{"id":27056,"date":"2022-11-23T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27056"},"modified":"2022-11-22T16:20:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T16:20:19","slug":"daredevil-epic-collection-volume-5-going-out-west-1972-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/11\/23\/daredevil-epic-collection-volume-5-going-out-west-1972-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"Daredevil Epic Collection volume 5: Going Out West 1972-1974"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"
\nBy Gerry Conway<\/strong>, Steve Gerber<\/strong>, Chris Claremont<\/strong>, Steve Englehart<\/strong>, Gene Colan<\/strong>, Don Heck<\/strong>, Sam Kweskin<\/strong>, Rich Buckler<\/strong>, Syd Shores<\/strong>, Jim Starlin<\/strong>, Bob Brown <\/strong>& various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-3355-5 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Maximum Marvel Madness\u2026 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt Murdock<\/em> is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, enabling him to accomplish astonishing acrobatic feats, and making him a formidable fighter and a living lie-detector.<\/p>\n

Very much a second-string hero for most of his early years, Daredevil<\/strong> was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due in large part to the roster of brilliant artists who had illustrated the strip. He only really came into his own, however, after artist Gene Colan signed up for the long haul\u2026<\/p>\n

DD<\/strong> battled thugs, gangsters, an eclectic mix of established and new super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion. He quipped and wise-cracked his way through life and life-threatening combat, utterly unlike the grim, moody quasi-religious metaphor he became under modern authorial regimes.<\/p>\n

In these tales from an era when relevancy, social awareness and political polarisation was shifting gradually back to science fiction and fantasy, the Man Without Fear was also growing: becoming in many ways the judicial conscience of a generation turning its back on old values\u2026<\/p>\n

Covering May 1972 – January 1974, this rather trippy compilation chronologically re-presents Daredevil <\/strong>(and the Black Widow<\/strong>) #87-107, and a crossover into Avengers <\/strong>#11 wherein twin storylines converged and concluded. This tome sees the once-staid and so-very-Establishment Murdock mimic the shifting cultural mores as scripter Gerry Conway hands over the reins to cultural champion Steve Gerber. They also remove the Man Without Fear from his old haunts and relocate him and his new love to the Golden State\u2026 cohabiting with a notorious enemy of the State\u2026<\/p>\n

After spending years in a disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with his secretary Karen Page<\/em>, Murdock took up with former client and Russian \u00e9migr\u00e9, the infamous spy dubbed The Black Widow<\/strong>. Natasha Romanoff<\/em> – sometimes called Natalia Romanova<\/em> – is a Soviet-era Russian spy who came in from the cold and stuck around to become one of Marvel\u2019s earliest and most successful female stars. She started life as a svelte, sultry honey-trap during Marvel\u2019s early \u201cCommie-busting\u201d days, targeting Iron Man<\/strong> in her debut exploit (Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #52, April 1964).<\/p>\n

Subsequently redesigned as a torrid tights-&-tech super-villain, she soon defected to the USA, falling for an assortment of Yankee superheroes before enlisting as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., freelance do-gooder and occasional Avenger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Throughout her career she has always been considered ultra-efficient, coldly competent, deadly dangerous and yet somehow cursed to bring doom and disaster to her paramours. As her backstory evolved, it was revealed that Natasha had undergone experimental processes which enhanced her physical capabilities and lengthened her lifespan, as well as assorted psychological procedures which had messed up her mind and memories\u2026<\/p>\n

Here she had recently been railroaded and framed by villain Mr. Kline<\/em>: accused of murder and prosecuted by Murdock\u2019s best friend and law partner Foggy Nelson<\/em> before the blind legal eagle cleared her…<\/p>\n

Crafted by Conway, Colan & Tom Palmer. the new couple\u2019s tentative romantic alliance coincides with finding a new home in San Francisco before stumbling into another old enemy looking for fresh opportunities in #87\u2019s \u2018From Stage Left, Enter: Electro!\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Establishing a fractious working relationship with pro-hero cop Lieutenant Paul Carson<\/em> and his less sanguine boss Police Commissioner \u201cIronguts\u201d Ohara<\/em>, the newcomers endure more memory lane menaces in \u2018Call Him Killgrave!\u2019 <\/em>as the mind-bending Purple Man<\/em> emerges from the anonymous shadows, erroneously convinced his nemesis has tracked him down to queer his nefarious schemes.<\/p>\n

As the origin of the Black Widow is revealed for the first time (something that has been overwritten, back-written and chucked in a plot blender interminably ever since) the sinister spellbinder attacks and is temporarily repulsed, only to regroup: aligning with Electro<\/em> to again attack in \u2018Crisis!\u2019<\/em>, <\/em>just as a mysterious man from Natasha\u2019s sordid Soviet spy past resurfaces with portentous news of a long-forgotten mission\u2026<\/p>\n

Daredevil<\/strong> #90 explores \u2018The Sinister Secret of Project Four!\u2019 <\/em>as Hornhead begins to succumb to inexplicable, incapacitating panic attacks: explained a month later in \u2018Fear is the Key!\u2019 <\/em>when Mister Fear<\/em> strikes again\u2026 only to be revealed as far more than he seems\u2026<\/p>\n

Issue #92 finally bowed to the inevitable, officially became Daredevil and the Black Widow<\/strong>, just as a new menace manifests \u2018On the Eve of the Talon!\u2019<\/em> – and don\u2019t blink or you\u2019ll miss a brief but crucial cameo from the Black Panther<\/strong>! <\/em><\/p>\n

As the Project Four saga roars to a conclusion, the introduction of industrialist and paranoid arms-dealer Damon Dran<\/em> signals an escalation in weird events and deadly danger when the bonkers billionaire claims \u2018A Power Corrupt!\u2019 <\/em>before being transformed into a proto-Kaiju, monolithic Indestructible Man<\/em> rampaging through San Francisco\u2026<\/p>\n

Callously, arrogantly aware that \u2018He Can Crush the World!\u2019<\/em>, Dran severely underestimates the power of superhuman heroism and falls to an ultimate sacrifice which tragically saves the day\u2026<\/p>\n

Again trawling the Scarlet Swashbuckler\u2019s rogues gallery, DD\/BW<\/strong> #95 hosts a \u2018Bullfight on the Bay!\u2019 <\/em>as the metamorphic Man-Bull<\/em> breaks jail and kicks off a storm of destruction to revenge himself upon Daredevil, forcing Natasha to do her very worst in #96\u2019s concluding chapter \u2018The Widow Will Make You Pay!\u2019<\/em> (inked by Ernie Chan\/Chua): a complex tale of love, obsession, revenge and mutagenic potions in the water supply…<\/p>\n

With DD and the Widow firmly ensconced in San Francisco, Steve Gerber assumed scripting with #97 (from Conway\u2019s plots and illustrated by Colan & Chan) with \u2018He Who Saves\u2019 <\/em>as a street acrobat suffers a calamitous accident and is subsequently mutated into proto-godling the Dark Messiah<\/em> by sinister hidden forces\u2026<\/p>\n

The already unstoppable Agent of Change is then joined by three equally awesome Disciples of Doom<\/em> in #98\u2019s \u2018Let There be\u2026 Death!\u2019<\/em>, but even though physically overmatched, our heroic power couple\u2019s psychological warfare proves fatally effective in ending the crisis, if not ferreting out the true villains\u2026<\/p>\n

Daredevil and the Black Widow<\/strong> #99 featured \u2018The Mark of Hawkeye!\u2019 <\/em>by now-autonomous Gerber, with comics veterans Sam Kweskin & Syd Shores providing the pictures, and finds Natasha Romanoff\u2019s old boyfriend turning up determined to \u201creclaim\u201d her\u2026<\/p>\n

His caveman tactics lead to the Archer\u2019s sound and well-deserved thrashing and result in a quick jump into Avengers<\/strong> #111. Crafted by Steve Englehart, Don Heck & Mike Esposito, \u2018With Two Beside Them!\u2019 <\/em>sees the West Coast vigilantes join a much-depleted team of heroes to rescue a number of X-Men<\/strong> and Avengers enslaved by malevolent Magneto<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dumped by Natasha and returning alone to the City by the Bay for his centenary issue, DD agonisingly relives his origins and danger-drenched life in \u2018Mind Storm!\u2019 <\/em>(Gerber, Colan & John Tartaglione) just as a savage and embittered psionic terrorist launches a series of mind-mangling assaults on the populace. It culminates one month later in a shattering showdown between the blind hero and Angar the Screamer<\/em> as well as a shaky reconciliation with the Widow in \u2018Vengeance in the Sky with Diamonds!\u2019 –<\/em> illustrated by Rich Buckler & Frank Giacoia.<\/p>\n

Scripted by Chris Claremont, and limned by Shores & Giacoia, \u2018Stilt-Man Stalks the City!\u2019 <\/em>has Hornhead hunting psychedelic assassin Angar, accidentally bringing him into conflict with a merciless and similarly displaced old foe. The skyscraping scoundrel has kidnapped the daughter of an inventor in order to extort enhanced weaponry out of the traumatised tinkerer, but isn\u2019t expecting interference from his oldest adversary\u2026 or the utterly ruthless Russian paramour he\u2019s working with\u2026<\/p>\n

No sooner have DD and the Widow ended the mile-high miscreant\u2019s rampage than #103 sees a team-up with Spider-Man<\/strong><\/em> after a merciless cyborg attacks the odd couple as they pose for roving photojournalist Peter Parker<\/em> in \u2018\u2026Then Came Ramrod!\u2019 <\/em>by new regular team Gerber, Don Heck & Sal Trapani. The barely-human brute is after files in Murdock\u2019s safe and hints of a hidden master, but ultimately his blockbusting strength is of little use against the far faster veteran heroes\u2026<\/p>\n

Even as the distracted Murdock realises that his own boss Kerwin J. Broderick<\/em> is sabotaging the attorney\u2019s cases, that mystery manipulator is hiring warped mercenary Sergei Kravinoff<\/em> to make Daredevil \u2018Prey of the Hunter!\u2019 <\/em>Matt\u2019s priorities change when Kraven abducts Natasha, and even after the hero rescues her, the Hunter explosively returns to defeat them both, throwing the swashbuckler to his death\u2026<\/p>\n

Inked by Don Perlin, Daredevil<\/strong> #105 sees the Widow brutally avenging her man\u2019s \u201cmurder\u201d, but Murdock is far from dead, having been teleported from the jaws of doom by a \u2018Menace from the Moons of Saturn!\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

In a short sequence pencilled by Jim Starlin and tying into the then ongoing Captain Marvel\/Thanos<\/strong> saga, earthborn Priestess of Titan Moondragon<\/em> is introduced, disclosing how she has been dispatched to Earth to counter the schemes of a death-worshipping proto-god. She also inadvertently lets slip how she has allied with a respected man of power and authority, providing him with a variety of augmented agents such as Dark Messiah, Ramrod and Angar\u2026<\/p>\n

Gerber, Heck & Trapani bring the expansive extended epic closer to culmination as the manipulator is unmasked in \u2018Life Be Not Proud!\u2019 <\/em>\u2026<\/em>but not before the wily plotter redeploys all his past minions, shoots his misguided ally Moondragon, usurps a Titanian ultimate weapon and unleashes a life-leeching horror dubbed Terrex<\/em> upon the world.<\/p>\n

With all Earth endangered, DD, the Widow and guest-stars Kree warrior Mar-Vell<\/em> and eternal sidekick Rick Jones<\/em> must pull out all the stops to defeat the threat, and only then after a last-minute defection by the worst of their enemies and a desperate \u2018Blind Man\u2019s Bluff!\u2019<\/em>, all <\/em>courtesy of Gerber, Bob Brown & Sal Buscema.<\/p>\n

With covers by John Buscema, Gil Kane, Ralph Reese, Sal Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Colan, Palmer, Frank Giacoia, George Tuska, John Romita, Rich Buckler, Heck, Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom, this supremely enticing volume also offers extra treats: original art pages and covers by Colan, Kane, Palmer, Romita &Esposito and the promotional cover for #100 – which tied in with Rolling Stone<\/strong> magazine.<\/p>\n

As the social upheaval of this period receded, the impressively earnest material was replaced by fabulous fantasy tales which strongly suggested the true potential of Daredevil was in reach. These beautifully illustrated yarns may still occasionally jar with their earnest stridency and dated attitudes, but the narrative energy and sheer exuberant excitement of such classic adventures are graphic joys no action fan will care to miss. And the next volume heads even further into uncharted territory\u2026
\n\u00a9 2022 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gerry Conway, Steve Gerber, Chris Claremont, Steve Englehart, Gene Colan, Don Heck, Sam Kweskin, Rich Buckler, Syd Shores, Jim Starlin, Bob Brown & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1-3029-3355-5 (TPB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Maximum Marvel Madness\u2026 9\/10 Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, enabling him to accomplish astonishing acrobatic feats, … <\/p>\n

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