Essential Defenders, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials)

Particularly welcome are the Giant-Size issues, which feature a meeting with the Son of Satan, a confrontation alongside Daredevil with the games-playing Grandmaster, a development in Nighthawk's personal life that leads to a meeting with Yellowjacket and then a faceoff with the Squadron Sinister, and a meeting with the super-cool Guardians of the Galaxy that brings the Defenders to the 30th century to free the human race from the clutches of the Badoon. This 1974-76 run of Defenders was mostly written by Len Wein and Steve Gerber, with the bulk of the pencils by Sal Buscema, and this edition, like all of Marvel's Essentials, is printed in black and white. --David Horiuchi