Fearless Defenders # 3 & # 4 Review

FEARLESS DEFENDERS # 3 & 4
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Will Sliney & Veronica Gandini
Marvel Comics


FLIPPING THROUGH:

            Wow. Been a while since I went into Marvel. And what do I start with … freakin’ Doom Maidens! Yep. We get Caroline Le Fey has taken Dani Moonstar in order to bring about the Doom Maidens. And Caroline succeeds!

            Hela argues that Hippolyta should be dealing with the Doom Maidens to the All-Mother. Valkyrie takes offense against this as Misty and Annabelle just watch. Yet, the All-Mother puts Hela in her place stating that all 4 women must deal with this issue.

            Valkyrie, Warrior Woman (Hippolyta), Annabelle & Misty enter Harrowpoint Island (which seems to be a Ghost Town) and find Dani … and the revived Doom Maidens. And things go from bad to worse as after a brief battle & MAJOR revelation, the ladies retreat. Valkyrie ends up having Hippolyta and Dani go with her while she has Misty and Annabelle stay behind but Misty starts to play her own hand.


ART:

            Sliney bring a great energy to the book. His lines are sharp but he knows how to use them as we get some wonderful panel shots from him. Sliney brings out the best attributes of each character in both issues. Hippolyta is strong, arrogant and Sliney draws her as such. Valkyrie is also strong yet conflicted as  you see that in the panels as Sliney brings that out of her during her battle with the Doom Maidens and afterward. Misty has this strong yet agile look to her and Sliney expresses that well. And Annabelle looks out of her depth throughout much of the issue; which works well.

            Sliney conveys emotion well. While some people might be turned off by his attention to detail mixed to classic comic style, I feel that it really puts his stamp on it. Sliney presents dynamic action with few overly out there poses by our female cast. Gandini splashes colors, breathing life into Sliney work. And while the colors, I feel, are a bit subdued in panels where it should be more vibrant, Gandini’s color really give focus and breathes life into Sliney’s pencils and inks. A good job on both issues by this art tandem.


WRITING:

 

            Bunn is slowly working his way to becoming one of the greatest comic book writers in the industries history and Fearless Defenders # 3 & # 4 are proof of that. We get wonderful characterizations from all the characters. We have epic meeting mundane and Bunn encapsulates that so well with the reactions of Misty and Annabelle throughout both issues. We get a more vulnerable Brunhilde during both issues, which just adds more to this character. Warrior Woman is arrogant, powerful and has an ego the size of Texas … yet she is still fun to read. That is the power of Cullen Bunn.

            The dialogue feels real. The Asgardian “over dramatic talk” actual felt more natural here than I have seen in years during the conversations between the All-Mother, Hela, Warrior Woman & Valkyrie. Bunn seems to pace the dialogue and the events of both issues well. Nothing felt it took too long or too short as the events unfolded. The major twist that Valkyrie instituted also was extremely unexpected and played off well … adding to Valkyrie’s torment we see later.

            Bunn seems to really get these characters and focusing how they come from different worlds (sometimes literally) and being forced together to fight an enemy. Caroline Le Fey is one of the most haunting new foes I have seen from Marvel in a while. She deserves to be up there with Dr. Doom, Thanos and others as a major villain and I want to see more of her as well.  With more questions still needed to be answered and both the world (and other dimensions) in danger … Bunn stacks things against our heroines yet also gives them purpose. The Shieldmaidens HAVE to exist it seems. And that makes the book that much more important. Kudos to Bunn for making Fearless Defenders from just another team into an integral part of the Marvel Universe.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

            These issues were epic, engrossing … full of action, emotion and, most importantly, fun. The danger is no less dire but this book is a fun read. Readers will be enthralled by the characters, the plots and action. Good art and superb story make Fearless Defenders a book that really stands out.


RATING:

            I have so much fun reading these issues and so will you. I give Fearless Defenders # 3 & # 4  a 8.5 out of 10. Pick up  Fearless Defenders today!

Comic News: It's Ladies Choice in Bunn's & Sliney's Fearless Defenders

It was announced about a month ago that Cullen Bunn will be writing Fearless Defenders with art by Will Sliney. The main plot of Fearless Defenders revolves around Valkyries vow to the All- Mother at the end of The Fearless maxi-series: To make a new group of Shield Maidens. Well, she sets out to do so and ends up being teamed up with street level hero for hire, Misty Knight.

            In a press conference held by Marvel this past week, Bunn & Sliney divulged more details about the up-coming Marvel NOW book.  For instance, Misty and Valkyrie will be co-leaders of the Fearless Defenders. Bunn stated, “If there was ever an odd couple of characters who are fighting side-by-side, I cannot imagine a more odd of a couple than (Valkyrie) and Misty. They’re fun to write individually, but they are so much fun when they’re interacting with one another. They bring an interesting dynamic to this team and immediately set it apart as completely different from every other superhero group out there.”

            Bunn focuses on Valkyrie’s quest and goes into the core plot of the title: "The initial pitch for this goes back several months when I first put this idea out there as something I though would make a good book. I think it's the fact that it's such a different approach to a team or a 'non-team' as Tom said. A big part of what I wanted to show was Valkyrie choosing who she thinks would be worthy to be a Shield Maiden. Just even from that I started really thinking a lot about how different the challenges they faced would be and how diverse the group itself would be and how much fun it would be to see these very different characters -- presenting them in a different light and how we could see characters that readers might not be as familiar with. We could see them in a bigger way or in a different light."

            And Tom Brevoort promises that this team would be a non team: with no headquarters and rotating membership. Yet, there was some word on the core of the team.

            It has been confirmed that Dani Moonstar, former Mutant & Valkyrie, will be the second member to join Valkyrie on the team. Brevoort confirmed that she will be a core member alongside Misty & Valkyrie. Another big surprise is the resurrection of the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. Artist Phil Jimenez redesigns the character, who will be appear in issue #3 of the title and take the hero moniker of Warrior Woman. Bunn promises a new approach to the character who was NOT a hero last time readers saw her in Marvel.

            And the first major challenge is an unrevealed villain who uses the absence of Shield Maidens to her advantage during the first story arc. And while the villains of the series have not been revealed, Bunn did give one hint: "Her resources and her mile-wide mean streak is going to make her a threat for some time to come for these characters."

            And while Phil Jimenez handled design duties for Warrior Woman, Fearless Defenders artist Wil Sliney did freshen up the designs for the rest of the characters in the book. "As you can see from the covers, they wanted to keep those costumes quite traditional and they wanted me to match up with what Mark (Brooks) had already done. Where my design elements started coming in with the Doom Maidens and some of the villains that we see, because they tie in to Norse Mythology and Asgardians. I got to bring up a lot of the things that I was interested in. In Ireland, we have a lot of that kind of jewelry. That's where I was able to bring out my influence and style. Characters like Misty and Val, their looks are so strong already that we didn't want to go too far away from what we already had."

            With the all this, the Fearless Defenders set themselves apart from many other titles. Let’s see what this book has in store.

            Fearless Defenders # 1 will hit stores this February.