One Sentence Overview: Whilst Kerwin J Broderick wrecks havoc in San Franscisco courtesy of his gang of powered minions, Daredevil's reward for rescuing a critically ill Moondragon is for the mystic to restore his sight.
Last issue gave the impression that Matt had been mystically whisked away to Titan by Moondragon. This is somewhat in keeping with Steve Gerber's wild and wonderful imagination. So it's a little disappointing when our uberlord, the fancily named Kerwin J Broderick announces that actually Matt's been in MD's undersea fortress all along.
Presumably this is because it's more believable than Matt being transported to the rings of Saturn. However, exactly how feasible is an undersea fortress of the scale depicted here. Moonie must have had the help of her old chum, Namor, me hearties.Broderick reveals in a lenghty exposition this issue that he has manipulated Moondragon, who believed him to be an honourable man, in order to enable him to become "an absolute monarch with absolute power". It's clear from his back story that he's been seduced by the SF underworld and now wants his piece of the cake. This may be strange considering his wealth but who can underestimate the seductive pull of power and glory. So Matt has to ponder at Broderick's insanity as the older lawyer announces his plans to become "Kerwin the First". At last the rich white man has his chance to shine, as Montgomery Burns might have it.
On a few occasions in the past, it's intimated that Daredevil can tell the difference between colours - always an untenable position even for someone of Matt's sensitivity. Christine from the Other Murdock Papers has always maintained that Matt should be, at the very least, "colour" blind. And a short sequence in this story reveals that Steve Gerber builds a (pretty shaky) bridge between the two conceits.
A badly wounded Moondragon has to instruct Daredevil to save her by fiddling about with highly technical equipment in her "regenesis lab". "Begin with the yellow dial," she calls out. Daredevil hesitates. "I can't". Moondragon can't understand why. "I can see colors with my fingertips," Daredevil reveals. "Gauge the heat they absorb... but that takes time!"
It's a peculiar explanation for those times before when DD's worked out the colour of something. One has to wonder if it would ever be scientifically possible to retain such information? But, heck, I'm worried about this when our Matt's singlehandedly flown a spacecraft in the past?So how does Moondragon help Matt out in such a situation? Perhaps she could given specific instructions regarding the location or shape of the buttons and dials he has to use. But why bother with that when she can simply hit our hero with a blast of energy and... restore Matt's sight! That's right. Restore Matt's Sight!
Being that the first thing Matt sees is a woman in a rather skimpy bikini, it's not surprising that he says on the next page, "May I just hold you... without making excuses?"
Steady, Lothario, there's a world to be saved. Later, when Natasha catches Matt's lustful looks, she's not too impressed and enquires what exactly is the nature of the relationship between her partner and "baldy". "You sound almost jealous," Matt rejoinders.Oddly (or perhaps unsurprisingly) a sighted Matt has completely lost his edge. Or as the Dark Messiah fruitily puts it, "The Father hath robbed thee of thine ability when thy needed it most!". Having been nearly thwarted by the demi-god, it's no surprise to see DD seek out the aforementioned "baldy" and ask her to revert him to sightlessness.
There's both honour and tragedy in this request. But really it's not surprising. For any long term fan, a 20/20 vision Matt Murdock is a distinctly unappealing concept.Bullpen Blues A couple of issues back Bullpen Bulletin announced the death of Bill Everett whose principle contribution to the DD legacy was some wonderful artwork in the first issue. Here, only a few issues on from pencilling DD 102, the editors announce the demise of Syd Shores. Shores may have only pencilled one issue but he took the inking reins on a significant part of Gene Colan's run. 1973 was truly a cruel year for talented illustrators.
Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff
Lt Paul Carson
Jason Sloan
Commissioner Ironguts O'Hara
Lucretia Jones
Ashley Sanders
Kerwin J Broderick
Moondragon
Angar the Screamer
Terrex
Mordecai Jones/Dark Messiah
Ramrod
Janis
Kawalski
Rating: 6 out of 10
5 comments:
Ha ha! I must admit that my ego is sort of tickled when you quote me. ;)
As for the color sensing thing, I think that ability is firmly depreciated by now, I can't remember seeing it beyond this instance here. When it comes to the science of it, there is the idea floating around that colors have different temperatures. It is true that different colors have different "energy content," but that this would result in any kind of temperature difference that could actually be felt, even by someone with heightened senses, is flaky. I'll leave the rest of the explanation for my "Unoffical Science of Daredevil" (yes that's the name of an actual document that, as of this writing, has seven pages under its belt). And you thought you were anal... LOL
I guees i could buy matt being able to distinguish "darks" from "lights" as dark colours would attract more heat, lighter colours less. but distinguishing between colours, i dont know.
Merzah from prague
Well, the confusing thing about colors and temperature is that it's clear that darker color materials absorb more energy than light color materials when they are exposed to direct light, like when they are out in the sun or if you hold a light directly over them for some amount of time. So, relatively speaking, a dark fabric would become hotter than a light fabric.
However, different colors don't absorb heat differently, which means that in a normal dimly lit room with a single light bulb, the difference between how much light energy is absorbed as heat is very small and all objects will be very, very close to room temperature. If you are in a completely dark room, all colors will have the exact same temperature, because it is not the heat of the surrounding air that is absorbed differently, but the light.
Also, the heat differences you would get when exposing different objects to light, would always be relative. If we take an example with Daredevil (though this would work on us too, blind-folded): You set up a room where you have a green piece of cloth and a yellow piece of cloth and you take out a big lamp and expose the fabrics to the light for ten minutes, these fabrics - one being darker than the other - will soon have different temperatures. If you, or DD, is then let into the room you will both, without fail, be able to tell which of the fabrics is the darker one. But that's pretty much all you're going to know. The absolute temperature of these objects, even the difference between them, will depend on the heat of the room (which isn't absorbed differently, but sets the baseline and determines how quickly they will cool), the amount of energy absorbed from the light (which in turn depends on the energy output of the lamp), and the time the fabrics had to absorb this light energy. Not knowing these last two factors, you will never be able to say absolutely which color they are.
In the Daredevil comic - in fact that is how it described in the panel here - the reasoning seems to be that there is one absolute factor that would allow Daredevil to be able to determine exact color, and that is the notion that different colors would absorb the heat of his touch differently in a way that he can feel. However, heat isn't absorbed differently by different colors, light (belonging to a more high-energy part of the electromagnetic spectrum) is. And light, when there's enough of it, will only ever give you a relative idea, not an absolute one. And this is why the color-sensing thing doesn't work in non-laboratory real life situations. In the absence of a strong direct light source, the temperature difference will always be very small between different colors, and - more importantly - will always be relative which is unlike how we see colors with our eyes.
Phew! I might have to do a blog post about this, actually. Science is fun! ;-)
Wow, Christine, my brain hurts now... ;)
Ha ha! Sorry about that. This explanation was a little confusing. I'll post a better one on my blog. :)
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