Secret Defenders #6: Cap Uninvited

Secret Defenders #6
“The Winds of Watoomb”
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: June 8, 1993

A new lineup and a new storyline debut with a new approach in “Secret Defenders” #6.

As with Roadkill, the issue opens with a focus on the villain of the piece, with some foreboding prose by Thomas. At a mental institution, we meet Xandu, a man with but one superhuman talent – a powerful connection to the Wand of Watoomb. That definitely sounds like one of those alliterative artifacts Doctor Strange likes to invoke, but I can't remember any specifics. Fortunately, there's a wiki for that.

From his padded room, the straitjacketed Xandu has been mentally calling to the wand, and it finally appears, blasting him free and allowing him to subdue the asylum's staff and take control of its inmates. The wand whipped up an unnatural windstorm, which drew the attention of Captain America.

But Cap is not one of the heroes Strange's enchanted deck of cards tapped for this mission. Rather than see Doc recruit the team, they show up to give Cap a hand.

Alongside Strange are Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch, both of whom have tangled with Xandu before. He also drew a Ghost Rider card, but he of the flaming skull head was unavailable due to Midnight Sons-related business. Spidey and Wanda think Cap would make a fine substitute, but Strange declines, since it literally wasn't in the cards.

Strange believes Xandu has traveled to the delightful-sounding Death Dimension, where he's caused trouble before. As Strange awkwardly uninvites Cap, the star-spangled avenger takes it in stride, saying he'll watch for trouble on the Earthly plane (though he does get in a dig about calling in Siegfried and Roy to help if the bad guy does show up).

Strange explains to Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man that he's not sure if he's made the right call, since his own card was drawn upside down, meaning he could be making a mistake. But is it not taking Cap along? Or would bringing him have been the error?

The trio of Secret Defenders heads into the Death Dimension, where they are confronted with their own personal brushes with death. They battle through some ghosts and demons to come face to face with Melinda Morrison, the dimension's queen. But she is frozen on her throne, a byproduct of Xandu's arrival. He professes to love her, and since they can't be in the Death Dimension at the same time, he plans to merge it with the Earth. I'm no expert on trans-dimensional translocation, but this seems like a bad idea.

Back on Earth, Cap is helping take care of the scene at the asylum, when the mystical storm clouds are gathering again, apparently a precursor to the arrival of the Death Dimension.

This was actually the last issue of the series I bought when it was being published, and I can't remember exactly why. I was a little disappointed at the lineup. After the eclectic mixes from the first two storylines, this grouping felt a bit “traditional.” (Though nowadays I welcome such Silver Age throwbacks.) But I don't know if that alone made me pull the plug.

Rereading it now, it's a small but interesting twist on the first two arcs. Instead of the cards just being a means to bring together whatever team Thomas selected, they become part of the plot and provide additional drama with Strange sidelining the one guy in the Marvel Universe everybody would seem to want on their side.

I didn't have any trouble understanding the broad strokes of Xandu's past, but I could have used some of those good old asterisked editor's notes. Some of the blanks are filled in on the letters page, which notes that, prior to this issue, Xandu had only (inadvertently) appeared in a comic every nine years, dating back to his introduction in 1965's “Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #2 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Alas, the letters page isn't included on Marvel Unlimited.

This letters page did have multiple reader-suggested lineups, which allows me to pick a Suggested Secret Defenders of the Week: Beast, Thing, Spider-Man and Speedball, New Jersey resident Joey Marchese's pick for a humorous lineup. The one-liners would be plentiful in that story.