Daredevil Epic Collection, Vol. 7: The Concrete Jungle

Daredevil Epic Collection

by Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie

An ever-exciting era for Daredevil, both in costume as Hell Kitchen's guardian and in his life as lawyer Matt Murdock!

Matt Murdock may be the Marvel Universe’s most famous lawyer, but when the Jester frames Daredevil for murder, the verdict is guilty…and the sentence is death! Then, news of Karen Page’s disappearance sends Daredevil to Los Angeles in a crossover adventure with Ghost Rider. Meanwhile, Matt’s romance with Heather Glenn continues to grow, but his investigation into her father’s business draws disturbing conclusions. The Owl attacks next, and he’s far from the Man Without Fear’s only problem! Bullseye is back, while the Purple Man has employed his mind-control powers to torment our hero and his friends alike. It’s a gritty saga that traps DD in the Ryker’s Island prison, forcing him to fight a gauntlet of his most violent foes.

Daredevil (1964) 133-154; Daredevil Annual (1967) 4; Ghost Rider (1973) 20; Marvel Premiere (1972) 39-40, 43; material from Ghost Rider (1973) 19

Genres: Comics, Marvel

528 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2024

About the author

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

Reviews

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know most people are thinking that Daredevil doesn't properly get good until Frank Miller hits his stride. I think it's well on it's way there in this era just before Miller came aboard. While the previous six volumes worth of issues have been kinda all over the place with a varying balance of good and bad stories, here we finally have a set of mostly good reads. The plots are getting more thought out. The secondary cast actually matters a lot more than it used to, and they all have recognizable personalities that grow and evolve over time. Some of the drama in Matt Murdock's life in and out of the costume are also getting grittier. Miller may have taken the book in a new direction, but I have a feeling that reading some of this era may have sparked some ideas as well.

This era also has a pretty solid run of art. There are several names bouncing in and out, but the introduction of Klaus Janson in here shows a bit of what's to come visually.

So yeah, a solid Epic Collection, and one that has me just salivating to get on to the next era. Since it's not in print yet though, I'll be bouncing between the older trades I have and Marvel Unlimited till I reach Epic Collection 12. This should be a lot of fun.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half of this collection is just Daredevil fighting bad guys he has fought before. It doesn’t get good until the point where Jim Shooter takes over the writing. From here on we have some girlfriend drama for both Matt and Foggy, the stakes get more personal and it’s all more interesting. Added to this is Gil Kane on art, doing some of his best work. Klaus Janson is contributing too, which is a sign, at least to me, that the Frank Miller issues follow this volume.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

More a 2.5 star review but I lean 2 because I notice that reading it became more of a "let's finish this" than a "looking forward to picking up where I left off". I had high hopes coming into reading this because I had one issue in this volume in my comic collection and I liked it a lot. It was the finale of the Jester storyline and it was fun action where Daredevil used his unique radar sense to help him save the day. Sadly that was one of the better issues in this collection so it gave me a little false hope.

Let's start with the good. Daredevil is a fun character when used correctly. He has unique powers that can add a nice twist to any story. You have some great artists like Gil Kane and Gene Colan on art duties with Klaus Janson doing some amazing inks near the end of the volume. You have Roger McKenzie come in for writing duties and I feel he was doing some great work with Daredevil that really set the stage for Frank Miller to come in and do his classic run. Wolfman's issue are okay and Shooter's are below average. I find "writer Jim Shooter" would have been yelled at by "editor Jim shooter" for his lack of character building and unfocused stories.

You do have some long story lines that are good/bad. Bad in the sense that the writer's seem to lose their focus on them and even Daredevil comments "gee I guess I should look for Foggy's (his best friend) girl friend who was kidnapped 10 issues ago". And good in that it does build some dramatic tension. The Jester takes over the TV news and paints Daredevil as a villain...okay idea but doesn't make much sense. You have characters saying things like "I saw on TV Daredevil kill people (fake broadcast by Jester) but the newspaper here says that was a fake broadcast. I don't know what to believe." You have Foggy's girlfriend being kidnapped which gets resolved fully 20 issues later. You have Matt's girlfriend's (Heather) dad being brainwashed by the Purple man - the final storyline in this comic. All interesting storylines but the build up and resolution needed to be better executed so it wasn't just "come on Daredevil - track down the Purple Man already!"

Speaking of Frank Miller - who will be in the next Epic collection when it comes out you get to see why he is a master story teller compared to the likes of Shooter or Wolfman. They bring up conflicts like Foggy and Matt bickering or Heather and Matt breaking up but it just goes in circles. One issue it is Foggy being mad at Matt and the next Matt being mad at Foggy - rinse and repeat. Miller was smart enough to know basic storytelling - bring up conflict and RESOLVE conflict. Have a problem to overcome and OVERCOME that problem. I feel the other writers missed that class in school. Miller also knew how to give villains motives more than "kill Daredevil we hate him!!" You see that with Kingpin, Bullseye, Electra. Miller also knew how to USE Daredevil's unique power of radar (and super hearing and super senses) to help his overcome a foe. I get frustrated by how little other writers did this and simply turned Daredevil into a second rate Spider-man. I am bringing all this up to say most of the issues in this volume didn't have that so we are left with some okay action stories that don't have much weight to them and storylines that drag on and lose their focus. It doesn't help that we switch writers 3 times and switch artists 4 times.

Oh..and the tack on issues at the end of this collection with spotlights of Paladin and Torpedo (the WORST super hero ever - which is why you never heard of him) didn't need to be there. The logic is "they appeared in the pages of Daredevil so let's see their first solo adventures". No...let's not.

Oh! and I should mention I loved the two issues John Byrne drew..oh that's right FIVE artists not four :).

Overall - these aren't horrible comics and some of them are a lot of fun. But none of them are very memorable.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Concrete Jungle collects the remaining issues of Daredevil leading up to the arrival of Frank Miller, who manages to rescue the title from the brink of cancellation. This era, collecting issues #133-154 of the title along with some odds and ends, marks the end of Marv Wolfman's up-and-down run on the title, Jim Shooter's brief but entertaining run, and the start of the overly dry Roger McKenzie era. The tail end of Wolfman's run was quite unremarkable, though aspects of his stretch on the title still shape the character today. Heather Glenn as Matt Murdock's new love interest is at the forefront here, replacing Black Widow (who had previously replaced Karen Page) as the new woman to beguile Matt's attempts to balance superheroics with being a lawyer. The series really feels like its gasping for air here at this point, but Shooter injects a bit of energy with his brief stint. The artists at this time didn't stick around for more than a few issues at a time, but a plethora of high talent still touched the book, including a few great issues by Gil Kane. Shooter couldn't keep up with the schedule for the book, and McKenzie takes over. Around this time, Klaus Janson would take over as the inker for the book, which became the first domino to fall with respect to this series hitting the elevated level it would by issue #158 (to be collected in the eventual Vol. 8 of the Daredevil Epic Collection line) when Frank Miller comes on to handle the penciling duties.

Wolfman, Shooter and McKenzie all try to find ways to get a thematic note to hit for the title whereby recurring villains become a fair bit more prominent. Mr. Hyde, the Purple Man, Bullseye, the Owl, etc. are all characters that pop in and out during this stretch, but none of the storylines quite connect the same way they did with their initial appearances. Even Matt's personal life drama is less than appealing here, making this specific era of the title the dullest stretch yet.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The end of Wolfman's run struggled. Or in other words, the portion contained in this trade was inferior to the portion in the last.

But then Shooter comes on the scene. I had totally forgotten about his touches on Daredevil. I am used to his Marvel writing being all about omnipotence in mortal form that it surprises to find him in the streets of New York with our blind lawyer friend. This is actually one of the better pre-Miller runs, if short. (No one is lasting long on the book at this point)

And then the baton is passed to MacKenzie, who takes it fairly well. And he quickly introduces my favorite of DD's cast, Ben Urich.

This essentially gets me to Miller (there's a 3-issue gap). At least Miller on art. Nearing the end of the year that marks Matt's 60th anniversary, I've made it to the foothills of his great transformation. The early years are not resplendent. But there's little pieces here and there that will get picked up and made into diamonds.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some OK stories from the seventies. I will say this, plots dragged on for forever. Foggy's fiancé was kidnapped for about 20 issues before she was found. Surprisingly the Marv Wolfman stories in the first half weren't as good as the 2nd half when Jim Shooter took over the writing. There's some classic artists working on this, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Gene Colon, even John Byrne who drew the crossover with Ghost Rider.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for Jim Shooter laying the groundwork for Matt to finally have an arch nemesis in The Purple Man, and Roger McKenzie for finally finding a tone for the book that isn't "Spider-Man but, y'know' not." It took 150 issues, but the comic is finally finding its voice, and becoming the book Frank Miller cab work his magic on.

[Fabian Tavares · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 70s were special.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daredevil returns to form here, becoming a page turner again after a couple of subpar years seen in Epic Collection Vol 6.

[✨! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I think I was so frustrated that the previous issues were so unenjoyable that the moment something actually had a plot I liked, I scrambled to devour it. The bad/mid issues are spread out enough throughout the collection that it wasn't painful to read. This was pretty fun overall, actually

Marv Wolfman is kind of hit-or-miss, but I liked the Jester arc for what it was (#133-137) and a couple one-shots are fun if you don't think to hard (#139 and #140). There are some WEIRD bits tho (I REALLY didn't like #142. I could do without the pornographer cameo)

The Killgrave arc takes FOREVER to kick into gear (pieces of it are sprinkled in as early as #132, though it doesn't really kick in until #141-ish), but once Jim Shooter starts writing (#146-#150) it's actually pretty good, even if I thought they were kind of stretching things out for too long at times (Foggy's fiancee is kidnapped in #132 and they don't do anything about it until #147, which I thought was hilarious. They keep bringing it up in like every issue and I'm sitting there like, "yeah, are y'all gonna do anything about it? No? Okay I guess lmao"). I genuinely found myself looking forward to what would happen next, which I wasn't expecting. My favorites were #146 and #151