THE LAST DEFENDERS #1: DESTINY FALLS
Publisher: Marvel
Writers: Joe Casey and Keith Giffen ( co-plotter )
Artists: Keith Giffen ( breakdowns ), Jim Muniz ( pencils ), Cam Smith ( inks )
Review by Neil Kapit
In which New Jersey is given its first super-team since the Craptacular B-Sides, a franchise copyright is renewed, and not much else
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about mainstream superhero comics, it’s that they’ll always be shackled by the glittering chains of nostalgia. Their novelty long since worn off and their youth market practically non-existent, the icons of yesteryear ( especially the more obscure ones that haven’t been sold to bigger media companies ) need a serious overhaul if they’re ever to appeal again to a wider audience. But the Marvel or DC superhero’s current audience won’t let them change and adapt, preferring to read only the slightest variations on what they grew up with. The fallacy of nostalgia is not good when displayed by fans, and is even more appalling when displayed by authors. Case in point: the Last Defenders, the fourth volume of the “ famed “ non-team.
It’s not that this series is inherently bad; Casey’s scripting and Muniz’s art are both very competent, and the story flows nicely. It’s a perfectly good piece of genre fiction on the micro level, with good dialogue and clean art. It’s on the macro level, the Last Defenders’ implications as part of Marvel’s larger universe, that this issue troubles me. There’s no unique hook to this comic; it’s a fairly random assemblage of B and C List heroes who reluctantly work together to fight New Jersey-specific evil. Though team founder Iron Man says he’s good at picking a good team for combat, he falls flat when picking a good team for entertainment. Seriously, was anyone clamoring to see the epic meeting of a taciturn Russian mutant, a feminized Hulk spin-off, a Batman wannabe, and a Golden Age veteran with a rather bizarre gimmick?
If I sound reductive in my description, it’s because it’s not clear what the point of this series is, and why it’s more worth my three dollars than any other superhero team book. Certainly the other team books Marvel offers have clear purposes beyond “ random collection of guys in tights band together to fight evil “. The Fantastic Four are a close-knit family of explorers; the X-Men are a civil rights movement; even the Avengers, probably the most traditional of Marvel teams, is at least defined as the most famous and effective group in the Marvel Universe, the A-Listers. The Last Defenders....not so much.
There are signs that this series could pick up despite a bland first impression. The execution is solid, and there are hints that the Last Defenders have some larger purpose to be revealed later on. It would be nice to see Casey, Giffen, and Muniz to use this book to carve out a unique niche in the Marvel Universe. But if this first issue is any indication, that doesn’t seem likely. It’s a competent team book thus far; no more, no less. If you like that sort of thing, it might be worth a look, but there are plenty of better books being published. You’d be better off taking a chance on something new than sticking to the familiar.
MILDLY RECOMMENDED
