After Engelhart left Defenders, Len Wein was writer for about 10 issues, most notable for adding Nighthawk to the roster, plus the story where Magneto got de-aged to an infant (which got him off when he stood trial for his crimes later, on the grounds this was a different Magneto). He was then replaced by Steve Gerber, who had a roughly 20-issue run that seems to be the one all Defenders' writers are judged against.
The Elf with a Gun being a popular part, that Gerber apparently intended to just be random, chaotic violence, rather than some big thing. There's also the Hulk possibly murdering a couple of hunters for killing "Bambi's mom." Which ultimately leads to a sequence where Chondu the Mystic's consciousness is trapped within the deer, while Chondu's brain is in Nighthawk's body, under the control of Jack Norris' consciousness, and Nighthawk's brain is floating in a bowl, going slowly mad.
Namor and the Silver Surfer are absent throughout, so the core roster is Dr. Strange, the Hulk, Valkyrie and Nighthawk. Or put differently, Dr. Strange and three children. Nighthawk's the rich kid who's never bothered to examine anything or think past the surface. Val isn't sure exactly who she is, and the Hulk is the biggest, strongest child in the world. Placid and helpful one moment, angry and lashing out at anyone who tells him "no" the next.
Beyond that, Gerber works in Hank Pym and Daimon Hellstrom off-and-on, and Luke Cage (who already showed up late in Wein's run) and the Red Guardian (world-class surgeon Tanya Belinksy, who I feel like Doc would have courted if this were written today) are constants for the last several issues. Which gives him the opportunity to explore different responses to societal issues, given Belinsky comes from the Soviet Union, and believes in collective responsibility and effort, and Cage has seen very little to suggest society is going to help him, and does his heroing on a cash basis.
And so the Defenders encounter racists, the need for prison reform, income inequality, housing discrimination, questions of individual rights and responsibilities versus the needs of society. And they are, of course, mostly ineffectual at combating these things outside an individual case basis. They're lucky if they can keep from getting hopelessly entangled in those problems, like Valkyrie helping incite a prison riot.
The drag on the run is the presence of Jack Norris, former husband of Barbara Norris, who makes up some part of Valkyrie. Jack seems to start thinking "Valkyrie" is just some weird phase Barbara's going through, and then switches to the notion it's like amnesia and she just needs the right jolt to remember and go back to being the woman he remembers. When he's not doing that, he's hanging around ostensibly as the audience (or perhaps writer) stand-in. Meaning he yells at the Defenders about how they're screwing up this thing, or not paying enough attention to this other thing he thinks is important.
I know comics bloggers prefer to rag on Terry Long as being some unholy abomination of a character. Not having read much Wolfman/Perez Titans I can't comment, but Jack Norris is just shrill and annoying. How he got away with this Peter Gyrich, pompous windbag act without getting thrown into orbit by the Hulk, I don't know. Credit to him for not giving up easy, but one of the high points was when I thought Nighthawk had gotten rid of the guy by paying him enough to get lost.
Sal Buscema's there to make the punching that happens occasionally to break up the talking look impressive. It seems a little strange to have an artist that excels at fight scenes where everybody's throwing haymakers on a title where the writer keeps emphasizing the limited utility of that fighting, but Buscema handles it fine.
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