Release: November 3, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
A Stan Lee * Gene Colan contemporary classic!
Inked by: Frank Giacoia
Lettered by: S. Rosen
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #45 | Reading order | X-Men #28 |
| Daredevil #23 | Daredevil | Daredevil #25 |
His costume is skin tight!
Starting this issue, Colan gets a credit like Romita got last month, and like Kirby and Ditko had been getting. Rather than just crediting him with art, the entire story is credited to the combo of Stan and Gene. This implicitly acknowledges Colan’s contributions to the writing. While still putting Stan’s name first.
On continuity, we haven’t travelled far into the future. Daredevil escaped Owl’s island while the Rhino was first being tried, and got into his tiff with the Tri-Man very soon after. That ended with him trapped in Europe with no money. And he’s still stuck. So this isn’t long after Amazing Spider-Man #43, perhaps still before Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3.
Daredevil has some trouble with gorillas. Which is confusing as I’m pretty sure there are no gorillas in Europe.
Oh, sorry. Not gorillas. Guerillas.
He could have written “freedom fighters”.
Daredevil easily overcomes these freedom fighters and steals their plane to fly to England.
Stan explains how a blind man can fly a plane; I’m convinced.
Why England? Because America is too far and putting Daredevil in England sets up this issue’s meeting with Ka-Zar.
Of course we recall Daredevil and K-Zar met previously in issue 13.
A Midnight Stalker has been committing some murders and Ka-Zar has been framed for them. Daredevil decides to help his buddy out. And when you’re stuck in Europe with no money for plane fare, helping a wealthy friend out of a jam seems like a good idea.
I get that Daredevil can use his fingertips to read the ink on newspapers. That he can do it through gloves is what I find really impressive.
The British police have Ka-Zar’s castle “jolly well surrounded”.
Before Daredevil can help Ka-Zar, they must have an obligatory misunderstanding and fight. As is required whenever two superheroes meet.
Long story short, Ka-Zar’s brother Lord Plunder is responsible for framing him. The issues get resolved.
And sure enough, helping a wealthy friend out of a jam earned Daredevil a flight back to America.
The final panel is where things get interesting. Spider-Man has written a letter to Matt Murdock promising to keep his identity as Daredevil a secret. He’s already not doing a good job with that promise, as Karen reads the letter. This after she saw Matt Murdock wear a Daredevil costume to go face the Tri-Man, pretending to pretend to be Daredevil.
If she’s deduced his secret, history tells us it’s either death or amnesia for her. But maybe Matt will find some other way out of this. Some entirely sensible ruse.
It’s November 1966. Marvel is focusing more and more on its superhero line, and dropping one of its final girls humor titles, Patsy and Hedy, which starred Patsy Walker and Hedy Wolfe. Patsy Walker’s solo series had ended the previous year, after running for over 20 years since 1945. The spin-off Patsy and Hedy series had debuted in 1952.
Millie the Model is now the last remnant of Marvel’s once large line of girl comics. Her series will endure a few more years.
This is the last we will see of Patsy or Hedy for almost a decade. But they will return. And Patsy will go on to become a prominent character in the Marvel Universe. Even appearing in the MCU in the Jessica Jones series.
Over at the Distinguished Competition, Batman and Robin find a new ally, Batgirl. Who will turn out to be none other than Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon. (Err, spoiler.)
The original Bat-Girl was Bette Kane, partner to Batwoman, who first appeared in 1961.
But the Barbara Gordon version will be much more enduring, in part because she is popularized in the Batman television series by actress Yvonne Craig.
Let’s see some other titles from the month.
- Pep #201, Archie
- Action Comics #345, DC
- Girls’ Love Stories #124, DC
- Showcase #66, DC
- War Heroes #23, Charlton
- Get Smart #5, Dell
- Best of Bugs Bunny #1, Gold Key
- Fantastic Voyage #1, Gold Key
- Walt Disney: The Beagle Boys #5, Gold Key
- Wendy the Good Little Witch #40, Harvey
- Mandrake the Magician #3, King
- Creepy #13, Warren
Rating: ★★½, 48/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Daredevil Epic Collection vol. 2: Mike Murdock Must Die!
Characters:
- Daredevil
- Ka-Zar
- Lord Mayor Honeywell
- Zabu
- Plunderer/Midnight Stalker
- Karen Page
- Foggy Nelson
Minor characters:
- Miklos (guerilla)
Story notes:
- Daredevil remains trapped in Europe in his costume, with no money and no change of clothes.
- Daredevil runs afoul of some guerillas (around 6) who think the government is importing American superheroes to deal with them.
- Guerilla notes Daredevil’s costume is skin tight.
- Daredevil finds their jet plane and one guard. He steals the plane to take it to England.
- Daredevil did have enough money for a newspaper.
- Newspaper headline reports Ka-Zar, Lord Kevin Plunder, has turned savage.
- Recap of DD 13-14, including Ka-Zar’s origin and meeting of his brother Lord Plunder.
- Ka-Zar referred to as Midnight Stalker, and blamed for murders.
- Daredevil makes way for Plunder Castle to help Ka-Zar.
- Lord Mayor Honeywell has brought the militia and orders the mob to disperse.
- Daredevil believes Ka-Zar is innocent.
- Troops fire at Daredevil as he seeks to help.
- Daredevil makes his way to castle, but Ka-zar thinks he’s there to apprehend him and attacks.
- Ka-Zar and Daredevil tumble into water, where they see a submarine. It belongs to the Plunderer.
- Plunderer was responsible for Midnight Stalker’s murders and framed Ka-Zar.
- Plunderer’s weapon is Nerve Bolt Ray.
- Daredevil had phoned the Warden to learn Plunderer had escaped prison. Seems like something the police could have put together.
- Ka-Zar offers to pay for Daredevil’s flight home.
- Spider-Man has sent a letter to Murdock saying he knows he’s Daredevil, but will keep his secret. But Karen opens the letter.
| Previous | #640 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #45 | Reading order | X-Men #28 |
| Daredevil #23 | Daredevil | Daredevil #25 |
Well yes, Karen now suspects DD’s ID, but her extreme gullibility (Foggy as Daredevil? Only if Wally Wood draws Foggy again.) saves her life for another couple of decades.