him. She says that she is Ken Ward's daughter, Joella Ward. In the home, Namor then fights
with a demon, defeats it, then returns to another room where he finds an unconscious Joella and her cat. He assumes she was attacked before he was by the
same creature, and she comments on Namor's appearance now that he no longer wearing the human guise. He admits he's the Sub-Mariner, and they find a
clue on back of a portrait of Joella's Grandmother, who looks like her: "He who lit the first witch pyre, now guards the demon's dark desires."

Namor is kind of walking around in a semi-trance, so I'm assuming here that Dr. Strange is helping him from afar. Namor wanders out into the nearby cemetary
and they find a statue of John Goodwin, judge at the old Boston Witch Trials. Joella faints as they get closer. namor proceeds to lift the statue and the idol is
found underneath, but it is Doctor Strange's hand that grabs it. Strange then unmasks Joella as a demon, and she takes her own life in order that her masters
will not be able to punish her failure. (She's the same demon who attacked Namor earlier). Strange apparently needed to semi-possess Namor because if he
searched for the idol himself, his foes would easily recognize a sorcerer in their midst.

Oh, and Joella's cat was also a demon. While Doc explain what's going on, it touches the idol and opens the portal between the realms. Namor and Stephen
fight the first Undying Ones who pierce through, but Namor begins to weaken. Doc conjures up a water spout to refresh him, and the two heroes push the
demons back through whence they came. The fight continues on that side, until Strange announces that one of them must remain to hold the demons back.
Namor volunteers, but Strange casts him through and seals the portal behind him. Namor returns home, knowing the world is indebted to Dr. Strange.

I don't know what was going on at the beginning of this issue: the aliens. I checked Namor #21, but there was no mention of it. Maybe this was
continued from some Inhumans or Fantastic Four series? I can't really find it. Maybe it was just a weird story thing that Roy threw in so that
Namor would be drugged up and semi-conscious so that Dr. Strange could more easily take control on him? Strange mentions that he was only
able to control Namor because he was in a weakened state.

Leaving Dr. Strange on the other side of a mystic portal keeping demons at bay while Strange holds the magical idol is a nice place to drop Doc
off until later when Marvel wants to use him again. And… that's only two months away as it turns out.

We'll move on to Hulk #126, and that'll make this story truly into a prototype for The Defenders once our Green Giant gets involved.

I kinda like that Dr.Strange superhero suit.

I find it an interesting distraction in the Doctor's initial story run, but never much saw the need to try to turn Dr. Strange into a super-hero looking guy.
I guessed it was a little easier to draw, and made him look more sinister.

The Incredible Hulk #126 (by Roy Thomas, Herb Trimpe)


After Hulks fight with the Absorbing Man, the unconscious body of Bruce Banner is picked up by cult members who witnessed the fight. This cult is lead by
Van Nyborg, who hopes to use the Hulk to free their masters, The Undying Ones, who are trapped in another dimension. But one blonde woman, Barbara,
starts to have second thoughts about this cult thing she's joined and actively help lead in the past. She took their oath for "larks and kicks," but now they're
playing with a man's life. Still… when Banner wakes up and Barabara helps to gas him into a stupor.

General Ross, Betty, and Major Talbot are also looking for Banner/Hulk.

Van Nyborg rhyme out a lot of Dr. Strange terms (Watoomb, Satannish, Dormammu) and his pell manages to send the Hulk to another dimension, apparently
one next door to the one occupied by the Undying Ones, a realm guarded by the dreaded Night Crawler. I guess the deal here is that if that creature is bested,
they can use his dimension as a stepping stone to get to earth. Oh, and they've managed to capture Dr. Strange, who refuses to help them get to earth, No
sign of the idol I recall Strange was holding before.

Banner encounters The Night Crawler, but Bruce holds back the fears that would trigger him into changing into the Hulk, preferring to die here as a man instead
of allowing the Hulk to help out the cult and their demon masters. Van Nyborg watches from earth, calculating a way to beat Banner's mental resolve when that
Barbara Norriss woman starts objecting. Van Nyborg casts her into Night Crawler's dimension as well. Night Crawler immediately goes to crush her since she
wears the emblems of his enemies. Protective-guy, Bruce Banner Hulks up, but NC uses his scepter to summon up a darkness surrounding them until Gamma-
charged Hulk punches a rock so hard it produces a hot powerful light in the eons-dark cosmos. Barbara grabs a chunk of the glowing rock and throws it at
The glass orb atop NG's scepter, smashes it while his attention was on the Hulk. Hulk, in turn, saves Barbara, but NC then switches to sonic attacks. Hulk
fights back by slapping his hands together, turning back the sounds and destroying Nightcrawler's realm. Before that can happen, Nightcrawler's aura surrounds
them as he transports to the realm of the Undying Ones in order to survive.

There, Nightcrawler immediately battles with the Undying Ones, vowing that he take them out one by one until their universe is his, and Barbara figures out to
free Dr. Strange from the mystic poles, which bind him, someone must take his place.

"But why, girl—why did you sacrifice yourself for one you've never met?!?!"
"Van Nyborg told us of your sacrifice—to save a world that shunned you. Could I do less— I, who helped to send Bruce banner into unknown realms?" Better
I should perish—than any other! Now go—you must hurry—!"

Hulk doesnt understand why there's a rush, but Strange takes that opportunity to spell himself and Hulk home again, and Hulk becomes Banner. Strange helps
Bruce into his home, and they both get dressed in some of the Doctor's old clothes. With the the threat of the Undying Ones ended, Strange is deciding to pack
it in and retire. Perhaps Dr. Strange is no longer needed? Banner envies the guy and wishes that he, too, could just walk away from being the Hulk.

I guess that blonde woman who appears at least twice on Page 19 of the previous issue of Incredible Hulk is supposed to be Barbara Norriss, so it
looks like they give her official first appearance as Incredible Hulk #125, but it's mainly #126 where we first meet her.

She'll be back in the Defenders storyline proper soon enough as her soul and body will become entangled with a certain Asgardian's.

The Sub-Mariner #34 (by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema)


The Hulk swims up to the island of San Pablo, finds the shoreline fenced off by barbed wire, which doesn't hurt him, but it pisses him off that someone
is trying to keep him out. Hulk just wants a place where he can be free of all the hounding and hatred that normally mobs up against him. But, he is
spotted by troops of the island's dictator, "El General," who want him gone. In Atlantis, Prince Namor views the conflict on one of those handy devices
everyone had in the late 1960s/early 1970s that could view whomever they wanted wherever they were. Subby has in his mind that a new human
invention to control weather is going to be fatal to everyone on the planet, so he hopes to enlist the Hulk to help him neutralize the threat.

But before that, Namor also chances to observe the Silver Surfer flying above his waters, so that's his first stop. And, Namor uses his normal arrogant
demeanor to demand that the Surfer stop and listen to him. Surfer takes offense and they fight for awhile, until Surfer realizes that maybe he was too
hasty in his judgment of the Sub-Mariner. (Nope.) Those two agree to work together, and next go to enlist the Hulk (I'd say if you have the Silver Surfer
on your side, you probably don't need the Hulk, but….). When they approach the Hulk, the Hulk doesn't really want anything to do with them (even in his
fractured memories, he recalls having tangled with both of them before). El General's troops help, though, as he orders attacks against all three intruders.

Puny Humans attacking someone other than Hulk pretty much equal those someones must be friends of Hulk. The trio mop up the army troops, which,
also triggers the island's resistance fighters to step up their game and liberate the island. They never intended to start a revolution, but, as Namor states
it, he's not unhappy that it did. "The Titans Three"—as called in the title of this story—all climb on Surfer's board and fly to the real problem–-next issue.

Okay, it's been ten months since the last team-up with Hulk and Dr. Strange, so this next proto-Defenders tale took awhile to percolate in Roy the
Boy's head. For those scoring at home, this one takes place the same month as Avengers #84, so now I'm a little ahead of my Avengers' Posts.
the story will conclude in the next issue of Sub-Mariner, and then the first true Defenders appearance will happen seven months later in the first
issue of Marvel Feature.

The Sub-Mariner #35 (by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema)


A US Military leader, working for the UN, is in charge of guarding the experimental weather controlling device. He is not impressed by Namor's demands
to having Atlantis Scientists examine the device before the scheduled testing is to occur. In fact, the man is not impressed by the Sub-Mariner at all nor
with the friends he has with him, the Incredible Hulk and the imprisoned-on-earth-alien, Silver Surfer. Namor reacts as Namor reacts to not getting what
he wants, he fights. As, when it is apparent that the troops are overmatched, they retreat. Their orders were clear that they should not engage a foe that
is superior to theirs. The United Nations then calls in the Avengers for help. Part of this is because none of the countries wishes outright war with Atlantis.

The Avengers, right before this, are to attend some charity function or another, but, as they gave their word to help the UN if things got hairy, they leave
behind their three-most powerful members: Thor, Iron Man, and Goliath, who can answer an emergency calls. That call comes; they race to the scene.

Likewise arriving at the scene are Namor's wife to be, The Lady Dorma, and his trusted science guy, Ikthon. They start examining the machine for flaws.

The three Avengers arrive and—kind of counter to normal Marvel Comics procedures—they actually kind of talk about the situation. The Hulk, though,
grows impatient in hearing words, and he leaps in to attack, and Goliath and Iron Man likewise have been itching to throw down. It's Iron Man vs the
Silver Surfer, Hulk vs Thor, and Goliath vs Sub-Mariner. Tony has never met the Surfer before, but, if I recall correctly, he has created some technology
for Nick Fury to use against him. Goliath puts on a pretty good effort against Namor until Clint starts to drown, and Subby saves him. In the Thor and
Hulk battle, we finally get to see one of those scenes where the Hulk tries but is unable to lift the hammer. Still, he's smart enough to realize that if he
can't have it, then neither can Thor, so he's holding it there in place while Thor thinks about how fast those 60 seconds of separation tick away from him.

But, the fight is cut short as the flaw in the weather machine is discovered and demonstrated, and everyone agrees that maybe more testing is needed,
and that Namor was right to be concerned. Hulk then wants to just smash the device, but even Namor and Surfer agree that it's potentially valuable
and the technology should be worked on further. The Avengers and the Titans Three depart peacefully enough, and the Titans Three just plain disband
and go their separate ways.

I just doubled checked, and the last Silver Surfer solo issue (#18) happened five months or so before this two-part story began, so I'm guessing
that Stan Lee's moratorium against anyone else using the Silver Surfer must have also lapsed about this time, so Roy Thomas was now more
free in using the character.
======================================================================================================

Incredible Hulk #14 (by Roy Thomas and Herbe Trimpe)


This issue is not considered a proto-Defenders issue, but it will be mentioned in issue #4 of the actual series. I thought it was worth reviewing again before
I get to the actual Defenders title. Technically, this Hulk issue appeared nine weeks before Marvel Feature #1, so I should covered here if at all.

The Hulk is in New York and has decided to sleep tucked in the arms of the Statue of Liberty. This becomes a front page headline. Socialites Malicia and
Reggie Parrington decide to hold a benefit for the persecuted and discriminated Hulk. Their daughter, Samantha, wants them instead to fund a Women's
Lib benefit, but they say no, since their organization has already done one of those. Samantha then helps her parents convince the Hulk to leave Liberty
Island with them (but Reggie publicly ends up taking all of the credit). And they have a big party, and Hulk runs into a green-haired woman (who dyed her
hair for the occasion), who he mistakes for Jarella. Lot of amusing scenes with Hulk trying to get food and drinks.

Samantha ditches this scene to go to a different party for Women's Liberation. From afar, Amora the Enchantress witnesses the girl's ambitions and then
magically alters her so that her body will be host for the Valkyrie. Because of her defeats at the green brute's hands, Amora directs Sam to attack the Hulk.

Back at the social affair, Hulk is given a check and handfuls of cash collected on his behalf. He has no use for this stuff and dumps it all on the floor. Just
then, Valkyrie breaks down the wall and engages the man beast in battle, and she bests him (Hulk doesn't want to fight a woman). Then, she hauls him up
to the top of the Empire State Building (probably there's an inverse Fay Wray moment in her somewhere) and she tosses him down to his death. Well… maybe.
Sam goes down to check on him and discovers he's still alive. Hulk disarms her, and once she loses her staff/spear, the Billy Batson-like magic that transformed
her (she had uttered "Valhalla" like SHAZAM earlier) leaves and she goes back to being Samantha again. Caught in the anti-magic blast area (or whatever),
Hulk also turns into Bruce Banner. They're both kind of confused, but Bruce gets up and leaves, and Samantha does, too, forgetting about the staff and
leaving it there in the debris.

Oh, and author Tom Wolfe was in this one, too. You meet all sorts at these fund raisers.

Marvel Feature #1 (by Roy Thomas, Don Heck / Roy Thomas, Ross Andru and Bill Everett)


Second story first: "The Return"

Stephen "Sanders" finds himself out walking the shadowed streets of New York's Greenwich Village. His new apartment and life are blocks from here,
but something compels him here, though he has sworn to forget his past. But how can he forget the life as Master of the Mystic Arts, how can he forget
when his once-surgery-worthy hands can do nothing now but turn the pages of dust-laden medical texts? He has, of late, served as a consultant to
some of New York's finest physicians. He comes before his own brownstone, but, instead of being boarded up as it should (he ordered Wong to do so
when he renounced this life), the building appears as he last left it. He ventures inside, upset that the front door isn't even locked as it should be, for
there are still things inside that should not fall into the wrong hands.

He encounters Wong, who apologizes that the Master cannot see him, but… "Eh? What mad lotus dream is this?" Wong summons his master to sort
out this confusion, and a masked Dr. Strange appears, wearing the cloak and amulet. And teh fight is rather one-sided, as the Stephen who has just
arrived has renounced his powers (and it would take new consecration—days of dedication to restore them). Wong pleads to his Master not to destroy
the imposter, so Dr. Strange instead puts Stephen to sleep; he will be dealt with later after I enjoy the meal you must have prepared for me, Wong.

Even while sleeping, though, Stephen's mind is able to reach out to The Ancient One, who hears him, but also relates that he was immensely sad when
Stephen gave up magic. Still, the Ancient One agrees to restore Stephen's magic now and free him if he agrees to never give it up again. Able to read
Stephen's mind, he knows that Stephen agrees.

Steven then defeats the imposter, who was Baron Mordo, but, as Stephen is explaining this all to Wong, who is asking for forgiveness, Mordo escapes.
But Doctor Strange is back.

First feature second: "The Day of the Defenders"

A maskless Dr. Strange sits in the dark as Wong brings him tea just as the grandfather clock rings the Witching Hour. Wong does not hear, but Strange
does, that the clock's gongs as saying "Come, Dr. Strange." Strange commands his astral body to answer this siren's call. And, as he flies off, he thinks
how he just returned to this life (we are directed to see the second feature). The Astral form flies to a nearby hospital where Strange observes doctors
around Yandroth, an evil scientist he once battled amid worlds beyond. (Note: my dad subscribed and contributes to a Sci-Fi Fanzine called Yandro,
and I read somewhere that that was where the name for this scientist came from.). Anyway, the doctors say Yandroth was hit by a truck and can't live
much longer. The doctors leave to let the man die in peace. When they do, Yandroth speaks to Strange, "In Peace, did you hear that? If those fools
only suspected the circumstances under which I intend to die they would tremble where they stand!"

Yandroth recalls how he survived their last encounter, where he ended, and what he learned in that weird place. He returned to earth and created a
ultimate machine made of science and magic, the Omegatron, which, upon Yandroth's death, will activate, and, five hours later, will explode every
nuclear stockpile on earth. "Every man," he says, "wants the world to end when he dies—but only I shall fulfill that dream." The guy's so cock sure of
himself that he even arranged to be hit by that truck. He then lapses into what Strange knows is a coma from which he will never awaken. Still, Strange
tries, uses his magic to assemble the doctors to save many lives by concentrating on this one. Alas… they cannot, and he dies.

Strange seeks out Namor to help. Namor is pleased to see Strange escaped from the Undying Ones, but he's got another quest going, so… "Neither
shall you find what you seek, Namor—if atomic fire lights the skies before the sun does." Namor stops to fully listen, then he says that they should also
enlist The Hulk and Silver Surfer to help. Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to see what the Surfer is doing, and what he's doing is building up speed in
a mad attempt to escape earth, and he knocks himself out against the barrier. He won't recover in time to help them. Strange then communicates with
Hulk; something in Hulk's warped nature allows him to see Strange's Astral Form. He leads Hulk back to where he and Namor are; Hulk agree to fight
for them, but not for glory, but if they will be his friend, to which Strange agrees.

Strange knows where they need to go, an address the doctors found in the dead man's possessions. But Yandroth also said the Omegatron would be
guarded. Talking to some locals indicates that Yandroth's lair must be the new lighthouse three miles yonder on a dirt road. Hulk and Namor (after some
bickering about not liking to be ordered) go to smash the protective force field around the lighthouse. Hulk encounters electric fences, acid traps, and
mammoth flame throwers. While Namor swims in through some sewage pipes, but encounters walls that press in on him. While they battle on, Strange
summons all of his strength to get his Astral Form through the barrier, and he reaches the Omegatron, which detects him and surprises him by thinking
and speaking like a human. And it also boasts as Yandroth, for Yandroth predicted that the Mage would summon allies to attack his lighthouse, and
their attacks are actually powering the earth's destruction. The end will come when they both strike the actual machine.

Strange hurries back to bring his true form through the hole Hulk created and tells them both to stop, but Namor thinks it's an illusion trying to trick them,
so he and Hulk attack Strange, who saves himself with a psycho shield, then makes each of his allies appear as monsters to the other. But, Omegatron
says that even their vibrations near him will be enough to power the world's doom… in just five more seconds…

Strange warps time around the Omegatron, so that each moment becomes an era, so the world has countless years to live yet. Namor says "Aye, it's
best that we part. For, we all but caused the earth's destruction00while we sought to be its valiant Defenders."
"Ah, yes," Strange replies, "A fitting name… if ever we've need to meet again."
Hulk says he never wants to get together again. Hulk was in a group once, the Avengers, Didn't like it.

The two powerhouses leave, and Strange casts an illusion to hide the lighthouse from discovery.

Marvel Feature looks like it starts off as a quarterly publication. Issue #1 appears on the shelves in July 1971. For comparison, Avengers #92
appears the same month. Marvel Feature #2 is on stands in October 1971. Marvel Feature #3 appears in January 1972, and Marvel Feature #4,
featuring the Ant-Man, appears April 1972. Defenders #1 shows up the following month, May 1972, on the stands two weeks after Avengers #102.
Defenders starts off as a bi-monthly title, but it looks like it goes monthly with issue #8, which is the first issue I bought new off the shelves. I was
drawn to it because Hawkeye was on the cover. I was finding it difficult to find comics consistently on the shelves each month after that, so I
only managed to get about 2/3rd of the Avengers/Defenders War. I think I have them all now in originals, but I'm still missing about five of the
total Defenders run, the early issues before #8.

I think my Dad must have bought a copy of Marvel Feature #1 for I found a copy among the family's bookcases in the Living Room.
None of my siblings made claim to it, so I eventually started storing it with the rest of my comics. I picked up a second copy of it somewhere
along the way, but I'm not sure why. The interior artwork by Ross Andru and Bill Everette is kind of scribbly-looking. Nice Neal Adams' cover,
though. I made sure that I got that Adams' cover version for the Defenders Omnibus. I also got the Hero Initiative version of that cover done by
Kevin Nowlan for the 2020 HC Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, the first time I bought a copy of that guide for 30 years.

The Andru/Everett art work is scribbly looking because that's how Andru penciled. The inker has to tighten it up and pick out the lines. This made Everett angry and he decided to ink everything Andru put down.

I used to read and subscribe to the Defenders when I was young (primarily for the Hulk). It was always positioned as the second string, or B grade version of the Avengers. But looking at its roots, it was headed more towards a first rate team (from a super power standpoint). Hulk, Namor, Dr. Strange -- that's Avengers level core.

I get that. But I've seen much better Andru work, I thought.
And I normally quite like Everett's work.

Yep. Throw in the Silver Surfer as well, and it's game over for just about anyone they come up against. The Avengers
needed Thor, Iron Man, and Goliath just to stand up against the team without Doc on it, and I felt that really only Thor
had a chance of coming away from that one in good health.

Marvel Feature #2 (by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru)


The story starts with Bald Mountain, brooding above Rutland, Vermont, on this, the night before All-Hallow's Eve. The villagers look up and they see
blood-red glow emanating from the mountain. Up there a satanist cult is holding an unholy ceremony. Wait, did I say, "Satan?" These folk are instead
summoning The Dread Dormammu! Dormammu seems a bit annoyed. The minions have summoned him a day early. He tells them what they should
already know: he can only be summoned AND cross over into this Dimension (to add it to his dominions) on All-Hallows Eve! Then he asks if the one
needed to be sacrificed has been obtained. They expect to have him soon.

Cut to similarly clad cultists climbing on the gabled roof of Dr. Strange's house in Greenwich Village. Inside, Strange is powering up the Mystic Eye of
Agamotto in order to reveal the nameless menace that he senses hovering nearby. In the glowing sphere he sees Dormammu steeping through a rift
and towering gigantic-like above a village. Strange does not now if this is happening now by he assumes it must be in the future or else the earth would
be quaking even now. Strange turns the sphere's gaze upon nearby Hulk and Namor in turn and ponders whether he should summon their aid. Before
he decides to do so, The Ancient One appears in astral form and beckons Strange to come outside so that he may explain to him more about the Dread
Dormammu. Strange goes to speak with him astrally—but it's a trick. While his astral form roamed the gardens of the sky, the cultists have woven a
msystic shield around Strange's body so that he cannot return to it. Wong (who was on the telephone talking with someone) appears and does some of
that Kung-Fu fighting that cats were doing in the early 70s on the cultists, but one unseen in the shadows knocks him out. No time to cut his throat as
they need to get Dr. Strange's body to wherever they're taking it.

Ah, Wong was talking to Clea, and she's arrived and wakes him up and learns of the cultists and Stephen being missing. She knows little of the workings
of the Mystic Eye, but she tries to operate it, and ends up projecting the image of the man she loves and is searching for into the heads of the last two
people the eye was scrying. Both Namor and Hulk then head out to see what needs doing for their Mystic friend.

And here's Roy and Jeannie Thomas meeting up again with Tom Fagan (last seen together in Avengers #83). They've heard rumors of some scarlet
light on Bald Mountain, so that got them curious. Fagan puts them to work finishing up their parade float. Meanwhile, Tom has a smoke and tells them
the history of Bald Mountain for eight panels. While this is happening, Namor and Hulk are working their way closer, encountering RADAR operators,
local police, and so on. Rutland in these stories is always a hoot when they show skinny cosplayers in baggy superhero outfits. In one panel, we see
the lower half of an Iron Man talking with the lower half of Valkyrie. Also Captain America and Quicksilver, and that's probably supposed to be Medusa
since the Lady Liberators were there at the parade last year for real.

The cultist have arrived with Dr. Strange's body but they don't sense (and we don't see) his astral form. Not yet in Rutland, Namor is hiding an alley
from the police, who are looking for a prowler (Namor flew too close to a woman's 5th-story bedroom window, and she called it in). He stumbles into
the Hulk in the dark and they begin fighting. This wakes the neighbors, who shout at them, while those two figure out who each other is and why they
are both here. Clea appears and summons them both over. Wong's with her, and they have Namor dress in regular street clothes to hide his identity.
Clea hypnotizes Hulk into turning into Bruce Banner. She also has clothes and hourly tranquilizers for him, which he's supposed to take each hour.
They are immediately stopped by the police, but they let them go, and they don't see the wind pick up and blow off Namor's hat or his pointy ears.

As dawn rises, the cultists switch over to using black candles around Strange to keep their enchantment on him potent. They discuss why the "Master"
would want to inhabit the body of his direst foe. The more informed brother explains that Dormammu vowed not to physically enter this realm the last
time he was defeated, so possessing Strange's body will be a work-around that. Cut to out heroes riding a bus to Rutland. Bruce complains that the
tranks are making him drowsy, but better that than letting the Hulk free. They get there by nightfall, and behold the 12th Annual Superhero Parade.
Clea spots an eerie glow on the nearby mountain. They climb up to where the portal for Dormammu is opening. Namor needs to take out the cultists
because they are protected against Clea's magic and that last tranquilizers is still keeping Banner calm even in the face of death. Still… Namor has
been out of water for a long time, so he's rather weakened. As the cultists dog pile on Banner, he finally changes into teh Hulk and throws them off.
Then he diverts a stream with a larger boulder to refresh Namor, who other cultists have pinned to the ground.

Aha! Strange has been hiding his astral form within Wong, using her trusted servant's warm flesh to keep his astral form alive. He's waited until now
to make his move because he figured the warding spell cast upon him would have to end before Dormammu could take possession of it. He enters
his own body and crosses over to Dormammu's realm before he can possess it earthside. They mystic duel, and Dormammu realizes that he is
weakened because the nearby portal is open to Earth. Their battle causes an eruptions/explosion on Bald Mountain, which looks like it wipes out the
cultists. Namor and Hulk do their best to shield Clea and Wong with their own bodies, and Dr. Strange races home and flies them to safety. For a
brief moment, he feels that Namor and Hulk, though, surely must have died in resulting avalanche. Nope. They dig their way free.

Marvel Feature #3 (by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru)


"Space-Capsule Castor-And-Pollux 1 hit the earth's tainted atmosphere like a metal fishing-plug tossed by some giant playing hookey on the moon…

That's how this one starts. It was probably supposed to be "hits" and "hockey" but maybe Roy meant hookey? But I've been seeing a lot of misspelled words,
etc. in the last few 1970 Marvel comics I've been reading, but it certainly could be "playing hookey," but "hookey from what?

General Ross is aboard the aircraft carrier Emerson. He explains to Jim Wilson that he's there because his regular liaison officer took sick, and young
Jim is there because—apparently, I never read too many early 1970s Hulk books, he has been known to be able to control the Hulk. Okay…. Even
though Ross says the Hulk seems to have vanished. Ross is being very helpful here explaining the situation… for Jim. Apparently one of the astronauts
had an incident during his second space walk: some sort of white mist approached and enveloped him, then they lost transmission due to a lot of static.
The carrier is also carrying extra medical and science crew in case we're looking at an "Andromeda Strain" situation on their hands.

The astronauts see that a strange whirl pool has opened up in the ocean right where they were landing…. Namor is nearby because… why not? He's
lord of the seas and this is something out of the ordinary. The capsules hits and is pulled under, and Namor sees there's also a giant squid involved.

(This is a weird, confusing comic so far for me. I've never had this issue or read it before now.)

Ah, Namor says the giant squid didn't create the whirl pool, but whatever did also cast the squid up. Namor has to attack before the thing crushes the
space capsule. Namor does so then flies the capsule to the deck of the carrier. Some of the crew cheers and a report says this quite the story. Namor
says he doesn't care for headlines, Fools! He saved the capsule because it likely saved human lives, but he's annoyed that to do so he had to harm a
denizen of the depths. The sailors on board don't like his attitude or being called "fools," and—like fools—they rush in against this super powered guy
who just flew a capsule onto their boat.

(This is a dumb comic, and it's starting to annoy me.)

Oh, and here's Jim rushing forward. Can he control Namor, too? Naw, but he tells Namor to drop the sailors or first chance he gets he'll command the
Hulk to "lay you out good!" Huh.

Oh, and now the astronauts are out of the capsule and bad mouthing the United States, how Namor shouldn't have had to rescue them and how they were
railroaded into space just so the US could have the first manned space station. And they think they're real celebrities now and they should be getting paid
accordingly. I guess they've been possessed. Hmmm… we find out later that flash photography doesn't seem to be able to capture their images. They
sign a TV Deal to star in a show called The Astro-Nuts, and, on the first broadcast, Ex-Captain Cal introduces "the real start of the show, Xemnu, from the
Magic Planet, a big, furry white giant with a metal skull cap and metal waist band (who I remember from reading a repeat of Journey Into Mystery 60).
yeah, the show they're putting on is bad, but the kids seem to enjoy it. The adults… well, not much. Xemnu says something about taking the kids back
with him when he returns to the magic planet in a month.

Disgusted, General Ross turns off the TV that Jim was watching, and Ross extols upon the virtues of the Charley McCarthy show, and especially on the
true comedic genius of Mortimer Sneed. Jim ditches that scene, hails a taxi (how old is this kid?) and heads over to Dr Strange's house because he has
no ideal where Bruce Banner is, but Banner has told Jim about the Dr. Good thing, too, as Jim left his cash at home. Sigh…. Jim explains to Strange
that the reason he wanted to talk to him is because, after Ross had turned off the TV, Jim sensed that he was wanting to leave with Xemnu and never
come back to earth.

Cut to the two astro-nuts bickering about how long this is all taking, but one keeps telling the other that they'll be rich. Just then, Jim and the Incredible
Hulk show up. The Nuts heard of a boy who could control the Hulk, and Hulk says he wants to go on heir show to let viewers know that he's not as bad
as they think. A deal is drawn up (to appear four weeks from now), and Jim rolls out his (mostly red) "magic carpet," so that he and the Hulk can leave
without being chased in case anyone called the cops. And… yes, it's the cloak of levitation and "Hulk" the whole time has been Strange with an illusion
cast around him. Four weeks pass and we see the Astro-Nuts show is still going strong, and toys and games are being sold based upon it. Kids love
Xemnu, Congressmen have kids, and Congress gives the military funding, so Congress have given the Hulk temporary amnesty to appear on the show.

Strange (as Hulk) is struggling a bit. Jim says he knows it's hard to maintain the magic, but Strange says it's more than that. He feels other forces are
working against him. Jim feels it, too. The show goes on, and there's talk that this is the day that Xemnu is leaving.

Meanwhile, Bruce Banner catches a part of the broadcast on TV as he steps into a drug store to buy aspirin for his headache. Whoops. He changes.

Xemnu summons the children to the station with his hypnotic eyes. Many are called but few will be able to actually reach the station in time, but it will
be enough for Xemnu. Ah… Jim is older than I thought, so he's not really effected. Just young enough to feel what it must be like for the Senator's
kid, who Jim tries to stop from approaching Xemnu. Dr. Strange drops his guise and attacks. Xemnu suspected trickery and had been trying to pierce
Hulk's disguise. Strange likewise was trying to probe Xemnu, and saw his original backstory about how he was defeated when a human used a mirror
to reflect back Xemnu's super-hypnotism. But that wasn't the end of Xemnu. As a gas, he was able to return to his home world, but he discovered that
all life on it had been destroyed by some microscopic germ. So, Xemnu wandered through space again until he came to possess the astronaut Rich
Wagner. But, Dr. Strange is defeated by a mind blast, and the soldier are toppled as well, and… hey, look, it's Namor, and he's destroying the launch
pad. He received Strange's summoning in time. But Xemnu bests Namor as well. Then Ex-Captain Cal, seeing how he was manipulated by his greed,
attacks Xemnu, and Xemnu crushes Cal to death.

The real Hulk arrives next, and Xemnu recognizes that Hulk is stronger than Namor out of water, but Xemnu needs the children to repopulate his world,
so he must win. Hulk resists, and Xemnu is impressed with his brutal strength and toughness. Hulk hits and hits and hits… until there is nothing left of
Xemnu except a puff of white gas that fades away. Dr. Stranges reasons that Hulk didn't have a brain clever enough for Xemnu to manipulate.

Oh, oh, the army then steps in, so Hulk and Namor cause shock and awe to level them and they make their escape. We close with Strange and Jim
lamenting how Cal died to protect the children, and Jim wishing he could forget. Strange plans on making everyone else forget his part in all of this.

That was a tough issue to summarize and get through.
Hard to believe now how much I've wanted to get a copy of it for the last 50 years.
Still… I had issues #1 and 2, and I have the entire Ant-Man run in issues #4-10, so the collector in me still may get an actual copy of the
comic book one of these days. But then I'd probably want to get issues #11-12 that started that Thing "Marvel Two-In-One" series.

Heavy is the OCD crown worn by the collector and forever light his wallet.

I went back and pasted in a short review for Incredible Hulk #142 before Marvel Feature #1 as it is at least tangentially related
to Defenders #4 and it appeared a couple of months before Marvel Feature #1 hit the shelves.