Random Longbox

TITLE: Daredevil #21

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: October 1966

COVER PRICE: $0.12

20 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

This is the second story that makes up the "triple" part of the Giant-Size Marvel Triple Action #2 that we started reading earlier in the week. This time around, we get a story from the early years of Daredevil's title.

This is definitely going to be the oldest Daredevil story that I've ever read, as I can't recall ever reading a Daredevil issue from before Frank Miller came on board. So yeah, my history with the character is spotty at best, so we're going into this one cold.

The Trap Is Sprung

• Spellbinding Script: Stan Lee
• Phenominal Pencilling: Gene Colan
• Dynamic Delineation: Frank Giacoia, Dick Ayers, Bill Everett
• Laudatory Lettering: Artie Simek
• Bombastic Bird-Watching: Irving Forbush

The story picks up with Daredevil held captive by the Owl in a giant birdcage. All the action happened in the previous issue, but thankfully we're given a brief recap before we get to the meat of the issue.

It seems that the Owl had forced Matt Murdock to act as counsel in a trial, defending an ex-judge, where the Owl and his thugs were judge and jury. Sometime during a break in the proceedings, Matt was able to change to Daredevil and promptly got himself caught.

Let's take a quick sidebar here to play a little Super-Hero/Super-Villain association game. We'll name a super-hero, and I'll reply with the first super-villain that comes to mind.

• Superman...Lex Luthor
• Spider-Man...Green Goblin
• Fantastic Four...Doctor Doom
• Daredevil...The Owl

The Owl? Really?

Yep. You'd think it would be the Kingpin, Elektra, or Bullseye, but for some reason I just always think of the Owl. I assumed it was because he debuted in the first issue along with Daredevil, but he didn't make his first appearance until the third issue. In fact, outside of Bendis' run, I can't recall ever reading an Owl story.

Now I'm curious to actually read this issue to see just what's up with the Owl, and find out what's so special about him to become linked so prominently to Daredevil in my mind. Now, back to the review.

Using his special powers to be able to glide on the slightest breeze, the Owl soars to the top of the cavernous chamber were he has hung the captive Daredevil.

With the press of a button, Daredevil goes careening towards a bottomless pit. The Owl has worked up a "by-the-numbers" Silver Age death-trap, so not only does the hanging cage have a retractable floor that will send Daredevil to his death, but the bars are heated which prevents him from holding on for dear life.

Unfortunately for the Owl, he forgot to take away Daredevil's billy clubs when he locked him up, as he's easily able to use its grappling hook to hook the cable above and swing himself up and out of the deathtrap.

The Owl sics a couple of his generic thugs on Daredevil, but they are easily dispatched as he lassos the Owl with his billy club and sends him careening into his own men.

It's still too early to count the Owl out just yet however, as he has a back-up death-trap ready to go. All he has to do is lure Daredevil into the Forbidden Chamber!

So the chase is on, as the Owl leads Daredevil ever further throughout the labyrinthine passages that go farther and farther down. While this is happening, the very base that they're running through is being rocked by explosions from a nearby volcano.

Hopefully that forbidden chamber has a good safe room.

The Owl is able to use his uncanny gliding powers to keep one step ahead of the determined Daredevil. Inside the dreaded forbidden chamber, we get a glimpse of the Owl's secret weapon...a giant-sized electronic owl!

It may look bumbling and slow, but that's not the case as the speed and dexterity of its swooping attacks keep Daredevil from apprehending the owl. He still manages to throw a carefully aimed billy club at the control panel, which soon sends the mechanical owl careening out of control.

At this same time, the volcanic island base is rocked by another explosion which starts to bring the fortress down around their heads. Normally, this would be a bad turn of events, but lucky for the two of them there's a wild and out of control mechanical owl that they can hijack to take them away from the crumbling headquarters.

The momentum of the fight now changes hands, as the sky is definitely the Owl's milieu. His gliding powers give him the edge, as he can dance around on the surface of the mechanical owl while Daredevil is forced to hold on for dear life.

Daredevil didn't get to be the Man With No Fear by hiding from a challenge, so when the Owl lunges for him he lurches to the side, causing the Owl to fall from the safety of his mechanical namesake.

If you give the Owl some lemons however, he'll just make some lemonade. You see, he can use his gliding power to reach the mainland while Daredevil will plunge to his certain doom on the back of his crippled electronic owl.

You know you can't count Daredevil out that easily, however, so while this is the last we see of the Owl, our hero still has to rescue the judge from the crumbling island base. Using his senses to feel the subtle shifts in the wind currents, he's able to shift his weight and control the electronic owl. Flying back to the island, he's able to rescue the judge as the island explodes in the background.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

There was something odd about this issue, as we read the whole thing and The Official Stan Lee Hyperbole Meter (that we introduced last review) never went off once! By rights, that should've sent it into the red right there.

This issue came out a month later than the Avengers issue that we just read, but it feels like it was written by a completely different person. It's probably just the nature of the story being told, as this one is almost all action with nary a ham-fisted, moral lesson in sight. The story is better for it, and was actually pretty fun.

I may have to rethink my position on Daredevil, as I never considered myself a big fan but this makes two Daredevil books that the Randomizer has picked that I enjoyed quite a bit. Now that I think about it, they're both essentially the same story, with Daredevil avoiding the thugs and death-traps of the issues villain. It makes sense, as his enhanced senses provide plenty of opportunity to escape from the impossible with panache.

For this story, the villain was the Owl, and I can't say that I really now him any better than I did before I read this. His only super-power appeared to be the awesome ability to glide. Other than that, he relied pretty heavily on his henchmen and inventions to do the dirty work. I'm not sure if I immediately think of an owl when I hear those attributes, but it was the sixties and everyone needed a shtick.

Gene Colan handles the art here, and he gives the story a quick pace and lots of fluidity to the artwork. It doesn't remind me at all of the early Marvel, Kirby work that I instantly think of when someone mentions a silver age Marvel book. Even the fact that this issue had three inkers didn't detract from the pencils.

So there you have it. We've looked at two out of the three stories from Giant-Size Marvel Triple Action #2 and came up with one winner and one not-winner. It'll be up to Dr. Strange and Thor to break the tie, as their half of Strange Tales #123 closes out the issue.

TITLE: Daredevil #193

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: April 1983

COVER PRICE: $0.60

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

Well if you read yesterday's post, you'll remember that this book is from a new collection that I'm integrating into my longboxes. That makes the answer to the "what do I remember" question mercifully short.

It also seems like I've been talking about Daredevil non-stop for the last week, but I did manage to do the barest minimum of research about the history of this issue to get me prepared a little.

As I mentioned earlier, this issue is written by Larry Hama. It's the only issue he ever wrote, and was a fill-in between the end of the Frank Miller era and the beginning of Denny O'Neil's run. On a sidenote...I had no idea that Denny O'Neil ever wrote hornhead. I may have to crack one of those open for pleasure, instead of waiting for the Randomizer to pick one at it's leisure.

Klaus Janson is still on pencils, which gives the title a seamless transition art-wise between regular writers. You don't see too many instances of Janson pencilling these days, as he's keeping busy inking for John Romita Jr. it seems, although maybe I'm just not looking that hard. Either way, it'll be a treat to see him tell the whole story on both pencils and inks.

Bitsy's Revenge

• Writer: Larry Hama
• Artist: Klaus Janson
• Letterer: Joe Rosen
• Editor: Denny O'Neil
• Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

We catch up to Daredevil as he's making his 4am rounds around the city. One of his regular spots is the Armory, as they apparently make the best coffee around this time of night.


All is not well, however, as the regular night watchman, Sarge, lies in a pool of his own blood on the floor. Daredevil rushes down to help, but they both know it's too late.

With his last breath, Sarge tells DD about what happened. A group of criminals dressed as soldiers broke in and took the latest in anti-tank missile technology. To make matters worse, they also took his .45, "Bitsy", which was handed down from his father after WWI. He stays with Sarge until he passes, and then heads outside to catch up with the crooks.

While Daredevil was with Sarge, the criminals were loading up the crates of missiles onto their getaway truck. It's not the tightest knit group of crooks around, as the one that shot Sarge and took his pistol deserts the rest of the gang and takes off with stolen crates.

Unfortunately for them, Daredevil finds them and is not in a very forgiving mood. He does have the presence of mind to leave one conscious enough to get some answers about who they're working for and why.

It turns out the leader with the lead foot and questionable loyalty to his men is a gent by the name of Carmine Pesca. He plans to rob a cruise ship that is supposed to be carrying five million dollars worth of diamonds, and the stolen missiles are part of his plan.

Off to the mid-Atlantic it is then...


Using his clever disguise, he plays the part of tourist while keeping an eye on Carmine. During his stakeout, he befriends a female associate of Carmine who also just happens to be the ship magician. After some playful small talk, she invites him to attend tonight's show.

After the evening's festivities, Matt decides to do some patrols as Daredevil to better keep an eye on Carmine. Fortunately, he doesn't have to wait long to figure out what Carmine was up to with the missiles as one of them comes heading straight for the radar tower that Daredevil is perched on.

The damaged radar is doubly dangerous, as the ship now has no radio communication and the fact that it's pointing toward the ship means that DD's heightened senses are overloaded, leaving him essentially blind.

While Daredevil struggles to shut down the damaged radar, a pirate submarine surfaces and demands that the ship's captain empty out his safe of all the diamonds or they will blow up the cruise liner. With the fate of the passengers in his hands, the captain gives in to the pirates demands.

While all of that is going on, Carmine continues to play it cool on the deck of the ship, watching his plan go off without a hitch. Above him, Daredevil disconnects the radar dish and is one again back in action.

Daredevil is now in no mood to fool around and he confronts Carmine, but doesn't get the story he's expecting to hear. It turns out that Carmine is just an actor hired by the magician to be an audience plant. She hired him purposefully because they had similar body structures and she could use make-up to disguise herself as him for part of the show.

Piecing it together, DD realizes that it was the magician who robbed the armory disguised as Carmine. Using the tricks of her trade, she projects the image of the submarine to con the ship into giving up the diamonds.

With the diamonds in hand, she boasts about pulling the perfect crime. Unfortunately, Daredevil has something to say about that.

Ordering her two assistants to attack, she beats a hasty retreat. It doesn't take long, however, for Daredevil to take out both Ali and Akbar.

He catches up to the magician, just as she pulls out Sarge's old .45 and points it at Daredevil. He tries to tell her that the gun hasn't worked in ages, but she ain't buying it.

Oopsie...I guess you should have listened to Daredevil after all, but then where would the poetic justice have come from then?

As a eulogy of sorts, we get the rest of Sarge's story. It turns out that he was a supply clerk in 'Nam, and never fired his gun in combat. One day, his base was overrun and during a grenade attack a piece of shrapnel that should have killed Sarge instead lodged itself in the barrel of his gun.

The gun was never fired after that, and never took another's life, until now.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

I love one-shot stories.

Good ones tell a captivating story using the most of the twentysome pages provided to get in and get out, hopefully entertaining us along the way.

Bad ones tend to overly rely on coincidences and dei ex machina to bring the story together on the last page.

Obviously I'd prefer to read a good one, but even a bad one can be enjoyed with the same pleasure reserved for b-movies. Luckily for us, we got a pretty decent one with this story.

Larry Hama introduces all of the main players, and gives us everything we need to solve the crime along with Daredevil. It was a little hokey in a spot or two, but honestly, what comic from the early 80's isn't. In this issue, the good definitely outweigh the bad.

The art by Klaus Janson was appropriately gritty and rough, like all good Daredevil books are supposed to be. The most striking thing about the issue was the regular use of the long flat panel, stacked six or seven high, that was used throughout the issue. It gave the fight scenes a fluid and kinetic widescreen feel that made the issue a pleasure to read.

So one of those things happened to me the other day that makes the collector inside of me giddy.

Sometimes it's lucking into someone's old collection of 70's and 80's Marvel books that fills in a bunch of gaps in your collection! I've been fortunate enough to have that happen about four or five years ago.

Other times it's something less bountiful, but equally pleasing, like opening up a 70's back-issue of The Avengers that you haven't read yet and realizing that it has a George Perez signature on the first page!

This time around it was the former, as my brother gave me his box of old comics on Easter! It turns out that he's paring down things he's been saving for years, and since I'm the "comic book guy" in the family, he was awesome enough to give 'em to me.

I'm not bragging just for the sake of braggin however, as my gain is your gain. This gives us another 170 issues of random comic books to choose from for the blog!

So what was in the aforementioned box of comics?


Lucky for me, mine and my brother's taste in comic books were somewhat different. Where I was an Avengers nut, he was a Daredevil fan. While I was following the X-Men, he was reading The New Mutants.

So sprinkled in to my collection goes 80 issues of Daredevil ranging from issue #2 all the way up to #229. We also get a solid collection of the first three years of The New Mutants. I also spied a nice copy of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #27 featuring Frank Miller's first stab at Daredevil.

The big surprise for me, was seeing about 25 old 70's and 80's issues of The Flash, as I had no idea my brother had these. I was just thinking about looking for some of the Trial of the Flash issues at my LCS, and wouldn't you know it...he has some here!

The strangest book, however, goes to the german language version of Texas Rangers #67?! Although I have a spanish language Green Lantern book in my collection, so who am I to judge.

In celebration of the new collection, I'm breaking format for the next random book to review. We're going to randomly pick the next book from the new box before I file them in with my stuff.

So thanks again to my brother, and now on with the show and the next random pick...

...and that book is Daredevil #193 from April 1983, published by Marvel Comics!

I guess we can officially call this Daredevil month here at The Random Longbox. After his guest-starring role in the previous pick, he move's up to the title role in this one. It shouldn't come as a big surprise however, as over half of the collection featured him in some way, shape, or form.

I was actually hoping for one of the early Stan Lee issues so we could add his name to the roster of creators on the right hand side of the blog, but it was not to be as this particular issue is written by Larra Hama and drawn by Klaus Janson.

I know that Frank Miller had just departed a few issues earlier, but above and that, this issue is a blank slate to me. I enjoyed the heck out of Larry Hama's Wolverine run in the 90's, so I'm optimistic that we'll find something to like here.

See you in a day or two for the review.

TITLE: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #110

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: January 1986

COVER PRICE: $0.65

24 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

As I mentioned last time, I've never really been a huge Spider-Man collector. I enjoy the character well enough, but don't have the passion to follow his titles day in and day out. With that being said, it doesn't mean that I don't read 'em every now and again.

This issue holds a special place in my collection, as these four issues were the first Spider-Man books that I recall buying fresh off the racks. I remember enjoying his appearances in Secret Wars, and definitely thought his new costume introduced there was bad-ass, but for some reason it never spurred me to start picking up either of his two regular titles.

Eventually, however, I did buy a few issues and it was with this storyline that I started. I couldn't tell you what finally spurred me to buy a few, but I'm glad I did. This particular arc was pretty intense, compared to what else was out there at the time. It definitely struck a nerve, and when I think of good Spider-Man storylines, this one always jumps to the top.

It's actually been quite a while since I've reread it, so I'm curious to see how it holds up to today's standards. Peter David's one of the best writers out there, not super flashy by any means, but he's consistently good just about every time he puts pen to paper. I have faith that this issue won't disappoint, but still...this was Peter David's first comic book work, so the chance for some clunkiness is still out there.

Finally, with this issue Peter David takes the lead with the most issues reviewed by a writer here at the Random Longbox. The funny thing is, he did it with no help from his 10 year run on The Incredible Hulk, of which I have the whole shebang just waiting to be picked for a review sooner or later. He's got a ways to go before he catches up to Curt Swan, who currently holds the record for most books reviewed, but with the sheer number of Peter David books I have in my collection it's bound to happen sooner or later.

All My Sins Remembered

• Writer: Peter David
• Layouts: Rich Buckler
• Finishers: M. Hands
• Colorist: Bob Sharen
• Letterer: Rick Parker
• Editor: Jim Owsley
• Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The conclusion to the Death of Jean DeWolff storyline begins as both Spider-Man and Daredevil are racing to the home of J. Jonah Jameson to avenge the death of Betty Brant at the hands of the Sin-Eater. Little does Spider-man know, however, that Betty is not quite dead yet as she managed to duck under JJJ's desk as the Sin-Eater fired his shotgun.

Just like he killed a priest who opposed capital punishment and a judge who coddled criminals, he has come to take down JJJ because he's against the idea of masked vigilantes. While not having any particular beef with Betty, he promises to kill her so that she can deliver a message to Jonah in the afterlife.

Betty shows she has a little life left in her as she grabs a letter opener and stabs him in the leg. That maneuver buys her a few moments, which is all she needed as Spider-Man comes crashing through the window and is surprised to see her alive.

The thought that Betty was dead, coupled with the other senseless deaths brought about by the Sin-Eater, have pushed Spider-Man to the edge. He arrived before Daredevil, and while he's fighting solo he shows a level of bloodlust that Peter rarely shows.

The Sin-Eater doesn't really stand a chance against an enraged Spider-Man, and now unmasked he's at his mercy. He apologizes to Spider-Man, but it's too late. Spider-Man tells him to save his apology for the one who deserves it, Jean DeWolff!

It's at this point that Daredevil catches up to him and sees Spider-Man on the verge of beating the Sin-Eater to death. He jumps in between the two, as Sin-Eater is obviously defeated, but Spider-Man will not be brought out of his bloodlust quite so easily. With Daredevil now between him and his prey, he becomes the new target of Spider-Man's rage.

Daredevil uses this to his advantage and taunts Spider-Man into following him as he leads him away from the Sin-Eater. Leading him away frm Jonah's house, Daredevil keeps him distracted enough that he is able to get a few lucky blows in and pummels him into subconsciousness.

Over the next couple of pages we get an awful lot of exposition that brings us up to speed with the chain of events that brought us here, so here's the super quick rundown.

The Sin-Eater was none other than Stan Carter, the actual police detective in charge of catching the Sin-Eater! With him in custody, the citizens of New York are not happy as they now have reason to fear both the criminals and the police. The rest of the force is put on alert as demonstrations start to crop up outside of police headquarters.

Jonah returns from his business trip to the news that Spider-Man has saved the life of his wife and secretary in his very own home. That's one more debt that JJJ owes Spider-Man that will more than likely go unpaid.

Back at police headquarters, we get more backstory about Stan Carter as they are visited by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He informs the police chief that Carter was a test subject in a drug enhancement program earlier in his career. It seems S.H.I.E.L.D. was experimenting with their own version of a super soldier serum. It worked, but also had unstable and unpredictable side-effects. The program was deemed too dangerous and was mothballed.

All of this new info means that it's possible that Stan Carter will be able to avoid responsibility on an insanity plea. That's the last thing this city needs to hear about.

The police decide to transfer the Sin-Eater to Riker's Island, and it's here that we catch back up with Spider-Man and Daredevil. Watching the transfer from a nearby rooftop, they debate the difference between justice and vengeance. Spider-Man still sees a big difference between what he does and what the Sin-Eater did. Daredevil is trying to show him that everyone deserves their day in court, even the Sin-Eater, whom Spider-Man was unwilling to give that option earlier in the story.

It's an argument left for another time, as the demonstrators on scene have succumb to mob rules and decide to take out the Sin Eater. Daredevil jumps down to protect him, but Spider-Man is still hesitant to expend any effort to protect the Sin-Eater.

The wild mob proves too much for Daredevil's heightened senses and hey are soon overpowered. He's at the mob's mercy as he calls out to Spider-Man for his help. What catches him by surprise, is that Daredevil called him by his first name!

With the death of his uncle and Gwen Stacy still hanging over him, Peter finally swings down to help out Daredevil as another innocent life lost on his watch would be too much to bear. Together they disperse the mob and get Carter secured at Riker's.

With everything wrapped up, Peter and Matt have a little unfinished business. Matt explains that he was able to use his enhanced hearing to figure out that Peter Parker and Spider-Man shared the same heartbeat and were the same man. He lets Peter know his secret identity as Matt Murdock, and the debate about justice and the law is back on...albeit on more friendly terms now.

Luckily for them, I guess, one of Aunt May's elderly friends has done something rather rash. It seems that in all of the recent simmering civil unrest, one of her friends took his old service pistol on the subway and shot three young punks who were hassling him.

Why is that lucky? For now Matt Murdock will demonstrate how the court system uses law to administer justice fairly by arranging representation for Aunt May's friend.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

...not even Peter David was able to escape the first time writer's curse of too many words. Granted, this was a different time and stories were told in a different fashion, but the story really hit a brick wall about half-way through as it shifts gear from slug-fest to morality tale of civil unrest.

The moral turmoil that Peter goes through seems a little heavy-handed, but not having re-read the previous three parts, I'm willing to give Peter David the benefit of the doubt that it got set up more thoroughly along the way.

Still, wordy as it was in parts, I like what he was trying to do with comparing and contrasting the extremes of masked vigilantes. Bringing in Daredevil to play, pardon the pun, devil's advocate for the justice system was a nice touch.

The art by Buckler and Hands was good, but also seemed to miss a step once the story switched gears. The fight against Sin-Eater and the showdown between Spidey and DD was very well rendered, but as soon as the exposition starts the artwork got a lot rougher and less defined. It was a vast difference from the first half, and definitely took me out of the story for a moment or two.

I'd forgotten that this was the issue where they learned each other's secret identity, so that was a pleasant surprise. Even more so, as it's a stark contrast to the state of the Marvel Universe over the last 5 years or so where everyone distrusts everyone and deals with the devil have rendered all of this moot anyway.

That's the great thing about longboxes, as we'll always have the good old days right at our fingertips.