Daredevil 101-150: 10 Things I've Learned

It's time for another recap!

1 Don't end up on a moon around Venus
These 50 issues kicked off with the atypical Steve Gerber on pencilling duties. I enjoyed his stint but, by no means, could you say he was following the style of what had gone before. Instead, he liked big philosophical themes and rather fanciful set ups. Perhaps most memorably, at one point, Daredevil appears to be transported by Moondragon to a moon near Venus. Well, this was obviously too much for the editor. The following issue revealed that actually that wasn't quite right - DD was somewhere underneath the sea (presumably in a base mocked up to look like a moon around Venus). And, from that point on, the more realistic Daredevil that we know and love began to subtly move more centre stage.

2 Don't forget about New York city
After a sojourn to the West Coast, Matt moves back home. The sleazy money making of lawyers like Jason Sloan (who was a terrific, underused member of the supporting cast) obviously not to DD's taste. The weather, though, as much as anything typifies that Daredevil is more an East Coast than West Coast kind of guy. Moving from days of endless sun to dark skies, rain and snow blizzards seem more appropriate to the kind of book we associate DD with.

3 Do play the field
This fifty issue run kicks off with Matt and the Black Widow in an ongoing patience draining on-off relationship. Despite Natasha being his nominal girlfriend, when Matt briefly recovers his sight, the vision of a scantily clad Moondragon sends Mr Murdock into lustful ecstasy. And then when Foggy's sister, Candace Nelson turns up a few issues later, Matt is sniffing around the poor girl like an over-eager hound dog. (Oddly enough, the super sexy Shanna the She Devil also turns up and Matt doesn't even bother to make a pass.) Matt's pervy promiscuity is remarkable in this short run. But soon, it appears, he's ready to settle down...

4 Do be needy and overbearing
...with Heather Glenn, who Marv Wolfman introduces in order to bring a bit of stability to Matt's love life. But, boy, is she peculiarly written to begin with. Heather practically smothers Matt with affection about 0.5 seconds after meeting him. It should be a complete turn off. But as we've seen from above, in the affairs of the heart, Matt is weak. So weak. And instead he's completely won over by the highly dysfunctional neediness of his new Girl Friday.

5 Do leave lots of plot threads hanging
After Tony Isabella's short run, our next key writer is Marv Wolfman, who positively overloads each issue with potential future storylines that must have tested the memory recall of most of his readers. There's the ongoing kidnapping of Debbie Harris (the poor girl's missing for 16 issues), the battle between Foggy and Blake Tower for DA, the Jester causing serious media chaos and so on. These are all eventually worked out. But it's what the writer doesn't have time for which is more intriguing. Perhaps the most egregious non sequitors being the Skywalker introduced with zealous fanfare and then disappearing without a trace and the intriguing Dr Armstrong Smith added to the supporting cast and then completely forgotten about. (Jim Shooter may also be guilty of this - storylines involving a potential corruption investigation into Lt Bert Rose and slimy businessman Ernest Rockworth have been left hanging for half a dozen issues to date.)

6 Do stand up for social justice
One thing that Marv Wolfman does change for the better with Matt's character is in the decision to make him more socially responsible. Rather conservative to date, Matt's opening of the Store Front with Foggy really helps change the character into someone who's interested in championing the poor and disenfranchised of New York. Something that of course is key to Daredevil in his forthcoming classic runs.

7 Do create a nemesis for Daredevil
The book's been suffering from a truly compelling returning villain. However, in the midst of Marv Wolfman's run, a certain Mr Bullseye takes centre stage. In a compelling debut, he manages to murder some poor citizen with a fountain pen, whilst later takes out DD with a paper aeroplane. It's these quirks that quickly established Bullseye as one to watch.

8 Don't have consistent artwork
Alas, because of the terminal illness of Bob Brown, there are a plethora of artists on this run. Most of the time they do a very fine job. However, there are some details that are slightly annoyingly inconsistent. This always happens in comic books and most can be happily ignored. But one that got under my skin was Maxwell Glenn's extraordinary hairline which grows and recedes with astonishingly rapidity depending on who's on art duties that month. They just didn't have such realistic wigs back in the late 70s, huh?

9 Do include unlikely guest stars
We've had brief appearances from Stan Lee and Walter Cronkite in the past but this 50 issue stint surpasses this with appearances from two Presidents (albeit clones), a couple of obscure Sci-Fi writers and, best of all, spoon bender extraordinaire, Uri Geller. In one of the weirdest DD episodes ever, our hero teams up with the ESP expert to, actually, very entertaining effect.

10 Don't forget about Foggy
Poor Mr Nelson has a rum old time in this run of issues - he loses his battle to stay on as District Attorney, his fiancee is kidnapped indefinitely and he has a falling out with his oldest chum. All in all, he continues to 'earth' the more high minded Matt Murdock whilst adding character and humour to the book. As ever, he continues to be the essential member of the supporting cast.