Reflecting back on this recent miniseries from Marvel Comics, I’m fascinated by its underwhelming promotion and reception. Last Defenders was a smart, fun, and kinetic story that followed Nighthawk thru an introspective journey into modern superheroics. Kyle Richmond asked a lot of existential questions about his place in the universe and received a lot of answers in the form of temporal tampering via Yandroth, a time traveling superbaddie with a big chip on his quantum shoulder.
So what went wrong? I’m no expert, but I am an asshole. That’s why I’m only giving you reason nine thru five this week.
9. Was the art accessible enough? I found the story both brilliant and confusing. Jim Muniz, Cam Smith, and Antonio Fabela brought this journey to life in a sort of Ed McGuinness meets Duncan Rouleau way. The art was a big selling point for me, mostly because the stylized visuals took what could have been a painfully old school story and made it impossibly fresh. But was the art too stylized for this book’s demographic?
8. Was Last Defenders TOO old school? To say that this could have been “painfully old-school” is not a knock to Joe Casey or Keith Giffen. They both did a great job here, with Giffen co-writing the first few issues and Casey carrying the rest. The story pulls from the Defenders back catalog of adventures in an obsessive way that’s just as disorienting as it is fun. This comic was like a thesis statement on Defenders history, sprinkled with non-team team book irony.
Continue reading ‘The Top 9 Things That May Have Gone Wrong with Last Defenders - Part One’
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