[Daredevil Retrospective 1] Here Comes Daredevil the Man Without Fear! (Daredevil issues 1-3)

EDIT 11/2023: The issue by issue retrospective has been dropped so just take this draft of it on the first 3 issues.

Fun fact Dramanauts I have never read a Daredevil comic, so I have a rare opportunity to see the development of the character from issue 1 until the present day. The amount of issues I cover in each post will depend on how much I have to actually say about said issues.

Daredevil vol 1 1

Release date: April, 1964

Writer: Stan Lee | Artist: Bill Everett | Inkers: Bill Everett, Steve Ditko, Sol Brodsky

At 1964 Daredevil is a late addition to the classic Marvel lineup and his first cover shows a high level of confidence from Marvel. They don't tote a special power or gimmick from the start but instead remind you of their past successes as if to say "come on kid we made Spider-Man trust us this will be good". Our man's name is Daredevil which seems to be a bit of a pun. Of course the small horns on his costume mimic a devil but he also looks like a circus acrobat who is someone who is a Daredevil. The cover teases us that there is some secret to him but in the actual story this will be revealed quickly. Even the first page of the comic continues this meta trend. While comics typically have the opening splash big in media res shot this one opens with a simple pin up of Daredevil and a reminder of how valuable some classic marvel comics have gotten and how much value with one will gain.

I have seen comic fans refer to Daredevil #1 as Stan Lee's finest and most complete origin and while the latter may be true I do find its really missing a solid hook. The art is done by Bill Everett who was a golden age artist who worked at the proto marvel comics companies, Timely and Atlas, where he famously created Namor the Sub-Mariner in Marvel Comics #1.

The issue was behind schedule so Steve Ditko and Sol Brodsky had to fill in backgrounds, details, and background characters in the inking process. While Bill Everett and Stan Lee are credited with creation of Daredevil Jack Kirby is known to have helped provide input such as creating his billy club. Some sources such as Kirby's assistant Mark Evanier claim Kirby also provided input on the costume and drew the first cover before any other art was complete, while Joe Quesada, Marvels Editor in Chief during the 00s, claimed the cover to Daredevil 1 was created in a rush by Ditko and Brodsky by cutting and pasting various Kirby Mock ups.

The actual issue itself feels out of place in the new, Marvel age of comics. The art has a very retro golden age feel with some smaller panels and stiffer action then usual with the backgrounds and goons having a caricature like feel common in the golden age. The actual costume itself is also pretty unimpressive. Characters like Spider-man, Thor, and Iron Man showed very complex but appealing designs which stood out on the market vs classic capes and tights. Daredevil just looks like a random golden age circus strong man/acrobat with the Yellow being very Garish and the single D logo being very unmemorable.

The story itself starts in-media-res with Daredevil being a cheeky little quiper and attacking some thugs who work for "The Fixer" the story then hardcuts to Matt Murdock's childhood where he learn his dad was a washed up boxer who pushed his Son to become a lawyer. Since he spent all his time studying Matt was mockingly called "Daredevil" by the other kids. A blind and deaf man is walking down the street and doesn't notice a "radioactive chemical truck" barreling down the street. So a young Matt shoves the man out of the way, is hit by the truck, and then chemicals spill on him somehow. This leaves Matt blind but with super powered senses and a "radar sense" which lets him see anyway. Oh yeah and his dad is only referred to as battling Murdock. Well the elder Murdock ends up going to "The Fixer" who agrees to hire him on and is shocked to find that he is winning matches rather then being only hired as an old heel. Well finally the fixer tells Murdock to take a fall but since Matt is in the audience he ends up beating the younger man legitimately. This leads to The Fixer killing him and later Matt opens Nelson and Murdock law and creates the Daredevil persona to catch and arrest the fixer.

As an origin it may be Stan Lee's most detailed at least in terms of how developed Murdock's relationship is with his son and how his death is resolved in one issue, but it also has many strange potholes. The costume and name were very clearly chosen before the actual plot was written (its assumed Stan Lee wanted to trademark the name daredevil quickly as it was the name of a popular golden age superhero who had fallen into public domain recently). First Matt designs his costume with the horns and only after he has made the costume does he choose the name Daredevil after the name his bullies called him (yeah at this point it has nothing to do with religion and Matt's religious beliefs are not mentioned once). Then you have the issue of the Fixer who is just a bland mob boss villain. Like you never hear his real name and everyone just knows him as the fixer which begs the question of why no one put two and two together before Matt shows up. The only really interesting fact is that Daredevil lies and bluffs right to the criminal's faces so they confess to the police which could provide some moral quandaries but none every come up.

The central appeals of the Marvel age of comics where that every character had two appeals that set them apart from other characters at the time: 1. a unique gimmick and 2. slightly more realistic melodrama. The fantastic four had the gimmick of body horror and Spider-man had the gimmick of being a little whiny dibshit and Daredevils gimmick is being blind which is the big secret teased on the cover. Except Daredevil's disability is a non issue as his super powers completely negate it (there is a single moment where he mentions loud sounds messing with radar sense but DD's radar sense will switch from echolocation to a 6th sense randomly depending on the issue). Really him acting blind as Matt is no different then Clark Kent acting like a mild mannered doofus. The lawyer angle is slightly more interesting but of no consequence in this story I think the idea of a superhero having to beat his villains physically and legally is interesting. The melodrama here is also just starting so we only get the fact that Karen Page loves Matt Murdock but can't date blind people for reasons.

So that is Daredevil #1 and taken on its own its not a strong showing imo. Alot of marvel fans hold this origin in high esteem but I find it lacks a hook the same way Fantastic Four #1 and Amazing Fantasy #15 had, but this book was popular enough to spawn an ongoing has been continuously published since issue 1.

Daredevil vol 1 2

Release date: June, 1964

Writer: Stan Lee | Artist: Joe Orlando | Inkers: Vince Colletta

With issue 2 we have a new art team in the form of EC comics veteran Joe Orlando and infamous inker Vince Colletta[1]. When Vince Colletta rejoined Marvel having worked in the 50s at Atlas we quickly put to inking tons of Marvel books on account of his speed and ability to make deadlines. This speed came at the cost of quality and Colletta was despised by many artists for ruining their pencils. He was infamous for greatly simplifying detailed patterns and sections and also outright not inking background characters and details. At this early point his inking doesn't see too bad but without closely comparing the inks and original pencils its hard to say. Either way any damage done by Colletta in these early issues doesn't detract from the overall quality of the book.

Issue 2 of Daredevil features a little more pizzaz in the art department then issue 1 and also features DD's first supervillain fight (against a Spider-man Sloppy second) and his first crossover with other heroes (Matt is asked to check a lease for the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building).

There is a pretty fun segment where DD attacks an illegal auto striping shop which def has a bit of mad magazine with all the detail in the spread and lots pretty vistas in general.

Electro makes some fun faces too

The story does feel like Stan Lee and Co are trying to figure out exactly what Daredevil can do. So Matt Murdock goes to the Baxter Building to check it out for the lease case (everyone thinks he's blind so idk why Foggy and Karen let him go alone). While he's there Electro attacks because the Fantastic Four are out. Electro and daredevil fight but Daredevil senses a weight with his radar sense but doesn't realize its The things Giant weight and gets beat up while he tries to lift it (an odd limit of the Radar sense which hasnt been referenced much otherwise). Then Electro puts DD in a fricking rocket and DD uses his radar sense to fly the rocket back to earth and hears that central park has no one in it so he crashes the rocket there.

Daredevil then chases and catches Electro and returns back to being Matt Murdock only for the fantastic four to fire him because he seemingly had done 0 work on the lease as he was too busy being DD.

Then for a sub plot we have Karen Page wants Matt to get experimental eye surgery to regain his sight which he constantly refuses as it would strip him of his powers maybe. This will be a major bit of melodrama in these early issues as Karen thinks Matt will only marry her is he regains his site.

This issue is definitely a step up art wise from the last with lots of sprawling vistas, creative action, and expressive faces. Story wise it is nice to see a super villain even if he is sloppy seconds from spidey, but the story definitely jumps the shark with the rocket bit its just really absurd that Daredevil knows exactly how to pilot and experimental space shuttle. This is also the first instance of the motif of Daredevil's wins being Matt Murdock's losses where no matter what he does he will lose in some way.

Daredevil vol 1 3

Release date: August, 1964

Writer: Stan Lee | Artist: Joe Orlando | Inkers: Vince Colletta

This issue introduces Daredevil's first original super villain The Owl. He is a corrupt stock broker and the issue starts with his corruption being exposed to which he laughs at his accountants face and tells him he's the fall guy. He kills himself and the Owl resigns to simply being a regular old mobster now. In this and later comics he will continue to just be a super mobster but his origins imply a level of a realism that would remain unmatched in Daredevil's world until the reintroduction of Kingpin as his archrival, giving DD an enemy which represented the real world forces of injustice, organized crime, and later Reagan era capitalism.

The Owl is ultimately simple as a villain. He randomly chooses lawyers from a phone book and happens to land on Nelson and Murdock. This is before the firm would become known as a defense firm for supervillains. Beyond the initial, haunting reveal the Owl quickly settles into the supervillain mold- apparently having planned his turn for years as he already has a giant owl themes lair and a special cape which lets him glide (this would later be retconned to a serum he took which made his bones lighter or some shit). He hires two random goons and kidnaps Karen Page and DD saves the day.

Some other details of note include that Daredevil adds a pouch to his suit so he can carry his civvie clothes. This is stupid and dropped next issue. There is also some gadget fetishism with his Billy club. In future issues it would gain more and more high tech gadgets until fans told Stan to knock it off. It has since mostly just remains as a blind mans stick which separates into a grappling hook and a weighted throw stick. This grapple hook function would also progressively be lost throughout the 80s and 90s. For now DD just adds in a hinge which conceals a lock pick but it is a sign of things to come.

The melodrama would further continue in the form of Karen pressuring Matt to get vision restoration surgery. This would end in issue 9 but makes up the initial melodrama between Karen and Matt. Interestingly enough Karen actually suspects Matt to be Daredevil when in issue 57 Matt would reveal his double identity to Karen, a mistake which would bite him in the butt in the famous Born Again storyline.

Despite the Owl being the first original DD villain he's never really gotten his due so far (I've read the first 300 issues of Daredevil). I think his introduction is genuinely haunting and threatening for a silver age villain and his status as a stock broker adds just a smidge of real world social commentary. Its odd to me that in the comics I've read this stock broker origin is mostly ignored as I think it would make the Owl a good ally/rival of Kingpin. It just seems odd to me that as Kingpin was allowed to become more and more of a real tactical genius the Owl was mostly relegated to filler stories which forgot his original role as a criminal mastermind. I've made it quite clear in this write up that I find the yellow costume era of Daredevil quite bland and I would extend that description to the first 158 issues. There is a reason Daredevil starts with Miller, but having read 300 issues of the guy I've grown fonder of the guilty lil tortured Catholic scrunklo and certainly these silver age issues feel in the context of what happens later. Its almost impossible to comprehend how a story like Born Again or A Touch of Typhoid can exist in one where a corrupt stock broker with an owl like face just has a spare owl themed supervillain lair lying around, but hey that's just the magic of comics.

[1]

!bookworms !cuteandvalid I put up some minor finishing touches on a 3 month old draft about the origin of Daredevil.