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Essential Daredevil
Essential Daredevil, Vol. 5
This is your parents' Daredevil, and you never knew they had it so good DD goes cosmic when the first Thanos War spills into his new territory of San Francisco, with Matt Murdock's own boss as part of the invasion Angar, Ramrod, the Disciples of Doom, and more menace for the Man Without Fear - and even help from Spider-Man and Captain Marvel might not make the difference Then, it's back to New York for twin tilts at terrorism - fighting Hydra alongside the Black Widow, and Black Spectre alongside the Thing Also featuring the Man-Thing, Nick Fury, Shanna the She-Devil, and the debut of the Silver Samurai Collects Daredevil (1964) #102-125, and Marvel Two-In-One #3.
488 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 1975
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88 people want to read
About the author
Steve Gerber
637 books66 followersSteve Gerber graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in communications and took a job in advertising. To keep himself sane, he wrote bizarre short stories such as "Elves Against Hitler," "Conversion in a Terminal Subway," and "...And the Birds Hummed Dirges!" He noticed acquaintance Roy Thomas working at Marvel, and Thomas sent him Marvel's standard writing test, dialoguing Daredevil art. He was soon made a regular on Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, and the newly created Man-Thing, the latter of which pegged him as having a strong personal style--intellectual, introspective, and literary. In one issue, he introduced an anthropomorphic duck into a horror fantasy, because he wanted something weird and incongruous, and Thomas made the character, named for Gerber's childhood friend Howard, fall to his apparent death in the following issue. Fans were outraged, and the character was revived in a new and deeply personal series. Gerber said in interview that the joke of Howard the Duck is that "there is no joke." The series was existential and dealt with the necessities of life, such as finding employment to pay the rent. Such unusual fare for comicbooks also informed his writing on The Defenders. Other works included Morbius, the Lving Vampire, The Son of Satan, Tales of the Zombie, The Living Mummy, Marvel Two-in-One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Shanna the She-Devil, and Crazy Magazine for Marvel, and Mister Miracle, Metal Men,
The Phantom Zone
, and The Immortal Doctor Fate for DC. Gerber eventually lost a lawsuit for control of Howard the Duck when he was defending artist Gene Colan's claim of delayed paychecks for the series, which was less important to him personally because he had a staff job and Colan did not.
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 20, 2012
In my review of Essential Daredevil Vol. 4 I said that I really didn't enjoy Gerry Conway's writing, and that his run on the series was hard for me to get through. It's not that his plots were terrible, but his purple prose just made reading the issues sort of a chore.
Well, ditto for Steve Gerber, who took over for Conway, and for the most part I read Essential Daredevil Vol. 5 just to get through it. Late in this collection Bob Brown and Tony Isabella took over, and they're not great, but their stories have a drive and an intensity that Gerber's lacked. (Daredevil's days in San Francisco were mostly slack, and involved "hippie" villains like Angar the Screamer, and those stories haven't aged well.) But at least Brown and Isabella moved the action back to New York, and their multi-issue story arc about the Black Widow and Daredevil helping S.H.I.E.L.D. tackle Hydra was fun and exciting, if not particularly brilliant.
On the plus side, Gene Colan shows up from time to time, and he's my favorite comic-book artist of all time. His art contains all the drama, grittiness, passion, and action that the writers' prose often lacks, so I bumped this collection from two stars up to three just for him.
Well, ditto for Steve Gerber, who took over for Conway, and for the most part I read Essential Daredevil Vol. 5 just to get through it. Late in this collection Bob Brown and Tony Isabella took over, and they're not great, but their stories have a drive and an intensity that Gerber's lacked. (Daredevil's days in San Francisco were mostly slack, and involved "hippie" villains like Angar the Screamer, and those stories haven't aged well.) But at least Brown and Isabella moved the action back to New York, and their multi-issue story arc about the Black Widow and Daredevil helping S.H.I.E.L.D. tackle Hydra was fun and exciting, if not particularly brilliant.
On the plus side, Gene Colan shows up from time to time, and he's my favorite comic-book artist of all time. His art contains all the drama, grittiness, passion, and action that the writers' prose often lacks, so I bumped this collection from two stars up to three just for him.
June 22, 2020
‘Essential Daredevil Volume 5’ could more honestly be titled ‘Essential Daredevil And The Black Widow’ because the lovely Natasha Romanov features heavily. Her loveliness varies slightly according to which artist is drawing her but she always looks pretty damn good in her skin-tight black leather. Of course, Matt Murdock/Daredevil is a right-on seventies man here and would love her just as much if she was a one-eyed hunchback because it’s the character that counts. Luckily, this is never really put to the test but he does agonise a lot over hurting her feminist feelings by giving orders and occasionally keeping things from her. He also agonises over falling for Moon Dragon when he is meant to be with Ms Romanov. Men! They’re nothing but brutes in human form. At least, they thought they were back in the seventies.
All those battles are over and we are all feminists now, which is why the television screens are filled with one-eyed hunchback older women reading the news and doing the weather forecasts. Still, it is interesting to read seventies comics and see the hippie writers take on the issues of the day. Steve Gerber, who wrote most of this volume, was one of the hippest.
Apart from the undercurrent of war-between-the-sexes, there is some pretty good action, too. The book covers from Daredevil And The Black Widow # 102 through to Daredevil # 125. The Widow was dropped from the cover title after #107 which is odd because she features heavily in almost every issue. Criminal conspiracies abound because, if you have to produce an issue every month, it’s easier to have a big story arc backing it up. So for much of the time, there is an evil Moriarty-like figure sending minor henchmen to do in our hero. The minor henchmen include Ramrod, Kraven the Hunter, Angar the Screamer, the Beetle, the Silver Samurai, Blackwing, El Jaguar, Dreadnaught and a few others. The crime organisations sending these devils are Black Spectre, Hydra and a nameless one for the first six issues. In between the Black Spectre and Hydra storylines, there are a few shorter tales featuring favourite old villains like the Gladiator, Death Stalker and the Owl.
‘Daredevil’ is a minor league Marvel title compared to some and it was given to less well-known writers and artists at times. Often they came up trumps. Steve Gerber is always interesting and Tony Isabella delivered a good Hydra yarn. The art by Don Heck and Bob Brown is competent or better. The glorious Gene Colan stops by to pencil a few issues as well, which is always a pleasure. Bob Brown was a comic artist with a long career – beginning in the 1940s – and this was practically his last work. I read online that it is considered a low period in Daredevil history between two long spells of Colan. That’s unfair. He was a good storyteller who turned in a professional job, often excellent, and he was well served here by the inks of Vince Colletta. The first issue features pencils by Syd Shores with inks by Frank Giacoia, a rare combination. Issue # 108 has Bob Brown inked by Paul Gulacy(!) a very rare combination. As so often with these cheap bumper volumes, the black and white production actually highlights the artists’ skill.
A surprisingly good book. Furthermore, the stories have twenty pages and there are lots of words on all of them so it will probably take you twice as long to read as a modern comic.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
All those battles are over and we are all feminists now, which is why the television screens are filled with one-eyed hunchback older women reading the news and doing the weather forecasts. Still, it is interesting to read seventies comics and see the hippie writers take on the issues of the day. Steve Gerber, who wrote most of this volume, was one of the hippest.
Apart from the undercurrent of war-between-the-sexes, there is some pretty good action, too. The book covers from Daredevil And The Black Widow # 102 through to Daredevil # 125. The Widow was dropped from the cover title after #107 which is odd because she features heavily in almost every issue. Criminal conspiracies abound because, if you have to produce an issue every month, it’s easier to have a big story arc backing it up. So for much of the time, there is an evil Moriarty-like figure sending minor henchmen to do in our hero. The minor henchmen include Ramrod, Kraven the Hunter, Angar the Screamer, the Beetle, the Silver Samurai, Blackwing, El Jaguar, Dreadnaught and a few others. The crime organisations sending these devils are Black Spectre, Hydra and a nameless one for the first six issues. In between the Black Spectre and Hydra storylines, there are a few shorter tales featuring favourite old villains like the Gladiator, Death Stalker and the Owl.
‘Daredevil’ is a minor league Marvel title compared to some and it was given to less well-known writers and artists at times. Often they came up trumps. Steve Gerber is always interesting and Tony Isabella delivered a good Hydra yarn. The art by Don Heck and Bob Brown is competent or better. The glorious Gene Colan stops by to pencil a few issues as well, which is always a pleasure. Bob Brown was a comic artist with a long career – beginning in the 1940s – and this was practically his last work. I read online that it is considered a low period in Daredevil history between two long spells of Colan. That’s unfair. He was a good storyteller who turned in a professional job, often excellent, and he was well served here by the inks of Vince Colletta. The first issue features pencils by Syd Shores with inks by Frank Giacoia, a rare combination. Issue # 108 has Bob Brown inked by Paul Gulacy(!) a very rare combination. As so often with these cheap bumper volumes, the black and white production actually highlights the artists’ skill.
A surprisingly good book. Furthermore, the stories have twenty pages and there are lots of words on all of them so it will probably take you twice as long to read as a modern comic.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
October 28, 2020
One of the better Daredevil collections. Steve Gerber's run was great. He and Steve Englehart are some of Marvel's best writers of the period.
September 25, 2024
This review is based entirely on the strength of my love for Steve Gerber.
November 11, 2013
This book collects Daredevil Issues 102-125 along with Marvel Two in One #3 which comes between Daredevil #109 and #110.
The majority of this book is written by Steve Gerber (#103-115 plus Marvel Two in One #3) with Tony Isabella putting in a solid run (#117-#123)and is rapped up by Marv Wolfman (#124 and #125), with fill in issued by Chris Claremont (#102 and #117) and Gerry Conway (#116). The art chores go mostly to Bob Brown, but Gene Colan and some other artists contribute.
Claremont's issue is worth commenting on because it leads off and its weird mainly because it has Stiltman dreaming of world domination. Stiltman? There are many Marvel villains who have that dream. Stiltman isn't one of them.
Then the Gerber run resumes and Daredevil gets really good. While Daredevil still does pander to the audience with random philosophical meandering while fighting crime, the character is much better done than during than the run by Conway. We get a guest appearance by Spider-man by #103 and then Kraven the Hunter is brought to San Francisco in Issue #104-105 which leads into meeting Moon Dragon and a battle with the villain who has been behind every attack on Daredevil and Black Windows since their arrival in San Francisco and Daredevil has to save the world with the help of Captain Marvel. Then he faces a deadly criminal who is able to control all women through mind control in the Mandrill and teams up with Shaina the She-devil. Then Daredevil gets into a battle with Deathstalker in a cross-over with man-thing. All these plots are fantastic comic book fun. Issues 116 and 117 feature an okay story with Daredevil battling Owl Man again with the villain more dangerous than ever.
After Conway writes Issues 118, an okay story with the Circus of Crime, Tony Isabella takes over in Issue #119 and the book becomes more fun than it's been since Stan Lee was writing it. He begins with a visit to Battlin' Jack Murdoch's old gym, and then to a fantastic four part story where Foggy Nelson i invited to become part of SHIELD's governing board and is kidnapped by Hydra. Isabella adds in two text stories that detail the history of Hydra.
After that all-too brief run, Marv Wolfman takes over with a story about a vigilante imitating a pulp hero.
Overall, these are mostly solid fun. The Black Widow and Daredevil relationship works a lot better under Gerber and Isabella with her also generally being a more rounded character who is pretty dangerous in her own right and really contributes to the partnership. The title changed from Daredevil and Black Widow back to Daredevil in Issue #108, but she didn't disappear from the book until Issue #124. Even there, Gerber deserves points for adding reasons for tension in the relationship, particularly Natasha Romanoff's tendency to brutalize suspects and her lack of compunction about killing. Though by the time Issue #124 rolls around the only reason given for the end is her fear of being in Daredevil's shadow, which makes her seem so insecure and concerned about self-image and position that she can't be a gracious partner.
Overall, the book works and is probably the most enjoyable volume since the second essential collection.
The majority of this book is written by Steve Gerber (#103-115 plus Marvel Two in One #3) with Tony Isabella putting in a solid run (#117-#123)and is rapped up by Marv Wolfman (#124 and #125), with fill in issued by Chris Claremont (#102 and #117) and Gerry Conway (#116). The art chores go mostly to Bob Brown, but Gene Colan and some other artists contribute.
Claremont's issue is worth commenting on because it leads off and its weird mainly because it has Stiltman dreaming of world domination. Stiltman? There are many Marvel villains who have that dream. Stiltman isn't one of them.
Then the Gerber run resumes and Daredevil gets really good. While Daredevil still does pander to the audience with random philosophical meandering while fighting crime, the character is much better done than during than the run by Conway. We get a guest appearance by Spider-man by #103 and then Kraven the Hunter is brought to San Francisco in Issue #104-105 which leads into meeting Moon Dragon and a battle with the villain who has been behind every attack on Daredevil and Black Windows since their arrival in San Francisco and Daredevil has to save the world with the help of Captain Marvel. Then he faces a deadly criminal who is able to control all women through mind control in the Mandrill and teams up with Shaina the She-devil. Then Daredevil gets into a battle with Deathstalker in a cross-over with man-thing. All these plots are fantastic comic book fun. Issues 116 and 117 feature an okay story with Daredevil battling Owl Man again with the villain more dangerous than ever.
After Conway writes Issues 118, an okay story with the Circus of Crime, Tony Isabella takes over in Issue #119 and the book becomes more fun than it's been since Stan Lee was writing it. He begins with a visit to Battlin' Jack Murdoch's old gym, and then to a fantastic four part story where Foggy Nelson i invited to become part of SHIELD's governing board and is kidnapped by Hydra. Isabella adds in two text stories that detail the history of Hydra.
After that all-too brief run, Marv Wolfman takes over with a story about a vigilante imitating a pulp hero.
Overall, these are mostly solid fun. The Black Widow and Daredevil relationship works a lot better under Gerber and Isabella with her also generally being a more rounded character who is pretty dangerous in her own right and really contributes to the partnership. The title changed from Daredevil and Black Widow back to Daredevil in Issue #108, but she didn't disappear from the book until Issue #124. Even there, Gerber deserves points for adding reasons for tension in the relationship, particularly Natasha Romanoff's tendency to brutalize suspects and her lack of compunction about killing. Though by the time Issue #124 rolls around the only reason given for the end is her fear of being in Daredevil's shadow, which makes her seem so insecure and concerned about self-image and position that she can't be a gracious partner.
Overall, the book works and is probably the most enjoyable volume since the second essential collection.
July 16, 2014
I don't know, at times it seems like a pretty decent, fun read, and times it seems boring. In fact, it seems like the two sensations are very closely linked.
Some storylines are interesting to read with either extreme complications or interesting villains. Like the incredibly complex mix-up involving Hydra and the Circus of Crime and the Circus' new recruit, Blackwing, was very interesting. I've always thought the Circus of Crime was a sort of unique group of villains, and there is a lot of vague political depth with Hydra.
Other villain match-ups are a little more boring. Like a random impoverished boxer turns into an old Iron Man villain who is big and likes to crush people. Often promising set-ups are not used very well. Like Daredevil develops a crush on Moondragon and teams up with Captain Marvel to stop Thanos. Cool idea, but it's a little tepid, beat em up stuff after all that. Or the Silver Samurai making his debut, but he seems to go away a bit too quickly.
The main issue that prevents this from being a five star, other than marginal artwork (Bob Brown wins points mainly for not being the mediocre Gene Colan), is the dramatic character stuff. I know superhero books are not the go to place for character development, necessarily. But when they try it's bad.
Near the end, they brought back some of the awkward stuff of volume 4, Matt Murdock thought bubbles "but you're only human, Matt, aren't you? But can a human really wear red spandex and blah blah" for 10 pages. The romance between Daredevil and Black Widow sputters along very awkwardly. They talk often about how they love each other, or how they kiss, but they always shove in panels about how they need to give more to each other, or how Black Widow is a feminist who is forced into Daredevil's shadow. It seems very herky jerky, acting like they absolutely love each other when it's convenient, or that they can't be together when that is also convenient. It seems like banter more than actual affection.
For all my well deserved bashing of this book, the action itself is very well choreographed, I appreciated that they used more powerful villains and better writing and less fake thought bubbles than volume 4. Here's hoping volume 6 is even better!
3.9/5 (rounded to 4)
Some storylines are interesting to read with either extreme complications or interesting villains. Like the incredibly complex mix-up involving Hydra and the Circus of Crime and the Circus' new recruit, Blackwing, was very interesting. I've always thought the Circus of Crime was a sort of unique group of villains, and there is a lot of vague political depth with Hydra.
Other villain match-ups are a little more boring. Like a random impoverished boxer turns into an old Iron Man villain who is big and likes to crush people. Often promising set-ups are not used very well. Like Daredevil develops a crush on Moondragon and teams up with Captain Marvel to stop Thanos. Cool idea, but it's a little tepid, beat em up stuff after all that. Or the Silver Samurai making his debut, but he seems to go away a bit too quickly.
The main issue that prevents this from being a five star, other than marginal artwork (Bob Brown wins points mainly for not being the mediocre Gene Colan), is the dramatic character stuff. I know superhero books are not the go to place for character development, necessarily. But when they try it's bad.
Near the end, they brought back some of the awkward stuff of volume 4, Matt Murdock thought bubbles "but you're only human, Matt, aren't you? But can a human really wear red spandex and blah blah" for 10 pages. The romance between Daredevil and Black Widow sputters along very awkwardly. They talk often about how they love each other, or how they kiss, but they always shove in panels about how they need to give more to each other, or how Black Widow is a feminist who is forced into Daredevil's shadow. It seems very herky jerky, acting like they absolutely love each other when it's convenient, or that they can't be together when that is also convenient. It seems like banter more than actual affection.
For all my well deserved bashing of this book, the action itself is very well choreographed, I appreciated that they used more powerful villains and better writing and less fake thought bubbles than volume 4. Here's hoping volume 6 is even better!
3.9/5 (rounded to 4)
October 28, 2014
My favorite character is Ivan, Black Widow's chauffeur-slash-butler-slash-baby-sitter.
This era of comics is just not my cup of tea because unlike many, I never read them growing up. Thus, I can't appreciate their 'charm.' There are some funny moments and I'm glad I read it because I love Daredevil/Black Widow, but overall I am a fan of the art and writing style of more modern comics.
This era of comics is just not my cup of tea because unlike many, I never read them growing up. Thus, I can't appreciate their 'charm.' There are some funny moments and I'm glad I read it because I love Daredevil/Black Widow, but overall I am a fan of the art and writing style of more modern comics.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews