Order #1
Title: "The Best Defense…”
Writers: Kurt Busiek and Jo Duffy
Penciller: Matt Haley
Inker: Dan Panosian
Colors: Gregory Wright and Tom Smith’s Color Arts
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Nighthawk stands freezing to death in the Himalayas. He says that he is just an athlete and that this isn’t supposed to happen to him. He says that any of the other more powerful Defenders could just shrug this off. He says that he would fly out of there except his jetpack is frozen just as his teleportation ring seems to be. Nighthawk says that he is young, rich, and handsome, but that he would trade it all in if he could just go someplace warm.
The Arabian Peninsula, The Principality of
Haiwan, an oil sheik is lounging on some pillows with a beautiful
woman on the patio of the palace. The woman looks up in the sky
and points out something just as the palace explodes.
Haiwan’s neighbor Murtakesh has struck against them. The
army starts to scramble, but then hovering before them is the
Order. Doctor Strange is wearing his blue facemask. 
The gray Hulk,
Namor, and the Silver Surfer hover around Strange. Dr. Strange
says, “People of Murtakesh! Cease hostilities and lay down
you arms at once! This will be your only warning! So says Doctor
Strange! And so say the incredible Hulk, the star-faring Silver
Surfer, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, Prince of Atlantis! From this
day hence, such brutalities as yours are unacceptable… and
forbidden! For today marks the coming of… The Order!” A
soldier on the ground says that he will never do as they say. He
says that he doesn’t know what foul magic allows him to
understand their “disgusting, uncultured language”, but
he wants to know by what right they dictate to them what they can
do on their sovereign soil. Namor says, “By the right of
your betters… who shall free this planet and its inhabitants
from the consequences of human arrogance and stupidity.”
Namor explains that they have attacked others without warning or
provocation and therefore they no longer have the right to rule
themselves. He says that they have their orders, and that they
should obey them. One of the soldiers fires a rocket at Hulk.
Hulk says that it looks like they don’t want to play nicely.
The rocket hits. Hulk’s clothes are messed up, but he hovers
there unchanged otherwise. Surfer says that this world is wasted
people. Namor says that even after the lousy treatment he has
received from the surface dwellers that they still manage to
astound him. Hulk asks, “Now, Doc?” Strange says,
“Yes, Hulk. I would say that now is the time.”
Hulk descends to the soldiers below. They
fire a tank at Hulk, but Hulk just punches the shot out of the
air with his hand. 
Hulk says that
they think that they are tough, but that this is tough. Hulk
leaps down onto a tank and shatters it. Namor flies after the
fleeing soldiers. They fire guns at him. Namor says that it
wouldn’t hurt him anyway, but he dodges their bullets. He
says that he enjoys these moments. Namor shouts, “Imperius
Rex!” and then starts punching out all the soldiers.
In a nearby bunker, a scientist has just finished working on a form of germ warfare. He says that where normal weapons failed science will prevail. He runs outside and tells everyone to get into hazard gear. Surfer says that won’t be necessary. Surfer asks if he truly thought that, as the planet’s savior and wielder of the Power Cosmic, he would let him poison their neighbors and themselves. Surfer uses the Power Cosmic and renders all the poisons neutralized.
A jet flies at Strange. He says that Strange is their leader and that if they take him out that the Order will fall as well. Strange sees the jet coming and says that it is unworthy. Strange opens a portal “wherein serpents of madness writhe always… where neither daylight nor moonlight nor stars ever shone…” The jet flies in and Strange closes the portal.
In the Himalayas, Nighthawk is trying to unfreeze his jetpacks but finds that he cannot. He realizes that his lungs are going to freeze next.
The Order stands over their fallen opponents. Hulk says that it is too bad that they caved so fast. He says that he was just getting warmed up. On the ground, a soldier shakes his fist at them. He says that they are “tools of infidel oppression… sent to crush us by your evil American masters!” Surfer says as the Order leaves, “You think we do America’s bidding? Hardly. America is next.”
In New York, at the Parrington Mansion,
Patsy Walker and Samantha Parrington are visiting with Reginald
and Malicia Parrington. Samantha came to tell them that for the
second time in her life that her existence is on a time-share
with an Asgardian warrior, the Valkyrie. Samantha is finding that
her parents don’t find the announcement all that unusual.
Malicia says that she understands Patsy Walker is one of
Samantha’s “little crime fighting friends”. Patsy
says that she doesn’t have to be so formal and that she can
call her Hellcat. 
Hellcat thinks
how she thought that Samantha looked like a dork in the clothes
she is wearing, but that in the mausoleum that is this house that
her outfit works. Malicia asks Hellcat how her family feels about
her super-heroing. Hellcat says that there is no worry there
because they are all dead. Samantha says that she told them that
she was drawn to an alley where there was a spear, and that she
felt compelled to pick it up. Malicia says that she understands
that this is another phase of Samantha’s like radical
feminism or veganism was. Patsy says that is the most patronizing
thing, but Samantha cuts her off. She says that they act like
they understand, but that they don’t know anything about
this. She draws her sword and turns into Valkyrie. Val says,
“And now, mortals? Are you still so sanguine?” Malicia
says that Samantha is doing this just to vex her. Reginald says
to think of her mother’s nerves. Val replaces the sword and
turns back into Samantha. She says that she was just making a
point, and that if they have any good questions about her role in
the Defenders or the woman that was just here that she and Patsy
will answer them.
Springthorpe,
the butler, says that an apparition has materializes looking for
the ladies. Samantha tells her parents that Patsy told her how
awful and controlling her mother was when she became famous, and
that she thought she was so lucky because her family would never
do that. Patsy says that an apparition would be good now and that
Springthorpe should send it in. Papa Hagg storms into the room.
Patsy asks Hagg if he came for any reason other than to freak the
butler out and to get by Parrington security defenses. Papa Hagg
says that he showed up for Nighthawk’s quarterly Chi
alignment, but that Nighthawk was gone and that he can’t
find him by his aura. Patsy asks Hagg if he didn’t get that
ring he wears from Hagg. Hagg says that is it. He waves his hands
into the air and suddenly a near frozen to death Nighthawk
appears on the floor. Malicia passes out momentarily. Hagg says,
“Nighthawk missing. Nighthawk found! Problem, problem
solved!” Malicia says that she needs to see her therapist
while Samantha helps Nighthawk get up. Hellcat asks Hagg where he
is going. Hagg says that it isn’t too hard to find him. He
says to tell Nighthawk that he can reschedule and that he fixed
the ring for him. Patsy says thanks, but Hagg tells her not to
thank him yet until she sees where the ring is going to take
them. Patsy says, “Gee… don’t you just love
him?” Nighthawk says that he loves being warm. Patsy asks
what is going on and where the others are. Nighthawk explains
that he was with them in Strange’s home and how they went to
ask Gaea to release them. Gaea refused and then they attacked
her. Gaea flicked them away to the Himalayas where Nighthawk
followed again. Nighthawk says that he got there just in time to
hear them making some kind of vow about taking action. He says
that they just disappeared and that he was stuck there and the
ring no longer worked. Samantha turns into Valkyrie and says that
they have to solve this conundrum. She asks where are her fellow
Defenders.
One hundred and fifty nautical miles east of the United States Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, the Order hovers above an aircraft carrier that they just attacked. The aircraft carrier is on fire. Hulk tells Strange to give them the good news and that he hopes they resist. Strange says, “Attention, men of the United States Navy! You know what we did in Murtakesh. You have seen how powerless you are against us. And you have heard our orders. You will now follow them. Stand down, and return to port… and you will not be harmed further. Admiral Gannon replies through a speaker and says that he has been empowered by the Secretary of Defense to say that they will never back down in their home waters or abroad. Strange says that Admiral Gannon needs to “free his mind” from the delusion that this is a negotiation. He says that they no longer defend or discuss, and that they are merely there to impose Order. One soldier says that after he heard what happened in Murtakesh that he thought they were heroes, but that they aren’t. Another soldier says that someone has to stop them. A bullet bounces off the back of Silver Surfer’s head. Hulk says that he sees a couple of dead would be heroes. Namor says that they will soon wish that they were. Strange says that they have been very foolish and summons a tempest. The Order then attacks brutally, swiftly, absolutely, and over in seconds. Hulk, Surfer, and Namor tear into the ships. “They are methodical, direct, and efficient. All except the Hulk who tears into his task with a savage joy. And while his allies in the Order are inclined to view his savagery and the pleasure he seems to take in the helplessness of the men forced to abandon the ruined ships… with a lenient eye… the Defenders know no such inclination.”
The Defenders arrive on the scene. Hellcat says that was the “freakin’ Atlantic Fleet”. Valkyrie says that she doesn’t understand why their allies have done such a thing. She asks where the Hulk is and who that gray monster is. Nighthawk says that he can answer her last question. He says that the Hulk is a multiple personality and that the one down there is the worst of the bad ones. He says that he makes “the child-like angry green guy look like a Teletubby.” Nighthawk says that as far as the other question goes it appears that they have lost their minds. Hulk asks Strange if they weren’t supposed to be rid of the kids. Strange says that he thought that deactivating Nighthawk’s ring would have stopped them. Val says that Strange damaging Nighthawk’s ring was “tantamount to murder”. Strange says that Nighthawk went where he was uninvited. Strange says, “I have quite outgrown the stage of actually wanting a puppy.” Nighthawk says that the four of them have been losing it for months and that he no longer cares why. Nighthawk charges them. Hellcat tells Nighthawk and Valkyrie to hold back because of their power, but Val says that they must not wait because they have “transgressed the bounds of decency… and they must fall!” Val slashes Surfer as she and Hellcat ride Aragon up to him. Surfer stands there completely unaffected. Namor smashes Nighthawk as he flies at him. Hulk grabs Aragon’s reins and tosses Hellcat and Valkyrie off. Inside the Hulk’s head, a green behemoth screams as the gray Hulk fights his only friends the Defenders. Strange says, “We did not seek to be champions of the planet… If we must adjust to the role… then the world must adjust as well. To prevent further disruption, we choose to be not servants, but masters. And the world and everyone in it, including the Defenders, must learn to do as they are told.” Strange zaps Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Hellcat away. The savage Hulk screams inside the gray Hulk’s head. Strange says, “And so it is done. We have made our proclamation, and the world has heard. It will spread from here until the entire globe knows. There will be further resistance but we will end it. And our lives will be… orderly once more. On this day, and in this place, the time of the Order has begun!”
The Order’s rating: 8 out of 10
Strange’s words are pretty chilling. With Hulk and Namor it almost feels like old home week. The bit with the green Hulk existing inside the gray Hulk’s head was fantastic as far as I’m concerned. The set up with the Parringtons was kind of average, but I’m hoping that it is out of the way and we can concentrate more on the actual members of the Order and the Defenders fighting against them. Haley does a good job with the art. He has good style and good storytelling abilities. Who knew that Patsy Walker was such a fox? Bring on the next issue already!
RETURN TO DR. STRANGE'S DEFENDERS