We had a virtual birthday party for David Anthony Kraft, anyway! He had too much cheer for the happiness and friendships to end. So! Peter Benno Gillis also wrote the title which has become signature DAK, The Defender, by Marvel Comics Group. Dwight Zimmerman here became friends in art class back in North Dakota. One day, he put in a year's notice and joined Dave the Dude in the Big Apple! Jim Salicrup? Only the founding Mad Genius Associate. The Spider-Editor of my youth, and uncredited writer of Spidey Super Stories. He's busy with the Papercutz imprints today. Jo Duffy? She makes it over the roped bridge, past the gorilla, and gives DAK a sterling tribute. She pioneered writing and editing at Marvel, wrote Power Man and Iron Fist, Catwoman , and something called Star Wars . She's quick to explain, he basically WAS his Dollar Bill supporting character, dropped into the midst of the Defenders via Valkyrie's attempt to attend Empire State University...camera...

One thing about reading Yi: your sense of revulsion at the depravations of his enemies will probably enlist your investment in the Admiral overcoming his larger-than-life hardships. His foes, even those with some redeeming quality, repulse decency. They ravage with a very hyper-masculine, testosterone-ridden sort of aggression, but channeled with a lust for devastation, and a desire to break people. It is a time and place in the world with no refuge for those who are not warriors. Their fate is never marked by some romantic exception; when the brave fall, the weak, die. This story drives that point home, as Yi Soon Shin, avenging the destroyed Navy and Korean dead, becomes Hunter and Destroyer. There is no negotiating, only an increasingly-desperate need to out-smart the barbaric invasion, as well as work within the ever-sabotaged coalition of brave Korean forces. Now, Yi maintains his command, his body wrecked by Songo's tortures and fierce combat, while allied with Ming ...

The ultimate test of a work of art, to each individual subjectively, is “how memorable were the impressions this left?” Well, there's no way to forget the fleets of ships, the charge of warriors, the archetype of command from a time when a leader could choose bravely to withstand the threats he takes on alongside the ones he asks to risk sacrifice and chance victory. You felt life and death everywhere, from the brooding scenes of rulers behind the battle front to the absolutely electric warriors themselves, civilization stripped away, fight or flight impulses naked before blades, arrows, cannons, fire, and sea. You can turn the pages at the end and recognize each figure's progress as a character since their montage premiere at the front. Any feeling of confusion is utterly heightened if you have the experience of reading this for the first time broken up. The truth is, there's a LOT going on here! Even with quiet interludes roiling in their more personal tempest, not...