Mandrake’s pirating cable again.
Defenders Of The Earth #3
Marvel/Star Comics (May, 1987)
“Family Honor” WRITER: Michael Higgins PENCILER: Alex Saviuk INKER: Fred Frederick COLORIST: Nel Yomtov LETTERER: Ken Lopez EDITOR: Howard Mackie EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Tom DeFalco
Kit’s villainous brother Kurt Walker tries to take over leadership of the Bandar since the Phantom is currently operating with the Defenders Of The Earth far away, but Guran refuses to surrender to him. His partners double-cross him hoping to get the Phantom treasures for themselves. However, Kurt finds a magical mask that gives him the powers of N’Dama, the Weather Demon! He gets payback against his betrayers but Guran still refuses to surrender the Bandar. N’Dama’s weather shenanigans have been picked up by Dynak-X but the Phantom and Jedda insist this is Phantom business and go alone. Their new Skull Copter is attacked by N’Dama and Jedda is hurt in the escape, leaving the Phantom to confront his evil brother alone. In the ensuing battle Kurt sees that N’Dama’s power is turning him into a devilish mutation (kind of like Link was slowly turning into Ganon last week) and destroys himself with his own powers. Kit leaves a communicator in case trouble starts again.
What they got right: This was again better than the cartoon, with a mostly different take on N’Dama’s origin. The comic pulls Ming out of the picture (he only shows up to bring the Men Of Frost, introduced in the first episode, into the comic version) and it’s better for it. I do like the idea that a future Phantom’s sibling would turn evil. We also see how the Phantom is handling being away from the jungle even though Jedda succeeded in creating that jungle-like environment, complete with a replica of the Skull Cave. The show didn’t touch on that as much.
What they got wrong: But why were the two challenging for control of the Phantom mantle? Kit should have been the older brother thanks to continuity (while we haven’t seen two sons before this the first son is named Kit Walker–for the Ghost Who Walks–which is part of the tradition) and he would be the first choice as Phantom. Also, “N’Dama” came up in my tags and it’s a breed of African cattle. I guess that explains the headpiece but it’s hardly a name that would instill fear.
Recommendation: Only one more issue of this tie-in was produced and sadly I don’t currently own it. Still, this was a good series that’s worth looking into for fans of these characters.
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