The covers have rarely (never?) mentioned the creative team, yet this one is quite proud to have the already legendary Wally Wood on the team. Joe Orlando had done the last 3 issues of Daredevil, but has now left Marvel forever. The narration takes the time to thank the creators that helped start this series: Everett, Orlando, Colletta.
Wally Wood will be on board for 6 issues of Daredevil.
The letterer, presumably Sam Rosen, goes uncredited.
Daredevil gets a new logo. Rather than the boring “D” on his chest, it’s the slightly more interesting “DD”. The first notable change that Wally Wood will bring to the character of Daredevil. Still not the best logo, but one that will basically endure.
Featuring: Spider-Man (for the moment) Release: August 11, 1964 Cover: November 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee, author of “The Fantastic Four” Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, illustrator of “Dr. Strange” Lettered by: Sam Rosen, letterer of… “Patsy Walker”??? 22 pages
Check out that cover. Quite the contrast with pretty much every other superhero cover. The superhero is usually portrayed as tough, dramatically standing against the odds. In the worst case, the cover might show the villain winning, but the superhero remains defiant. This one has Spider-Man cowering and hiding from the villain.
In this story, Peter decides to quit being Spider-Man. He’s thought about it before, but he’s about to actually quit for the first time. It won’t be the last time, or even necessarily the most famous time. A similar story will get told and retold across decades of Spider-Man stories and even make its way into Spider-Man 2. (More directly, the film borrowed from Amazing Spider-Man #50, which borrowed from this issue.)
Note we’re reading this and the last issue together because they make a strong arc when read together. In terms of continuity, it has been weeks since the conclusion of the last issue, so it’s likely several other heroes’ adventures we’ve read occurred in the interim.
The story begins with everybody reacting to Spider-Man’s retreat: heroes, villains, people on the street… guy can’t run away from a single fight without everybody having an opinion. Ditko is great at people reacting to things.
Wasp notes that wasps and spiders are natural enemies. Always found that a weird thing to say. But she’s said it before and she’ll say it again; it’s an obsession of hers whenever the topic of Spider-man comes up.
This is an excellent comic for helping shape the nature of the relationship between Human Torch and Spider-Man. They’ve had some banter and conflict before, but also teamed up. A friendly rivalry. We saw how friendly last issue when Johnny attended the Spider-Man Fan Club meeting and then was quick to help Spider-Man against the Goblin. Now, he seems uncertain. He witnessed Spider-Man’s cowardice firsthand, but still wants to think better of his friend.
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
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.
Featuring: Spider-Man Release: June 9, 1964 Cover: September 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee, master of the spoken word Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, dean of dramatic drawings Lettered by: S. Rosen, sultan of sparkling spelling 22 pages
Let me start by wishing a happy birthday to Steve Ditko, who would have been 93 today had he not passed away in 2018.
Ditko has created a number of new villains for this series, while maintaining a generally pretty high quality (Green Goblin excepted). The team has only once borrowed a villain so far, when Spider-Man fought Dr. Doom in issue 5. This is the second time borrowing a villain, but they dig deeper, bringing back Ringmaster from Incredible Hulk #3 two years earlier. We’ve read over 200 comics since we last met Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.
Aunt May still insists Peter accept a blind date with Mary Jane Watson. Peter makes the reasonable protestation that he has a girlfriend. May notes they are not engaged. Does May just not like Betty for some reason? On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a date. Peter could just offer to hang out with Mrs. Watson’s niece as a favor to Aunt May. I feel like they could compromise here.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: June 2, 1964 Cover: August 1964 12 cents Written with raw realism by: Stan Lee Illustrated with daring drama by: Joe Orlando Inked with actual artistry by: Vince Colletta Lettered with Perfect Precision by: S. Rosen 22 pages
Some like him and some hate him, but so far he’s the easiest inker to spot. None of the other inkers we are following do the crosshatching like Colletta.
Last issue, Orlando and Colletta gave us an unusual amount of background detail for the period. This issue gives less, as is the style of the time, likely induced by deadline pressure.
All that said, we get some good visuals from the art team, notably a trippy opening panel with a lot of eyes.
Last issue, Daredevil borrowed a villain from Spider-Man. He now gets his first super-villain of his own, the Owl. The Owl is the worst kind of super-villain: a Wall Street investor, described as a ruthless financial wizard. Also, he can fly and likes to trap his enemies in giant bird cages. Typical Wall Street guy.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: April 2, 1964 Cover: June 1964 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Art: Joe Orlando Inking: Vince Colletta Lettering: S. Rosen 22 pages
The credits have two names that are new to us. Last issue was drawn by Bill Everett, who did an excellent job, but apparently also missed his deadline by a wide margin. Whatever happened, he was not invited back.
The artist is now Joe Orlando, who has been working in comics since the early ’50s, including occasional freelance work for Marvel. This is his first superhero work, previously drawing horror, western, and war comics, most notably for EC Comics. He worked in the comics field for many decades as artist, writer, and editor, most of that time with DC comics. As far as I can tell, this short stint on Daredevil is the last work he’ll ever do at Marvel.
Here’s a peek at some of the work he’d been doing in the previous 13 years.
Vince Colletta had been working as an artist for Marvel for about a decade, primarily on romance comics. He had recently moved toward inking. He will soon become a regular inker over Jack Kirby, and begin a very long run inking Thor. I believe this is also his first ever superhero work.
His work is not always loved by critics or his colleagues. He has a reputation for choosing professionalism over artistry. I see no evidence of this or any other flaw in this particular comic. I will caveat that I haven’t always the best eye for art, nor any particular talent for separating the contributions of the penciler from the inker when I look upon a page.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: February 4, 1964 Cover: April 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Bill Everett Lettered by: Sam Rosen 23 pages
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four do not actually appear in this issue. They mention Spider-Man on the cover and the first page in an attempt to market Daredevil as their next Spider-Man.
Daredevil has a pretty distinctive logo, an expanding font with a swoosh running through it. Preceded by a “Here comes…”. And then the tagline which will endure to this day: “The Man Without Fear”.
Bill Everett is a name we should be plenty familiar with by now even though this is his first time showing up in the Marvel Age. We know him from our “Prelude” reading as the creator of Namor the Sub-Mariner 25 years earlier. Reportedly, he was very slow working on this issue of Daredevil, leading to this issue being released a full 7 months after it was originally scheduled. So he won’t be invited back to illustrate more Daredevil stories. He’ll be put on covers and finishes, jobs where he’s less likely to blow deadlines. A shame, because he does great work here.
See my initial post for the context. Suffice to say that I will be sharing my entries to the Classic Comics Forum tradition, “ Twelve Days of Classic Comics Christmas“. This is a cross-post of my ninth entry, representing #4 on my list of favorite comic book Crossovers.
4. Daredevil and Captain America “Armageddon” from Daredevil #233 (Marvel, 1986)
by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
It also features the Avengers, but I decided to downplay that fact above, per the rules of this contest. Besides, most of the Avengers only show up for like a page. But oh what a page. “A soldier with a voice that could command a god… and does.”
Once the pill-popping psychopath with delusions of patriotism is subdued, then it’s up to Captain America and Daredevil to expose government connections to the Kingpin of crime, and trace the origins of Nuke all the way back to the experiment that once created Captain America.
Frank Miller had done a legendary run on Daredevil, which came to an end. He returned to the book a few years later for one more sprint, this time teamed with the legendary David Mazzucchelli. (The same team would later reunite for Batman Year One) Over the course of 7 issues, they tear Matt Murdock’s life apart, but leave him standing strong despite it all. This is their final issue. Kingpin has grown tired of his more subtle attacks on Daredevil and unleashed hell on New York.
For those keeping count, this is the 3rd Daredevil entry and second entry without Spider-Man.
See my initial post for the context. Suffice to say that I will be sharing my entries to the Classic Comics Forum tradition, “ Twelve Days of Classic Comics Christmas“. This is a cross-post of my seventh entry, representing #6 on my list of favorite comic book Crossovers.
6. Spider-Man and Punisher and Daredevil from Ultimate Spider-Man #6-8
by Brian Michael Bendis and Bill Sienkiewicz
I could have made 12 choices just out of this series. Bendis brings great artists to draw Spider-Man teaming up with various heroes. Wagner for Wolverine. Allred for Iron Man. Mahfood for Fantastic Four. Totleben for Man-Thing (seems like a no-brainer).
I decided I would pick just one. This seemed to work. After all, it’s the great Bill Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz of course famously worked on Daredevil before, teaming with Frank Miller for the Love & War graphic novel. It’s good to see his return to the character.
Now, it stretches the rules of its own series. The Spider-Man part. The first issue bills itself as a Spider-Man/Punisher crossover, but it’s really a Punisher story. Spider-Man shows up on the last page, just kind of swinging around. The next part bills itself as Spider-Man/Punisher/Daredevil. But it’s really only got Daredevil in it. Spider-Man’s not even there, and Punisher finally meets Daredevil right at the end. They do all come together at the end, but Spider-Man provides only a twist by swinging blindly into a situation he doesn’t understand and messing things up. Spider-Man’s just a kid. He’s trying to do the right thing, but doesn’t know how. Daredevil has to be the adult in the room.
Mostly this is a Punisher story, introducing us to the Ultimate version of Punisher, which looks a lot like regular Punisher. This is his origin. He was a cop, the only incorruptible one on the force. So some corrupt cops murdered his family trying to kill him. Now he’s out for revenge.
Daredevil shows up to try to convince him that the best path for justice is through the legal system. And Spider-Man shows up to make a mess out of things.
Seventh entry. Seventh Spider-Man story. But they don’t HAVE to be Spider-Man crossovers…
