Defenders. Book 1

The comic consists of two plot stories telling about the activities of four operatives of the secret agency "Patriot" during the Cold War . The first of them is called "The most extreme north", the second - "New Earth". In both stories, the scriptwriter was Andrei Gavrilov, who worked in this capacity and on the film. ^[2]

Far North

The Moldovan artist-illustrator Alexander Daliev worked on the pictorial part of the comic book ^[3] . The plot tells about a test German prisoner of war, who entered the program to create a Soviet super-soldier . Over time, a new super-soldier named Gletcher betrayed his new leadership and went on the run, becoming a terrorist - supervillain . The four main characters are given the task to deal with the renegade and his terrorist threats.

New Earth

In the story “New Earth”, Rafael Ter-Stepanov was responsible for the drawing, and Alexander Malyshev ^[3] acted as a colorist. According to the plot, the four main characters are sent to the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. According to the data, as a result of numerous tests of nuclear bombs on the archipelago and the surrounding area, animals began to mutate. Heroes have to conduct reconnaissance and report on their successes to management.

Even before the release of the film Defenders Sarik Andreasyan announced that related products in the form of comics, books and merchandise will be released ^{[4] [5] [6]} .

The comic book received mixed reviews from critics.

Many editions of the comic book Defenders. Book 1 ”reacted with negative criticism to the cover of authorship of Ter-Stepanov and Malyshev, saying the disproportionality of some characters, problems with the composition of the picture and copying the image of a winged man from Marvel comics ^[7] . The Life portal was critical of the image of zombies in the form of Soviet soldiers, believing that it was insulting. The editor-in-chief of the Bubble comic book publishing house, Roman Kotkov, said that the cover was not made at the same level that people in Russia are accustomed to, also noting that such an artist as Rafael Ter-Stepanov can draw in better quality ^[8] . Comic book cover received positive criticism in reviews from DARKER magazine ^[9] and the Sork Blog site ^[10]

The New Earth story has received much more positive criticism. The work on the comic strip by Rafael Ter-Stepanov and the colorist Alexander Malyshev ^{[10] [9] [11] [12]} was appreciated.