Daredevil 38

The Living Prison by Stan Lee and Gene Colan

One Sentence Overview: Having swapped bodies with Daredevil, Dr Doom advances upon the Fantastic Four in disguise as the man without fear...

The previous issue ended with the highly implausible (but really quite plausible in comics) scenario of Daredevil and Dr Doom swapping bodies. I commented on how Matt could suddenly see and wasn't too bothered about it and that Doom didn't seem too concerned about being blind. It would appear that Messrs Lee and Colan also suddenly realised, between issues, that this was actually quite a big deal and here both Daredevil and Doom realise (to an extent) the other's predicament.

So, the first words from Matt (in Doom's body) are about being able to see, though he's much more bothered about escaping from the prison cell that Doom's left him in. It strikes me that, since about 20 years or so have probably past since Matt's seen anything that it would be quite a trippy, disorienting experience for him. But Stan and Gene have no time for that - hell, no, they've a story to get through, so let's get Matt out of jail and back on Doom's case.

On the other hand, Doom's cottoned on to the fact that DD can't see, though he puts this down to the costume that Matt wears (with no slits for the eyes). That's kind of odd - I mean, why doesn't he just cut some slits for the eyes, if that's what he really thinks? Nevertheless he's still got Matt's radar sense to guide him. Which is interesting. Matt and Victor's essence have transferred bodies after all, so why hasn't Matt's radar sense been transferred with him? Metaphysically, does this mean it's not part of Matt's inner being? Well, maybe that does make some kind of sense, being that it was something visited upon him by radiation during the fatal car accident. Nevertheless Doom seems pretty comfortable with the whole radar thing, what with it being a completely new sense to him, after all.

Overall then this is one plot twist that, maybe, in reflection, Stan and Gene should have looked at each other and thought, "You know what, Matt's actually blind - this isn't going to work..." But it doesn't look like they had that conversation, so let's get on with what we're left with. Howevcr, at one point in the issue, they confess that things are a little corny. "Have you been able to follow this tortously twisted plot?" they plead. Exactly.

So what else are with left with? Well, to begin with, more implausibility. Trapped in Doc Doom's body in a prison cell, Daredevil yells out to Doom's henchmen for them to rescue him, figuring that Doom's too much of an egomaniac to have told his own men about his body switch. Well, that would be unbelievably dumb... oh, wait, he hasn't told his henchmen? And this guy's an all powerful head of state? Somebody slap that guy's wrist. Doom is left to rue his decision to swap bodies later. "Don't you know who I am?" he squeals like a Hollywood A-lister as his own men attack him.

The henchmen eventually realise that Daredevil is actually their beloved leader and so chase after the armour encased body swapper. Matt, who's struggling to fight in Doom's heavy armour, has to rely on the assistance of the NYPD, who are horrified to see the 'Latverian' getting knocked about on their streets and intervene so as to avoid a possible international incident.

Anyway, whilst all this nonsense is going on, thank goodness for Debbie Harris' decision to drop in on Foggy! Foggy's suddenly all lovey dovey with Debbie webbie and doesn't pay heed to Karen's sigh wishing that his partner would pay attention to her the way he's (suddenly) devoted to Debbie. Sheesh, Foggy was all over Karen about five minutes ago, but, heck, I guess he's thinking "A bird in the hand..."

But who's that Debbie's bumped into in the street? Why, it's Daredevil? Debbie's still worried about how Foggy sees her following her involvement with the Organiser and pleads with Doomdevil to tell Foggy how she's reformed (Foggy, meanwhile, watches all this from the office window). Doomdevil, who obviously doesn't know what's going on, swipes her aside. Foggy, who thinks that's 'Mike Murdock', gasps in disgust at how hippy Murdock would dare to treat his new belle. Oh, there's trouble brewing now...

But let's not bother ourselves with human drama when there's an inane plot to finish off. Actually, Matt comes up with quite a nice twist to counter Doomdevil's plans. As Doom he contacts his ministers back in Latveria and orders them to declare war on the neighbouring countries. Oh, that's nasty! The real Doom is of course suddenly disgusted (hey, that's what you get when you don't tell your underlings your plans, you silly billy) and has to waylay his plans to deal with Daredevil.

Matt eventually lures Doom back to the pods where the body transfer can re-occur and they're back to normal. I can't help wondering if Matt, whose sight has been restored, remember, wouldn't have had cold feet at this moment - losing this sudden gift to go back to radar sense.

The issue ends with Daredevil swinging his way towards the FF, Doom having alerted Marvel's foremost family to the fact that it's him in Daredevil's body (though of course now it isn't) and a battle will commence, to be concluded in the pages of Fantastic Four 73. Alas, I don't have that issue, so we'll have to wrap things up just as well. Frankly, I'm not that disappointed.

Cast

Matt Murdock/Daredevil

Foggy Nelson

Karen Page

Debbie Harris

Dr Doom

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic

Ben Grimm/The Thing

Johnny Storm/Human Torch

Rating: 3 out of 10