1981: The Defenders Go Demonic Part II: Night of the Geriatric Gargoyle

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the second part of The Defenders Go Demonic, the mysterious Six Fingered Hand slowly made a fist as the team gained an unlikely new member, while two of their oldest are forever changed after feeling the touch of darkness. All that and a popular sucker too!

For the past several issues, incoming Defenders-writer J.M. DeMatteis had the team teleporting around the world in an attempt to deal with the constant threat of enemies. Their adventures made them unaware of a growing darkness that had been slowly gathering its forces… Issue # 94 finally revealed what the team was going up against, just as longtime Defender Hellcat fell prey to their influence.

The last issue ended with the Defenders in London, dealing with Namor’s latest invasion attempt. But the minute they received word Hellcat was in trouble, Doctor Strange teleported himself, Daimon Hellstrom and Valkyrie to the small town of Montclair, New Jersey. Patsy had been staying at her late mother’s house to sort out her affairs.

Searching the ruins, the Defenders discovered Patsy’s housekeeper Dolly Donahue, who despite her severe injuries, rather conveniently, filled them in on what had happened.

After getting Dolly  medical attention, the three remaining Defenders finally took a moment to compare notes. Daimon Hellstrom finally filled in Doctor Strange about the evil he had been aware of.

Apparently, six relatively minor demons had joined forces as the Six Fingered Hand, proving that even in hell there was strength in numbers. This Six Fingered Hand was responsible for Patsy’s disappearance and the Defenders used their unique talents to trace the Hand’s eldritch energies back to its source.

While doing so, Doctor Strange’s astral form even briefly returned home to check in with Clea…  Eventually, they tracked their foe to the quiet town of Christiansboro, Virginia. But, as Clea got ready to tend to the recently paralyzed Nighthawk, she made a disturbing discovery herself…

Completely unaware of all the Clea subplot, the Defenders travelled (again via teleportation) to Christiansboro to find the town deserted. Making their way towards the center, they are besieged by a horde of demons. However, their ringleader is rather familiar…

As the remarkably well-spoken demon attacked the Defenders, everyone noticed the shimmering lights emanating from Christianboro city hall, signalling the final surprise guest in this little drama.

Yup… the Gargoyle who abducted Patsy was working for Avarrish, one of the Six Fingered Hand. The demon turned the carefree young woman into a true Hellcat. In an interview with writer J.M. DeMatteis remarked on this rather sudden change: “It was a way to take Patsy down an intense, character-revealing road; a way to dig deeper into her character, to turn her relationship with Hellstrom on its head, and a perfect piece of manipulation…”

A manipulation… On whose part? Nahh, that would be telling.

The Defenders fought their former teammate, but she gained the upper hand because they couldn’t  hurt a creature they still considered to be Patsy. Thankfully, all hope wasn’t lost… A point Valkyrie hammered home when she went head-to-head with her former best friend…

Confronted with the undying love Valkyrie felt for Patsy, Hellcat suffered a severe case of identity crisis. In the end, Patsy won out and remained a Hellcat in name only. With Avarrish gone, that still left one question unanswered…

Who was that eloquent Gargoyle that had abducted Patsy? The Christiansboro townsfolk knew the answer. It could be none other than their resident demonologist, former mayor and local curmudgeon Isaac Christiaans… a man so dedicated to keeping his beloved hometown prosperous he’d sell his soul to the devil… and, as Doctor Strange and the others realized once they entered Isaac’s home and literally shed some light on the matter… he went the proverbial extra mile…

After some initial mistrust, both Doctor Strange and Hellstrom recognized a deep, inherent sense of goodness within Isaac, who wanted to help stop the Six Fingered Hand… even though he didn’t know what they were up to.

DeMatteis revealed he was especially fond of the Gargoyle. And rightly so, after all by 1981 there weren’t that many kind, elderly gentlemen who turned to super heroics after being trapped in a demon’s body.  

Or, as the author put it himself: “(Gargoyle was)… This horrific, demonic figure that’s really this sweet, gentle old man.  Don Perlin came up with a great design for the character and, as the storyline progressed, Gargoyle became more and more important to the team.  I loved that character; in fact the Gargoyle mini-series I did with Mark Badger remains one of my favorite projects out of all the stories I’ve done for mainstream Marvel.”

While the Gargoyle joined the Defenders, their recently rescued member Hellcat revealed why the Six Fingered Hand were out to get her, by dropping another bombshell…

Promised? Promised by whom?

Turned out that Patsy’s recently deceased mother Dorothy had promised her daughter to the demon Avarrish… While this came out of left field, let’s not forget her mother had been relentlessly pushing Patsy to become a success as soon as she learned to walk.

Actively trying to make money off her daughter through comics and other publications (as documented in pre-Marvel continuity) it wasn’t unthinkable that Dorothy could made a deal with Avarrish (read: avarice) to stay in the limelight some more.

Speaking of light, that was the last thing the guest star in issue # 95 needed…

Teleporting home from Christiansboro, the Defenders were in for another surprise as they discovered Nighthawk is back in action. A fact that startled Clea as well, by the way.

Yes, for some unknown reason the previously paralyzed Nighthawk had regained the full range of his mobility once the sun set. An unexpected development for the character, but as writer J.M. DeMatteis explained, it also made more than a little sense: “I think I was playing to his name:  ‘Night’-hawk.  Thus he only functioned at night.  During the day he was paralyzed and when the sun went down he came alive.  I thought it was a fun idea.  I still do.  Whether I executed it well is another story!”

Before they were grasped the consequences of these changes in Nighthawk, let alone planned their next move against the Six Fingered Hand, another enemy barged into Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum…

Yup, that’s the original vampyr, straight from downtown Transylvania… Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Vlad “show me your impaler”… Dracula! However, despite throwing around the Defenders with shocking ease, Daimon Hellstrom soon realized Dracula wasn’t himself… he was being controlled by demons. 

Luckily, Hellstrom’s trident is always ready to perform an exorcism…

How the lord of all things undead still had a soul to control was never explained. Fact remained that the Six Fingered Hand had plans with the vampire population, but no hopes of swaying the undead while Dracula still ruled them. That’s why one of the Hand, the demon Puisshant, empowered the lowly vampire Gordski to betray his master.

Hoping this betrayal would make him puissantly powerful (notice a theme here?), Gordski agreed to Puisshant’s wishes and sent out a possessed Dracula to kill the Defenders. The demon cabal assumed this ploy would lead to an altercation in which both their enemies would perish…. However, once recovered, Dracula joined forces with the Defenders and travelled back with them to his castle to settle some scores…

For those of you keeping score at home, yes… Doctor Strange once again bowed to circumstance and teleported the heroes, ignoring his own rules and predictions that using so powerful and volatile a spell could have grave consequences in the long run.

However, no one had any time to fully contemplate the implication of the mage’s continued abuse of the inter-dimensional space/time continuum… Especially after the castle gates opened and the six superheroes found themselves overwhelmed by surge after surge of undead warriors pouring from castle Dracula.

Just as all hope seemed lost, Daimon Hellstrom saved the day... Literally. Using a powerful incantation, the son of Satan controlled time itself and forced night to give way to the light of day. Exposed to the sun's rays, the vampire armies  turned to dust. Dracula would have been among the victims, if Hellstrom hadn't told him to take cover. A decision that baffled his fellow teammates.

With Gordski dead, well, dead-er… Puisshant was rendered powerless without a host… Dracula resumed control of his castle and the surviving vampires, while after losing both Avarrish and Puisshant the Six Fingered Hand was left with four viable members… But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t go out swinging…

More on that in part III of The Defenders Go Demonic: “Demonic Ditties versus Semi-Seraphimic Saviors”