Can you tell that my favorite part of slayer magic lore is the part where they're their body is slowly turned against them and twisted into a form that is alien as their mind and body become incompatible?
Cover Date: April 1978
On-Sale Date: January 17, 1978
Last issue's appearance was just a flashback. This issue is the official return of Doc to the Defenders ranks and that start of some more evil cult stuff. We get introduced to something called The Cult of the Harvesters Eyes, and some baddies named Agent of Fortune and Vera Gemini. Devil-Slayer makes his second Marvel Universe appearance here and begins an on-again/off-again association with the non-team that lasts until a couple of years before the Defenders become a real team. It's only a single panel in this issue, but freaking Jack Norriss is still around! David Kraft appears to still be dipping his quill into the inkwell for the Defenders. Ed Hannigan, with whom I am unfamiliar, takes up penciling chores. His work seems to be a cross between Gene Colan and Tom Sutton. This is a compliment.
Doc is exhausted and has fallen asleep in one of his cooler looking chairs. Wong, still the faithful attendant here, decides not to disturb him despite a feeling of foreboding. We look outside the Sanctum Sanctorum to see that Wong's feeling is correct. A skulker is outside watching from the fire escape of a building next door. The dude has a long, flowing red cape, a big yellow collar and a mask. The beak may or may not be part of the mask. Perhaps we'll discover that.
Doc has awoken and sense danger. He immediately activates that handy All-Purpose Amulet while advising Wong to shelter his butt. We can also see that Mr. Hannigan can actually draw a fairly good Sanctum.
Bird man is suddenly inside the Sanctum and kicking Doc in the face. The captions tell us that he has bypassed the Sanctum's defenses and I can skip the security lecture this time. Doc attempts to trap him, but this Agent of Fortune (finally named as such!) is wearing a shadow cloak that allows him to pop back and forth between dimensions. Do these tools know to only send their wearers to places with oxygen atmospheres?
Doc must really be tired because bird man manages to kay-o him and steal the All-Purpose Amulet.
A brief interlude takes us to Avengers Mansion where perennial pest, Jack Norriss has arrived and discovers the door is unlocked. He goes in to warn them they left the front door open.
Next, we check in on Valkyrie who is, in turn, checking in on a friend that was injured in a previous issue not reviewed here. The captions tell us that she's in her mortal guise. Between the pigtails and overall style dress, she looks like an adult Heidi.
Oh neat! Hulk is in his Bruce Banner mode and not wrecking up the Sanctum for once! Val, Bruce and other friend, Dollar Bill (he's the bearded Ginger dude who is adorable in that 70s way) head to the Felix Club for lunch. Marvel didn't spring for permission to use the Playboy Club. As our trio of two heroes and possibly a scam artist are seated, a woman and man have a somewhat heated conversation at the next table. The brunette in the red dress that Dr. Freud would have said something about is attempting to entice the man back into the fold. She tells him that they have the Eye of Agamotto and her guest reveals his true colors.
I never said they were great colors! But Val is relieved that her suspicion was correct. She did momentarily see him in a strange outfit. Not sure what Freud would say about an orange cape. Val springs to action and Eric Payne/Devil-Slayer believes she is an agent of red-dress woman, now revealed to be Vera Gemini.
Val and Devil-Slayer engage and, of course, start causing lots of property damage. And after Val promised a court she wouldn't do this sort of thing to restaurants any more.
Things really heat up as Devil-Slayer's cloak wraps itself around Val, Vera telekinetically hits him with a chair and Bruce gets worked up enough to invite his alter-ego to lunch.
Oh my! There's a lot going on right now! Vera splits and Hulk is mad at Devil-Slayer who mistakes our green friend for a demon. How could he not recognize The Hulk? After the Hulk throws him through a wall the police arrive and Devil Slayer wraps his cloak around the emerald giant who promptly disappears. He then wraps himself and Val and they too, disappear.
Looking back on Pesky Norriss, he's been captured by the Avenger's security system and asks them if they know Nick Fury.
Now training our cameras on Mexico, a pair in safari outfits are exploring a jungle when they come across a temple. A glow appears and causes them to disappear. Are they dead? Misplaced? We don't know. Watching this is a robed figure who then talks to the bird man agent. Walking further into the temple we come across more robed figures, a sacrificial altar and one heck of a fireplace. There's a couple on the altar, but we don't know if this is couple from the previous page.
This has all been watched by Doc in his Orb of Agamotto. He tunes out because the glare is too strong, or there's too much static or something. Sitting in a less cool chair, Doc thinks that he has failed his mission because the All-Purpose Amulet is what will free a demon race to rule the Earth again. Whatever shall he do?
Look many previous issues, this isn't an in-depth character study. It's more fun action and setting up for future installments. There's some unlikely coincidence like Val and Banner being at the same restaurant as Simon Payne and Vera Gemini, but there has to be someway to draw everyone into the plot threads.
It's nothing spectacular or overwhelming, but it's spooky and fun. A nice introduction to what is hopefully a decent and not overly drawn out story arc. The visuals are very nice, consistent and are drawn to honor past artists, particularly Ditko. His Sanctum exterior is more or less followed here. Touches like the Orb of Agamotto's enclosure look like Ditko's designs and there's even some of those oddball chairs that were always popping up early in Doc's history. I am not displeased.
