franklin foggy nelson – Coke & Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #16

Duel with Daredevil

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.

Daredevil #3

The Owl, Ominous Overlord of Crime!

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.

Daredevil #2

The Evil Menace of Electro!

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.

Vault of Horror #9 (1951), Battle #47 (1956), Classics Illustrated #147 (1958), Mad #44 (1959)

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.

Here’s a sampling of his prior work.

Love Romances #44 (1954), Jungle Action #4 (1955), Love Diary #6 (1959), Kid Colt Outlaw #100 (over Kirby’s pencils, 1961)

Daredevil #1

The Origin of Daredevil

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.