Featuring: Daredevil
Release: August 4, 1964
Cover: October 1964
12 cents
Sensational story by: Stan Lee
Awe-inspiring art by: Joe Orlando
Infallible inking by: Vince Colletta
Lots of lettering by: S. Rosen
22 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #109, Story B | Reading Order | Tales of Suspense #59 |
| Daredevil #3 | Daredevil | Daredevil #5 |
Daredevil still has that stupid hood sack thing to keep his civilian clothes. They had somehow taken a bad costume and made it even worse.
Fortunately, he’ll realize early in the issue that it’s impractical to the point of imbecilic and we’ll be rid of it.
This issue introduces Purple Man, who has the power to sap people’s wills and make them responsive to his commands. Only Daredevil seems resistant to his influence.
Purple Man has other weaknesses, we will learn. He only affects people while in close proximity to them; the further away from someone he is, the weaker his influence. It also takes a certain mental capacity to recognize his influence. Punchy at the gym is slow-witted, and thus unaffected.
His powers don’t work through plastic, so covering him in plastic neutralized him.
Purple Man had been a spy for a foreign power, attempting to steal nerve gas, when the canister spilled on him, turning him purple and giving him super powers, as happens.
Purple Man is not the first villain able to take control of others. He is most similar to the Ant-Man enemy: Jason Cragg, the Voice. There is also some similarity to Ringmaster, who has fought a variety of superheroes including Daredevil. Daredevil distinguishes Purple Man’s power from Ringmaster’s. Ringmaster employed hypnotism, which uses optics and is completely ineffective against a blind man; Purple Man’s influence was affecting Daredevil and so was not optical. The ability to use hypnosis is not unique to Ringmaster in these comics, of course. In fact, it would probably be easier to name the characters who haven’t demonstrated an impossible degree of hypnosis skills.
Purple Man kidnaps Karen Page. Coincidentally, she was also kidnapped last issue by the Owl. I could believe that being in love with a superhero is hazardous, but neither incident had anything to do with her relationship to Daredevil. As sometimes happens with Jane Foster, it’s pure coincidence that the girl the super-villain tries to kidnap is the superhero’s special lady. The damsel in distress is a truly awful trope of these comics. Sexism aside, it’s just sloppy storytelling.
Matt Murdock refers to Purple Man as a freak. First of all, rude. Second of all, you’d think he’d be more sympathetic to people who’d been doused by strange substances and gained super powers.
We get a cool shadow effect we’d seen before in the first issue, which will become something of a trademark for Daredevil.
Actually, we get two good shadow effects this issue. This other shows Daredevil casting his shadow across the city.
We learn Daredevil can act as a human compass due to his ability to detect magnetic emanations from the North Pole. Magneto may be able to do the same.
Notice above this issue is filled with more nonstandard page tilings than usual. The majority of the pages contain 4-5 panels, often arranged in two rows or not neatly into rows. Excepting the 4-panel grids in the Tales of Asgard stories, the vast majority of stories we’ve read have been pages with 3 rows of panels, most with 2-3 panels per row.
This allows for larger panels to show bolder and more detailed art.
Note what I’m calling the standard has been the standard for the Marvel superhero comics of the previous 3 years. It was in no way standard in any of the 1940s books we’ve peeked at, which seemed to have no standard, and were all about wild panel and art arrangements on the page.
Of course, Purple Man was played by none other than David Tennant is the Jessica Jones series, to disturbing effect.
The story of the show was modeled off the final arc of the Alias series, “Purple”, in which we learn of the trauma Jessica Jones had suffered at Purple Man’s hands which led to her retirement from superhero life.
Of course, we must also wish a happy birthday to the late, great Stan Lee, who made this all possible. He was born December 28, 1922.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 57/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Daredevil Epic Collection vol. 1: The Man Without Fear. You can also find it in Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil vol. 1. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Daredevil/Matthew Murdock
- Purple Man/Killgrave
- Karen Page
- Foggy Nelson
- Punchy
Minor characters:
- Mrs. Perkins (bank customer)
- Mr. Smithers (bank teller)
Story notes:
- Purple Man robs Apex National Bank; bank teller follows Purple Man’s instructions gladly, but comes to his senses once Purple Man is gone.
- Killgrave in Cell Block 14 awaiting trial.
- Matt senses aura of evil and greed around Killgrave; also detects he’s attracted to Karen.
- Daredevil distinguishes Killgrave’s power from hypnotism, as he is blind and still affected.
- Daredevil able to resist Killgrave’s influence.
- Daredevil thinks Killgrave can sap men’s wills.
- Crowd attacks Daredevil.
- Daredevil discards hood after it rips.
- The further Killgrave got away, the more his spell weakened.
- Karen agrees to be Killgrave’s secretary.
- Purple Man recruits gym members (gymnasts?) as bodyguards. Punchy is immune because he’s slow-witted.
- Purple Man takes over top floor of Ritz Plaza hotel.
- Flashback to battle with Fixer from Daredevil #1.
- Reference to Jack Ruby (who shot Lee Harvey Oswald).
- Daredevil uses billy club as boomerang.
- Villain reveals origin.
- Killgrave had been spy for foreign power, trying to steal a nerve gas, when the canister spilled on him, turning him purple and giving him power to command men’s wills.
- Plastic sheet thwarts Killgrave’s power.
| Previous | #253 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Journey Into Mystery #109, Story B | Reading Order | Tales of Suspense #59 |
| Daredevil #3 | Daredevil | Daredevil #5 |
