Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
(Part 2)
The common consensus amongst modern-day comics readers seems to be this: that the "peak" years for the DAREDEVIL comic were those defined by the tenure of impresario Frank Miller as writer/artist on the title.
While these are certainly superior comics -- as well-crafted and brilliantly realized as any post Silver Age books, in my humble opinion; and as unmistakably a "personal" work, in their own way, as was Jack Kirby's NEW GODS -- I, nonetheless, would select another period as my own personal favorite for the character: the brief (two years, give or take) run during which time Gerry Conway (writer) and Gene Colan and Tom Palmer (artists) shepherded The Man Without Fear into another "new direction" entirely... long before such things had become "fashionable" amongst the comics cognoscenti.
Quite simply: the DAREDEVIL comic -- at that point -- was undergoing a severe sales "slump." Things were so bad at that juncture, in fact, that Marvel was openly floating the trial balloon notion (in the fan press of the day) of combining DD's title with that of another struggling character's (IRON MAN, in this case) as a "split" book -- much as, say, Marvel used to do, during the days of TALES OF SUSPENSE and TALES TO ASTONISH.
New writer Gerry Conway, however -- unhappy with the notion, doubtless, of having to explicate Daredevil's ongoing adventures in a monthly ten-page format -- managed to persuade the editorial Powers That Be that another option might resuscitate the title, as well, without taking such a drastic step as the (quasi-)cancellation of the character's own title: namely, adding yet another "fan favorite" character to the monthly mix... as a love interest.
... and thus did Madame Natasha Romanoff -- a.k.a.,
the Black Widow -- make her exotic way into the
DAREDEVIL canon [see cover, above.]
It was, admittedly, something of an odd "mix": the flippant, almost proletarian
blind man and the somber, to-silken-sheets-born Russian expatriate... and
yet -- simply by virtue of being such an oddling admixture of personalities
-- the concept revitalized the series completely. Sales perked up, and
continued to rise with each successive issue, until the series' sales
had once more percolated comfortably into the "plus" side of the Marvel ledgers,
once more.
A word here, as well, about the art on DAREDEVIL at that time:
pairing the subtle, gossamer-like pencils of long-time comics maestro Gene
Colan (quite possibly, my favorite Marvel artist of the period) with the meticulous,
zipatone-happy inks of Tom Palmer lent the title a glossy, film noir-ish
sheen which rendered even the most fantastic of plot occurrences -- such as,
say, purple-skinned men who could control the actions and impulses of others
with but the merest whisper of command; or skull-faced men who thrived on
the human "fear" impulse [see picture, below, by Marvel cover "ace" of the
period, Gil Kane] -- a cinematic sort of verisimilitude that stood out markedly
from the more traditional visual fare of the day. This distinctive "look"
for the title was -- as much as any other work they'd turned in, at that point
-- chiefly responsible for the ascendancy of the Colan/Palmer team from the
ranks of Comics Benchwarmers to Fan Favorites of the 70's.
Conway, in turn, was careful not to make the Daredevil/Widow relationship
too idyllic a romantic pairing. The couple continued to spat;
break up; reunite; and purr with the mechanistic regularity of lovers who
are -- in the final analysis -- resoundingly ill-suited for one another, but
caught fast in the embrace of irresistible erotic impulse, nonetheless.
It was (for the time) one of the most adult and human man/woman relationships
ever detailed in comics, at that point.
Boyoboy, but I've always liked that cover...!
If the stories, themselves -- once shorn of the tempestuous romantic sub-plots -- were the standard spandexed roundelay of Hero Meets Villain; Villain Thumps Hero; Hero Gets Back Up and Thumps Villain Even Harder... then they were, at the very least, as well-executed a formula as was available anywhere on the stands (from Marvel or DC) at the time.
It wasn't the monthly pugilistics with Daredevil's "rogues' gallery" of costumed nemeses that was the "draw," at this point, in any event; it was staring, fascinated, at the emotional contortions into which Conway would pretzel his two romantic leads. Often, it seemed as if Daredevil and the Black Widow were almost -- not quite; but almost -- more dangerous to one another than were their villainous sparring partners.
Eventually, of course, the pair was split up by successive writers; the DD/Widow notion was uniquely Conway's own, and simply didn't "translate" readily, when filtered through the disparate visions of other scribes.
Still: for a while, at least... DAREDEVIL was as oddly
compelling as an episode of television's "Divorce Court" (only with fewer
fistfights). The books come as highly recommended as any of the later
Silver Age, and are -- therefore -- worthy of our time and attention.
... and I want it noted for the record, please: not
once did I succumb to the terrible, nigh-overwhelming urge to
make the standard "love is blind" jokes.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT MARVEL TITLES of the Silver Age
PAGE
TWO: Daredevil (Part One)
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