Hot off the digital presses is this unlettered preview page from Daredevil #7 that Stephen Wacker just tweeted. About a month ago, he tweeted another pencilled page from the same issue.
In other news: Early Daredevil is so weird. I know, this is hardly news, but it’s been a while since I gave a scene or issue from decades past my standard treatment of gentle mocking so I thought I’d take another stab at Daredevil #2 (volume 1). Yes, I’ve looked at this issue, by Stan Lee and Joe Orlando, before (see Wacky power #2 – Daredevil lands a rocket and “Because I can’t just kill him” – Part 1), but since it’s easily one of – if not the most – ridiculous issues of Daredevil ever published there’s plenty to make fun of. So, take a look at this scene that covers a page and a half (click it to zoom in, click again to close it), and then let’s rip it to shreds. Come on, it’ll be fun!
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“We like to sexually harass people at our firm”
Yeah, I know, this was a different era, and Karen was office eye (and nose) candy, but you’d think Foggy would settle for something like “That’s a nice perfume you’re wearing” not “… and don’t ever change that craaazy perfume you’re wearing!” That’s crazy with three instances of the letter ‘a’ in it.
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“Also, we like to keep people waiting”
Seriously Foggy, you just opened up a law firm. Really, it was literally just last issue. You’re going to keep people waiting while you “finish some notes”? How much paper work do you have at this point? Are clients lining up at the door? Let the guy in, for crying out loud.
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Two pieces of wood will not magically fuse under pressure!
I don’t know what to make of what The Thing is doing to that door. First of all, breaking it is just plain rude. Putting it back together by lining up the broken pieces of wood and pushing on them really hard, that just makes my head hurt. What the hell! I’m from that country that likes to sell furniture you assemble yourself, and I can assure you that only works if you don’t actually break the pieces in half first. Stan Lee, I officially call shenanigans on this whole scene!
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“We’re sending the blind lawyer. Yes, the blind one!”
Yes, we know Matt has special abilities. However, neither Foggy nor any of the Fantastic Four do at this point. Even if they had known, and even given the obvious benefits Matt gets from his heightened senses, I can’t even fathom why he’d be the best person to “go to our headquarters and examine the place to make sure that it’s everything the lease says it is!” Handle the legal aspects of renewing a lease is one things, but actually physically check the place out? Please!
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Did Foggy just ask a completely redundant question…
…just so that The Thing could tell us about Reed Richards “electric eye watchdog”? Why, yes. Yes, he did. Because the completely natural question to ask when someone invites you to stop by their place is “But how will he get in?” I mean, there might be doors and stuff! How does anyone anywhere enter an office building without one of Reed Richard’s inventions keeping things running? The intercom had only been around for a few decades at this point.
Am I being mean? Maybe just a little. But it’s fun! Thanks for playing. 
5 comments
Bill says:
Nov 15, 2011
I got to number 3 and cracked up so hard I spit my drink. Thanks Christine, you owe me a computer.
Aaron K says:
Nov 15, 2011
Regarding #5: I think Foggy was concerned because Ben Grimm just said that he and the FF were leaving town right that moment and there would be no one to let Matt in. Who invites you to check out their place while they’re out of town, especially if your place has crazy and dangerous gadgets like, for example, a rocket ship?
themattmurdockchronicles says:
Nov 16, 2011
This issue is truly bonkers – it reads as if Stan just had no idea where to pitch Daredevil (after a very origin issue). A hero in search of cogent narrative, if ever there was one!
Christine says:
Nov 16, 2011
@Aaron: Oh wait, you’re right! I skimmed that part a bit too quickly. Of course, that actually makes point #4 much, much worse. He’s expected to compare the interior of a building (and are we talking the entire Baxter Building here?) and compare it to what the lease says WITHOUT ANYONE ELSE BEING THERE? I call shenaningans. Again. Still, I think an operation like the FF should have reception staff or something.
R.M. Hendershot says:
Nov 18, 2011
I seem to recall the FF had a robot receptionist for a while in the sixties, although I don’t know whether that was in place by the time this issue came out. But you’re dead-on with the wood-welding. That made my head hurt when I read reprints as a kid. My best guess at the time was that Foggy had a door made of very cheap plywood, infused with unstable molecules. New York’s probably full of those doors, right? That’s how the Thing got so much practice at welding wood …