Defenders #1

The arrival of the new Masked Raider inside the Sanctum Sanctorum with the story of a villain of the Enclave lost in time that could alter the past prompts to use fate and create a new team of Defenders to save the timeline. The team he gets is not exactly what he expected. Welcome to the latest version of the Defenders.

Along with Strange and the Raider, the other members of the team are the Silver Surfer, the Red Harpy, and Cloud. While we get appearances from the various characters here, we don't get much in the way of interaction (other than confusion as to being pulled out of time and space by Dr. Strange's spell and delivered to the planet of Taa) while most of the comic centers around the Raider explaining the trouble to the good Doctor.

Defenders #1 offers the kind of weird set-up you would expect from a Defenders title. I'm happy to see the Surfer here, although I'm unsure what to make of Cloud or the Raider. After a prolonged set-up, the adventure begins in earnest in the next issue.

[Marvel, $3.99]

• Title: Defenders #1
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Al Ewing
• Artist: Javier Rodriguez