Secret Defenders #5
“Get Your Kicks on Route 666!`”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Andre Coates
Inker: Don Hudson
Letterer: Clem Robins
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Mike Rockwitz
Group Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: May 11, 1993
Ran a little behind on this one, so I've switched places with Secret Defenders and X of Claws because I knew everyone was as excited as me to wrap up the Roadkill saga!
(crickets)
Anyway, we'll continue with Secret Defenders on Mondays and the Lives, Deaths and Regular Medical X-ams of Wolverine on Fridays, for now at least.
Namorita was in bad shape at the end of last issue, and she seems headed for worse as this one opens with Roadkill intending to make her his next victim. As we finish page 2, we see it's just a dream she's having after being knocked unconscious by the hulking, magical serial killer.
Although physically the strongest of the remaining trio of Secret Defenders, Nita is down for the count in a Gallup hospital, which continues an odd trend for the first stories I read featuring the character. One of the early “New Warriors” issue I bought showed Namorita being brutally defeated at the armored hands of the villain Sea Urchin (you're shuddering, aren't you?).
Unfortunately for a couple traveling in a camper, the next stop geographically is Winona, which Strange remembers appears out of order in the song. By then, Roadkill has already forced the vehicle off the road and claimed two more lives. He and the Punisher don't fare much better, but at least they're still breathing.
Namorita gets a visitor in the hospital in the form of Sleepwalker, who says that after investigating Roadkill on his own, he's decided he has to help stop him. That's the extent of the explanation, but I don't care about that – or how he got to Gallup – because Sleepwalker's back!
Roadkill continues to rack up a body count, and the team realizes they'll have to face him at the end of the Route in Los Angeles. That also happens to be where the studio shooting the TV show featuring Roadkill is based, so Strange figures the supernatural stalker is after writer/producer Pam Daly, who truly is responsible for his hit-and-run death since she's the one that made up the story.
Roadkill bursts into the studio wielding a flaming chainsaw because of course he does. The Secret Defenders finally stop him from killing someone, though they find his magic chainsaw a bit tough to handle. Daly lets slip that she's seen this particular version of Roadkill before – in her nightmares. It seems fortunate that Sleepwalker, who's been presented as an officer policing the Dreamscape, is there to help, but Strange just uses his dreamy energy to help him get into Daly's head.
Strange attempts a spell to trap Roadkill back in the writer's mind, but it's a dud until the Punisher figures out electricity needs added to the mix since the villain was born of both magic and electricity (the TV from which he sprung). That does the trick – hooray science? – dragging Roadkill into Daly's brain just as she imagines running him down in the first place.
You'd think this experience, although not her fault, might make Ms. Daly rethink the content she's putting out. Instead, she decides to capitalize on the notoriety of the killings to boost the ratings of the show.
Strange and the Punisher chat about how the team fit together just right, with Strange suggesting they may need to keep an eye on Roadkill's creator. Punisher returns to his quippy ways from issue 4, saying “Don't call me, Doc. I'll call you” as this version of the team poses dramatically on a rooftop as the sun rises.
So that's a wrap on my favorite Secret Defenders/Doctor Strange story. Sure, part of it's the absurdity of a villain named Roadkill, but I think it works as a neat ghost/monster story, with the character's grisly origin a work of fiction in the story itself as well. Some of the details feel a bit rushed, but it's a two-issue tale with a solid premise, a ticking clock and an offbeat character lineup.
Downsides are the uneven nature of Punisher's characterization (although his lines are generally funny) and I suppose the violence level, although the murder of the one trucker by gas pump in the previous issue is the most gruesome. It's actually pretty tame compared to stuff that comes out today though (minus the folks impaled on trees in this issue).
The letters page did not include any specific team suggestions. I'm starting to think maybe I just remembered issue 4's and assumed that's how it was for the whole series? Anyway, I'll still pick a Suggested Secret Defenders of the Week in Wisconsin resident Alan Bykowski's suggestion of villains he'd like to see Strange draw from his tarot deck: Constrictor, Dr. Doom, Magneto, Venom, Sabretooth (teamed with Wolverine), Mystique and Blob.
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