Daredevil Annual 1990

Predator by Gregory Wright and Cam Kennedy

One Sentence Overview: Encountering a semi devoured body, Daredevil goes on the hunt of a strange creature stalking the alleyways of Hell's Kitchen

Ah, continuity - the curse of comic books.  If you're an X-Men or Avengers fan, trying to rationalise where certain concurrently published storylines involving the same characters fit in a coherent storyline could drive a soul mad.  And as for Wolverine, a guy who clearly doesn't know the meaning of spare time, his weekly schedule must be enhanced by a couple of handy clones hiding in a cupboard somewhere.

The problem with this story, Predator, is that it's set in New York, whereas in DD283 Daredevil is still out of town and in DD284, he returns to the city but, and hopefully not giving too much away, he is in no mental state to go off chasing some weird genetically modified creature that the Punisher encountered in his annual in the same year (and who would go to feature in another two annuals).  The storyline commencing in DD284 appears to go on for a while so... well, we'll slot the annual in here, but it's clearly out of chronological order.

Regular annual writer, colorist, Gregory Wright is on the case for this story and the other three tales in the book.  He's a curiosity - he appears to be involved in scripting further annuals but does not appear to be in favour for the ongoing tale.  His writing is fine, more plot driven than Ann's and he likes his characters hard boiled and nasty.  For example, his portrayal of Ben Urich in both this annual and the one the previous year moves the journalist away from the world weary but honourable soul to a more driven, ambitious writer which isn't really in character with the way most other writers portray him.  (Though at least there's a nice put down by the writer from an anonymous Bugle staffer at Ben's smoking habit.)

But of greater interest to me is the artist of the piece - it's only Scottish genius, Cam Kennedy!  Cam may not be overly familiar to the average American comic book reader, but in the UK he's regarded as a legend.  Familiar to me from his work on British war comic, Battle (particularly Vietnam War tale, Fighting Mann) and perhaps best known for illustrating many Judge Dredd episodes in 2000AD, it's personally fantastic to see Cam beautifying this grim tale.  Though it's the wonderful VCs (and Dredd classic, Midnight Surfer) for which I have my fondest memories of his work.

One fun aside about Mr Kennedy is that he illustrated his own difficulties at trying to sell his artwork Stateside in a well regarded Judge Dredd tale, 'The Art of Kenny Who?'.  Here a talented Scottish artist is driven to distraction by the foibles of the Mega City art industry.  This tale appeared about four years before this annual hit the shelves so Cam must have resolved some of his issues with the American comic book industry. Good thing, too, because his art is quite lovely here.

Look, for example, at how he manages to convey a character's shock with a subtle widening of the eye.  Terrific stuff. 

His portrayal of Lifeform himself conveys both horror and a kind of pathos, demonstrating that the creature is perhaps not fully in control of his actions.

As noted above, the story is 'part two' of a four part tale stretching over four diverse annuals following the rather grisly outcome of a thief who injects himself with some AIM serum (now why would you do that?) and becomes 'Lifeform', a figure who is not dis-similar to the likes of Man Thing.  Here, Daredevil, Ben Urich and a couple of corrupt cops are after the poor fellow - all for different reasons.  Ben uncharacteristically has his eyes on nailing a big story to beef himself up (instead of chasing the truth, his usual criterion for a story) whilst Daredevil just wants to stop the guy eating people (reasonably enough). 

Despite this, Daredevil shows characteristic compassoin towards the creature and urges the cops not to kill him.  NYPD's (not) finest, Hobbes, however, is keen to take down the ghoulish figure, it having nailed his partner (see the Innocent Bystander tale later in the annual).  The boys with the guns appear to win the battle, though given there are another two annuals in this storyline it's unsurprising that there's ultimately a twist in the tale.

A pretty reasonable ghoulish tale.  There's no subtext, just action, which no doubt appealed to many fans back in the day, especially those frustrated with some of Ann's fine musings.  It's all enhanced, of course, by Cam Kennedy's great art.

Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Ben Urich

Lifeform/George Prufrock
Jet
Spit
Det David Hobbes
Det Paul Robbins
Lamar Kwiat
Allison

Rating: 6 out of 10


Truth or Dare by Gregory Wright and Gary Hartle

The first of three back up stories welcomes the return of the Fatboys.  Here the gang of lovable rogues cajole Eightball into stealing a skateboard from an older gang.  What prevents this being more than just a kooky wheeze is the violent response of the gang to Eightball's actions, emphasising the hard territory in which these poor kids are growing up.  

The tale whizzes by in a flash but it's always a pleasure to see Butch and the gang. 

Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock

Butch
Darla
Eightball
Ralf
Lifeform/George Prufrock
Jerry
Joey
Johnny
Laura

Rating: 5 out of 10


Innocent Bystander? by Gregory Wright and Thomas Sutton

The most striking tale in the annual is probably this one, which fills in some background detail on the two shady cops encountered in 'Predator' above.  In that tale, Robbins is taken out fairly early on after dabbing his figure is some Lifeform goo.  Later, his partner, Hobbes hears that he's dead and gets on with tracking the creature down.  This story fills in the gaps.  And, oh boy, does it ever fill in the gaps.

The tale is basically a grisly eight page endurance test, riffing on the kind of body horror more appropriate of a David Cronenberg movie than a Daredevil comic.  In this, one must applaud Thomas Sutton for his truly grotesque artwork here.  I wasn't aware of Tom, but he's actually a bit of a horror stalwart, having pencilled Werewolf-by-Night for Marvel and Vampirella and other scary comics elsewhere.  Tom doesn't spare the reader much in the details of Robbins' demise, who endures horrific body mutilaton as well as having to listen to his wife and mistress argue whilst hallucinating. 

It's pretty horrific stuff but kinda fascinating at the same time.  Not for every taste but still strangely admirable. 
Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock

Det Paul Robbins
Det David Hobbes
Mrs Robbins

Rating: 6 out of 10


Two Schizos by Gregory Wright and Michael Bair

The least succesful story in the annual sees the welcome return of Typhoid Mary in a politically incorrectly titled tale.  Gregory sees an allusion between Mary and Lifeform as two beings who share personalities and obviously feels this contrast will be fascinating.  However, what is a more interesting contrast is to portray this writer and Ann Nocenti's characterisation of Typhoid.  Here, she seems more gleefully violent, lacking nuance and, despite the confrontation, the story feels somewhat flat and one dimensional.  Disappointing end to the annual.

Cast
Typhoid May
Lifeform/George Prufrock

Rating: 3 out of 10


Overall Rating: 6 out of 10