DAREDEVIL 344-350: Part 1.

[starwolf_oakley]

There are a lot of underrated Daredevil writers, and J.M. DeMatteis is right up there. Of course, he's better known for writing other characters *and* his run on DAREDEVIL was only about 6 issues. But it was during that run that Foggy Nelson learned Matt Murdock was Daredevil *and* Matt decided to drop the "Jack Batlin" alias.



This is spread out among the issues 344-347, so I don't think there is more than 7 pages per issue.

Matt decided to give up being Daredevil in DD #325 since a reporter had discovered Ben Urich's "Matt Murdock is Daredevil" story on his computer and decided to bring it to a different newspaper. It was called "Matt Murdock is Daredevil?" As a result of the "About-Face" virus the Hellspawn being died looking just like Matt Murdock. To protect Karen and Foggy, Matt faked his death.

But...




Hey, who could that be?




Foggster?



Some details: Kruel, an amnesiac former Kingpin enforcer, threw Glorianna O'Breen out the window of Matt Murdock's old apartment, killing her. Matt thought it was because someone knew he was still alive, but it turned out to be unrelated.





So, what happens next?



In the early, early days, Daredevil was as much of a wisecracker as Spider-Man. In fact, he stayed that way for quite a while. Of course, in the 70s nearly every Marvel hero made clever/stupid jokes during their adventures.



Meanwhile, Matt-as-Jack Batlin is having nightmares. And thinking in Frank Miller-speak.



Daredevil is such a walking contradiction you'd think he was a Green Day song.



Someone tore up Matt/Jack's black-armor costume, so he's going back to the red for now.



Daredevil as a legacy hero? Fascinating.

Next issue...





So, the DD in the Red and Black armor was Jack Batlin. But how would this guy know that?

The Yellow DD start punching a heavy bag, thinking it is time for Daredevil to be a hero again, not "some thug."

The villain of the story, Sir, has stolen the red Daredevil costume. Now Yellow DD confronts Sir. Sir is strong and crazy.



"...named Jack Batlin!"



Sir is a her?!?



Yellow DD helps Sir confront her truth. Now this DD has to confront *his* truth... namely, if he's not Matt Murdock, why does he have a radar sense?



Time.

Flashbacks ahoy! Matt remembers when he hunted down the last of the Fixer's men who killed his father. This last one decided to hide out at a brothel, and the women there weren't happy about a masked man threatening one of their customers. (Put joke here.)





Foggy and Karen are stunned Matt is alive. Foggy is twice as stunned that Matt is wearing a Daredevil costume.

More later!

Comments

[cainofdreaming]

Matt, I like you and all... but you so mental. Ever thought of calling this guy, Leonard Samson, and arranging a few sessions?

[an-idol-mind.livejournal.com]

Len Samson doesn't have a great track record as a psychologist. He's better at stealing his patients' girlfriends and shooting them into space.

[outlawpoet]

ha ha, harsh but fair.

[freezer]

Samson was actually very good, before getting sacrificed on the altar of Civil War.

[an-idol-mind.livejournal.com]

He's had his moments, but he was kind of a jerk even before Civil War. His first appearance involved him dosing himself with gamma rays out of sheer ego and then stealing Betty away from the newly-healed Bruce Banner. He pulled the trick of stealing Bruce' girlfriend a couple of times and also let his massive inferiority complex show in just about each and every fight with the Hulk.

[starwolf_oakley]

Well, he seemed to be doing okay with Penance. That might be about it.

[lamashtar]

I dunno. It seemed oddly egotistical to make a point that he was too powerful for Penance to hurt him. Honestly, that just asks to up the ante.

[hybrid2]

Sir...I remember seeing her before.
I cant remember where at all.

a spider-man title maybe?

[starwolf_oakley]

JM DeMatteis used Sir again in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #254.

[lamashtar]

It wasn't his best, but 300 was GORGEOUS. Slightly malformed bodies, but terribly pretty all the same.

Also, despite the incorrectness, it was a incredibly vivid look at severe disassociative disorder. Matt waking up and realizing someone has broken into his home and rearranged things, leaving horrifying messages, but leaving no scent trail of their presence. Fleeing in terror at his own mental images. It always surprised me how well the group of writers worked together on this because the true start of his descent is in the Warren Ellis prequel, where Jack Batlin Matt hits his head and becomes haunted by his lawyer self's voice.

And of course, DeMatteis did a similar thing to Spider-man at the same time with the "I am the SPIDER" story arc. DeMatteis' conversation of the two of them wigged out is one of my favorite.