Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Volume 1

Another ‘Sixties superhero start-up, this time with Daredevil finding his legs.

It took a bit of time. He started out with a yellow uniform that had a black vest with a single red D on the front. It would later turn into the all-red outfit he’s best known for wearing, with the iconic double-D on its chest, but it’s never explained why they made that change. I mean, his name isn’t Dare-Devil.

The other issue they had trouble sorting out was his blindness. Championed (especially in recent years) for being a superhero with a disability, it’s actually nothing of the sort. In fact, the one thing the “man without fear” admits to being afraid of is having surgery to get his sight back and then losing his super powers. You see, the accident that caused Matt Murdock’s blindness involved being hit by a truck carrying radioactive material, resulting in his compensatory senses being jacked up to god-like levels. Because we all know that’s the way radioactivity works. You don’t just die a slow, lingering death from cancer but turn into a superhero. Or villain. Or expire right away in agonizing pain, like Dr. Van Eyck in issue #9.

So while Daredevil is blind that’s not a disability because his “atom-induced radar sense” can accurately judge the precise size, speed, and location of any physical body. His sense of smell is so advanced he can trace an individual, hours later, through the streets of New York City by the scent of their “unusual hair tonic.” Hair tonic, for Daredevil, being as distinctive as a man’s fingerprints, he can pick up a scent at any point “approximately within one city block of his quarry.” He can sense the heart rate of individuals standing anywhere near him and tell if they are lying or experiencing any stress. He can read books, not in braille but “merely by feeling the impression of the ink on the page!” He can tell what people are wearing by the sound the fabric makes when they move. He can detect (by radar, not by touch) whether someone is wearing a ring on their finger, and what sort of ring it is. Flying in a jet over the petty  European state of Lichtenbad he can “sense a walled city” thousands of feet below . Then, once inside the castle of the Lord of Lichtenbad his radar senses can “see” through several stone floors “as though it’s [the castle’s] made of glass.” That’s some radar!

You can tell by this that they were winging it. Effectively, Daredevil isn’t blind at all. Anything he needs to be able to do, he can do. Just like that billy club of his can do everything, including allowing him to swing through the streets of the city like Spider-Man.

If you put all that aside, what you got here was still a really enjoyable comic in the grand Marvel manner of the time. For the most part Daredevil is taking on B-list baddies who are nonetheless a lot of fun. People like Killgrave the Purple Man, the Matador, the Stilt Man, and the animal cos-players of the Organization. But when he goes up against Namor (in what is a genuinely funny adventure) he’s beaten up pretty badly, and this in his own comic! Even Iron Man got to knock out the Hulk in the pages of Iron Man.

Most of the titles here were written by Stan Lee, and that includes the usual good and bad. Fast-paced stories that don’t want to spend a lot of time explaining things. Colorful characters. Relentless boosterism. Item: the issue that has Daredevil’s “epic battle” with Electro “may well be remembered as long as literature endures!!” Right on the first page of issue #1 the lucky reader is congratulated for having purchased “another prized first edition! This magazine is certain to be one of your most valued comic mag possessions in the months to come!” Well, maybe not in the months to come. But if you held it for seventy years . . . in 1964 it had a cover price of 12 cents and now goes for between $1,500 and $5,000. That’s a decent return. Smilin’ Stan didn’t tell many lies. He just ran away with the hyperbole.

On the downside, and as I’ve mentioned before, there’s his hopeless portrayal of women. The love triangle going on between Matt, his law partner Foggy Nelson, and their secretary Karen Page is just an annoyance. This was a day when women really knew their place, and had no shame in delivering such self-deprecating lines as “I guess I’m just a silly female!”

I was never a fan of Daredevil when I was a kid but I enjoyed this book a lot more than I was expecting. In later years he’d go through some “adult” makeovers, especially highlighting his Catholic faith, but for sheer entertainment value these early adventures stand up well. I even love the “Here Comes Daredevil” titling, with its in-your-face promise of “get ready for fun!” And as for disabilities, they’re no handicap at all.

Graphicalex