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Daredevil #12 (1965)
Issue 12 takes Matt Murdock/Daredevil onto the high seas, but it’s far from a high-spirited adventure. Instead, it’s a convoluted mess that I couldn’t have cared less about.
Matt books an ocean cruise as a means of self-discovery while also giving Karen Page and Foggy Nelson some space. However, his vacation is cut short when “The Plunderer” boards the vessel. A battle ensures resulting in Daredevil being the only hostage taken.
Here’s where the story gets convoluted. The Plunderer isn’t interested in stealing from luxury cruise ships so much as hassling them. Y’see, the Plunderer dreamt of designing futuristic watercrafts and was mocked, laughed at, and called mad when he presented his ideas. So now he gives people a hard time if they trespass in his “domain” – aka the open sea.
The pirate ship transforms into a sleek, bullet-like submarine which takes them under the continent of Antarctica to the Savage Land, where we’re introduced to Ka-Zar and his sabretooth tiger Zabu. It takes a while, but the stories eventually converge. Ka-Zar is tasked with protecting Skull Island from both Swamp Men and the Plunderer’s gang. Daredevil and Ka-Zar end up battling each other, but Daredevil is quickly overcome and loses his radar sense when a cache of explosives goes off by accident as the Plunderer tries to takedown Ka-Zar.
Somehow, Ka-Zar recognizes Daredevil isn’t a threat and flees with the injured devil. To revive Daredevil, Ka-Zar goes in search of ju-ju berries but finds himself in the clutches of man-eating plants that guard the healing fruit. Meanwhile, an incapacitated Daredevil is found by a Maa-Gor the last of the deadly ape men tribe.
Like I said there’s a lot going here, and I’m convinced the story doesn’t fall into place the way Stan Lee hoped. The constant jumping back and forth between Ka-Zar and Daredevil’s story makes the narrative borderline incoherent, and what we’re left with is a mediocre first chapter to a two-part story.
Lee includes a narration box that defends the “corny dialogue” saying it’s a loose transaction of the original guttural swamp dialect. But the most challenging dialect is Ka-Zar’s. There are moments in which he speaks in complete sentences yet the rest of the time he speaks in caveman speech.
John Romita is brought in to replace Wally Wood for an issue which is a huge a departure from the street-level Daredevil. I wanted to say that the various locations are a refreshing change of pace, but the Pirates of the Caribbean and Land of the Lost aesthetic are too out of place for my liking. This issue reads more like a Saturday morning cartoon featuring Daredevil. As far as the ending goes, we’ve seen Daredevil in peril before, but the final panels in this story attempt to create the illusion of excitement and peril which just aren’t there.
Rating: 1/5.
Daredevil #660 (2023)
After reading issue 12 of Daredevil, I now realize Chip Zdarsky and Genndy Tartakovsky have similar storytelling styles when it comes to telling epic tales. This issue can be compared to an episode of Primal, Samurai Jack or Unicorn: Warriors Eternal in that all of them maximize their storytelling through minimal dialogue.
What Zdarsky gets right in this issue are the emotional beats. Daredevil runs into an old friend Sam Chung aka Blindspot. Now I’ve only previously read Blindspot’s first appearance in the ALL NEW, ALL DIFFERENT POINT ONE (2015) #1, and to go from there to here did cause some whiplash. However, it’s amazing how well Zdarsky sums up Sam and Matt Murdock’s relationship and Blindspot’s hardship (dealing with the Hand and the Beast) in such few words.
The most unnerving part of this issue is the stillness. Daredevil has a plan, and that plan requires a drastic choice to be made. The last issue we saw an unhinged Daredevil take on the Stromwyns. This time around, he seems at peace, which is great since Matt must kill himself to literally drag his best friend Foggy, mentor stick, and the rest of the world leaders out of Hell.
The only gripe I have with this issue is how Zdarsky sneaks in the line of dialogue that the world leader’s souls are trapped in Hell. It’s a plot detail that comes out of nowhere. Daredevil reveals the Siege Infernal Cave can pull a person’s soul into Hell if you die too close to it no matter how good a person you are, but we are never given any insight as to whether the Hand murdered all those people at this location.
Elektra won’t let her husband go without a fight. As the two Daredevils fight in the forest, each panel is surrounded in cherry blossom leaves. During the lovers’ battle, we get glimpses of their turbulent relationship throughout the years and is it beautiful. Marco Checchetto’s art is the closest we’ll ever get to seeing Tartakovsky tell a Daredevil story. It’s both cinematic and picturesque. The fight ends when Matt manipulates Elektra’s moves, resulting in a fatal stab wound. Checchetto’s ability to capture the full emotional spectrum (from shock, to sadness, to grieving and finally acceptance) on Elektra’s face is a work of art.
The issue really could have ended there, and it would have been perfect, but Zdarsky and Checchetto outdo themselves with the issue’s ending. Matt wakes up in Hell greeted by his dad Jack Murdock. There’s something about Jack getting to interact with his adult son that’s absolutely touching. Not to mention to be able to give Matt the Daredevil his cowl. The two descend into the lower levels of the Beast’s Hell, and with every step Daredevil’s costume begins to burn away and reveals a dazzling, white suit Daredevil costume that is hopefully designated the Hand of God.
It’s a shame this chapter couldn’t be the Daredevil milestone #650 because this truly is a landmark issue.
Rating: 5/5.
The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511
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