Secret Defenders #19: Of Bees and Bureaucracy

Secret Defenders #19
“Survival of the Fittest”
Writers: Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich
Breakdowns: Bill Wylie
Finisshes: Tony DeZuniga
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: John Kalisz
Cover: Penciled by Joe Phillips, inked by Jason Martin
Editor: Craig Anderson
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: July 12, 1994

Having earned a spot on the lower left corner of the cover, Iceman and Archangel unwittingly soar to the rescue of Doctor Druid, Cadaver, Shadowoman, Giant-Man, Iron Fist and a bunch of scientists and paper pushers trapped in the Rand-Meachum super-collider. As you might recall, it's under siege by a bunch of bugs led by Swarm, who is ticked because the device is somehow interfering with insect life, as are humans in general.

The in-transit X-Men don't know all this – they flew to Houston at the behest of Professsor X, who turned out to be Doctor Druid in psychic disguise. But they learn what they're up against when the bugs clog the air intakes on their prototype jet, bringing it crashing to the ground.

Giant-Man is trying to protect the civilians from the lowercase-S swarm, unaware that Druid's government associate Mathieson has a nuclear strike on standby in case the heroes fail. But one of the scientists announces the super-collider is already online and could blow with no one to regulate its operation. This is why you should always follow the instructions when operating a super-collider, kids.

Underground, Swarm is monologuing for a captive audience of Cadaver and Druid as Shadowoman wonders how she can help free them from the walls of the hive Swarm's Nazi bees are building.* Fortunately, the Sorcerer Sufficient has an idea: She just needs to “compress your shadow-form into a minute pocket of non-being, centralized at the heart of Cadaver's prison.” As you might have guessed if you paid attention in Completely Made Up Pseudo-Science 102, this allows her to “effect a trans-temporal null-space allowing Cadaver to slip through.” I love it.

Druid psychokinetically retrieves Cadaver's bone sword, which amps up the dead guy's power and allows him to bring down the hive. Meanwhile, Archangel and Iceman meet up with Giant-Man and Iron Fist and work together to shut down the super-collider. Iceman accomplishes the feat by lowering the temperature to near absolute zero, while reminding readers that he has an accounting degree, which I remember as a particularly mundane piece of Marvel trivia from my youth.

Although nothing's going his way, Swarm wants to continue the fight, until Druid points out that if mankind is as inherently self-destructive as the bee-man claims, he can just wait them out and insects will inherit the Earth anyway. It's not exactly the kind of uplifting pep talk Squirrel Girl would use to defuse the situation, but kudos to the doc for using his words. Is it a bad sign that he communicates better with super-villains than superheroes?

By the time Giant-Man, Iron Fist, Archangel and Iceman reach the crater from which the other heroes emerged, that trio is long gone. Iron Fist says it looks like humanity “has itself a few Secret Defenders,” which is the first time the title has been referenced in dialogue and actually made sense.

Druid notes that Swarm should stay out of trouble unless the super-collider is reactivated.** Mathieson says that won't happen because he's pulled some strings to get the area rezoned. Yes, the guy who was prepared to nuke a facility full of civilians and superheroes near a major population center is now deploying the weapon of government bureaucracy. Points for de-escalating?

An interlude shows a mysterious figure hitchhiking to Boston, where our three regular cast members hang their hats. At first, I got excited and thought Roadkill might becoming back, but my money's on it being somehow connected with Cadaver's human persona.

This issue continues the evolution of the series and provides a new angle for the concept – not just a team that isn't really a team, but a team that doesn't know they're a team. It reminded me a little bit of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers revival, except I could follow this a lot more easily.***

I laugh about the weird descriptions of Shadowoman's powers, but the subplot about the mysterious nature of her abilities and how little she knows about them continues to be interesting.

This issue has a letters page with Bob Bonner of British Columbia pitching some all-female lineups around X-Men, Fantastic Four and Avengers themes. But the Suggested Secret Defenders of the Week comes from the editorial response, with a tongue-in-cheek grouping of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Betty Brant, the Black Cat and Aunt May – which may have already happened in recent Spider-Man books. I know MJ and Black Cat have shared a couple one-shots.

* - Am I jumping to conclusions? He's a Nazi, and he's made of bees, so I just assumed.

** - Or another writer needs a B/C-list Marvel villain and the Wrecking Crew are busy.

*** - Which is more a me problem than a Grant Morrison problem. I enjoy his work but sometimes feel like I need to be smarter to fully appreciate it.