Defenders Vol. 2: Kingpins of New York

by Brian Michael Bendis

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 Stars

This is the second, and sadly last, volume in the latest run of the Defenders. It was a fun run while it lasted, with a great introduction and plenty of funny moments (especially in the latest volume). I know the series will come back around sometime, but it’s still sad to see it go.



Kingpins of New York is actually a pretty interesting plot, all things considered. The Kingpin plot has been interesting, as was everything else involved with it. Some of the cameos were pretty amazing and/or hilarious this time around too.
With the Kingpin going legit (should I put quotes around that? I feel like I should) that leaves a Kingpin sized vacancy in the city, and it’s one that plenty of villains have been hoping to land. The end result is a massive turf war of the top tier villains in Hell’s Kitchen, and a lot of mess and destruction for everyone else.
Obviously the Defenders aren’t going to stand for that, and all hell breaks loose. Granted, they probably would have been allowed to sit idly by anyway, what with Diamondback having already targeted them once already.
In many ways this volume was actually funnier in the first. That sounds a little weird to say, since there was a lot of tension and fighting going on as well. I guess they just did a better job balancing out the comic relief this time around.
The Deadpool cameos totally made this volume, not going to lie. I actually wish we had seen more of him in here, but that probably would have changed the tone a little too much. I also enjoyed the interactions between Daredevil, Danny, and Elektra. They’re hilarious, but they’re definitely better if you read them instead of hearing them retold by me.
While reading this, it struck me that the Danny in this series is exactly what I had been hoping for in the Netflix series. He’s funny, charismatic, stubborn as all hell, and gets along with the team. Well, mostly. They’re still working things out with Daredevil, but that’s pretty on par for the course, isn’t it? It made me sad to see the wasted potential all over again. Oh well. Hopefully the next season will be more like the Danny in here. One can hope.
I’m sad this series is over, though to be honest I do have to admit that while it was fun it wasn’t really all that groundbreaking either. But does it have to be dramatic and change the rules of the universe every series? No. Sometimes we just want something fun and full of action, and the Defenders can certainly do that much. Regardless, it’d be nice to see this series get rebooted sometime.


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