David Anthony Kraft (1952–2021)

What a mess. So this is where bad stories go to die. This run of Defenders seems to have been used as a clearing house to sew up crap plotlines canceled in other titles. Interestingly the more garbage that piles up the more the female Defenders come to the fore.
Sort of like how britain only elects female primeministers when their country is so far in the toilet that no man wants the thankless task of trying to clean the mess.
But still at least we have some female led storylines... except that i then noticed that not a single one of these female led plots ends well, in fact everyone of them ends in a disaster except when a male character literally swoops in to save the day. I can't tell whether its incredibly inept feminism or very efficient chauvinism, presumably the former :| .

Also the last storyline is almost the exact same plot used in Jessica Jones season1, (and presumably the comic book version but i havn't read that) including having Patsy Walker (aka Trish Walker) as the best friend, which isn't in the Jessica Jones comic from what i've heard. But with Valkyrie as Jessica and the Mandrill instead of the Purple Man (aka Killgrave). That part made an interesting comparison.

Anyway, so if its so bad why 3 stars you ask? Well 70s garbage can still be quite entertaining, its still done by writers who are clearing trying, this isn't like bad 90s comics. Also the sheer randomness coupled with occasional 70s political or social commentary is worth a look.… (more)

Having grown up reading black and white Marvel UK reprints, I love the Marvel Essential collection. It's great to read a series through in big chunks, filling in the gaps from stories I've read only partly before. Among my favourites in the series is Incredible Hulk. While other Essentials sit on the shelf for months if not years waiting for me to get round to reading them, I generally have to crack on with the next Hulk volume as soon as it arrives. As much as I enjoyed Peter David's psychologically challenging run on the character in later years... or the big dumb joyfest that is Jeph Loeb's current run... my favourite Hulk will always be the "Hulk smash!" one. I love everything about this character, despite the fact that his adventures follow a very predictable pattern. I'll let him explain...

"Hulk just wants to be left alone. If puny humans leave Hulk alone, Hulk will be happy."

"No, now puny humans are attacking Hulk - puny soldiers or stupid villains..." (who Hulk always gives a funny name to such as "Little Man", "Big Head", "Clock Man", "Stupid Magician", "Bug Man", "One Eye" etc. etc.) "...leave Hulk alone, puny humans or Hulk will smash!"

"Now Hulk is angry - puny humans think they are stronger than Hulk... but Hulk is strongest one there is - now Hulk will SMASH!"

In essence then, on completing Essential Hulk Volume 6, I have just read 26 variations on the plot above. And I love it. It's curiously cathartic.

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