Written By: Cullen Bunn
Art By: Will Sliney
Price: $2.99
The team grows. The Doom Maidens are risen. The battle is…joined? So I have to say, a team of female protagonists isn’t usually my taste when it comes to superhero books, but we all know that DC and Marvel promote a completionist mentality with their connected universes, so I picked Fearless Defenders up from the beginning and so far I’m happy that I did. Essentially an Asgardian book alongside Journey Into Mystery and Thor: God of Thunder, Valkyrie is at least in the beginning the central figure of the story. The idea of the initial arc is that Valkyrie was supposed to choose eight women from Earth to be Valkyrior. She didn’t, and now the team and the mission to stop the Doom Maidens, are being thrust upon her by th All-Mother.
Now let’s tak about this team. Whether or not it will be growing to nine members to adhere to Valkyrie’s initial mission is yet to be seen, but at the moment Valkyrie has been given three teamates, four if you count the one wh hasn’t officially joined yet. We have Dr. Annabelle Riggs, a mortal archaeologist who, at the very least, is infatuated with Valkyrie. A story element made all the more intriguing by the Asgardian’s non-chalant attitude towards the kiss the two shared in issue #1. Then there’s Hippolyta, Warrior Woman, resurrected Queen of the Amazons and apparently Hela’s chosen champion. This isn’t a character I wasn’t expecting much from hen she appeared in issue #2, but her back and forth with Valkyrie was actually the highlight of this issue for me. Rounding out the “official” members is Misty Knight, bionic, Kung Fu private eye as Cullen Bunn describes her in this issue, who appears as if she will be filling the role of peacekeeper between Valkyrie and Hippolyta. As for the “unofficial” team member, we have Dani Moonstar, former mutant, current leader of the New Mutants and occasional Valkyrior. The latter is clearly the reason she’ll be included on the team, but she spent the majority of this issue as kidnapee of antagonist Caroline Le Fay, and didn’t hook up with the rest of the Defenders for the first time in the series until page 19 of this issue and then only for a panel.
So, I wasn’t sure hat I was going to get with Fearless Defenders when I picked up the first issue, but it continues to prove itself a fun, entertaining title and is quickly working its way up the list of books I look forward to reading every month.
Score: 8.0
By KehtaamuNgetal 