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Defenders, The #43: Review

Jan 1977
Gerry Conway, Klaus Janson

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Story Name:

This World Is Mine!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Defenders, The #43 Review by (September 21, 2021)

Review: Really cool story with quite a bit of action and suspense plus seeing a bunch of bad guys get beaten. Red Rajah is an interesting new character, just wait till you see where he goes. And a pretty nifty use of parallel narratives as we see Cobalt Man’s history occupying the bottoms of the pages while Egghead stalks the Defenders at the tops. Aces all around. Really cool Kirby cover, too.

Comments: Part two of two parts. Issues #43-45 mark the only appearance of the Red Rajah. Cobalt Man appeared in X-MEN #31 and 34 then INCREDIBLE HULK #173-174; he returns in the HULK: NIGHTMERICA miniseries. Unlikely as it may seem, Egghead returns in AVENGERS #217. Rhino vaguely remembers a movie quote: “When a man’s partner gets knocked down, you’re supposed to do something about it;” it’s from THE MALTESE FALCON.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Defenders, The #43 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

As the villainous Egghead watches from his space station, the Defenders (Hulk, Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Luke Cage) stand by helplessly as Cobalt Man melts down, heading for a nuclear explosion. Hulk wants to smash but Luke can’t hold him back. Nighthawk remembers his high school science and persuades Hulk to carry off the volatile villain and drop him in the river, slowing down the reaction. Egghead pitches a fit and teleports his hostile henchmen Rhino and Solarr to Earth to find Doctor Strange and force him to reveal the whereabouts of the Star of Capistan….

Meanwhile, the threat is over and Red Guardian suddenly joins them, having had to report to the Russian Embassy. As she is a surgeon, Nighthawk asks if she can help Cobalt Man break the mental hold someone has over him….

Solarr and Rhino appear at the hotel Egghead had tracked Strange to but don’t get very far in their search: they are confronted by the Red Rajah, protector of the Star of Capistan, who has already dealt with Doctor Strange and now he’s there to defeat these two. He overloads Solarr’s power, knocking him out, and grows in size to slam Rhino through the floor….

Up in the space station, Egghead, who assumes his henchmen have everything under control, makes plans to destroy the Defenders himself….

Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Clea works a spell that links Tania’s mind with that of Ralph Roberts the Cobalt Man, seeing his entire life and learning how he became the Cobalt Man. Meanwhile, Egghead has secretly teleported into the mansion with his trick eggs. He encounters Hulk first and uses an egg which tangles Hulk up in voluminous cloths. His next egg electrocutes Val and after that he binds Nighthawk in wires. But Luke Cage is another matter: the egg breaks on Cage’s chest and he punches out the villain. As RG brings Cobalt Man out of the trance he was in, Roberts recognizes Egghead as his captor and manipulator; seizing the villain he creates an implosion which obliterates them both.


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Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Klaus Janson
Klaus Janson
Klaus Janson
Jack Kirby (Cover Penciler)
Al Milgrom (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: Keith Giffen. Letterer: Irv Watanabe.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Cobalt Man
Cobalt Man

(Ralph Roberts)
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Luke Cage
Luke Cage

(Power Man)
Nighthawk
Nighthawk

(Kyle Richmond)
Red Guardian
Red Guardian

(Tania Belinsky)
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(Brunnhilda)

Plus: Defenders, Egghead (Elihas Starr), Solarr (Silas King).

> Defenders, The: Book info and issue index

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