Defenders #15 page 9 – Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

Fantastic!!

Thanks, Daniele - I'm glad you like it!

Your unfinished work should come to the MCU definetely... I bet you, it probably would be better than some of the films released. This page is simply insane to me. Two of my all time favourite characters in the same page. I always love the pages were it is possible to see Magneto's eyes behind his helmet.

Thanks, Toni. I think there may need to be some small improvements to the production value first, but a pitch for a Defenders movie is long overdue. And yes, Sal has done the evil eyes behind the helment to master-criminal-perfection.

Your gallery is full of surprises! Fantastic page!

Thanks, Rick. I think the cupboards in my house are full of surprises as well, and many of them may not be welcome on CAF. But still they come.

Pretty good page even if it doesn't have The Headmen.

Ha ha! OK, I'll put up some Headmen pages very soon. I should have planned a Headmen cartoon as well, but I'm not sure that I had the writing range for horror at that age.

Be prepared for me to bother you about them on a daily basis.

Ohhhh, the Defenders going against a REAL villian!

There was something-SO- special about this issue, right?  I have a -very- distinct memory of a classmate bringing this issue into school when I was about 8.  At that time, when I saw #15 for the first time, it was an old "back issue".  I remember lobbying my parents pretty hard for a subscription to The Defenders when I must have been -SIX- (which is insane, but I remember the first issue I received was #45, so...?), and I loved it because the lineup of heroes was so WIERD.  But #15 wasn't one I had seen before.  The cover grabbed me, of course (just as it should have), and I remember thinking that, as an undisputed authority on the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (seeing as how I had just picked up Amazing Adventures #s 10 & 11 -which reprinted most of X-Men #s 4 & 5 :) ), I really should check this one out, too...  And I remember it as being WEIRD! :)  This is a great page from it.  I love the wireframe of all our heroes, even as Magneto fully embraces his "Dark Helmet" phase.  Seeing this lovely page now, the obvious killer is that fantastic third panel with the worm's eye POV (just as Magneto likes it) and the incredible textures and arcing, sparking electricity given to the tubed figure via the white paint and brushstrokes...  SO cool!  But I guess the big takeaway here, Paul, is... seriously, who lets their kid subscribe to Defenders at SIX?!? ;) GREAT page, sir!  Congrats!

Wow, yes, a subscription to Defenders at that age is pretty unusual :-o. But kudos to your parents. You're right about the aggrandising view of Magneto, looking down on his subjects. Thanks, Jason!

(Also, I can say without doubt or hesitation that I was absolutely -THE- target audience for your animated Defenders classic.  Should you ever decide to finish it up (any chance for a Kickstarter or GoFundMe?) please consider my name added to your email notification list!! :) Wish our paths had crossed back then!  Too, too cool, Paul!)

Ha ha! I'm not sure how much I'd raise, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Gerber-based MCU Defenders movie with Nebulon and the Headmen. I think I may be crossing those fingers for a long time yet. Would have been good to have met back then, yes! We could have compared issues of Defenders in our collections!

Fun to see your childhood animation ambition Paul. Thanks for posting. 

Thanks, Patrick. I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze in a few more images of  my (over) ambition. :-o

thats a great defenders page but the story and pictures of your cartoon dream are my favorite thing about your post

Thanks, Danny. It was fun to relive that dream.

I used to own this page and am so glad it went to a good home.  And BTW the Skorpio storyline was so good.  Excellent choice you made there!

Thanks, Carlo. I think I have a few that passed through your collection, so do please let me know when that happens. It's always interesting to know who owned the pages before me.

Brilliant Defenders/BOEM/Magneto page, love how menacing Magneto looks in that final panel. Congrats on a page from an issue very important to you and your brother! Who Remembers Scorpio looked like a great creative outlet for you young lads :)

Ha ha! Thanks, Kavi. Well, we're not so young now, of course. But we both had fun seeing the page and remembering reading the comic.

Those cells are awesome. (Page ain't half bad either!)

Thanks! We had a lot of fun doing them, and it was a nice surprise to stumble across them again.

A great classic Defenders page!  Magneto looks truly villainous in that last panel!

Yes, it's a great sneer from Magneto. Thanks, Miki!

That is a special page!

There was something special about the Defenders, the non-square Avengers, with a twist of mystic.

Classic Defenders page ... great ! Also, Janson inks are perfect on Sal .

Love it ! 

This was the time when X-Men went on their reprints and we get the X-Men related characters pop up in many titles.  Having Magneto here strengthened his character and kept him in the spotlight as a major villain in the entire Marvel Universe!  No matter what title, Magneto sure likes to talk about his evil plans!

Yes, it was a strange time for the X-Men, and every appearance seemed like a special event. Not now. You 're just tripping over X-Men absolutely everywhere now. They're all over the place!

Love Magneto pages. Such a cool piece!

First, this page is splendid! The Sal Buscema/Klaus Janson team worked wonders! And, yes, this helmet evil stare counts among the best Magneto shots ever, ranking next to Kirby's X-Men 1 and Byrne's X-Men 112...

Second, I also think your Defenders animation film deserves a chance to  get on the big screen! The Scorpio stroryline, with all its hoops and holes, leaves ample opportunities for good stories... and, with the Defenders in it, it's still a sure-fire smash hit! 
 

Being from the same generation, I perfectly understand the drive that sparkled your creativity and the urge to get more of these characters and stories... I really admire the fact that you want all the way to plan an animated film! On my side, I resorted to creating cut-outs to play with (all this long before action figures...) and I tried to do my own comic stories, which, due to my very limited talent and despite some heavy swiping, never reached completion...

Oh, well... Thanks for sharing!

Wow, thanks Al! I'm so pleased that you rate the Magneto stare shot so highly. And I'm grateful for the kind words on the animation effort. The cut outs sound great - do you still have any to put up? Comics certainly did spark a lot of creativity back then.

Thanks Paul for the suggestion! I'll take some time to do some archeology and dig deep into my very dusty archives just to see if some of these cut-outs have survived! It could be fun...

I remember perfectly the first issues of The Defenders. A winner

GREAT PAGE!!! Janson's inks definitely gave Sal's art a much more realistic look. They were a great pairing, but I think Sal's art looked great with most inkers because his draftsmanship and story-telling were so outstanding! I love the variety of panels on this beautiful page... high perspectives, low perspectives, close-ups... and the absence of solid blacks in the force field was extremely effective, differentiating that space from the outside!

Thanks, Bill! And I very much agree on Sal's storytelling ability and his variety of panel compositions on this page. It really looked like they were both having a lot of fun on this issue.

Classic pièce évil mutants - Bravo !!

Ah, sweet sorrow - I owned this one too briefly (11/06 to 8/08) - always loved that last panel!

Thanks, Mark. I'm always interested to know who owned a page before me, and perhaps that will happen again when I put up some more!

What's particularly striking to me is how different this is from the other page you posted. Janson was able to get away from the talking heads and the variety of line weights and angles is really great. 

Now that's what I call an unambiguously evil Magneto.  All that he's missing is a mustache to twirl.

That's great that you tried to do your own film, and even better that you still have the work you created for it.  It must bring back fun memories whenever you look at them.

Ha ha! Yes, a Dick Dastardly mustache would have been great. Thanks Michael, and yes you're right - it did bring back a lot of happy memories when I stumbled across the artwork for the 'cartoon'!

One of the most evil grins we seen on Mags!  Congrats!