Hey there! Time got away from me, but it’s finally time to take a look at the first appearance of the Hand, in Daredevil #174 (published in 1981), written and penciled by the one and only Frank Miller. Let’s dive right in.
Elektra had been introduced a few issues earlier, but here we see her in Paris, running into her former associates when they go after the same target. Following them to their hide-out, she gives us a brief background on their common history…
In Paris, Elektra discovers some Hand ninjas
Description: Over three panels, Elektra is shown stalking a ninja and following him. The captions read: “A closer look confirms her suspicion. He is one of the Hand. The Hand… The same order of master assassins that her the many ways of murder before she broke training, to operate on her own. They are pledged to her death. But what are they doing here, in Paris, thousands of miles from their territory? She should not wonder. She should turn and run. She should flee this city, and never return. Yet, she follows…”
More of The Hand under the cut –>
Tagged as:
Character basics,
Daredevil vol 1 #151-200,
Frank Miller,
The Hand
Daredevil 191 cover
Nope, I didn’t consult the random number generator for this one. Daredevil #191 was reprinted in Daredevil #500, and while including old content might be considered padding (well, it is), this Frank Miller classic was a very good choice. In fact, Daredevil #191 may well be my favorite single issue of Daredevil, or at least in the top three.
For starters, the art makes me take notice in a way most issues do not. Unusual angles, perspectives and panel layouts combined with the generous use of negative space makes Roulette an interesting-looking issue. It provides sufficient detail while guiding the reader along.
The story itself is told mostly in the form of a monologue, as Matt Murdock pays a visit to a the hospital bed of the now paralyzed Bullseye. Unable to move, or even speak, Bullseye has no choice but to listen to what Daredevil has to say, his first order of business being to introduce Bullseye to a game of Russian Roulette.
More Roulette under the cut –>
Tagged as:
Daredevil vol 1 #151-200,
Frank Miller,
Reviews
How do you like your Daredevil? Served in a beautiful hardcover, in the form of a convenient take-it-on-the-train trade paperback or as single issues to be treated carefully and then put away for posterity? For many older issues, there isn’t much of a choice, but a great many of Daredevil’s adventures have been collected. This includes all of volume two, which, for the most part, is available in more than one format. The sole exception is the Playing to the Camera arc, written by Bob Gale, which was released as Daredevil #20-25. The question of whether it ever will be collected resurfaces from time to time, but there is currently no indication of any such plans.
About a year ago, I wrote a post called Daredevil Volume 2 for Dummies, which contains a comprehensive list of all volume two collections. It was recently updated too, and provides a good guide to the last ten years of Daredevil publication. Collected editions from volume one don’t cover every writer and era, but there’s still quite a bit of material out there. With this post, I’m going to attempt to list all volume one collections. I can’t promise perfection, but I’ll do my very best. Let me know if there’s something missing from this list and I’ll add it.
Silver Age : Marvel Masterworks Daredevil
The Marvel Masterworks hardcovers collect the early stories of some of Marvel’s most popular characters in full color. So far, there are five volumes, each collecting around ten issues. These volumes collect the entire Stan Lee run on Daredevil since Daredevil #53 was his final issue as writer. Click the images below for more details about each volume at www.marvelmasterworks.com
Read more under the cut –>
Tagged as:
Ann Nocenti,
Character basics,
D. G. Chichester,
Daredevil for beginners,
David Mazzucchelli,
Frank Miller,
Gene Colan,
John Romita Jr,
Lee Weeks,
Scott McDaniel,
Stan Lee
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).
Read more under the cut –>
Tagged as:
A history of the radar sense,
Daredevil science,
Frank Miller,
John Romita Jr,
Klaus Janson
by Christine on August 7, 2009 in Humor
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…
Read more under the cut –>
Tagged as:
Bill Mantlo,
Frank Miller,
Humor,
Links,
Other Marvel characters,
Spider-Man
I haven’t done one of these in a while, but here’s what the random numbers generator spat out this time: Daredevil #178 by Frank Miller with inks by Klaus Janson!
This story takes place ten issues into Miller’s run as Daredevil writer, and the first scene features one of his most famous creations, Elektra, getting a very spectacular invitation to work for the Kingpin: he sends a bunch of goons to attack her and then leaves a note that reads: “Elektra, if you are alive to read this, you are as deadly an assassin as I have been told. I should like to discuss with you employment opportunities in my organization. /The Kingpin” Nice! I guess advertising in the newspaper doesn’t quite cut it.
Miller leaves Elektra to ponder the job offer while we cut to Matt swashbuckling his way to work in a mood that would stun modern-day readers (which lends at least some credence to my claim that Miller’s DD was not as “dark” as many would suggest). He professes his love for New York while contemplating stopping for a danish on his way to the office.
The law partners’ most recent case ties directly to the Kingpin’s dealings. They are representing the Daily Bugle against the charges brought against the paper by a mayoral hopeful who’s had his connections to the Kingpin exposed. An interrupted witness interrogation later (which has Matt make an elegant getaway) and Foggy is worried enough about his partner to decide to hire Danny Rand and Luke Cage to act as his body guards. They make themselves useful right away when Matt is approached by three men on the trail of their start witness. After a full on fight, Matt repays the two guest stars by being anything but grateful.
Fortunately for the case, Matt manges to escape his captors – ahem, babysitters – by jumping down an open elevator shaft. He finds out what he needs to know and continues to go about his business when Luke and Danny catch up with him on fifth avenue in the middle of a parade (don’t know which one it’s supposed to be, it’s clearly too warm for Thanksgiving). Matt switches to Daredevil once again, and he and Danny “Iron Fist” Rand launch into an unusually contrived hero versus hero fight, based simply on Danny’s hunch that DD is hiding something. The issue ends with Dardevil solving the case and Elektra stumbling into Fisk’s office, ready for her first assignment..
This issue is plenty of comic book fun, with some of the more traditional comic book clichés that one might not have expected to see. All in all, an enjoyable 3 out of 5 for me and a reminder of happier, though not necessarily uncomplicated, times for Matt.
Tagged as:
Daredevil vol 1 #151-200,
Frank Miller,
Klaus Janson,
Reviews
Last year this time, I decided to celebrate the 4th of July by posting a panel from one of Ann Nocenti’s issues (where the story was actually set on the date in question). I thought the idea of continuing to post something with a touch of Americana might be a fun tradition, so I hereby present these classic panels from the last issue of Born Again, Daredevil (vol 1) #233.
The man wearing the flag in this case is Nuke, the well-known pill-popping and crayon-wielding crazy whose affinity for red, white and blue naturally escapes Matt’s attention. There are, of course, many ways to interpret this particular exchange between Matt and Captain America, and I love the ambiguity of this panel. Also, nice dive off the building, Matt. You make the superhero biz look so effortless.
Happy Independence Day to all Americans out there and happy Saturday to the rest of us!
Tagged as:
Daredevil vol 1 #201-250,
David Mazzucchelli,
Frank Miller,
Meandering musings
by Christine on May 27, 2009 in Humor
While I’m busy, I thought I’d keep you guys entertained with a word balloon contest. The rules are simple: I post some panels with the original caption erased and you guys think up a new one. Do this for just one panel or all of them, just number your answer accordingly so we all know which suggestion goes with which panel. Of course, coming up with several suggestions for the same panel is fine too. A week from today, June 3, I’ll pick the five I liked the best and put them up for a vote, and I will let that poll run for another week. The winner will receive a cool prize. Of course, I’ll be updating while this contest is going as well and keep a clearly visible link under the menu so you guys can still easily find this post. Have fun!
1) Daredevil vol 1, #5
by Stan Lee and Wally Wood
2) Daredevil vol 1, #102
by Chris Claremont and Syd Shores
3) Daredevil vol 1, #182
by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
4) Daredevil vol 2, #2
by Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada
5) Daredevil vol 2, #62
by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev
Tagged as:
Alex Maleev,
Brian Michael Bendis,
Chris Claremont,
Frank Miller,
Humor,
Joe Quesada,
Kevin Smith,
Klaus Janson,
Stan Lee,
Syd Shores,
Wally Wood
by Christine on May 25, 2009 in Humor
As I mentioned earlier, I’m revisiting Frank Miller’s run for a brief review of Matt’s mental state, but the sequence below, from Daredevil #170, just begged for its own mention. With Matt spending half his time fighting baddies, you’d think that Foggy would be around to pick up the slack, right? Well, apparently he never works late. Imagine that. These guys must have charged a whole lot of money to be able to afford rent for offices on Manhattan. Matt comes across as the more diligent partner here, but Foggy sure did have the patience of a saint back in the old days. And I think we’ll have to assume that he put in more work than Matt ever imagined.
Tagged as:
Daredevil vol 1 #151-200,
Foggy Nelson,
Frank Miller,
Humor,
The life of a superhero
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
Assistive technology in Daredevil
by Christine on September 16, 2009 in Blindness & Disability, Character Basics, Commentary
We all know that Matt Murdock has an arsenal of abilities and tricks up his sleeve which make it possible for him to do things us mere mortals cannot. Because of his heightened senses, he not only functions believably (well, sort of) as a superhero, but manages to compensate for his lack of sight in many ways. However, in the absence of normal vision – which the colorless and generally enigmatic radar sense does not provide – there are certain tasks which Matt would approach in about the same way as a non-powered blind person. If you’ve read this far and find yourself thinking “Wait just a minute now, Daredevil can see better than all of us!” you need to go read my old post “My other senses more than compensate” where you will be proven wrong.
At the end of the day, most fans would probably agree that Matt would (and should) have problems with all kinds of screens, displays or exclusively visual indicators. In fact, any and all information rendered exclusively visually and in two-dimensions (with the exception of print, provided he is close enough to touch it) lie beyond what his senses can decipher. In the real world, the blind use a wide range of assistive technology to access information or accomplish tasks for which eyesight is otherwise necessary. Many of these tools and gadgets would probably just gather dust in Matt Murdock’s closet since he gets by without them. However, there are many devices that should have a place in the Daredevil comic, if only as background elements to create a better sense of realism in the book.
In this post, I will be looking at the few instances of any kind of assistive device being featured in the Daredevil comic, and use them as examples of how to do it right. Most of these examples are from volume two, hopefully a sign that including pieces of technology that most readers would probably think of as being pretty cool, is increasingly being viewed a positive addition to how Daredevil stories are told rather than the sign of weakness many writers seemed to have feared in decades past.
Read more under the cut –>
Tagged as: Alex Maleev, Blindness/disability, Bob Gale, Brian Michael Bendis, D. G. Chichester, Dave Ross, Ed Brubaker, Frank Miller, Joe Quesada, Kevin Smith, Mark Pennington, Michael Lark, Scott McDaniel
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