Cover: Michael Golden

The Defenders #94

Apr 1981 · Marvel · 0.50 USD

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“Beware--The Six-Fingered Hand!”

★ 1st appearance — Gargoyle

About this Issue

Defenders #94 is the first appearance of Gargoyle (Isaac Christians), a distinctly Bronze Age creation — an elderly former mayor whose soul becomes permanently trapped inside a demonic stone body after a bargain gone wrong, making him one of Marvel's most morally complex redemption characters of the early 1980s. The issue also opens the 'Six-Fingered Hand' saga, a multi-part occult epic by J.M. DeMatteis that ran through the landmark Defenders #100 and pushed the title into sustained horror-inflected, character-driven storytelling at a time when most superhero books favored episodic punch-ups. Hellcat's demonic possession here — and the revelation that her own deceased mother had offered her soul to the Hand — deepens Patsy Walker's psychological arc in ways that would reverberate for years, eventually feeding into her marriage to Son of Satan and her later breakdown in the 1990s. The saga that begins here is widely regarded as the defining run of Defenders Vol. 1 and was the creative proving ground for DeMatteis before his celebrated work on Spider-Man and Justice League.

writer J. M. DeMatteis · artist Don Perlin · artist, inker Joe Sinnott · artist, inker Al Milgrom · colorist George Roussos · letterer Diana Albers · cover Michael Golden

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History

J.M. DeMatteis scripted the issue as the second chapter of the Six-Fingered Hand arc he was developing organically — by his own account, the overarching story grew without a rigid plan, with plot threads converging in ways that surprised even him. Don Perlin supplied pencils under editor Al Milgrom, with inking credited to Joe Sinnott and an uncredited assist from Milgrom himself; Perlin was simultaneously managing other Marvel assignments, which led to occasional inker inconsistency across the run. The eye-catching cover was painted entirely — pencils, inks, and colors — by Michael Golden, giving the issue a visual presence well above the interior's house style. Jim Shooter served as Editor-in-Chief at the time, and the Defenders title's relative lower commercial profile afforded DeMatteis unusual creative latitude to experiment with psychological depth and occult horror.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Gargoyle (Isaac Christians), created by J.M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin — an elderly, WWII-veteran former mayor of the fictional Christiansboro, Virginia, whose soul is transferred into a demonic gargoyle body by the demon Avarrish as payment for a deal meant to save his dying hometown.
First appearance and introduction of the Six-Fingered Hand, a cabal of six lesser demons (Avarrish, Fashima, Hyppokri, Puishannt, Unnthinnk, and Maya) secretly operating as pawns of Mephisto; their plot to merge Earth and Hell anchors the saga running from Defenders #92 through the double-sized #100.
Story title: 'Beware — the Six-Fingered Hand!' Release date: January 20, 1981; cover date: April 1981.
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis; Penciler: Don Perlin; Inker: Joe Sinnott (with uncredited inks by Al Milgrom); Colorist: George Roussos; Letterer: Diana Albers; Cover art (pencils, inks, and colors): Michael Golden; Editor: Al Milgrom; Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter.
Hellcat (Patsy Walker) is kidnapped and demonically possessed by Avarrish, and in the process witnesses a memory revealing that her late mother Dorothy Walker had offered Patsy's soul to the Six-Fingered Hand in exchange for her own life — a trauma that shapes Patsy's character arc through Defenders #125 and beyond.
The issue ends with Gargoyle, penitent after betraying the Six-Fingered Hand, asking to join the Defenders — an invitation they reluctantly accept, launching him as a core team member through Defenders #152 (1986) and earning him his own four-issue limited series in 1985, also written by DeMatteis.
The entire Six-Fingered Hand saga — beginning with Defenders #92 and including this issue — was collected in Defenders Epic Collection: The Six-Fingered Hand Saga (Vol. 6, 2016), which also reprints Marvel Team-Up #101 and Captain America #268.
A contemporary critic described DeMatteis's approach on this run as 'superhero group therapy' — meant as a slight, but DeMatteis embraced the characterization, stating that the emphasis on inner life and psychological tension was precisely his intention; the creative freedom he found on the lower-profile title he later credited as foundational to his career.