Daredevil #46 (1968)
By Stan Lee, Gene Colan, George Klein
Background: Framed for murder, Daredevil is in police custody.
So, What Happens? Daredevil wakes up in the prison infirmary, kayoes the inmate who was about to take his mask off and steals a doctor's jacket to disguise himself. Thanks to some abysmal security and a couple of lucky breaks, he eventually manages to escape the prison, exchange clothes with a beggar and return to Nelson & Murdock under the pretence that he was mugged. Finally free to go back home after a quick word with Foggy and Debbie, Matt pieces everything together and realizes the Jester is the man he is supposed to have murdered, and whom he later met on the subway. Matt then sets up a trap: dressed like the Jester, he goes on live TV for interviews, certain that the original criminal won't let someone else steal his thunder. Predictably, the Jester goes to the studios where Daredevil can reveal himself and eventually take him down after a prolonged fight. Unmasked, the Jester is recognized as the man DD was supposed to have killed and confesses on live TV, clearing the hero.
Something Silly This Way Comes: Everything in the first eight pages is just lazy writing at its worse: the police leave Daredevil in the infirmary, fully armed and not even restrained, with an inmate free to walk around and a convenient full set of doctor clothes (shoes included) of the right size. DD's glasses appear out of nowhere, nobody notices there is a new doctor who has never been seen before, a medical car is left ready with the motor running and somehow Matt even has money to give to the beggar in exchange for his clothes. It shouldn't be more than half a day since the Jester captured Daredevil and already his costume is a hot selling item.
Review: Silver Age stories can be silly in two ways: there's the "fun", harmless silly, with fights always taking place in condemned buildings or soldiers easily getting out of exploding vehicles, and then there is the "lazy" silly, when things just happen in the most convenient way to take the story where the writer wants regardless of sense and logic. Unfortunately, this story belongs to the latter type, and the only purpose of the first half is to get Daredevil as quickly as possible out of the very situation the previous issue had spent so long to set up. Once that's out of the way, the rest of the story is not actually too bad, but suffers from a very predictable ending aimed at resetting the status quo with a single stroke.
I don't know if Stan was attempting to make Daredevil Marvel's answer to Batman, who back in 1968 was popular because of the TV series but not the superstar he is today, but it certainly looks like he wanted to take a leaf out of the Bat's book and make the Jester Daredevil's archnemesis, the way the Joker was for Bruce. Nearly four years into his published life, DD had had several recurring foes, but only a few unique to him and certainly no one who could be considered his nemesis the way Doctor Octopus or the Green Goblin were shaping up to be for Spider-Man, Loki for Thor or the Red Skull for Captain America. Running four issues, the Jester saga is Daredevil's longest yet, but unfortunately the villain never comes across as a real threat despite the story desperately willing to make him look like one.
On the flip side, the art keeps delivering. George Klein is a better fit than Vince Colletta for Gene Colan, whose layouts and fight sequences are dynamic and inventive without sacrificing a good level of detail. It's a pity that the story doesn't play to his strengths more with a longer fight sequence.
Final Verdict: Unfortunately, the jest is on us. 2/5
No comments:
Post a Comment