A blog devoted to the Marvel superhero Daredevil
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Yes, it’s time for one of those radar posts again, and we will finally be moving into post-Miller territory, and covering the Daredevil of Denny O’Neil. As we’ll see, there are a couple of noteworthy things about O’Neil’s interpretation of the radar, so let’s get on with the show and tell…
Radar image, from Daredevil #195, by Denny O'Neil and Klaus Janson
(Much) more radar goodnes under the cut –>
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While I always tend to write about things I want to write about on this blog (with the odd exception of some mandatory news reporting), this series of posts – more so than others perhaps – is one I’m putting together knowing that many of you might find it a bit anal. Not all of you – judging by the decent number of people who land on this blog after searching for “Daredevil radar sense” on Google – but probably a majority. And yet, I keep at it. Call it self-indulgence or the simple curiosity to try to understand how writers and artists imagine Daredevil’s most exotic trait, his unique window on the world.
In the last post of this series, I quoted an excerpt from an old Miller interview where he was able to talk about his take on the radar sense, putting words to the ambiguity I know many fans, and presumably a fair share of writers, feel about the radar. I’ve seen some people refer to it as a cop-out, and I’ve seen others who have wanted to see it removed altogether and replaced with something more subtle. What I think Miller was striving for with his talk of a “proximity sense” was to portray the radar sense as something that performs some of the functions of vision, while also being something quite different. He also added his own take on the origin of the sense, seeing it as an innate ability that could be unleashed, or possibly enhanced, but a far cry from Stan Lee’s all-purpose radio-transmitter and antenna set-up. An ability brought out by radioactivity and mysticism while also being rooted in human biology.
Below, I’ll just post some panels that highlight Miller’s take on the radar sense, offering some brief comments when necessary. Feel fee to provide your own comments on how you view Miller’s work in this regard, and how you’d like to see Daredevil’s radar sense portrayed. All panels below are written and penciled by Frank Miller, except Daredevil #185 (penciled by Klaus Jansen) and Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1 (penciled by John Romita Jr).
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Well, there’s been a lot of things going on lately. Andy Diggle was announced as the next Daredevil writer, and I gave the site a big make-over. While the former is undeniably much more newsworthy, I must say I’m feeling good about the new look, which took a few hours to put together. The new background, as you may have noticed, is taken from Djurdjevic’s Daredevil #500 cover.
Alas, I thought we’d take a trip back in time again and continue our little exploration of Daredevil’s “uncanny” radar sense. We’ve now reached Frank Miller’s work on the title which means that there will be plenty to talk about. That’s why I’ve decided to divide this post into two parts. We won’t be looking at any panels this time, instead I will post what Frank Miller had to say about Daredevil’s radar and senses generally in an interview by Dwight Decker for issue #70 of The Comics Journal (January 1982). In my next radar post, we’ll look at how Franks intentions played out on the page.
Below is a small excerpt from a much longer interview, but if the copyright holder (hi there!) feels this goes beyond fair use, let me know and I’ll take it down.
TCJ:I’d like to discuss the extent of Daredevil’s powers. In one of the issues scripted by Roger McKenzie, Matt Murdock was shown hearing the Hulk’s heartbeat from four blocks away.
MILLER: That’s pretty extreme. When I started writing the book, I sat down and defined for myself exactly the parameters of his powers. I think he has the potential of being very believable. The way to make him credible is to have his powers be extraordinary enough to be exciting, but not on par with Superman. One of the things I’ve done recently is revamp that radar sense of his to make the images he receives less distinct. I want it to resemble the “proximity” sense that some martial artists claim to have, where they can detect movement, form and location, but they don’t get pictures. I’m not fond of the radar sense in the first place. I haven’t given myself the opportunity to explore it very much.
TCJ: Something that has bothered me in rereading back issues is how Daredevil explains to himself how he senses things – for the readers benefit, naturally, since he shouldn’t have to do that any more than you or I explain to ourselves how we see. Some of the explanations make him sound almost horrifyingly limited in his senses. In one issue, the Unholy Three are carrying him over a rope stretched between buildings, and Daredevil thinks to himself, “I smell hemp – we must be on a rope!” He should know where he is almost instinctively, but this sort of explanation makes him sound … well, blind.
MILLER: Except that the appeal of the character in his earliest version was that we saw what was happening with our eyes, and he added dimension and depth to the panel by describing the sounds and smells. Also, because he’s blind, he’s just barely getting by. I find Superman to be a very boring character because I never believe he’s really in danger. Bullets bounce off of him. But somebody who could actually have trouble getting through rush-hour traffic interests me a great deal.
TCJ: Yes, but for him to be a superhero?
MILLER: Yeah! That makes him all the more heroic. Of course, the job is to make that believable.
TCJ: He can read because his fingers are super-sensitive and he can feel the ink impressions on a page – although I could never understand how he could do that through his glove.
MILLER: He doesn’t do it through his glove. Not when I do it. He takes his glove off now.
TCJ: He has a sense of space, of course. You spoke of a proximity sense; he would be able to sense objects around him.
MILLER: The way I see it, he’s aware of the general shape of things around him and how far away he is from other things. Particularly with people, he’s got a million ways of telling where they are: His hearing alone tells him not only where someone is, but how fast their heart is beating, how fast they’re breathing – which is a good indication of their emotional state.
Source: Page 19 of The Comics Journal Library, Volume 2: Frank Miller
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Well, it’s time for part three of my insane quest to chronicle the radar sense. Why the radar sense, one might ask? Well, it’s the only one of Daredevil’s senses which doesn’t have a real-world counterpart in human physiology. His other senses are just heightened, but the radar sense requires that writers and artists actually try to figure out what it is and what it does and how it does it. It’s also a challenge for artists to try to render Daredevil’s monochrome “shape world” in two dimensions.
In the first part of this series, we looked at the very first incarnation of the radar sense and what happened when Stan Lee & Co. tried to reimagine it as something a little more powerful. In the second part, we looked at the rest of the sixties through Roy Thomas’ run, and here we’ll be looking at the entire seventies up until Frank Miller came onboard. In the next installment, I’ll start with the issues where he was the pencillier and McKenzie was the writer so this post will only cover the beginning of Roger McKenzie’s run.
Early on, the radar seemed to be here there and everywhere, but it stabilizes somewhat during the 70’s. That’s not to say that it’s perfectly consistent or doesn’t occasionally defy logic, but there is something of a steady pattern emerging. Below you’ll see more than twenty samples of writers and artists doing various things with the radar sense while offering the rest of us some insight in to how they, as Daredevil creators, imagine it.
Below is an excerpt from Daredevil #76, by Gerry Conway, with art by Gene Colan. The nineteen-year-old Conway’s writing was often on the verbose and slightly pretentious side (if you ask me), and here he has Matt once again wallowing in whatever his problem was this particular issue. We also learn that he “sees” in the “dusk red mind-colors of [his] radar senses.” Note that Conway talks about radar senses in the plural, at practice that creeps up from time to time.
In Daredevil #80, by the same creators, we once again see red, as DD describes an approaching helicopter as a blotch of churning red. One has to wonder where this idea comes from, though I suspect that more than one writer has actually imagined the radar sense appearing as it would on a radar screen or something like that. And, yeah, this is some pretty strange inner monologue, if you ask me.
Below is an excerpt from the letters’ page of Daredvil #80. This was included here to 1) prove that I’m not the only radar geek and 2) show that the Marvel people seem a little sketchy on the whole idea of the radar sense. I’m imagining them just throwing their hands up in the air and going “heck, we don’t know, stop writing!”
“Dear Stan, Gerry and Gene,
I am writing this letter in reference to Daredevil’s superhuman powers. This is my second letter to Marvel, and I’m gonna keep doin’ it ’till I get it right! To be specific, this letter is about DD’s radar sense. I suspect that Daredevil is incorrect in assuming that it is truly radar. I have an idea that what he really has is sonar.
Reason #1: In many issues of DAREDEVIL, we find Matthew thinking (wishfully) about how a loud noise can temporarily “short out” his radar sense. I, for one, don’t see how a noise can interfere with radio waves (which, as if you didn’t know, is what radar depends upon). However, such a noise could interfere with a sonar system (which operates on sound), causing DD’s ears to send a warped picture to his brain.
Reason #2: If Daredevil really does have sonar, as I suspect, his highly developed hearing system would be branched from it, as it must be present to receive the sound waves necessary to sonar.
With the above statements in mind, I ask for my second no-prize, on the grounds that I have found a large mistake (see reason #1).
So, until John Romita returns to Daredevil, Make Mine Marvel (even when Johnny returns (if he returns), I’ll still hang around so don’t worry)!!!”
Below are panels from Daredevil #81, by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan. This scene is not only Daredevil and the Black Widow’s first encounter, it’s also a nice take on the radar sense from the artist’s point of view. What I like about this is that it gives a sense of three-dimensional perception, and is a step up from the contours – or outlines – we’ve been used to seeing. I’ll save my own thoughts on how I personally imagine the radar sense for when I sum up this series (probably about four or five installments from now), but this comes pretty close for me.
Daredevil #83, once again by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan. Here, we are definitely talking about advanced echolocation, and not radiowaves. Below this first panel is another example from the same issue, where movement is described as being perceived as touch.
In Daredevil #85, below, we’re back to a more boring rendition of the radar, though it’s probably easier to draw.
In Daredevil #86, below, we see a clear example that supports my argument that the radar sense has never been clearly defined. Or, if it has, that this is not the kind of information that gets passed down from editorial or from one writer to the next. Radiation doesn’t interfere with radiowaves. Nor does it interefere with sound waves (just a few issues ago, we were talking about echolocation, remember?). There is, of course, the half-baked idea that since the changes Matt’s body underwent at the time of his accident were caused by radiation, this should affect his future encounters with it. That idea is, as I mentioned, half-baked. Or not baked at all, really.
Below is an interesting panel from Daredevil #87, featuring Matt getting some extra information by tapping his cane. Hmm, did I just exhonerate the movie radar? Oh, and that’s definitely getting it’s own post, by the way.
Here’s a leap forward to Daredevil #96 – still Gerry Conway – which offers another artistic rendition of the radar along with some narrative describing the radar impressions as “vague and ill-defined.”
In the next issue, the same artistic technique is still used. We also have the “too many figures jamming my radar sense” going on. This is a recurring factor throughout the history of the comic.
Strange things tend to happen when you have writers come onboard for one or two issues. This can be seen below in, issue #102, written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by Syd Shores, where we are back to Stan Lee-style x-ray vision. Note the cute concentrated rings coming from DD’s head.
Below, we’re back with Steve Gerber in issue #104, pencilled by Don Heck, and Matt is losing Natasha in the crowd due to noise. If you follow Francesco’s blog, you might recognize the “keep screaming!” set-up from a much earlier issue, though there wasn’t an unusual noise level to explain his difficulties that time.
Oh, come on! 
You know how DD’s radar can sometimes penetrate solid objects? While I find that a little silly, the idea that a gas cloud would present an obstacle is just as silly. Below is a panel from #109, by Steve Gerber. Bob Brown did the pencilling.
In the next issue, #110, Gene Colan is reunited with Steve Gerber. We also see Daredevil dealing with the nightmare combination of both too much noise and too many moving shapes. Once again, we have a very confused radar sense.
The panel below is included due to what I think is a very nicely drawn radar image of DD’s attacker. We also have a subtle example of what has become the standard “now I hear it, and NOW my radar is picking it up.” This is Steve Gerber and Bob Brown in Daredevil #111.
Below, in issue #119, we have another case of “guest-writeritis” in the radar department. One would be inclined to blame the artist for this odd take on the radar (some weird beam coming from his eyes?), if it weren’t for the fact that this is Bob Brown doing the pencilling and he was hardly that much of a newbie (it was his ninth issue). So, I’m pinning this on the writer, Tony Isabella.
In issue #123, below, Tony Isabella is getting warmed up, and maybe I shouldn’t be calling him a guest writer at all considering he did a five-issue stretch, ending with this issue. Bob Brown is the penciller here and gives us a nice coming to scene.
Below, we have Marv Wolfman on writing duties. The issue is Daredevil #127 and Bob Brown is doing the pencilling again. Included here, due to the odd art choice of having the radar rings circle around an incoming fist. There is also no mention of the radar sense here in DD’s monologue.
Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown team up again in Daredevil #132, below. Daredevil is confused, once again, and we see more smoke. Certainly, the crowd looks wild enough in and of itself, but I doubt the smoke would do much except maybe cover people’s scents. And DD appears to have grown a second head…
Later in the same issue, there’s more confusion. Although I think that maybe it’s Marv who’s confused since we have Matt hearing things with his radar sense. Unless it actually is based on hearing after all. We’re looking at more than ten years of publication history here and we’re no closer to any kind of definitive answer here, are we?
Below, in issue #141 (Marv Wolfman + Bob Brown), we have Daredevil getting caught in the rain, literally. This isn’t the only time he complains about the weather, but here he actually explains why in the panel following this one (click HERE to see it, the shape of it didn’t make for a seamless inclusion in this post), where he says: “I’m in for a fight! This drizzle is playing just enough havoc with my radar-sense and ultra-sensitive hearing so that the fact that he can see and I can’t could give him the edge!” What’s interesting is that we’re back to his hearing and radar being separate senses here. Writing the radar consistently obviously isn’t easy.
Here, in the same issue, Marv Wolfman tackles one of the mysteries of Daredevil’s radar sense, i.e. evading bullets. Of course, why radar should be better than vision at reading someone’s movements I’m not sure I get (though being able to do it without “looking” is a nice perk). I prefer to chalk this ability up to insanely fast reflexes, personally. 
The next issue sees Daredevil strapped to a huge arrow heading for the New Jersey Palisades. “Doesn’t take much to bounce my radar off whatever I’m rushing at.” Does this suggest that Marv Wolfman, at least, imagines the radar as a transmitter to actively be turned on? Who knows?
Roger McKenzie gives us an example of that third well-known radar disruptor: pain. The panels below are from issue #153 with art by Gene Colan. The blurring image in this case is shown as DD “seeing” double.
Well, I’ll get back to this issue, looking specifically at Frank Miller’s work, in the next installment. Thanks for reading!
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Well, it’s been a while since the first installment of this series, that looks at how Daredevil’s consistently hard to pin down radar sense has been imagined over the years. With this chapter, we cover issues from the early teens all the way through Roy Thomas’s run, using relatively few panels. Because after the first year and a half of issues of the book, the radar sense seemed to more or less stabilize in how it was depicted, while also largely being absent from the art. There were no “radar rings” for most of Gene Colan’s time as a penciller on the book.
Let’s start with issue #13 (pencilers are Jack Kirby and John Romita) where Daredevil has just lost his powers for the first, but certainly not the last, time. Below, he feels his powers returning and apparently it comes with a tingling sensation. I decided to include this panel becuause the “tingling” here goes back to the original radar sense in Daredevil #1.
A few pages later and the radar sense is back in full swing, as pictured below. There are no radar rings this time, but a faithfully rendered image of Ka-Zar, detailed enough to let DD think to himself “I can ’see’ Ka-Zar rushing to attack me as clearly as if I were truly sighted!” The art below was, of course, yet another take by the artist trying to figure out how to draw the radar sense. In later issues, as we’ll see, the radar goes back do dealing mostly in rough outline.
Below is a sequence from Daredevil #14 (art by John Romita) that demonstrates the radar’s “on again, off again” status as a power, and I’m not sure Stan Lee was really sure what to do with it at this point. As a contrast to the picture perfect image of Ka-Zar, above, DD here decides to just go by the sound of the engine. I have to love his thoughts here: “Lucklily, the high-powered engine is roaring so loud that I wouldn’t be able to miss it even if I had normal hearing!” You’re probably right, Matt. Hearing a car from thirty feet away shouldn’t be a challenge, but go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back.
Below is a panel from Daredevil #15 (art by John Romita), once again showing the ability of the “uncanny” radar sense to also become X-ray vision. It is interesting to note the sequence of events though, the radar sense presumably coming into play only after the other senses have been tapped for information.
Another panel from Daredevil #15 shows how laughably easy it can be to take Daredevil out when you know how to do it. Going up against the Ox, the radar sense it taken out by, you got it, the shrill sound of a woman’s voice.
“In the next split-second, Karen Page shouts a warning to Daredevil in an effort to help him — little dreaming that the shrill sound of her cry momentarily blanks out the masked adventurer’s radar sense, giving his huge opponent the needed advantage!”
Below is a panel from Daredevil #17 (art by John Romita), included here because it contains a direct reference to the sharpness of the radar (which, quite seriously, has gone up and down depending on the demands of the plotline ever since it was first conjured up). On the other hand, it is an interesting admission on behalf of Stan “I can do everything better than a sighted man” Lee that Matt himself doesn’t consider his radar sense to be as acute as normal vision.
Okay, I admit it, this one (below) probably belongs in another category, possibly in Wacky powers because it’s just that goofy. Daredevil is seen here, in issue 22 (art by Gene Colan), prowling the rooftops of Manhattan looking for the Owl, and thinking to himself: “Wherever the Owl may be holed-up, I’m pretty sure of one thing… He’s nowhere in this vicinity of New York! My radar sense could hardly miss his powerful birdlike emanations!” “Birdlike emanations,” huh? Oh well, I’m sure that made some kind of sense when they wrote it.
Before making a huge leap and skipping about fifteen issues, in which nothing radar-related of any particular interest happens, here’s a look at issue #30 (art by Gene Colan) where Matt is impersonating Thor. That’s right. That’s not Thor. That’s Matt pretending to be Mike being Daredevil dressed as Thor. From his thoughts we gather that he is not a big fan of capes, and that his decision to go without is not just based on an impeccable sense of taste: “Too bad I have to wear the nutty cape! By fluttering this way, it muffles some of the sound vibrations that guide me!”
This and a handful of other sources is what I would point to in arguing that the radar sense has never been definitively defined, as the radar is indirectly described as sound-based in this panel and sounds more like classic echo-location.
The radar rings return! After having been absent for about three years of publication, the rings are back in issue #41 (below, with art by Gene Colan).
I have to love this full page below, from Daredevil #45 (art by Gene Colan). Why? Because it actually makes sense. Stan Lee appears to have really put some thought into this, for once. First of all, I’ve never been a fan of the radar sense penetrating solid objects. I think it’s counter-intuitive, something of a cheat and completely unnecessary. It’s not that actual radio waves don’t go through walls and the like. They do. However, the also go through people. If the idea of the radar is that you get information about things around you by perceiving an echo (be it electromagnetic, sound-based or something else), then having the signal go through a wall, reflect off of something and then go back through the same wall just strikes me as goofy. Here Stan Lee does what actually makes sense, he lets Matt gather information about what’s in an adjacent room by utilizing a sound, in this case of the door opening, to figure this out. This actually would work. Thank you Stan for making sense!
“It’s empty, but judging by the sound of the door opening, there’s another room behind it! Having a built in sonar sense can be mighty handy at a time like this!”
Damn it, Stan. You were doing so well. “Something about his electronic circuits must be deadening my radar sense!” Huh? By what mechanism? The panel below is from issue #50, Stan’s last issue as a writer, art by Barry Windsor-Smith.
The story of Starr Saxon’s “plastoid robot,” also featured in the post Death by gym equipment continued in issue #51 with Roy Thomas as the writer and Barry Windsor-Smith as the artist. I’ve noticed that whenever a new writer comes on board, or when there is a one issue guest writer, Daredevil’s powers tend to take strange quantum leaps in various directions. Below, we see Daredevil once again, gaining the ability to “see” the exact construction of a robot, in great detail (he accomplished a similar feat early during Stan Lee’s run). Don’t ask me how he knows what piece of micro-circuitry is actually the destruct mechanism.
Another panel from the same issue shows a new artistic take on the radar, though I suppose it might be an attempt to draw a headache. Here, Matt is beginning to suffer the first adverse effects of exposure to radiation and his radar and other heightened senses are slowly beginning to fail him. The mysterious man here is Starr Saxon who has just found out Daredevil’s secret identity.
The two panels below, from issues 58 and 63 respectively (art by Gene Colan), have been included here for featuring yet another artistic take on the radar sense where the image of DD and what he’s sensing (though this presumably includes input from all senses) are merged into one panel.
Ah, the gladiator saying hello… Nothing says “nice to see you” like a pair of spinning serrated blades aimed at your throat.
Well, that wraps up this chapter in the eclectic history of the radar sense. In the next installment, we’ll cover the entire seventies from Gerry Conway’s run through Roger McKenzie’s. Frank Miller will get his own chapter after that.
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As promised – though a little late – here’s the first of many looks at the portrayal of the radar sense. The “prologue” to this little series can be found in this post, so I’ll let the panels themselves do most of the talking here, and just inserting some comments along the way. Part of my motivation for doing this series stems from wanting to know the “best” way to imagine this sense, and that was also why I decided to ask DD fans some questions on the Man Without Fear website a few months ago. Judging from the answers I got, each fan seems to have his or her own interpretation and that seems to go for the writers as well.
Another point I wanted to make during that discussion was that the radar sense has not been clearly and unambiguously defined, and that’s a conclusion I stand by. As you’ll see, the radar sense has been based on different things, and had very different properties at various times. Neither one of my own questions, such as “Is the radar sense always ‘on’ or active?”, “Does its effective use require active attention?” or “What is its range?” can be answered definitively. The simple answer to all these questions is that it depends on the writer. That’s not to say that there aren’t some commonalities throughout the series or that some interpretations aren’t more common than others. Here, I’ll just present what it has been, and let each person make up his mind about what it should be. Okay, that was wordier than I had intended, so let’s get started!
Matt explains his radar sense, from Daredevil #1
This is the original explanation of the radar sense from way back in Daredevil #1. I’m not sure what Stan Lee really had in mind for it, but for this and the following issues it seems to be imagined as an entirely tactile sense with few, if any, visual properties.
Panel from Daredevil #3
The above is a panel from Daredevil #3 that not only tells us that Matt lost his sight at fifteen (I remember some of us wondering a while back how old he was in the original origin, as opposed to in Man Without Fear), but also that his radar sense tells him how far he is from a solid obstacle. The thing still seems to be “pinging” though…
Daredevil follows the Matador's actions, from Daredevil #5
Here we are in Daredevil #5, in which DD goes up against the Matador (villains and their themed costumes… *sigh*). DD is still relying exclusively on his other senses to deduce what’s going on…
… which is also evident in this later panel of him escorting the always lovely Karen Page to a costume party. A costume party seems like the perfect setting for the Matador, doesn’t it?
Later, at the same party, we see Matt using his radar sense for something a little more complicated, that is figuring out the Matador’s stance. His abilities seem a little less impressive in this next panel, however…
*sounds of tires screeching to a halt* Now wait a minute… Vibrating air fogs his radar sense? I’d hate to see this guy out on a windy day. So, by studying this and the next panel we learn that the easiest way to take DD out is to simply treat him like a bird by throwing a blanket on top of him…
So, I said I wouldn’t insert my own opinions (too late for that anyway, I suppose), but this is pretty funny. No wonder the writers decided that it was time for a little power upgrade. Although, when I say “little,” I mean huge. It happens gradually with his radar sense becoming more sight-like, as evidenced by the two panels from Daredevil #6. First we’ll cut to another image from Daredevil #5, however, as we take a look at the first definition of how the radar sense actually works…
“Normally, my radar sense goes out, hits objects around me, and bounces back, giving me a mental picture of my surroundings! But when there is too much movement and confusion all about me, the “picture” which comes back is garbled and distorted!”
“Noble-looking”? You’ve got quite an ego there, Murdock! (From Daredevil #6).
Here we see our favorite guy in red – uhm, yellow – picking up the contours of a light switch. His powers saw their most substantial upgrade in issue #8 however. If I may guess, I would imagine that this was part of the bigger overhaul of the character that came with the change in costume as well as the fact that his billy club was stuffed full of a ridiculous number of gadgets (to be discussed in full in a later post, of course).
Well, ladies and gentlemen, you are beholding a historic panel of comic book history – the very first appearance of the iconic radar rings emanating from DD’s head. As part of the “power upgrade,” he is using them to detect a time bomb under the hood. (From Daredevil #8).
Here, in Daredevil #9, we see Matt going to Lichtenbad (it’s not just bad – it’s Lichtenbad!) to meet with the famous eye surgeon Dr. Van Eyck. It would appear as if DD’s radar sense has actually turned into the Hubble telescope, considering he can pick up a walled city thousands of feet below.
Here, we also see the radar becoming X-ray vision. While DD retains the ability to “see” through solid objects to this day, it’s been a while since the ability was quite this extreme (or detailed).
This panel, from Daredevil #11, is included for a couple of reasons. It probably features the third or fourth variation in how the radar rings were drawn (I personally like that the “light” intensity tapers off the way it does here, which makes quite a bit of sense), and it also addresses at least two of my own original questions, namely whether the sense is always active and whether it requires active attention.
Well, that’s all the radar goodness I can muster for one post. This series will continue in a week or so, but before then there are plenty of other things to discuss. My next two reviews might have to wait until Monday since I have quite a bit of work to do this weekend, but I’ll definitely see you then!
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Anyone who knows me in DD-related circles is well aware of my fascination with Matt’s senses. Understanding his heightened senses is one thing – these should work like the ordinary senses of hearing, smell, touch and taste (though no one really cares that much about taste) with the exception of being heightened to levels far beyond normal human capacity. The radar sense is quite another, however, since it’s a separate sense that is unlike anything seen in nature (although bat-like echolocation might be pretty close). Consequently, the radar sense is open to all kinds of interpretations, and writers and artists have imagined it many different ways throughout the history of the book.
Rendering a non-visual – or “pseudo-visual” – sense that is analogous to vision in some ways, and not in others, presents a unique challenge to comic book creators. Even more so because the comic book medium is a very visual one. Aside from the nearly ubiquitous presence of the iconic “radar rings” drawn to represent waves emanating from Daredevil’s head, artists have illustrated the images created by the radar echo in various ways. The challenge lies in using color and contrast in rendering a sense where these two properties are lacking. Writers have also approached this task differently. Some writers (such as Gerry Conway, D.G. Chichester and others) have emphasized the crudeness of the radar sense, whereas others (Ann Nocenti immediately comes to mind) have portrayed it as being highly accurate. Many of the early writers seemed to simply adjust the power of the radar sense depending on the need of the situation at hand. When Daredevil’s de facto blindness became too inconvenient for a given situation, his powers (including the radar) were simply rewritten to solve the problem at hand regardless of how his senses had been presented in a previous issue or whether the “solution” made much logical sense.
Rather than inserting my own opinions about what makes sense to me (and again, people who know me know that I like to do this…), I’ll devote a series of posts to just looking at some examples of the radar sense in action in the pages of Daredevil, from 1964 until today. The very first chapter will look at how the radar sense was imagined initially. Many current readers who have not sampled Stan Lee’s first issues might be surprised to learn that the radar sense was not originally portrayed as a “visual” sense at all. The radar sense was radically re-imagined after about issue #7, however, and this “power upgrade” will also be examined in the first post. Join me then!
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Christine is a thirty something Daredevil fan from Sweden who spends way too much of her free time writing posts for this blog. Check the About page for contact information!
