Cover Date: May 1980
On-Sale Date: February 26, 1980
At last we come to the end of the Tunnelworld tedium. Unlike last issue, the Earth-bound Defenders manage to slip in a appearance as well as the members of Mutant-Force who are being arraigned for their crimes. Sadly no action with these guys. Nighthawk continues his battle with U.S. Government forces in his civilian identity of Kyle Richmond. It's nearly over!!!! Now on to the Unnameable (sic)!
At the end of last issue, things seemed to be looking for our trio of Defenders. The possessed Hulk was trapped in the repaired Orb of Ommennon and Ytitnedion was knocked out by Namor and company arriving just in time to keep him from clobbering Doc's ghost form. Now Doc is heading back to his body that was abandoned in the citadel sewers. (YUCK!)
Doc makes his way up the levels of the citadel intending to rescue Xhooxh, only to discover he was killed last issue. Finally, Doc, bearing Xhooxh's body, makes his way up to the chamber where Namor and Ytitnedion are discussing next steps to handle the Unnameable.
The wingheads bring the news of their freedom to the populace. They are not exactly thrilled at the prospect. To be fair, there is still the Unnameable to deal with and the people don't think they can win.
Back on Earth, in the mythical state of California, we find the government is cutting a deal with Mutant-Force. I expect we will eventually find out what it is.
Back in New York, Hellcat, as Patty and Valkyrie engage in some retail therapy. Val feels a bit bad about spending Kyle's cash while he's under investigation, it can't be too bad as she also says she feels better than she has in weeks. Moving past that grammatical mess, the ladies stop at a yogurt bar and Patty brings up her mother, calling her a character but getting cut off before she can elaborate. This may seem a random remark, but in a few issues it will have more meaning.
Patty's motherly anecdote was interrupted by gunshots. Running outside, the ladies discover a bank robbery in progress. Val handles the getaway car while Patsy takes care of the ones on foot.
Val inquires how Patsy was able to handle the burglars without her costume and Patsy is just as surprise. The pair returns to the yogurt bar to find their packages have vanished.
Nearby, Kyle discusses his case with his attorney, noting that the attack on the Air Force base a few issues ago has been ignored by the press. Between that and the Mutant-Force getting a potential slap on the wrist seems to indicate Uncle Sam has some naughty things going on.
In Tunnelworld, the Defenders, wingheads and others proceed. They come to a narrow, very cold tunnel described as the end of the world. They decide to bury Xhooxh here. The Unnameable doesn't seem to like it and a blizzard pops up. Doc uses his All-Purpose Amulet as a flashlight. It unfortunately doesn't ferret out Ytitnedion, who slays one of the wingheads.
Doc draws everyone inside the orb. This keeps the blizzard from masking buzzard-man, but they are also at the mercy of the Hulk, who is inside the orb with them. Namor wants to kill the Hulk and Ytitnedion to end this once and for all, but Doc stops him. An image of the Hulk's face dominates the landscape and Defenders proceed through Hulk's eye to face the Unnameable inside Hulk's mind. (What there is of it.)
Inside the Hulk's mind, the Defenders find themselves face to face with lots of old enemies. Doc manages to manipulate the mindscape and sweep them all away. Next, the Unnameable tries a direct approach. The Hulk attacks Namor and Ytitnedion attacks Doc. Doc decides an attempt to strip away illusion is in order and this leads to a series of very difficult to read panels.
The Unnameable withdraws from all the other minds it occupies to shore up its strength for the battle with Doc. Doc fails to see reality and almost succumbs to the Name. Doc manages to hang on and the Unnameable hides in Hulk's memory. Doc finds himself inside Hulk's physical brain and needs to call on his skills as the world's greatest neurosurgeon.
Doc manages to isolate the Name from the rest of the Hulk's mind and passes out as he tries to cast a spell returning him to reality. Fortunately, everyone is returned to the physical world and the Hulk says his head feels strange. Get it?!
Ytitnedion can no longer remember the Unnameable's name and the Defenders allow him to be sucked into the vacuum at the end of the world. Doc says the real Ytitnedion ceased to exist ages ago.
It's time for Aeroika to return to his people and the Defenders to return to Earth.
Whew! It's done! I'm not sure that ending made much sense. I did like Doc needing to call on his neurosurgical skills for the final answer. Not seeing the Unnameable makes me wonder about its nature. Is it a conceptual being? Does it exist because others believe in it? Is that how Doc was able to whittle it down to just its name and trap it in a couple of isolated neurons? We will probably never know. As of this writing we never return to Tunnelworld. Nor do we ever learn of the Unnameable escaping Hulk's neurons. I'm a bit disappointed in Doc just letting Ytitnedion commit suicide. It seems out of character.
I'm just glad it's over and there are a few set ups for future storylines. Those seemed more interesting than the Tunnelworld finale. Except for a one off appearance in a few months, Mutant Force won't really return for quite a while. Patsy's mom will become a factor much sooner. Of course, Kyle's money always seems to be getting him in trouble.
Maybe it was worth it to see Hulk in other than purple pants.
Cover Date: April 1980
On-Sale Date: January 22, 1980
We tunnel our way into more tedium as the Tunnelworld saga continues. This is, at least, the penultimate installment. However, there are no distractions from the other half of the Defenders still on Earth. On the plus side we welcome Don Perlin as the title's regular artist. He'll stick around until this original run gets cancelled at issue #152. That's quite a run!
We begin our tale in Ytitnedion's citadel where he has captured the Hulk. That's a nice splash page Mr. Perlin! You've almost managed to make the Hulk look sexy. I think a buzz cut or spikes would have worked better, but this was the very start of the 80s, so we're still stuck in 70s fashion. The raven headed foe is bragging about capturing what he believes is the most powerful Defender and his longtime foe, the many eyed, many limbed and furry Xhooxh.
Xhooxh talks like Yoda before the world even knew how Yoda spoke and this infuriates Ytitnedion. Xhooxh asks why the Hulk is still chained and it's all for show. The Hulk is under Ytitnedion's thrall and he'll be unleashed to quell the winghead slave revolt. Ah! So that was the dastardly plan!
Xhooxh intends to put a monkey wrench in the plan and he's gonna use the Hulk to do it.
The respite is temporary. Xhooxh is using Nya spirits to rile up the Hulk. Raven face realizes this and gives the hairy dude an ultimatum.
Xhooxh is despondent about his failure. I'm putting this here mainly as an example of Xhooxh speech.
Elsewhere in Ogeon, Doc and Namor consult with the Aeroika and his fellow Winged Ones. Doc is suspicious about the timing of the revolt and wants to proceed with caution while Aeroika wants to charge ahead as the prophecies have foretold. Suddenly, another Winged One bursts in and tells everyone that the enemy is attacking again and his fellows are dropping like flies. This is right before he drops like a fly because he's got an arrow in his back.
Raven face's war machines are attacking. Doc and Namor jump to the winged one's defense and they are able to turn away his forces. Doc points out that he's just gonna do this again and again.
Elsewhere, we get a look at Hulk in his new Tunnelworld duds.
It's mostly quite fetching, but that hat/crown is a bit court jester-ish. Hulk is now waiting for "Buzzard-Man" to give the order for the Nilffim riders to attack. I like Raven-face better.
Back at the citadel Buzzard-Man attempts to destroy the Orb of Ommennon as that's where Xhooxh has stored most of his power. He has a rough time with it.
Sadly, the orb doesn't survive Buzzard-Man's hissy fit when he throws a goblet at it and it shatters. Nearby, Doc has gone ghost in search of Xhooxh. He also detects the Hulk and, as he's not a prisoner, Doc suspects he's heard "The Name" and wonders if his green friend can be released from this thrall. The winged ones and Namor are breaking into the citadel via the sewers. Aeroika calls out Namor on his hot-headedness.
Doc's ghost has now found Xhooxh and Buzzard-Man has found Doc. The two engage, but Doc's astral body isn't really up to it. Xhooxh sends his Nya to help and they blind Ytitnedion with his own cloak. (Edna Mode: No capes!) Doc escapes, but Buzzard-Man kills Xhooxh and his Nya die of grief shortly after. So that was the Wizard Death of the story title!
Namor and Aeroika have stumbled on a dungeon replete with prisoners. One prisoner is in a state of perpetual torture. Its seems Buzzard-Man feeds on his pain. Aeroika puts him out of his misery. Above, Doc attempts to free the Hulk. Unfortunately, the Hulk can see Doc's ghost and this gift apparently extends to the rest of the Nilffim who attack. They mount their birds and chase Doc's ghost. Doc starts to fight them off, but he comes against the Hulk. Doc flies back into Ytitnedion's tower. Clever Doc causes the shards of the orb to reform around the Hulk, trapping him. Ytitnedion attempts to capture Doc's ghost but is knocked out by the sword of one of the wingheads.
Namor asks, what the heck is going on here? Things look good for our heroes but, the Unnameable still awaits.
I think a major issue with this storyline and this issue in particular is the sheer amount of exposition going on. This is supposed to be a visual medium, but nearly every page needs a dense crop of word balloons to keep the reader up-to-date on what's going on. It's tedious and exhausting. You have what could have been an interesting concept bogged down in minutia. We're nearly at the story's end and the reader is getting bombarded with copious amounts of information. At least some progress appears to have been made this issue. Hopefully the finale improves things a bit.
Cover Date: February 1980
On-Sale Date: November 27, 1979
I cannot wait for this tedious pair of arcs to be done! Once again we are following Doc, Namor and Hulk in Tunnelworld and the rest of the Defenders on Earth. Fortunately, one of those stories will come to something of an end. And we have Nighthawk coming out of forced retirement and risking the ire of the US Federal Government to keep us occupied.
Near the end of last issue, the Wasp was unable to contact the Avengers of the Fantastic Four. She opted instead to call Kyle Richmond and ask for his help. This seems like a huge drop in skill and firepower, but it is what it is. As this issue opens, Kyle is testing his spiffy new Nighthawk duds. The spiffy new looks mostly like the less spiffy. There's some new details on the cowl, the boots won't catch on anything and kill him, and he has visible guns mounted at the top of his wings. It's the subtle things that count! Kyle is testing his new "aggressive" costume before heading out for the rescue effort
As Mandrill and the boys and girls suspected, Wasp has holed up at the air force base while Val leads the charge to take it over. The colonel in charge unleashes this to little effect.
Wasp joins in the fray and the colonel's only women comment turns out to be mere braggadocio.
The combination Fem and Mutant forces plow through the air force base defenses. Wasp attempts to shock Valkyrie back to reality, but it doesn't seem to work
After Peeper explains all is going perfectly, Mandrill warns him not to get overconfident. Mandrill has the Fem Force bring Yellowjacket out and he shows him the Wasp getting electrocuted by Shocker. Yellowjacket is still under the influence of Madrill's drugs and unable to do anything about it.
Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, a solitary Clea is tending to Aragon. Even Wong is away and I guess this is before Clea found out he was getting beaten within an inch of his life in Doc's solo mag. Clea decides to take Aragorn for a ride.
The interlude is basically useless except to provide a segue to Tunnelworld and see how Doc and company are doing.
Aeroika is face to face with Dr. Banner. Apparently, his mind probing was so relaxing, the Hulk changed back to his alter ego. The two are rambling on about the Unnamable and dreams when an arrow lands in a tree uncomfortably close to Dr. Banner. Aeroika is astonished because that shouldn't happen here. The enemies press their attack.
An arrow hits Dr. Banner with the expected result. The evil army is up against the jolly green giant. Hulk wallops the evil army and they run away. It's very Monty Python.
Doc and Namor have woken up and Doc uses magic to calm the Hulk down and keep him from killing anyone. The four move on while Ytitnedion looks on.
That's it for tunnelworld this issue. Back to the air force base. The Wasp has recovered and is cogitating with Dian about the fact that they've lost and are about to get plowed over by the Mandrill's forces. Dian sees Nighthawk flying over through the window. Better late that never, Kyle!
Nighthawk dive bombs the Mandrill's forces and destroys a couple of tanks. He looks for the generator keeping the electric field alive, not yet realizing that it's Shocker's doing. After confronting Val and not doing too well, Nighthawk flies up, grabs Val and Hellcat and drops them into the electric field. This knocks their senses back into them. It has the added effect of knocking out the field.
The ladies trash the rest of Mandrill's forces and goes to escape in a rocket.
Nighthawk chases the rocket and rips it open. Mandrill isn't there. Yellowjacket is. The bad guys are captured and the Defenders and their civilian guests are reunited. Only the Mandrill has managed to escape.
So the Mandrill arc is done. Yay! It's a pretty standard story for this era in Marvel's history. It's got a big cast. No one can do all that much because everyone has to have some panel time. At least we get a demonstration that Nighthawk is more than a nice bod in a cool costume. We know he'll face consequences for breaking confinement and how he gets out of that may actually be more interesting that the bad guy battles that will surround it. I haven't read ahead so I'm only speculating. I do enjoy Kyle's growth from a man-child playboy to a responsible adult.
The Tunnelworld arc should pick up next issue. That's good because the little tidbits we've gotten so far are getting tedious. Something big needs to happen! Right now the most exciting thing hinted at is Wasp and Yellowjacket heading back to New York so they can bump uglies.
I don't know if Clea riding Aragorn is going anywhere or if that was a "We need an extra page of story. Put the pretty alien girl on the pretty winged horse!" It's light fun, but basically useless.
Overall it's mildly entertaining. Separating the arcs into something more linear would probably have served the stories better, but I give kudos for trying something different.
