Defenders Epic Collection: World Gone Sane

Visionary creator Steve Gerber takes the Defenders on one of the most creative and beloved superteam eras of all time!

Marvel has never had a bigger team of misfits than the Defenders and the Defenders have never had a more exciting and innovative writer than Steve Gerber. Known as a “non-team” book, The Defenders’ left room for experimentation that other titles lacked. From the Elf-with-a-Gun to Bambi and the Bozos, Steve Gerber used that space to push boundaries and craft a challenging critique of the era’s culture. His stories are brought to life by the art team of Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson as the Headmen Saga reaches an action-packed and insightful conclusion. This collection of classics is topped it off with Marvel Treasury Edition #12’s much-adored Defenders/Howard the Duck team-up.

COLLECTING: THE DEFENDERS (1972) #26-41, GIANT-SIZE (1974) #5 & ANNUAL (1976) #1 and MARVEL TREASURY EDITION (1974) #12.

Steve Gerber (1947-2008) first came to attention writing Defenders, in which he gave the non-team a non-traditional outlook equaled by few. In Adventure of Fear, he introduced Howard the Duck. Gerber’s other 1970s contributions included scripts for Iron Man, Sub-Mariner and more. Elsewhere, he is equally well-remembered for DC’s Phantom Zone, Eclipse’s Destroyer Duck and others.

After a start as inker to his older brother John, Sal Buscema penciled Captain America, Defenders, Incredible Hulk and more. Famed for his ability to meet tight deadlines, he spread his talents across multiple genres. His 1970s work ranged from Ms. Marvel and Nova to Sub-Mariner and Spider-Woman’s first appearance in Marvel Spotlight. He was the uninterrupted artist on Spectacular Spider-Man for more than one hundred issues and penciled the web-slinger’s adventures in Marvel Team-Up, in which he and writer Bill Mantlo introduced Captain Jean DeWolff. After handling more team-ups in the Thing’s Marvel Two-in-One, he reunited with brother John on Steve Englehart’s Fantastic Four. He later provided inks for Tom DeFalco’s Spider-Girl titles and Thunderstrike miniseries.

Klaus Janson is a veteran comic-book artist best known as a distinctive and respected inker, but also a talented penciler and colorist. His long artistic collaboration with Frank Miller on Daredevil remains one on the most celebrated runs in comics, and the pair reunited on the similarly revered Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Janson has also enjoyed a long and successful professional relationship with John Romita Jr., inking the penciler’s pages on projects including Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, World War Hulk and Avengers. A scholar of the medium, Janson teaches sequential storytelling at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and wrote both The DC Comics Guide to Penciling Comics and The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics.

Don Heck (1929-1995) worked for Harvey, Quality, Hillman and other publishers before arriving at Atlas Comics, later Marvel, where he penciled and inked stories for virtually every genre: crime, horror, jungle, romance, war, Western and more. With Stan Lee and others, he launched Iron Man, his supporting cast and his early rogues gallery — including the Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Mandarin. He also succeeded Jack Kirby on Avengers. At DC, his artwork appeared in Justice League of America, Flash, Wonder Woman and other titles.