Just the other day, Kirk Warren at The Weekly Crisis mentioned that he’d bought the name spiderfail.org after seeing it mentioned in Amazing Spider-Man #601 (there’s already a site up, and it’s funny!). All the Spider-Man talk inspired me to put together today’s post since it was one I had planned in the back of my mind anyway.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #27 is included in the Miller Daredevil Omnibus Companion and actually marks the first time he pencilled Daredevil who is the guest star of the two-parter “The Blind Leading the Blind.” The story is written by Bill Mantlo. I wish I could say that it’s a great story, but I must admit that the whole thing is pretty bizarre. I guess the concept is okay (the Masked Marauder blinds Spider-Man with his blinding ray and Daredevil has to help him out), but the delivery is characterized by amateurish pop psychology and Spider-Man going batshit insane. Of course, that also makes it pretty funny in ways that I don’t think were intentional. Let’s have a look…

Below (click to enlarge) is page two of this story which begins when Daredevil shows up at the scene to help a wildly out of control Spider-Man who’s just told him that he’s gone blind. Good of the Masked Marauder (also known as a former landlord of Nelson & Murdock’s) to use his blinding technology on someone who isn’t already blind though, don’t you think? Daredevil is doing his best to help out without going so far as to reveal that his is blind himself. Spidey, meanwhile isn’t being particularly co-operative…

“He can’t stand being handicapped! He’s got to prove to himself that he can cope! But he’s swinging in too low an arc!,” Daredevil thinks to himself at Spidey’s questionable decision to simply pretend that he’s not blind and just swing along anyway. Remember the stages of grief from high school psychology? Well, this must be the denial phase, mixed up with the anger that leads to one of those contrived hero vs hero fights on page four, when Daredevil finally catches up with Spider-Man…

This is the part where Peter goes into full tantrum mode. Sure, it’s reasonable to think that he’d be upset at the thought of being blind permanently, but these scenes feel as over-acted as a low budget Mexican soap opera. When Spidey starts taking it out on the bricks in the panel below, it’s clear that he’s completely lost it. I conjure up the image of a five-year-old kid punching the shit out of his teddy bear while crying and blowing one of those disgusting snot bubbles out of his nose. (Gross, I know, put a mask over it and it’s even worse.)

Thankfully, for Spider-Man and reader alike, Daredevil manages to talk some sense into him and takes him to the doctor…

This scene cracks me up for a different reason: the doctor saying “You sound as if you’ve had scientific training, my boy! If so, you are aware of the risks that such a severe neuro-shock entails!” Ha ha ha… Yeah, that one gave me quite a chuckle. Why? Well, I wonder which of the following words gave away young Peter’s scientific genius status: “Opti-blast,” “ray,” “paralyze” or “optic nerve.” Oh, wait, it was “Opti-blast” wasn’t it? I’ve had some scientific training myself and I must admit that even my sizable scientific vocabulary doesn’t include that one.

As is indicated in the last panel, Peter quickly recovers his sight and all is well. As for this issue, I think the whole concept of Daredevil helping out a blinded Spider-Man would have been much more interesting if the story had taken place after Peter learned of Daredevil’s secret identity, in which case DD’s role could have been something a little more meaningful than avoiding Spidey’s wild thrashing and going “there, there, you’ll be all better soon.”