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Daredevil Omnibus
Daredevil Omnibus, Vol. 2
The Man Without Fear is back! Matt Murdock has done battle with Marvel's most maddening villains - but when the Jester enters the fray, the rules change forever. Framing DD for murder, he sets all of New York against our hero! And the stakes get even higher when Starr Saxon discovers DD's secret identity. The tension drives Matt to reveal his secret to Karen Page - but rather than bringing her closer, this revelation pushes her away! The drama soon drives DD to Los Angeles, a town with a cast of bizarre, action-packed enemies unlike any other. And when he finally makes his way back to the Big Apple, Daredevil must join forces with Iron Man and Nick Fury against Spymaster and the Zodiac! Collecting DAREDEVIL (1964) #42-74, IRON MAN (1968) #35 and material from IRON MAN (1968) #36.
800 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1971
2 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,564 books2,350 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 14, 2025
I found that I enjoyed this one WAYYYYYYY more than the first volume, mainly because Gene Colman’s art was some of (and still is) the best art to look at and see. The way he expresses action and these characters thoughts in faces alone made it kind of feel as though the pictures came first and those words came second (which, with that Marvel Style, was usually true!)
Once Lee leaves the book and Roy Thomas takes over, things kind of start to have a different motion as a lot of the status quo is shifted — Foggy Nelson becomes District Attorney, Karen learns Matt’s identity as DD, and Matt has a very brief stint in Los Angeles (this, at least according to a very funny Roy Thomas preface, foreshadows things to come with Matt moving to San Fran in Conway’s run). It feels like there’s some legitimate movement along with the villain of the week narrative.
Also, unlike that first one, there are stories that stand out to me in this collection. From the arc involving the Tribunal to “Brother…!” I found that there were issues where Thomas and Co. had a lot to say and wanted to use DD to say it. I really liked the Tribunal issue where Murdock had to figure out a way to act as the opposition in the case and also testify as Daredevil. I also liked the Conway story where the whole city went blind.
It’s a stronger omnibus for the first, but you kind of get this feeling that there was really no good way of changing this character and keeping him interesting for the children. I gotta be honest, though I liked this, if I was a kid in the 60s/early 70s, I’d hate this, haha. It’s just so… blandly written at times.
The worst issues of this collection was the stuff that tied into Iron Man. I kept asking myself what was going on because I just couldn’t click with it.
Also — this features a retelling of Matt’s origin (and also a guy named Starr Saxon that I really liked) redrawn by Conway. It’s great. While I know people recommend a good jumping on point with Miller, this is a great jumping on point for Silver Age DD, if you’re interested.
I am worried about Volume 3. I’ve heard nothing but bad things about it — that it’s aimless as all get out and the mapping is frustrating. Please keep me in your thoughts as I continue this journey.
Once Lee leaves the book and Roy Thomas takes over, things kind of start to have a different motion as a lot of the status quo is shifted — Foggy Nelson becomes District Attorney, Karen learns Matt’s identity as DD, and Matt has a very brief stint in Los Angeles (this, at least according to a very funny Roy Thomas preface, foreshadows things to come with Matt moving to San Fran in Conway’s run). It feels like there’s some legitimate movement along with the villain of the week narrative.
Also, unlike that first one, there are stories that stand out to me in this collection. From the arc involving the Tribunal to “Brother…!” I found that there were issues where Thomas and Co. had a lot to say and wanted to use DD to say it. I really liked the Tribunal issue where Murdock had to figure out a way to act as the opposition in the case and also testify as Daredevil. I also liked the Conway story where the whole city went blind.
It’s a stronger omnibus for the first, but you kind of get this feeling that there was really no good way of changing this character and keeping him interesting for the children. I gotta be honest, though I liked this, if I was a kid in the 60s/early 70s, I’d hate this, haha. It’s just so… blandly written at times.
The worst issues of this collection was the stuff that tied into Iron Man. I kept asking myself what was going on because I just couldn’t click with it.
Also — this features a retelling of Matt’s origin (and also a guy named Starr Saxon that I really liked) redrawn by Conway. It’s great. While I know people recommend a good jumping on point with Miller, this is a great jumping on point for Silver Age DD, if you’re interested.
I am worried about Volume 3. I’ve heard nothing but bad things about it — that it’s aimless as all get out and the mapping is frustrating. Please keep me in your thoughts as I continue this journey.
April 23, 2024
(Zero spoiler review)
Packed full of silver age histrionics and more cheese than a Frenchman's arm pit, Daredevil omnibus volume two is a marginal improvement on Volume one, mainly thanks to what is essentially an entire omnibus full of Gene Colan's art. Although Roy 'the man' Thomas does the lions share of the writing here, it is far from his finest hour. His slightly less hyperbolic style in comparison to the OTT and then some of Stan Lee was also to the books benefit. The ridiculously monikered villains also take a back seat. 'Stiltman', 'Owl Man', anyone? In place of some more down to earth enemies. Of course, what I really would have liked to have seen was a grim and grisly noir with Gene Colan's gorgeous art style, but we don't always get what we want.
As with my review of omnibus one, my favourite aspect of the run is the will they / won't they relationship with Karen Page. Sure, the ludicrous reasons they find to keep them apart each issue well and truly wore out their welcome years ago. "I asked Matt for the salt, but he passed me the pepper instead. I guess it means were not meant to be together after all', and other such nonsense.
and I promise it's not just because Colan draws Karen Page like an absolute blonde bombshell. Either way, Daredevil, like Batman, really doesn't hit his stride until it goes all noirish and dark. It's fine for what it is, but it's not really my bag. 3/5
OmniBen.
Packed full of silver age histrionics and more cheese than a Frenchman's arm pit, Daredevil omnibus volume two is a marginal improvement on Volume one, mainly thanks to what is essentially an entire omnibus full of Gene Colan's art. Although Roy 'the man' Thomas does the lions share of the writing here, it is far from his finest hour. His slightly less hyperbolic style in comparison to the OTT and then some of Stan Lee was also to the books benefit. The ridiculously monikered villains also take a back seat. 'Stiltman', 'Owl Man', anyone? In place of some more down to earth enemies. Of course, what I really would have liked to have seen was a grim and grisly noir with Gene Colan's gorgeous art style, but we don't always get what we want.
As with my review of omnibus one, my favourite aspect of the run is the will they / won't they relationship with Karen Page. Sure, the ludicrous reasons they find to keep them apart each issue well and truly wore out their welcome years ago. "I asked Matt for the salt, but he passed me the pepper instead. I guess it means were not meant to be together after all', and other such nonsense.
and I promise it's not just because Colan draws Karen Page like an absolute blonde bombshell. Either way, Daredevil, like Batman, really doesn't hit his stride until it goes all noirish and dark. It's fine for what it is, but it's not really my bag. 3/5
OmniBen.
June 4, 2024
I’m still really enjoying the heck out of this early Daredevil! While the run dips ever so slightly after Stan stops writing, I find the characters and story to mostly still hold up to a pretty high standard of excellence. The charm is still there. The action is there. The art is still great. Loving everything about these Daredevil comics right now, as they’re some of my favorite issues to read in my regular reading.
December 28, 2024
"Daredevil Omnibus Volume 2" includes issues #42 - 74 of the "Daredevil" comic book, as well as a couple of issues of "The Invincible Iron Man." The primary writers for these issues were Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. With a few exceptions the stories in this volume are a disappointment. A real comedown from the earlier issues of "Daredevil." While the artwork is generally excellent, mostly provided by Gene Colan with some fill-in issues by Barry Windsor-Smith, it's the writing that falls down for most of these stories.
Stan Lee was finishing up his run on "Daredevil" at this point, scripting issues #42 - 50 and 53. He clearly had run out of ideas for the character by this time. He introduces a trite copycat villain called The Jester (whose name is virtually identical to that of his far more popular inspiration). He scripts an issue with an utterly pointless fight between Daredevil and Captain America, makes an attempt at a socially relevant story that comes off as a bad episode of "Perry Mason," and gives Stiltman a return engagement. Lee's run finished up with an unneeded retelling of Daredevil's origin. The best that can be said of the Lee-scripted issues in this volume is that he introduced Starr Saxon, in what became the best story arc collected here, mostly scripted by Roy Thomas.
Roy Thomas' run on the comic book, which began with issue # 51, started off extremely well. Starr Saxon proved to be a formidable foe, and far more of a danger to Daredevil than most of Daredevil's costumed adversaries. The Starr Saxon stories were mostly illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith in his unique style. The Windsor-Smith issues breathed some new life into the magazine, particularly issue #52, with the Black Panther guest starring. Thomas followed the Starr Saxon storyline with the classic story arc in which we visit Karen Page's family home in New England, are confronted with the Gothic horror mystery of the Death's Head, and Daredevil reveals his secret identity to Karen. This revelation was a masterstroke--when the masked super-hero finally just tells the woman he loves who he really is.
Unfortunately, Thomas couldn't think of anything interesting to do with the Matt/Karen story arc after that. Karen can't handle learning that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. So for the next 15 or so issues he simply has Karen and Matt pining away for each other in tiresome scenes that wouldn't even hold up in a decent romance comic. For action, he has Daredevil confronting what starts to feel like a costumed villain of the month party. The action and the romance in these stories simply becomes repetitive. It doesn't help that Thomas has Karen move from New York to Los Angeles, switching careers from secretary to TV star practically overnight. So much for Marvel's vaunted realism.
Thomas concluded his run on "Daredevil" with the second half of a two-parter begun by Gary Friedrich. This was another attempt by Marvel at a socially relevant story, but is even worse than Stan Lee's earlier try at that kind of story. The villain is ridiculous--a John Wayne stand-in who doubles as a super-patriot calling himself the Tribune. He's constantly ranting about Commie pinkos, framing student protestors, and all in all being over-the-top evil.
Finally we get the beginning of Gerry Conway's run on "Daredevil" with issues #72 - 74, crossing over with some issues of "The Invincible Iron Man." This was intended as a major epic, a team-up featuring Daredevil, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Madame Masque and even brief cameos from Thor and Captain America. It's still boring, as the whole long story is essentially one pointless fight scene after another that, in the end, have no real consequence except the rounding up by S.H.E.I.L.D. of a few minor villains.
To add insult to injury, many of the issues collected here published at a time when Marvel was putting unnecessary word balloons on its covers. Sometimes these word balloons are needed to explain the action depicted on the cover. But often they're simply that month's villain threatening Daredevil, which is obvious from the cover illustration. We don't really need Stiltman (in yet another return engagement) telling DD, "I finished off your buddy the Stuntmater! And. . .you're next!" or the Tribune saying, "The Tribune finds Daredevil guilty--and the sentence is DEATH!" The word balloons are a distraction from the artwork on the cover of the comic book.
Stan Lee was finishing up his run on "Daredevil" at this point, scripting issues #42 - 50 and 53. He clearly had run out of ideas for the character by this time. He introduces a trite copycat villain called The Jester (whose name is virtually identical to that of his far more popular inspiration). He scripts an issue with an utterly pointless fight between Daredevil and Captain America, makes an attempt at a socially relevant story that comes off as a bad episode of "Perry Mason," and gives Stiltman a return engagement. Lee's run finished up with an unneeded retelling of Daredevil's origin. The best that can be said of the Lee-scripted issues in this volume is that he introduced Starr Saxon, in what became the best story arc collected here, mostly scripted by Roy Thomas.
Roy Thomas' run on the comic book, which began with issue # 51, started off extremely well. Starr Saxon proved to be a formidable foe, and far more of a danger to Daredevil than most of Daredevil's costumed adversaries. The Starr Saxon stories were mostly illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith in his unique style. The Windsor-Smith issues breathed some new life into the magazine, particularly issue #52, with the Black Panther guest starring. Thomas followed the Starr Saxon storyline with the classic story arc in which we visit Karen Page's family home in New England, are confronted with the Gothic horror mystery of the Death's Head, and Daredevil reveals his secret identity to Karen. This revelation was a masterstroke--when the masked super-hero finally just tells the woman he loves who he really is.
Unfortunately, Thomas couldn't think of anything interesting to do with the Matt/Karen story arc after that. Karen can't handle learning that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. So for the next 15 or so issues he simply has Karen and Matt pining away for each other in tiresome scenes that wouldn't even hold up in a decent romance comic. For action, he has Daredevil confronting what starts to feel like a costumed villain of the month party. The action and the romance in these stories simply becomes repetitive. It doesn't help that Thomas has Karen move from New York to Los Angeles, switching careers from secretary to TV star practically overnight. So much for Marvel's vaunted realism.
Thomas concluded his run on "Daredevil" with the second half of a two-parter begun by Gary Friedrich. This was another attempt by Marvel at a socially relevant story, but is even worse than Stan Lee's earlier try at that kind of story. The villain is ridiculous--a John Wayne stand-in who doubles as a super-patriot calling himself the Tribune. He's constantly ranting about Commie pinkos, framing student protestors, and all in all being over-the-top evil.
Finally we get the beginning of Gerry Conway's run on "Daredevil" with issues #72 - 74, crossing over with some issues of "The Invincible Iron Man." This was intended as a major epic, a team-up featuring Daredevil, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Madame Masque and even brief cameos from Thor and Captain America. It's still boring, as the whole long story is essentially one pointless fight scene after another that, in the end, have no real consequence except the rounding up by S.H.E.I.L.D. of a few minor villains.
To add insult to injury, many of the issues collected here published at a time when Marvel was putting unnecessary word balloons on its covers. Sometimes these word balloons are needed to explain the action depicted on the cover. But often they're simply that month's villain threatening Daredevil, which is obvious from the cover illustration. We don't really need Stiltman (in yet another return engagement) telling DD, "I finished off your buddy the Stuntmater! And. . .you're next!" or the Tribune saying, "The Tribune finds Daredevil guilty--and the sentence is DEATH!" The word balloons are a distraction from the artwork on the cover of the comic book.
June 30, 2023
Cheesy and goofy just like volume 1 however, necessary?
The one thing I keep thinking about as I read anything during the Silver Age is, how great and simple these times were. I have no nostalgia attached to this as this was before my time but, I do envy those reading some of these stories for the first time.
The one thing I keep thinking about as I read anything during the Silver Age is, how great and simple these times were. I have no nostalgia attached to this as this was before my time but, I do envy those reading some of these stories for the first time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews