Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #89
Published November 1980
Cover Price 0.50 USD
Pages 36
Editing Al Milgrom
Notes Letters page replies by Ed Hannigan.

Cover Details - "A Death in the Family!"

Characters Defenders [Nighthawk [Kyle Richmond]; Hulk [Bruce Banner]; Hellcat [Patsy Walker]; Valkyrie]
Genre superhero
Pencils Michael Netzer [as Mike Nasser]
Inks Joe Rubinstein
Colors George Roussos
Notes Cover colorist credit provided 2007 by Al Milgrom.
Reprinted In Essential Defenders (Marvel, 2005 series) #4

22 page The Defenders story "A Death in the Family!"

Characters Defenders [Hellcat [Patsy Walker]; Valkyrie; Nighthawk [Kyle Richmond]; Hulk [Bruce Banner]; Clea]; Mr. Beekman; Milton Rosenblum; Daredevil [Matthew Murdock]; Fem-Force; Mandril [Jerome Beechman]; Dolly Donahue; Dorthy Walker (Flashback); Millie the Model (Flashback; Cameo); Buzz Baxter (Flashback; Cameo)
Synopsis Hellcat learns of the death of her mother, Dorthy Walker. Nighthawk's assets, including his penthouse apartment, are siezed by the IRS. The Defenders attend the funeral of Dorthy Walker and then move into her old house in the suburbs until they can find a better place to live.
Genre superhero
Script David Anthony Kraft (plot); Ed Hannigan (plot, script)
Pencils Don Perlin (breakdowns); Pablo Marcos (finished art)
Inks Pablo Marcos
Colors George Roussos
Letters Diana Albers
Notes Valkyrie in old costume on cover, restored by Clea at Hellcat's request for Patsy's mother's funeral. Story has a profanity panel which Don Perlin revealed was supposed to be an inter-office joke; In one of the panels of the story, there is a TV on in the background and a pink rabbit is holding up a box of cereal that says "SHIT" across the top. Perlin claims that he thought the guys in the office would get a kick out of it before they changed it, but nobody caught the vulgarity and the comic went to press. Jim Shooter, reportedly, found this far from funny and chewed Perlin out about it before Don pointed out that it made it past an assistant editor, an editor, a proof-reader and the editor-in-chief who are paid to catch stuff like that. The panel was not changed in the reprint in Essential Defenders.
Reprinted In Essential Defenders (Marvel, 2005 series) #4