Secret Defenders #16: Abra Cadaver

Secret Defenders #16
“Strange Changes Part the Second: Resurrection Tango”
Writers: Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich
Penciler: Bill Wylie
Inker: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: John Kalisz
Cover: Ron Lim and Keith Aiken
Editor: Craig Anderson
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: May 3, 1994

This issue picks up right where 15 left off, with Deadpool, Cage and Shadowoman fighting works of art brought to life by the sorceress Malachi and Cage grumbling about Dr. Druid disappearing.

Turns out the Sorcerer Sufficient didn't bolt, he just turned invisible so as to better assess the situation – and maybe not get pummeled by a Picasso. He figures out that the magical marauders are actually “solid illusions,” so they're not really there but can still do serious damage to the heroes. I've been reading comics so long that this makes perfect sense to me. Druid instructs Shadowoman to darken the room to cut each apparition off from where its corresponding work of art stood and soon they're gone.

Druid teleports himself and his Secret Defenders back to his home base in Boston, where Shadowoman shares her origin with Cage, Deadpool and the reader: She was a graduate student drawn to guest occult lecturer Anthony Druid. They discovered they shared a forbidden romance in past lives as a Celtic alchemist and an English noblewoman – respectively. She was the alchemist; he was the noblewoman. After they reconnected, Shadowoman, aka Jillian, tagged along as Druid recovered some mystical artifacts only to accidentally disturb the protective wards he set up and get shadow powers as a result of inadvertent contact with a demon.

We also get a backstory for Malachi, who tried to steal this story's magical MacGufin, the Moebius Stone, a long time ago so she and her instructor/lover Korahn could attain immortality. The stone belonged to Agamotto himself, a mystic heavyweight Strange is always invoking, and his monstrous guardian is none too pleased at the attempted larceny. He blasts Korahn, who survives thanks to a fragment of the now-shattered stone but is rendered a statue while the fragment's power keeps Malachi perpetually youthful.

Well, more or less. See, sometimes she has to absorb the life force or vitality or what have you from somebody else to maintain her raven hair and smooth skin. The latest victim is Cody Fleischer, a teenager hanging out with his buddies in a Seattle graveyard and discussing whether there's an afterlife. Malachi drains Cody's youth with a kiss, then proceeds to the mausoleum where the final Moebius fragment rests. Druid and the Secret Defenders teleport in, only for Malachi to bring the cemetery statuary to life to attack them. Is that the only spell she learned from Korahn? Maybe they should have spent more time studying and less time smooching.

While Cage and Deadpool fight the animated gravestones, Druid and Shadowoman attempt to stop Malachi. At some point, there's a mystical explosion and a piece or bit of energy from the Moebius Stone lands on Cody's corpse – resulting in the issue's third origin.

Cody is transformed into the cover boy Cadaver, who waxes poetic about serving Agamotto before yoinking a bone right out of his chest to form a flaming sword.* As Cadaver, Cage and Deadpool burst into the mausoleum, Malachi announces she's got everything she needs to restore her long lost love, then busts some rhymes to initiate a spell Druid warns has “unraveled the very fabric of time itself.”

Brevoort and Kanterovich deliver a dysfunctional team of Secret Defenders, with Cage not trusting Druid and Druid warning Cage that if he doesn't follow his instructions, he might have a mystical mishap like Jillian's (which he bluntly says was mostly her fault) or worse. And he wonders why people call Dr. Strange first. Jillian is unsure of the extent and effectiveness of her powers, and Deadpool is Deadpool, dropping a reference to a Grant Morrison Doom Patrol story** during the cemetery brawl.

The situation escalates from “lady who can make solid illusions” to “crap, time is unraveling” rather quickly, and if Cadaver wasn't front and center on the cover, his introduction would seem to come out of left field. But it is still an enjoyable read. The switch from DeCaire to Wylie on pencils is a stylistic improvement in my opinion, although the inconsistent coloring of Deadpool's costume is a little distracting.

The letters page brings a return of lineup pitches, with an interesting Suggested Secret Defenders of the Week one from Stephen Day of Ontario pitching a permanent roster for the team (while still allowing for guest stars): Thanos, Fabrikant from the “Starblast” crossover, Dreadknight, the original Kree Shatterstar*** and ex-Galactus herald and all-around cosmic bad dude Terrax.

* - And somehow comparing this to God forming Eve from one of Adam's ribs.

** - “The Painting that Ate Paris.”

*** - I did not know that was a thing.