Comments on: Jack Murdock – one of comics’ best dads

By: alice

alice — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:41:00 +0000

I have to add that just because a parent occasionally backhands a child, it certainly doesn’t constitute *abuse* in my eyes. My mother administered the occasional reprimand in a physical way a few times to me, but she was never abusive. Back to that old “spare the rod, spoil the child” theory, I guess.

We never saw any instance of Jack laying a hand on Matt until FM and then that awful Daredevil: Father mess. I don’t think even with that, Jack Murdock would be considered an abusive parent. Maybe in the current world of “you touch me and I’ll call Child Protective Services”, when kids think they have a right to abuse their PARENTS, but not in my line of thinking.

By: Gloria

Gloria — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:45:00 +0000

Back when I was a child, parents could love their children to bits, and yet drop the occasional slap in the face… Of course I didn’t like it! But I wouldn’t call it “child mistreatment” at large.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:02:00 +0000

Yeah, I think people might be thinking of Daredevil: Father (man, was that ever a big mess of a story). I agree, there is no indication whatsoever that Jack was abusive. He wasn’t a perfect person or parent, but his good points as a father probably outweighed the bad.

Matt’s whole “thing” as a superhero stems from having no tolerance for bullies and people who step on the defenseless and powerless. At the same time, he loved and respected his father, who quite obviously set a very different example and wasn’t viewed by Matt as a bully. That’s all the proof I need. If he was worthy of Matt’s love, he’s good enough for me.

By: Francesco

Francesco — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:38:00 +0000

It’s injust to label Jack Murdock as abusive just because he hit Matt in a significative occasion.
These guys probably know the story only superficially, and didn’t even know what the hell were they talking about.
The fact that Jack smacked Murdock on that occasion didn’t mean that he was constantly beating him up.

Certainly, Quesada’s recent miniseries didn’t help in this sense…