Baffling billy clubs! In almost nine years of running this site, I still haven't got round to reviewing issue #1 of Daredevil. Bearing in mind he was one of the few super-heroes I could ever see myself being, due to him not being very impressive, this is a dread oversight.
So, here goes.
The denizens of the criminal underworld are having a nice old card game when a costumed hero with no dress sense appears and demands to see their boss The Fixer.
They don't like the sound of it and have a fight with him, which they lose.
We then get this new hero's backstory. He's Matt Murdock, son of habitually down-the-pan boxer Battling Murdock.
Despite having been blinded by a freak radiation accident, after pushing a blind man out of the way of a lorry, Matt sets out to get revenge on The Fixer after the crook has his father killed in the wake of his greatest victory.
Consequently, Matt's created a costume for himself, adopted the name, "Daredevil," and intends to make good use of the heightened senses the radiation has bestowed upon him.
The flashback over and done with, The Fixer dutifully shows up and his men have another fight with Daredevil, which they also lose.
At this point, The Fixer decides discretion is the better part of cowardice and flees somewhat slowly.
Not one to be deterred by someone fleeing slowly, Daredevil pursues him to a subway station where he proceeds to give him a heart attack before tricking a confession out of his man Slade, for the benefit of a couple of handily placed police officers.
And that's it, the end of Daredevil's first, somewhat low-key, adventure.
But, of course, as he stands in his office and contemplates a job well done, Matt Murdock vows that the world has not seen the last of the man without fear.
Why it's not seen the last of the man without fear, I've no idea. He's got his revenge. Wouldn't this be a good time to retire? Now you can see why I'm not a super-hero. I wouldn't carry on fighting once I'd got my revenge.
The first thing I have to say is this tale looks a lot better than I remember.
That's mostly because the version I grew up on was the one in Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, which looked like it'd been reproduced with a 1970s school photocopier and then attacked by a budgerigar that had just spent three days rolling around in ink. Once free of such reproductive failings, the artwork still doesn't look sensational but it does at least look clearer and cleaner and does have a certain retro style to it.
And that retro style is the main thing that strikes me about the tale. It really doesn't look or read like a Silver Age Marvel comic. It feels much more like a Golden Age DC comic.
Perhaps that shouldn't be such a surprise, as its artist Bill Everett was a Golden Age veteran and Stan Lee always claimed DD's creation was partially inspired by the 1940s character of the same name. It does, however, make the tale an interesting curiosity.
Overall, it's a simple, functional story that does its job of introducing both its hero and his alter-ego, while also introducing us smoothly to Matt's sidekicks Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. It doesn't quite have the verve or eccentricity of some of the other Marvel origins but it does its job without fuss and Daredevil's powers are quite appealing.
Other points I feel I should make:
I do seem to be the only person alive who prefers Daredevil's original costume to his later one.
It does seem a strange lapse that the location The Fixer operates from is called Fogwell's Gym and Matt's best friend and business partner is called Foggy, creating the impression that the two are in some way connected. Possibly, the ever-busy Stan was not putting enough thought into naming things in this tale.
Karen Page seems to be permanently randy. In her every appearance in this issue, she never shuts up about her desire for Matt Murdock. Needless to say, the trademark Stan Lee love triangle is already set up by the end of the tale.
It's a source of endless wonder that the bad guy's a dodgy boxing promoter called The Fixer. I'm no expert on the fight game but how on Earth does a man called The Fixer get a promoter's license? Does his name not constitute a slight warning to the authorities? For that matter, who are the sad muppets who actually decide to bet on his fights?
The internet's always informed me that, due to Bill Everett's various problems, the artwork was added to and amended by pretty much anyone who happened to walk into the Marvel office that week, including Steve Ditko. Perusing the pages, I really can't see any sign of anything that looks like the handiwork of Ditko, although the panel that shows Matt's nose, up-close, as his sense of smell is being explained does look like the work of Wally Wood. Whether it really is the work of Wally Wood, I could not say.
Matt Murdock adopts the name, "Daredevil," as his secret identity because that's what everyone who knew him when he was a kid called him. I'm not sure Matt quite gets the idea of a secret identity. Aren't you supposed to choose a name that everyone doesn't know you by?
Presumably the people who gave The Fixer his license are the same people who license trucks packed with loose barrels of radiation to drive around the centre of New York and don't even bother to check their brakes first.
Yeah, Steve, count me in as one who favors the all-reds over the red & yellows.
ReplyDeleteWhat, no ninjas Steve?
ReplyDeleteI've never actually read the first issue, but it seems like it must be a fairly poor intro to Daredevil and his origin if you didn't even mention Elektra in your review.
-sean
KD, I've always liked the combination of red and yellow, plus the buttons on his boots and gloves. Also, the somewhat home-made look the original costume had.
ReplyDeleteSean, tragically, Elektra and ninjas were nowhere to be seen.
Well, Daredevil was blind, maybe he didn't know he was running around in a bright yellow leotard.
ReplyDelete"What?! I thought it was black the whole time!! Why didn't anybody say anything!!!
F!@#&%*'s! I'm blind! Throw me a bone here, people!"
M.P.
Funny... I always thought Marvel decided to do a sort of horizontal color split, as compared to Lev Gleason's DD which had a vertical blue/red uniform split to avoid copyright issues (though I don't know if anyone was bothering with the LG DD copyright at that time).
ReplyDeleteTell you the truth, when I was looking at the posting this afternoon on the phone, I thought the drawing of Matt's back was Ditko. Just seemed like it, but can't say why. Perhaps b/c Matt is not really defined muscularly?
M.P., yeah, I always thought the original costume was a bit of a giveaway that Daredevil was blind too. (Don't even get me started on his '90s armoured costume...)
ReplyDeleteBtw, if you haven't read it, sounds like you might appreciate the old Marvel UK four pager posted at -
www.xrayspex.blogspot.com/2008/03/alan-moore-spoofs-frank-miller.html
-sean
Man -I'm stuck at home due to a blizzard (not to worry b/c it will drop to perhaps as low as -50 F the next few days! Yea!)
ReplyDeleteListening to UK radio while I work... They keep warning about food shortages saying the UK imports much / most of it's food? Do you guys anticipate food riots and stuff? I mean, like are the shelves being cleaned out as I type?
PS - if you run out of TP, consider silver age DC!
Charlie, I was at my local supermarket earlier today and the shelves had certainly not been cleared out.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what happens the day after Brexit, no one has a clue. It would be true to say that everything is as clear as mud.
Gleason's golden-age Daredevil had a cool costume. Two-tone, full-face mask with a spiky belt,I believe.
ReplyDeleteAnybody remember the gang of kids in his book, and if they had a name they went by?
Guess I can Google it.
If you needed to wipe your butt with silver or bronze-age comics, DC would be the way to go. Your cheeks would look like Silly Putty after a go at the newspaper funnies if you used Marvel.
Golden-age Daredevil's kid gang were called the Little Wise-Guys.
ReplyDeleteI found a small pile of golden-age comics in an abandoned house when I was 13 yrs old. Neat little find. Daredevil, Black Terror, Smiling Jack, Wings & Startling Comics, etc.
I'll have to look for a collected edition of Gleason's Daredevil. Also Black Terror. He had a cool costume and was a fun read.
KD - The Little Wise Guys rock the house, as did their pal Daredevil. It's strange that DD only lasted 50 out of like 150 issues of "Daredevil and the Little Wise Guys." His costume was the bomb, for sure. And it takes a good hunk of time to read those things! Lots of plot!
ReplyDeletethe LG DD was brought back over the past few years but they have to call him the Fork Tailed Devil or something (I forget). he can't talk either, or they will face the wrath of a Marvel lawsuit.
Truly, both DC and Marvel are a couple of b-plugs. DC sued Fawcett out of business claiming Cpt Marvel copyrighted Supes... b/c he had a cape, among other things. (That's why Marvel shied away from capes, I understand.)
And then Marvel forces DC to call Cpt Marvel "SHazam" and the other guys to call Daredevil the "Fork Devil" or something.
Really... can't they just let us comic kids have our fun without letting business get in the way?
It was always a smart idea when we were young, not to let the adults know we were having fun. If they thought we were having too much, they seemed to want to put a stop to it.
ReplyDeleteStan Lee was a sneaky guy, getting his mitts on the Captain Marvel name while it was legally up for grabs. I think they kinda cobbled together the Mar-vell character pretty quickly to take advantage of the situation. The character became more complicated and complex later under Starlin, but there wasn't much to the guy at first. Basically just a space guy with a jet pack and a ray gun. Adam Strange, Buck Rogers type of dude. Lotta them flyin' around back then. Marvel Comics just wanted to get something published fast and get the legal control of the name, for obvious reasons.
ReplyDeleteM.P.
KD - If we were having too much fun, my old man, uncles, et al. would join in! Which would ruin it, often enough, LOL.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, the LG Daredevil has a few different names these days - he's the Death-Defying Devil in Dynamite's Project Superpowers - since because of lapsed copyright the character is in the public domain.
ReplyDeleteYou could publish your own DD comic if you wanted, although you'd have to come up with some variation on the name or expect Marvel's lawyers to get in touch.
Funny how that works, what with the Marvel DD created afterwards - I suppose thats trademarks and the power of money for you (see the Marvelman/Miracleman legal saga).
-sean
Sean, KD - What are your thoughts on the viability of "The Little Wise Guys and 'Buddy'" Buddy would be DD. But since we can't use DD we would call him Buddy?
ReplyDeleteHey Buddy!
What's going on Buddy?
Buddy can you help us rescue Scarecrow? He has been cast among the sodomites and ain't happy with it.
I think in Kevin Smith's film "Dogma" George Carlin played a priest and introduced "Buddy Jesus" as a marketing tool.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could call DD "Buddy Devil" or "Buddy Satan". Lol.
UK Gents - Quick one… Help ole Charlie out!!!
ReplyDeleteI’m listening to Talk Sport (what else does one do when it is - 22 F in Chi-town???) and they are interviewing a former soccer player from the UK. The player says, “I grabbed me boy and me ball and we went for a kick.”
The use of “me”…
Is that simply a charming affectation used by certain parts of the UK, like southerners in the USA say ‘Y’all” as in “How y’all doin?”
Is it simply lazy, poor English like certain demographics here might say, “We be going to the store.” Or "He be a dumb ass."
Is it perfectly fine and, though not "high” English, is perfectly acceptable among friends, family, et al… in friendly settings?
Thanks!
It's very common for people in England to say, "Me," instead of, "My." It's just an alternative way of pronouncing, "My," and is down to the speaker's accent. It's most common in northern England and the midlands, although I think it happens in parts of the south too. I think it's also fairly common in Ireland, although others might be better placed to confirm or deny that.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a working class thing. I can't imagine anyone posh ever saying it, except ironically.