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Daredevil (1964) #158-161, 163-167
Daredevil: Marked for Murder
Marked for Murder
192 pages, Hardcover
First published February 4, 2015
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102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 27, 2017
I can't say I've really enjoyed this - this volume contains issues from back in 1980 (as far as I can tell), when characters tended to speak in sentences with exclamation marks at the end and have cheesy dialogue lines.
"Keep back, all of you! This is the Black Widow's fight now!" the Black Widow herself cries, coming in through the window in her green dress and red pigtails, looking for all the world like a lost schoolgirl with superpowers - no subtle and confident Natasha, this one, either. She despairs over people suffering all around her and refers to herself in third person.
The stories are full of action, but unfortunately they don't have much depth, so my interest kept going down and I trudged through the volume, eventually getting to such a low point that I put the book down and figured I'd read the last pages later, only I never did.
There's also a Daredevil origin story, complete with some of the details Frank Miller would later reuse to write far superior stories, which move out of the pow!-wow!-behold the "red-garbed foe of evil"! zone.
"Keep back, all of you! This is the Black Widow's fight now!" the Black Widow herself cries, coming in through the window in her green dress and red pigtails, looking for all the world like a lost schoolgirl with superpowers - no subtle and confident Natasha, this one, either. She despairs over people suffering all around her and refers to herself in third person.
The stories are full of action, but unfortunately they don't have much depth, so my interest kept going down and I trudged through the volume, eventually getting to such a low point that I put the book down and figured I'd read the last pages later, only I never did.
There's also a Daredevil origin story, complete with some of the details Frank Miller would later reuse to write far superior stories, which move out of the pow!-wow!-behold the "red-garbed foe of evil"! zone.
April 11, 2016
Marvel were never shy about hyping up their books, a trait derived from the carny hucksterism of Stan Lee himself. The first issue reprinted in this collection announces a newcomer who will ‘explode upon the Marvel scene like a bombshell’. It’s fair to say that, if anything, that undersells Miller’s eventual impact.
Miller’s most significant works lie a long way off at this point, and this run has him almost exclusively on artistic duties – he gets one just credit as co-writer across the nine issues collected here. That’s not to say that this isn’t a pointer to the future though – main writer Roger McKenzie is very much in tune with the darker fare Miller’s more at home with and Miller, in conjunction with inker Klaus Janson, enhances the darker mood. Miller’s use of shadow to enhance scenes is exceptional as are the visual tricks he uses to represent Daredevil’s hypersense. It’s of a piece with the likes of The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City.
It’s clearly Miller’s presence that lends these issues their significance. McKenzie’s a decent but not exceptional writer and most of the tales here are standard superheroics. Only David Micheline’s single issue really breaks that pattern, caustically commenting on big business, corruption and the onset of the computer era. Overall though it’s hard to shake the suspicion that the artwork provides both style and substance to this collection.
Miller’s most significant works lie a long way off at this point, and this run has him almost exclusively on artistic duties – he gets one just credit as co-writer across the nine issues collected here. That’s not to say that this isn’t a pointer to the future though – main writer Roger McKenzie is very much in tune with the darker fare Miller’s more at home with and Miller, in conjunction with inker Klaus Janson, enhances the darker mood. Miller’s use of shadow to enhance scenes is exceptional as are the visual tricks he uses to represent Daredevil’s hypersense. It’s of a piece with the likes of The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City.
It’s clearly Miller’s presence that lends these issues their significance. McKenzie’s a decent but not exceptional writer and most of the tales here are standard superheroics. Only David Micheline’s single issue really breaks that pattern, caustically commenting on big business, corruption and the onset of the computer era. Overall though it’s hard to shake the suspicion that the artwork provides both style and substance to this collection.
August 31, 2015
This was a very enjoyable book, Roger Mckenzie is a forgotten master at Marvel. He created the building blocks on which Frank Miller built the dark and gritty Daredevil. He even managed to tackle a damsel in distress storyline involving the black widow which works, he presented a believable scenario where it was possible that she would be captured and potentially helpless. Furthermore there are two amazing examples of story telling, Matt Murdoch squaring up to the Hulk, and a story which I've heard about previously but only read here, Ben Ulrich finds out the truth and confronts Matt about his secret identity, it was a great retelling of his origins and a nice moment between these long standing characters and friends. Also to note I enjoyed Millers artwork, I've never been a big fan of his and do think his work is overrated, but this is a different style than I've seen from him, when he draws in the Marvel way his talent really shows. A very good read.
August 29, 2015
A nice lead up before Frank came and really turned DD to the darker hero he is today.
August 30, 2023
Daredevil confronts a series of deadly foes, including Death Dealer, Bullseye, Doctor Octopus and Gladiator; whilst in his private life Matt Murdock is torn between two women, Heather Glenn and Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow.
Whilst there's no overarching narrative to this book, what unites this collection of Daredevil comics is the fact that they represent the first work on the character by the artist Frank Miller, who would go on to write some of the character's most iconic storylines. Miller's artwork is great too, doing a particularly fine job of capturing Daredevil's dynamic gymnastic grace.
As I say, there's no larger plot holding this book together but the episodes of the Man Without Fear's life that we get are all pretty good and play nicely into the darker, more grounded tone that the character began to explore in the 80s. Daredevil's brutal confrontation with Bullseye, with a woman he loves' life on the line, is a particular hint of where the character would go in later stories.
So, there's some really good stuff here, but it does have to be said that lacking a cohesive plot does negatively affect the reading experience of the book as a whole.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Whilst there's no overarching narrative to this book, what unites this collection of Daredevil comics is the fact that they represent the first work on the character by the artist Frank Miller, who would go on to write some of the character's most iconic storylines. Miller's artwork is great too, doing a particularly fine job of capturing Daredevil's dynamic gymnastic grace.
As I say, there's no larger plot holding this book together but the episodes of the Man Without Fear's life that we get are all pretty good and play nicely into the darker, more grounded tone that the character began to explore in the 80s. Daredevil's brutal confrontation with Bullseye, with a woman he loves' life on the line, is a particular hint of where the character would go in later stories.
So, there's some really good stuff here, but it does have to be said that lacking a cohesive plot does negatively affect the reading experience of the book as a whole.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
June 16, 2024
I guess that this is the sort of thing that if you're into it... it works. If you're not... I would've welcomed these comic books, with their over-the-top dialogue (and oh-my-god how many times you need to remind us that Bullseye can shoot deadly with any object?). I guess this is typical comic-book level quality - cross-overs, badly explained villains, nonsensical characters and so on. But for a comic book... I've seen even worse than this.
March 29, 2022
7-8*
With Frank Miller pencilling and eventually writing, each story in this collection was a thrill and nicely moody.
Some great personal issues, some fantastic villain clashes.
With Frank Miller pencilling and eventually writing, each story in this collection was a thrill and nicely moody.
Some great personal issues, some fantastic villain clashes.
January 25, 2023
I enjoyed half of this book and that's mostly the first four issues contained in here. A pretty generic comic for the most part.
November 1, 2015
Not much to say here.
I'm an old fan of Daredevil and it was good to read some of his older stories where they concentrated more on his hyper senses and skills rather than his passion; they are after all the point of differentiation for the character.
So, if you like Daredevil as a character, do yourself a favour and read this collection.
I'm an old fan of Daredevil and it was good to read some of his older stories where they concentrated more on his hyper senses and skills rather than his passion; they are after all the point of differentiation for the character.
So, if you like Daredevil as a character, do yourself a favour and read this collection.
June 7, 2015
Classic Daredevil stories with Black Widow, Mr. Fear, The Unholy Three, Bullseye, Hulk, Gladiator, Dr. Octopus and more.
May 1, 2017
Solid old Marvel stuff. Dated but fun.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews