Lawful Evil: Badoon

The Badoon had green hides when they originally appeared in the pages of the Defenders. When those stories reprinted in the U.K. magazine Rampage, however, the militaristic extraterrestrials were red instead. No matter how they looked, the Badoon likely prescribed to the alignment of Lawful Evil while conquering the galaxy during the 31st century.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

Introducing Power Man

When Defenders #17 reprinted in Rampage #16, the cover art changed significantly. Instead of picturing Hulk alongside Nighthawk and Dr. Strange, the reprint showed the green goliath deserting his comrades. Of the two versions, the cover of Rampage #16 was more accurate. Within the story, Valkyrie left the non-team (temporarily) to learn about her alter ego as Barbara Norriss. A saddened Hulk then blamed Dr. Strange and Nighthawk for Valkyrie's departure and leapt off to be alone. Only afterward did Dr. Strange and Nighthawk meet Power Man.

Rampage #16 also modified the original cover verbiage to introduce the guest star as "The Menace of Power Man!" Within the story, the hero for hire was guarding Richmond Enterprises and mistook the Defenders for intruders.

Day in the Lives

Rampage #7 (Nov. 30, 1977) included a two-page spread depicting "A Somewhat Quiet Day in the Lives of the Daring Defenders!" Valkyrie and Aragorn entered the comedic scene, which showed Prince Namor beside a "New Atlantis" fish tank, Dr. Strange practicing stage magic, and Hulk chewing on a Fantastic Four comic book with Thing on the cover.

Bonus Points!

While reprinting issues of the Defenders, the weekly U.K. magazine Rampage also included back-up content from other superhero comics—and sometimes from anthology series originally published during the Silver Age. Such was the case with Rampage #13 (Jan. 11, 1978), which reprinted Defenders #14 followed by the five-page story "Beware!!! Of the Little Toy Men!!" That suspenseful tale first appeared in Journey into Mystery #58 (May 1960). In writing this blog over the years, I've noticed the frequent use of exclamation points in comic books, but this particular title takes the cake for excessive punctuation!

Valiant Pin-Up

This pin-up of Valkyrie riding Aragorn comes from Rampage #11 (Dec. 28, 1977). Also pictured: Dr. Strange, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, and Hulk.

Daring Pin-Up

This pin-up of the Daring Defenders comes from Rampage #8 (Dec. 7, 1977). That issue of the weekly U.K. magazine reprinted the story from Defenders #7, Hawkeye's introduction to the non-team.

Pictured clockwise: Hulk, Valkyrie, Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Hawkeye.

Mutant Coverage

Defenders #15-16 pitted the non-team against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Yet when the two-part story reprinted in Rampage #14-15, the new covers billed the opposing team as the Mighty Mutants or more generally as Mutants. To be fair, the interior pages retained the original text and specifically called the villains the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Assisting the Defenders was Professor X, leader of the X-Men.

Redesigning Wrecker

When material from Defenders #18-19 reprinted for U.K. readers in Rampage #17-18, a curious coloring change occurred. The Wrecker, who originally wore a purple and green costume, instead appeared in burnt orange on the cover of each reprint. Meanwhile, the other members of the Wrecking Crew retained their original color schemes. When comparing both sets of covers side by side, I think the coloring change helped the Wrecker stand out.

Like other issues in the U.K. series, interior pages of Rampage #17-18 ran in black-and-white.

Superheroes Sinister

When the story from Defenders #13 (May 1974) later ran in Rampage #12 (Jan. 4, 1976), the U.K. reprint series kept the cover illustration of the original. But whereas the original cover text promoted Super-Team vs. Super-Team, the reprint said, "Superheroes battle Superheroes when--the Squadron Sinister Strikes!

As their name implied, of course, the Squadron Sinister were not superheroes. To be fair, though, the Squadron Sinister did look strikingly like their superheroic counterparts in the Squadron Supreme—so much so that the cover of Avengers #141 (Nov. 1975) had incorrectly billed the Squadron Supreme as the Squadron Sinister!

Changing Corners

Reprinting Defenders stories for readers in the United Kingdom, the weekly series Rampage followed the Marvel Comics tradition of picturing the heads of superheroes in the upper-left corner of each cover. The three founding members of the Defenders—Hulk, Dr. Strange and Sub-Mariner—appeared in there on issues #1-21.

Beginning with #22, the series replaced Sub-Mariner with Nighthawk (matching a change that took place with Defenders #19). In making that switch, Rampage added the names of the featured heroes beside their faces, something the original Defenders series hadn't done in the United States.

Aside from changing the background color behind the characters each issue, Rampage did not make other alterations to the corner design through #34, the final issue of the series.

In Summary

Published weekly in the United Kingdom, the series Rampage reprinted early issues of the Defenders. With the covers promising a complete Defenders story each issue, the series took a novel approach to the multi-part Avengers-Defenders War. Instead of reprinting the historic event over the course of several issues, Rampage #10 (Dec. 21, 1977) summarized the events from Avengers #115-118/Defenders #8-10 as two pages of background text and then reprinted Defenders #11 (Dec. 1973), the closing chapter of the crossover.

On the cover of Rampage #10, Dr. Strange refers to his teammates as comrades. When the word balloon originally appeared on the cover of Defenders #11, he called them Defenders.

Rampagers Ravings: Weak Hulk?

The letters column from the U.K. magazine Rampage #30 included the following correspondence about perceived differences in the treatment of Hulk in Defenders #23 (reprinted in Rampage) and Hulk's solo adventures reprinted in The Mighty World of Marvel (MWOM).

WEAK HULK?

Dear Marvel,

You print of lot of letters which moan about minor mistakes. Here's a simple question about the main plot. I defy you absolutely to find a reasonable answer. Here goes: How did the Sons of the Serpent stop the Hulk when Iron Man can't?

With a few ray-blasters designed to knock out normal human beings (which is physically vulnerability-wise what Dr. Strange and Nighthawk are in the day time)? They 'weakened' Hulk more than Iron Man's repulsors and the US Army's artillery shell ever did. ('Big Bullets sting Hulk').

Or was it those electric snakes which packed more power than Iron Man's armour? Have the Sons of the Serpent better scientists working for them than Tony Stark?

It just won't wash! The Hulk has proved a match for Iron Man and other more powerful foes like the Nightcrawler in his illustrious career. He's been knocked out by powerful explosions occasionally — but never weakened gradually. The Hulk who appears in the Defenders just isn't the same 'Ol Greenskin who appears in MWOM. You'd never take such liberties with him!

D.P. Victor,
Edgware,
Middlesex.

Wait just a minute there, Mr. D.P. Victor! — You say that never before has Hulk been gradually weakened, but as we always say at the Bullpen, there's a first time for everything! And it happened in Rampage, people, right before your very eyes! Actually, is it surprising that Hulk succumbed to those blasts after his 'shocking' experience with the snakes? After all, there were six of them ganging up against poor ole Greenskin, and that's not fair odds to begin with, is it? Anyway, as it was said, the ray-blasts and the electricity probably dissipated some of his body's energy. To put it another way, and to quote one of the Sons of the Serpent, 'Guess he just ran out of Gamma rays'. Happens to the best of us, s'pose!

Rampage #30 reprinted Defenders #30, introducing one-shot villain Tapping Tommy. As a child, his parents had operated a Los Angeles distillery during Prohibition and he maintained ties to organized crime as an adult. Tapping Tommy's fixation with Hollywood films, particularly musicals, inspired his deadly Theatre of Fear!

A back-up story in Rampage #30 reprinted Invincible Iron Man #39, featuring the villain Mandarin.

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.

The Daring Defenders

During the 1970s, early adventures of the Defenders ran as reprints in Rampage, a weekly series published with a large-size format in the United Kingdom.

Rampage #5 (November 15, 1977), for instance, reprinted Defenders #4 along with an early issue of Nova.

Modifications to the original Defenders story were limited to changing the words armor and favor to the British spellings of armour and favour. Footnotes from Defenders #4 were updated in Rampage #5 to cite U.K. reprints rather than the U.S. comics where the stories first appeared. The original interior art reprinted in black-and-white.

Rampage covers ran in full-color with new text that regularly billed the non-team as the daring Defenders, whereas promotional material in the United States described the heroes as the dynamic Defenders. Although dynamic might describe the eclectic nature of the team, daring certainly sounds more heroic.