Secret Defenders #22: The Truth About Jillian

Secret Defenders #22
“Shadowboxing Helena”
Writers: Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich
Penciler: Bill Wylie
Inker: Tony DeZuniga
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Cover: Penciled by Bill Wylie, inked by Michael Bair
Editor: Craig Anderson
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: Oct. 11, 1994

Doctor Druid descends stone staircase in a fiery realm, where an unseen figure offers him a bargain. Succeed in a venture and get all his desires – “both known and unknown.” That's not creepy at all, and mysterious beings in flaming realms have a great track record on bargains, so I'm sure this is all heading toward a positive and mutually beneficial resolution.

But there is some kind of resolution on the horizon, as the story carries the designation of “Final Defense, Part One.”

The title page drops us back inside the statue where Shadowoman cools her heels, as she questions the pagan cow-looking creature that inhabits it. He fleshes out the origin story we first heard in issue 16, not only delving into Jillian's early life and the beginning of her fascination with the occult but also explaining that when she encountered a demon while helping Druid recover some artifacts... she died.

A distraught Druid grabbed a nearby magic statue, the Bride of Slorioth,* aka the statue Shadowoman is in right now. He used it to revive what little life force she had left and channel it into her shadow. So basically, Jillian Woods is dead, but part of her soul is living in a being made of shadow, not unlike Cadaver, the magic corpse that still thinks he's Cody Fleisher. And when Druid gives her substance, another piece of his soul is collected in the statue.**

Enraged, the literal shadow woman bursts out of the statue of her own volition and expresses her displeasure with the circumstances by shadow smacking Druid around. Druid claims he took the only course of action available to him because he loved her, which may be true, but this guy does not have a lot of credibility.

Druid's solution is for them to go on another mission, which isn't what Jillian wants to hear. But the Sorcerer Sufficient says this particular quest will solve all their problems, then telepathically recruits his next team of Secret Defenders: Drax (childlike, Hulk-in-a-cape, Infinity Watch version), Dagger and Deathlok. Jillian decides to accompany them, but first takes steps to ensure Jessica Drew won't sue her for copyright infringement by shadow-powering up a new costume and announcing she now goes by Sepulcre. I'll be honest, if I knew what this word meant at one point, I've forgotten. Dictionary.com tells me a sepulcher is a tomb, grave or burial place or, more specifically, an area where relics of martyrs are stored. Fun.

As the trio embarks on their mission, the hitchhiking dude that's been popping up the last couple of issues bursts in. He appeared earlier in the issue, flipping out on a guy who “scragged his Zagnut.” Turns out that was a ruse to move the man and his pregnant wife from getting crushed by a falling girder. I don't think I mentioned it in his previous appearances, but folks have a tendency to die when he's around.

A voice from his backpack refers to him as Joshua, and he reaches in and pulls out a zombie- or Frankenstein-like head in a jar. The head points to decay on the tree in Druid's chambers and warns that a great evil is about to be unleashed. Eyes glowing, Joshua says he'll stop it by forming a counter-force. So, he's got plans.

This issue answers the questions about Shadowoman's – sorry, Sepulcre's origin and status, while actually humanizing Druid a bit. He screwed up, but it seems he did so out of love, or maybe just affection, or, heck, maybe he didn't want to lose the much younger grad student who was inexplicably into him. I still don't trust him.

Jillian's – or do I just call her Sepulcre since it's not really Jillian? – anger is understandable, although she does go along with his plan to free them all from their curses rather quickly. I have no doubt Druid believes this quest will help him out, but I am skeptical that it will benefit Cadaver or Jill Shadowpulcre as much as he's suggesting.

The title sounded familiar, and I remembered seeing a movie called “Boxing Helena” at a video store back in the day. I looked it up on IMDb, and it turns out it's a delightful-sounding film about a surgeon who amputates the limbs of a woman he's obsessed with in order to keep her with him. I think that synopsis is all I need to know, but it does relate to Druid and Jillian's situation beyond just the wordplay, so points for that.

With Druid drafting a guest roster of heroes whose names start with “D” for the mission, my Suggested Secret Defenders of the Week follow the next logical step: Enchantress, Elsa Bloodstone, Elektra and Exodus.

* - So maybe the cow dude is Slorioth? Or the Blue Beetle?

** - Not that he seems to be using all that much of it.