The Defenders #122
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Defenders #122 is a pivotal transitional issue that seeds the wholesale transformation of Marvel's oldest 'non-team' into the structured New Defenders lineup. It delivers the engagement announcement of Hellcat and Daimon Hellstrom — one of Marvel's most unconventional couples — and introduces Iceman's growing restlessness that soon draws him permanently into the Defenders fold. The issue also marks the first appearance of Sassafras, Beast's beloved dog and one of the more enduring animal companions in Bronze Age Marvel, while simultaneously advancing the long-running Elf with a Gun subplot that would resolve — controversially — in the arc leading to the original team's forced dissolution at issue #125.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By 1983, writer J.M. DeMatteis had been steering the series since issue #92, working through a long creative partnership with penciler Don Perlin, who was in the middle of a run that would span nearly half the title's entire existence. Issue #122 marked the debut of inker Kim DeMulder, who would become Perlin's preferred collaborator and remain on the book through issue #144, giving the late Defenders era a distinct visual consistency. The issue was edited by Al Milgrom under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, and DeMatteis was at this point consciously laying groundwork to strip the book of its 'non-team' identity and rebuild it around Beast, Iceman, and Angel — a direction that became official three issues later with the New Defenders relaunch.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Sassafras (also spelled 'Sassafrass'), Beast's dog and one of the most-appearing animal characters in the late Defenders run — named by writer J.M. DeMatteis after his own real-life pet.
- Hellcat (Patsy Walker) and Daimon Hellstrom (Son of Satan) announce their engagement and departure from the Defenders, a development resolved at the wedding in issue #125.
- Iceman (Bobby Drake) makes a pivotal guest appearance visiting Beast, establishing his dissatisfaction with civilian life and foreshadowing his permanent addition to the New Defenders roster.
- Valkyrie is summoned back to Asgard by Odin, temporarily removing her from the team and deepening her emotional arc around Hellcat's departure.
- The Elf with a Gun subplot — inherited from Steve Gerber's mid-1970s run — escalates here, with the Elf luring and shooting the Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Silver Surfer in a sequence that feeds into the Tribunal storyline culminating at issue #125.
- Kim DeMulder begins his inking tenure on this issue, a collaboration with Don Perlin that would define the look of the book through issue #144.
- The issue's title is 'Things to Come,' released May 17, 1983, with an August 1983 cover date; it exists in Direct, Newsstand, and Canadian variants.
- The issue has been reprinted in The New Defenders (2012) #1, Essential Defenders Vol. 6 (2011, black and white), and Defenders Epic Collection Vol. 7 — Ashes, Ashes... (2017).
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Reprints
Reprinted in De Verdedigers #44 (1984), The New Defenders #1 (2011), Essential Defenders #6 (2011), Defenders Epic Collection #7 (2017)
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