Exploring the unreleased issues from the Defenders of the Earth comic book series

With the next Defenders of the Earth series from Mad Cave Studios titled Dark Destiny being just around the corner, we are indeed living in a phantastic time as Phans. It wasn’t always the case as the original comic book series that came out from Star (Marvel) Comics in 1987 ended abruptly at just four issues. What is however unknown to many phans is that there were at least two more issues produced that never saw the light of day.

Defenders of the Earth is of most significance in Marvel history not only because of it using characters from other license holders and being adapted from another medium, but the creatives that were involved. From being dialogued by Stan Lee, written by Micheal Higgins and Bob Harass, inked by Mandrake and Phantom veteran artist Fred Fredericks, the series was also artist Alex Saviuk’s inception into the Phantom world as the penciller.

The first issue of the series came out in January 1987 which was followed by three more issues with the fourth coming out in July 1987. The fourth issue had ended on a cliffhanger with tease for the fifth issue titled - ‘War!’ which we never got to see.

For a long time, it was thought that the fifth issue was the only one that never got published, but that all changed when pages and a cover from another issue of Defenders began surfacing on various online marketplaces. This issue, with artwork by a different team of artists, which was identified to be an ‘inventory’ issue that was being worked on during the same period.

This article is a collective from several phans as we pieced together details regarding both of these lost issues through various sources which we are trying to present in the form of a single, cohesive article.

Our first source of information is Marvel themselves, specifically their monthly promotional magazine titled Marvel Age. Defenders of the Earth was first listed under ‘coming attractions’ in issue #43 published in October 1986 with a proper introduction to the series appearing two issues later. It is interesting to note that issue #45 which features the introduction lists the first issue for release in September while it was actually published in January. This error continues for the rest of the series as it lists issues four months ahead of their actual release date. 

The listing of the issues, aside from the errors with the release date, was in the same order they were released in, until it came to the fourth. Unlike the fourth issue of the series that was actually released with the creative team of Higgins, Fredericks and Saviuk, issue #51 of Marvel Age listed a different creative team of Adam Blaustein, Jim Fry and Mark McKenna with a one line plot synopsis.

Strangely, the details of the released fourth issue got listed as the fifth issue in the subsequent issue #53. The same also lists the sixth issue under ‘Coming Attractions’ with the usual creative team. It also appears in issue #54 where it makes its final appearance. The fifth and sixth issues were listed as scheduled for May and July 1987 respectively - which by applying the previous difference of four months would have been released in September and November of 1987.

While the information from Marvel Age was not entirely accurate, it did provide the proof required that two more issues were scheduled before the series got cancelled. It also provided some more details regarding the issue with the different creative teams that will form the basis of our next discussion.

The fifth story worked on by Alex Saviuk has been a subject of discussion for many years with Alex himself talking about it on Social Media. Some phans may remember Alex’s visit to Australia in 2013, where he attended the Supanova event, and had also brought the finished inked pages of the story. We were fortunate enough to have interviewed Alex on X-Band: The Phantom Podcast: #126 where he had discussed the issue in detail. 

The issue, according to Alex, was finished with his pencils and inks by Fred Fredericks. What remained was the lettering and colouring, but unfortunately the series was cancelled before that. The story was essentially an all out war against Ming the Merciless and his minions. The story itself began with a big splash page with a closeup of Ming the Merciless. Featuring actions from all the Defenders it had a double-page spread showing the Phantom, Mandrake, and the rest of the Defenders of the Earth battling their enemies. It is a tragedy that it has never been printed. We are fortunate to have a page that Alex had shared on social media which clearly gives an idea what we had missed out on.

The other issue had first come to phans’ notice when a cover for the supposed fifth issue of the series was sold on ebay several years ago. The cover featured artwork from a different creative team from the usual which we now know from Marvel Age #51 that it was going to be written by Adam Blaustein, penciled by James Fry, and inked by Mark McKenna.

Being asked about this particular issue, Alex Saviuk had said that he was unaware of this development. He further added that, as seen on some of the interior pages that have surfaced, it might have been an ‘inventory’ story. ‘Inventory’ stories in comic books are created as backups or substitutes for the regular story if the regular creative team was in need of a break or was unable to meet deadlines. Alex had explained that the inability to meet deadlines meant major losses for the company. However Alex was surprised to learn that Marvel was intending to give him a break in the middle of the series.

According to Mark McKenna, the inker of the issue, while the penciling work by James Fry was done, he, unlike Fred Fredericks, was not able to finish inking all the pages from the story. From what we have seen along with the cover, at least four pages from the story were inked. 

As we can see, the cover does not feature the Phantom and/or Flash Gordon but features Mandrake the Magician and Lothar battling winged ape-like creatures. The one line synopsis from Marvel Age #51 reads: “Mandrake the Magician faces his greatest mystical challenge without the aid of Flash Gordon, Lothar, or the Phantom.” 

This would mean the story would have followed Mandrake on a solo mission with minimal appearance from his fellow Defenders. Thanks to Mark McKenna and some collectors, we are able to show a couple of pages from the story, both inked and not inked. 

The inked pages include the first page which is a splash page depicting Mandrake the Magician inside his Library looking horrified at an ancient scroll. The second page showed the Defenders having a training session inside Monitor with the Phantom wrestling Kisa, Jedda Walker’s pet Black Panther, Lothar lifting weights and Flash Gordon and Rick training with weapons where they get interrupted by Mandrake who informs them of his findings. 

The next page, unfortunately not inked, is marked no. 11, sees a detailed pencil work from James Fry where we get to see Mandrake in a Mountain landscape where he casts a spell on the scroll that we saw earlier. It is followed by the inked page no. 12, which is a splash page that sees Mandrake knocking on the door of a temple that the scroll supposedly had turned into.

The next two uninked pages are nos. 14 & 15 which sees Kasin and Lothar going through a building where they fall into and escape from traps, which is likely the same one Mandrake was knocking on the door of on page 12.

The last page, numbered 22, sees a giant figure with multiple hands bursting out from the previously seen temple, demolishing it entirely. He is seen gently putting down Mandrake, Lothar and Kshin. Mandrake is weak and is carried by Lothar as we get to see the scroll being destroyed. Following the format of the other four issues, there probably would have been two more pages in the story, making the total 24.

We do get to see similar plotlines in the animated series Defenders of the Earth episodes 24 (Doorways into Darkness) and 31-35 (The Book of Mysteries). It is interesting that even though the comic book series deviated from its animated counterpart in terms of plot, it still kept similar elements.

Alex Saviuk, in his three hour podcast interview with us (X-Band: The Phantom Podcast: #126) confirmed that the artists were given a ‘Marvel Method’ script or plot from the creators.

In a typical comics script, it will be given to the artist like a play or screenplay. The writer defines, all at once, what will happen on each page - down to describing what will happen in each panel and what the character will be saying in each panel. The artist just follows the script, drawing each panel as described, leaving room for the dialogue mentioned.

In the 'Marvel method', also known as the ‘Stan Lee method’, the writer provided a rough idea of what should happen in the story, in general. This could be as little as a paragraph or two. Then the artist team takes that rough idea, and then they figure out what's going to happen in each panel and each page and kind of decide in general terms what each character MIGHT say in each panel. Then the writer comes back and figures out the specifics of what each character is saying in each panel. Alex had mentioned in the podcast interview with us that he was essentially given free reign on his fifth story to the point where he was able to plot the entire story after having done the first six pages.  

It is both interesting and sad knowing about these two stories and what was being planned for them. As Alex has mentioned multiple times in the past that he possesses the entire story in its fully inked and plotted form and we have seen multiple pages from the inventory story out there, it is safe to say that the stories, though unfinished, are still available for phans to see in some shape or form.

As we have seen with publishers like Mad Cave, who has reprinted the four published issues together along with new content, we can hope for any of them to take up the initiative of putting together all the available materials in regards to these two issues with the previous four issues. Otherwise, it would be a shame to see such phantastic material go to waste.

Thanks goes to Jermayn Parker and Andreas Eriksson for all their help in the research of the article. Also thanks to Andreas, Howard, Anthony (Snyder) for providing images of artworks from their private collections. Thanks must also go to Alex Saviuk, Mark McKenna and James Fry for some of the background information and copies of the artwork that has long gone or been broken up into odd collections from around the world. It is amazing that after nearly 40 years, for many this will be new news.