Uncollected

The New Defenders almost encountered the Collector in Marvel Team-Up Annual #7 (1984). In that issue, the supervillain wanted to expand his collection of extraterrestrials—and he found several prospects residing on Earth. Under consideration were Warlock of the New Mutants and Cloud of the New Defenders. The Collector passed them both up, however, turning his attention instead to Spider-Man (sporting a symbiotic alien costume from Secret Wars) and Marrina of Alpha Flight (and from the Plodex homeworld). Though easy to overlook, the panel featuring Cloud provided an important piece of foreshadowing for the New Defenders, as Cloud's extraterrestrial origin story had yet to be revealed.

The New Mutants

The New Mutants have, at best, a tertiary connection to the Defenders. Even though I've written next to nothing about superhero films since my first post, I wanted to acknowledge the theatrical release of The New Mutants. Originally slated to open two years ago, the highly anticipated film officially opened today, with limited seating to ensure social distancing during the pandemic.

The film draws inspiration from New Mutants #1-3, 18-19 of the original series while crafting a unique story. Eagerly catching a matinee, I liked the film's rendering of all the characters—in some cases better than their comic book counterparts. More cinematic thriller than action-adventure, the film shows the young mutants coming to terms with their powers without the conventions of heroic costumes or dual identities. The stakes are personal and contained, a refreshing change of pace from the cosmic threats that have become commonplace in superhero films.

As a pair, X-Men and X2 are my all-time favorite superhero films. The New Mutants wisely acknowledges the existence of the X-Men while working as a stand-alone picture.

Tarot: The Devil in the Details

A number of heroes and villains have used Tarot cards to harness their superhuman abilities. One of the characters most worthy of discussion was the Hellion code-named Tarot. Like the other Hellions, Tarot was a student at the Massachusetts Academy and taught by the White Queen.

Introduced in New Mutants #16, Tarot used her mutant power to animate images from a Tarot deck, from the Knight of Swords to the Devil. Although Tarot ascribed mystical meaning to the cards, was her power truly bound by the 78 cards in the deck? Seeing how her power was mutant in nature, I suspect that Tarot had the potential to animate any picture she might see but didn't recognize the full scope of her abilities.

The above image come from New Mutants #16 (June 1984).

Magicks

When traveling across dimensions in Defenders #4 (Feb. 1973), Dr. Strange faced the evil conjurer Fragon. In the midst of combat, Fragon used the term magicks (spelled with k) to describe the sorcery of Dr. Strange. The British version for the story from Rampage #5 retained this alternate spelling. In both versions, the word magicks appeared in bold, as comics often do when introducing a name or term.

The word magicks would stay in comic book lexicon—without the bold lettering for emphasis. Although Dr. Strange typically used the conventional spelling of magic, he referred to his own magicks (with k) in a showdown against rival sorcerer Cyrus Black in Dr. Strange #34 (April 1979).

Pronounced the same with or without the k, the alternate spelling would suggest a distinct meaning. While no hard and fast rules would apply, generally speaking, characters from the past or from another dimension seemed more likely to favor the alternate spelling.

When the X-Men traveled to Limbo in Uncanny X-Men #160 (Aug. 1982), the demon Belasco spoke of his own magicks. The hero Nightcrawler, in turn, described that dimension as magickal (also spelled with k). Events from that story led to Illyana Rasputin becoming the hero Magik (adopting a personalized spelling without c). In most other contexts, Illyana's teammates in the New Mutants spelled magic the usual way.

In other instances, the alternate spelling (with k) accentuated the difference between the past from the present. The Canadian hero Shaman contrasted the healing power of his traditional magicks to the effectiveness of modern medicine in Alpha Flight #2 (Sept. 1983). Exposition in Gargoyle #2 (July 1985) delineated the modern era from a time of ancient magick (singular).

These distinctions, however, remain subjective, as the criteria for including the letter k might vary from issue to issue within a comic book series.

Old Mutants

Fearless Defenders #9 featured several male heroes who were one-time romantic interests of the female members of the team. In the mix, Sam Guthrie (better known as Cannonball) found himself caught in a love triangle with Danielle Moonstar (who was affiliated with this fearless version of the Defenders since #3).

Sporting their original yellow-and-black school uniforms, the likenesses of Cannonball and Moonstar appeared in New Defenders #129, when the Secret Empire forced the New Defenders to (appear to) battle the five earliest members of the New Mutants at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Though only a mental illusion, the sequence nonetheless illustrated how poorly the teenage heroes fared against the relatively seasoned members of the New Defenders.

With the passage of time, of course, the original New Mutants have long been experienced enough and capable enough to hold their ground.

This image comes from the opening page of New Defenders #129 (March 1984), published three decades before Fearless Defenders #9 (Nov. 2013).

State of Mind

Defenders #129 opened with a jarring predicament. The seasoned heroes found themselves under attack by the New Mutants, teenage students at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Angel, Beast, and Iceman were decidedly passive during the fight. As original members of the X-Men, they spent their youth battling older and more experienced opponents. Now, years later, they were reluctant to attack the newest students at their alma mater.

Gargoyle dissuaded Valkyrie from slaying the New Mutants until Moondragon saw through the troubling situation. The entire battle was an illusion. In reality, the Defenders were in holding cells, captives of the Secret Empire, and resisting attempts to be brainwashed.

Led by Professor Power, this latest incarnation of the Secret Empire intended to broadcast subliminal messages prompting the United States and the U.S.S.R. to enter into nuclear war—so a dystopian empire might emerge from the ruins. Several Defenders had been imprisoned by the Secret Empire before (Captain America #268). But this time there was a personal reason for manipulating the heroes.

Professor Power's son was traumatized as a result of his experiences fighting in the Vietnam War. When Professor X was unable to reverse the son's condition, Power sought to get back at Xavier by taking revenge on three of his earliest students, along with their latest allies. To hold his own in combat, Professor Power had his own mind psionically transferred into the body of his physically healthy (but comatose) son—land equipped himself with a battlesuit.

By tapping into Gargoyle's energy-draining abilities, Moondragon psychokinenically freed the team.

When time came to face Professor Power, Moondragon had her own turn at revenge. She caused Power's conscious mind to suffer the repressed mental anguish of his son (Defenders #130).

J.M. DeMatteis wrote Defenders #129-130 along with Marvel Team-Up #118 and #124, which established Professor Power's background and motivation.