Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ya know,
Daredevil has always been a fave of Ol' Groove's. Heck, I was
Daredevil m'self for a while--t'was my "CB handle" (my alias when I yakked--known to cb-ers as "ratched jawed"--on my Citizen's Band Radio during 1976/77). I dig his origin, his costume (thank you, Wally Wood!), and his powers.
DD had tons of great writers and artists on his mag during the Groovy Age (yeah, and Silver and post-Groovy Age...). One era that doesn't get enough love is the Marv Wolfman/Bob Brown run (
DD 125-143, June 1975-December 1977). Their run was fun, funky, and had some really cool bright spots (they did introduce
Bullseye, ya know). There was an especially cool storyline that ran through issues 133-137 (March-June ), and that's what Ol' Groove really wants to rap about. It all started in
DD #133, when we got a couple'a pages of the
Jester killing a captive victim. On its own, the vignette didn't make a lotta sense, but we got more of the "all-new, all-different
Jester" (Marv and Bob trying to make a lame-o villain less lame) and his nefarious plan to ruin our main
Man Without Fear. What's really cool is how
The Jester (well, actually Marv) saw the media's ability to "spin" stories and information to make their own, very believable version of reality. Seems like it's done all the time these days, but in 1976 it was probably considered just this side of a conspiracy theory. Times change--and not always for the best, huh, Groove-ophiles?
Enough seriousness--comics! Watch
DD take on
Spidey's first super-villain (he made his debut in Amazind Spider-Man #1, ya know!), the
Chameleon! Watch
DD fight, then team up with small-time superhero neophyte,
The Torpedo (more on our explosive jock-turned-superhero in the near-future--if ya don't let Ol' Groove forget)! Watch
DD have the public's opinion completely turned against him by the behind-the-scenes manipulations of
The Jester! Hoo-hah!
The Jester: holy Ripoff Batman. Jester was also a DC Hero inn the 40s. Like the 15,000th Golden age persona Marvel as used as a villain, But hey it's a parallel Universe.
ReplyDeleteExcellent buildup issue, hope in the future you run the next part, Thanks Groove for another great post.
ReplyDeleteI hate to be so negative every time you post Bob Brown artwork, but I never appreciated how he was given reign to mangle so many titles (such as Avengers) with his barely above Don Heck standards art once he came over to Marvel. Fortunately he was improved to acceptable when Klaus Janson took over inking Daredevil, something missing from this issue (Jim Mooney's sterile, blocky inks are another subject I could passionately expound on).
ReplyDeleteI had a really hard time reading DD after Colan left around issue 98 or so... Guess it's time to move on! No point carrying a grudge for another 40 years, is there?
ReplyDeleteWow! I was opposite, how Brown looks good here and he's underrated
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