Essential Daredevil, Vol. 3

Essential Daredevil

by Roy Thomas (Writer), Gene Colan (Artist), Stan Lee (Writer)

Daredevil's original identity crisis kicks off a collection of Colan classics! The ups and downs of his doomed love for Karen Page begin here! And DD goes Hollywood with the Stuntmaster and Brother Brimstone, but is any star as big as... the Stilt-Man? From costumed crimelords to otherworldly intruders, foes both famed and forgotten fall before the fighter without fear! Guest-starring Spider-Man, the Black Panther, Nick Fury, and Iron Man! Collects Daredevil #49-74 and Iron Man #35-36.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comic Book, Superheroes

584 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 1971

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of Daredevil comics are from the early seventies and does not get bogged down in continuity if you are unfamiliar with the blind superhero who is a lawyer / assistant District attorney by day and red dressed and horned Superhero by night. And not unlike Spiderman does his alter ego suffer under the strain and danger his superhero side brings to the table.
This comic features a shedload of strange villains, which makes a lot more fun, and some cameos from the likes of the Avengers, Iron Man and the Black Panther.

I had great reading pleasure with this installment. It is still far away from the 3 seasons Netflix tv show (actually four if you count The defenders one season which is situated between season 2 & 3 and had serious consequences for season 3) which is a far more darker version of Daredevil, this is still the much more fun period before darker became the fashion.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

So um 1970 herum war eines meiner ersten Superhelden-Comics, das ich gelesen habe, die als HIT-Comic im BSV Verlag erschienene deutsche Ausgabe der Heftnummer 56 von Daredevil, damals natürlich "Der Dämon". Kann sich noch jemand daran erinnern, dass es in den deutschen BSV-Ausgaben kein lettering gab, sondern alle Sprechblasentexte mit Schreibmaschine getippt wurden? Naja, fiel mir damals nicht auf, man hatte ja auch keinen Vergleich. Aber zurück zur Heftnummer 56: Das Cover mit dem feuerkugelwerfenden mumienartigen Mann, der auf einem Pferdeskelett reitet, versprach nicht zuviel. Das Heft war superspannend, nur habe ich damals leider nie die Fortsetzung erfahren (in einer Kleinstadt war es nicht leicht, an die HIT / TOP Hefte zu kommen, außerdem hat er Verlag längst nicht alle Hefte fortlaufend veröffentlicht). Trotzdem konnte ich mich auch vier Jahrzehnte später noch an das Cover erinnern und daran, wie spannend ich das Heft gefunden hatte, und nach einiger Internetrecherche fand ich heraus, dass es sich um das Heft Daredevil No. 56 handelte, das man auch heute noch problemlos bekommen kann, nämlich in Daredevil Marvel Essential Vol. 3. Und man bekommt natürlich nicht nur dieses Heft, sondern auch die sieben vorausgehenden und die folgenden 18 (plus zwei Iron Man-Nummern), so dass man wirklich den gesamten Handlungsbogen mitnimmt. Und im Gegensatz zur wirklich nicht glücklichen Daredevil-Verfilmung muss ich sagen, dass Daredevil lange nicht der uninteressanteste Marvel-Held ist. Nun gibt es aber einen weitaus triftigeren Grund, den Essentials-Band No. 3 zu lesen, als um unbedingt an Heft 56 und die Fortsetzung zu gelange, und dieser Grund heißt Gene Colan.
Als Artist hat Colan in den Heften Großartiges geleistet, und meiner persönlichen Meinung nach findet sich im ganzen Marvel-Universum keine bessere Artwork als die hier versammelte. Und auch wenn sich einige Leser daran stören, dass die Essential-Reihe die Hefte alle nur in schwarz/weiß nachdruckt, so hat dieses doch auch Vorzüge: Die Linienführung von Colan ist großartig und keine Colorierung lenkt hier von den fantastisch gezeichneten Panels ab. Und mehr Marvel fürs Geld kann man nicht ernsthaft erwarten.
Inhaltlich bekommt man neben viel Spannung auch einen guten Schuß Romantik geboten, denn Daredevil läßt erst Matt Murdock sterben und enthüllt dann seiner geliebten Karen Page seine Identität, um diese zu heiraten. Ob sie darauf eingeht, wird natürlich nicht verraten.
Im Gegensatz zu manch anderem Marvel-Helden meiner Kindheit konnte Daredevil auch heute noch Punkten und bekommt eine klare Empfehlung.

Kleiner Zusatz: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow war mir als Leser in kurzen Hosen noch nicht bekannt, ansonsten hätte ich den gespenstischen Reiter sicherlich damit in Verbindung bringen können:

Und tatsächlich reitet im Heft der Knochenmann auch über eine Brücke, just wie in der Legende. Da hat sich Gene Colan sicherlich Inspiration geholt ...

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun stuff. This was a little easier to breeze through than volumes 1 and 2, mostly because I found Roy Thomas's writing solid and entertaining, and Gene Colan's art excellent, as always.

Daredevil still hasn't gotten really "good" yet, though, and even worse, none of the character and story changes really seemed to work. Foggy Nelson as D.A. is potentially interesting, but it doesn't seem to change the types of stories they're telling. Karen Page acting in a soap opera in L.A. led to some pretty fun "Dark Shadows"-style adventures with a crazed actor in monster makeup, but after that runs its course, she's out of the picture.

The last several issues in this collection were written by Gerry Conway, and his first issue penning Daredevil was unquestionably the worst in this book, mostly because he doesn't seem to understand what half the words he uses actually mean. Examples: "Penultimately!" ... "Scant rooftops away..."

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume, Daredevil hits the 1970s and, boy, do they hit back! The tales collected here are as zany as you'd expect from the pre-Frank Miller swashbuckling DD... That's not to say they're entirely without drama, though. Matt's personal life, particularly his relationship with Karen Page, really gets put through the wringer. In some issues, the book almost turns into a horror comic (Gene Colan's influence, no doubt).

Reading these old DD's takes me back to the first time I read them, on a caravan holiday on the Isle of Wight as a kid... The weather wasn't great and, bored of playing with my GI Joes (or Action Force, as they were called here in the UK) I started exploring and discovered that the seat of the couch could be lifted up to reveal a storage area. Inside said storage area were some board games and a big pile of 1970s Daredevil comicbooks! For a young Marvel fan, this was even better than striking a seam of gold.

Anyway, old man's anecdote over. This is a fun collection, provided you're not too married to the grim 'n' gritty DD of more recent years. There's some completely ridiculous stuff in here but, to me, that just adds to the charm.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starr Saxon, Stunt Master, Stilt-Man, Brother Brimstone, and robots, oh my! In these classic Daredevil comics the only thing cheesier than the villains are the heroes. This collection is everything you could want from cheesy, vintage comics. Especially when Daredevil and District Attorney Foggy Nelson have to prosecute some Vietnam War protestors against their own wishes, and work to exonerate the accused while protecting their freedom of speech.

The dark spot on this collection is, sadly, Karen Page. Who I am quickly realizing tends to get nothing but the shaft in Daredevil comics.

We start the book with Matt faking his death, and Karen believing that the blind man she loves is dead. He lets her think that for a good long while. When she goes home to New England to mourn, Daredevil follows her. His plan is to let Matt stay dead, and marry her as Daredevil, despite the fact that she doesn't know he's Daredevil yet. Naturally, this plan would have worked, except her dad goes crazy, masquerades as a costumed villain, and dies tragically. At his gravestone, Karen is invited to unmask Daredevil, which is how she discovers that the boyfriend she's been mourning is alive.

Through a few adventures after that, Karen asks Matt to give up being Daredevil. He pretty much ignores her wishes, and ditches her on her birthday to fight crime. Probably to escape the constant gaslighting, Karen leaves New York for sunny LA and a promising film career. After being asked for space, Matt lies to Foggy about where he's going and stalks her as Daredevil. And it's a good thing he does! That handsome co-star of hers tries to kill her! Despite his heroics, Karen still doesn't want to return to New York as his secretary and Girl Friday. She chooses a career and stardom over constant lies from her blind boyfriend with the worlds biggest chip on his shoulder.

So that's lame, but this collection also features some amazing street-level team-ups with Black Panther. The Iron Man crossover event is a little cheesier, but it has a romance between Jasper Stillwell and Madam Masque which is interesting since I only know Stillwell as an agent of Hydra in the MCU.

I love every part of these early Daredevil stories, except when he's with Karen Page, who deserves so much better.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third volume of Daredevil reprints sees ol' Hornhead on a variety of adventures with the last issue of the Stan Lee run, the Roy Thomas' run as writer and then the Gerry Conway run, with issues 49-74 and Iron Man 35 and 36. With the exception of a few issues where he was on vacation, Gene Colan pencils each of the stories, and that's practically worth three stars itself.

Thomas really had a great handle for the character. His writing style made Daredevil a clever crime fighter. He never quite solved the problem that vexed Daredevil in terms of the B-grade villains, but the way Thomas wrote Daredevil, I didn't care. Daredevil was a great character who didn't great villains to play off of. The plots were fun. First, there was Daredevil deciding to kill off the character Matt Murdock only to resurrect and reveal his identity to Karen Page which turns out to be a mistake. Murdock's overall cognitive dissonance is lessened as he becomes special assistant to District Attorney Foggy Nelson.

Karen wants him to quit being Daredevil but just as he's about to retire, he's drawn into a war with Crime Wave much to Karen's chagrin. She leaves New York and Murdoch's unable to help him thanks to a duel with the Gladiator that's brought about through the ineptitude and cluelessness of Foggy Nelson. Then Murdoch follows her to the West Coast.

The Karen Page story line really is one of the negatives of the Roy Thomas run. Maybe, it was her bad early impression, or the fact that she's just so obviously not the right woman for Matt/Daredevil, but the storyline is painful as Matt/DD continues pining for this relationship that was never meant to be.

Even out of the bad of the Thomas run came some good. Some of the West Coast stories were pretty good including a good old fashioned film lot murder mystery.

Story quality dropped a bit in Issue #70 as Gary Friedrich writes a ham-fisted political tale about an evil rightwing actor becoming the Tribune, a character who takes over a courtroom and dispenses summary judgment based on his views. Then Gerry Conway took over in Issue and as it was 1971 headed for the Bronze age, we increased angst with Matt Murdoch smashing a mirror because it's not something a blind person should own (although it probably just came with the apartment.) Conway's highlight was a three part cross-over with Iron Man, a creepy gang called the Zodiac, and some mystical aliens.

Overall, Conway didn't seem to have much of a grasp on Daredevil or good storytelling. The last issue in the book has a great premise as New Yorker's are struck blind and Daredevil is immune as he's all ready blind. The end result is rushed, and as you'd expect in a Daredevil story, there's not even a servicable villain in the story.

Bottom line: Great book for Stan Lee's swan song as writer of Daredevil and Roy Thomas' solid run, but Conway and guest writers are a bit of an Achilles heal.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am more consistently finding some enjoyment in the run of Daredevil at this point, for the most part (still means a solid 2 stars though). The end of this book hits the Bronze Age very obviously. There's a sudden social consciousness and preachery going on in a few of the issues.

I don't know exactly why but Gene Colan's art is less interesting to me. Perhaps I have just grown used to it and it all just washes away as I try to make my way through these.

The Iron Man story included in this book was frustrating because it was very much an Iron Man story that happened to crossover into an issue of Daredevil so they had to include the whole thing in this essential. It shows which character was more popular at the time.

The ending of the book wanders a bit, and has the weakest of the stories. I am hoping San Francisco and the Black Widow will tighten things up again due to some changes.

Oh, I almost forgot. Barry Windsor-Smith was fun to see at the beginning of this book. But do not expect the Barry Windsor-Smith of more recent times (or of the past few decades, I suppose). This is Barry Smith and he's impersonating Jack Kirby like none other. It is not perfect, but it is quite fun. Oh and that storyline had one of the more enjoyable Daredevil villains to date.

94 issues to go!

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

WOE is ME on the day that i thought Roy Thomas outwrote Stan Lee to an ASTONISHING degree!

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Daredevil eventually finds his story and gets pretty good, but not yet.