This is an unusual post, as I am jamming 2 Spidey appearances in Daredevil together. The first is a backup story, it’s not long enough to be its own thing, so I figured I’d combine them. DD 20 was the beginning of Back to the Future writer Bob Gale’s single arc on Daredevil. I believe his first comics work was kicking off the very ambitious Batman: No Man’s Land arc at DC. If you can get past the absurd setup that a catastrophic earthquake has left Gotham so utterly ruined that the US just blows up all the bridges and tells them they’re on their own (And if you can’t, well, I don’t blame you), it becomes a pretty interesting story about the city being carved up by rival gangs, one of which is just the cops, and Batman and the Batfamily trying to keep the peace. Stupid, stupid setup, but pretty good run of the various Bat-books. Now he’s here to do a really bad Daredevil arc before the all-timer team of Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev & Matt Hollingsworth begin their long run. But in the back of his first issue, we find this. I’m not sure why they did it in issue 20, but it’s time for another anniversary story where they let Stan Lee script it (Tho not plot it, of course, that comes from Kevin Hall), and Spider-Man is along for the ride. Also along for the ride is one of the classic DD art teams from Stan’s day in the form of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. It’s a reunion of legends! This is worth the cost of the comic all by itself. Decidedly modern colors are provided by Chris Sotomayor.
It doesn’t get much more “late in life Stan Lee” than that. Ya know what, this is only 6 pages, let’s see the whole thing.
I mean late period Stan was largely just amusing himself when he got pulled into these.
I mean, Stan, or more traditionally, Gene couldn’t have supplied a perfunctory plot for these 6 pages? Still, always fun to see Colan in action. He had such an unusual approach.
That brings us to DD 25, the final issue of Bob Gale, Phil Winslade, James Hodgkins and Chris Chuckry’s run.
It’s a long story, but DD is being sued by a rich guy for a crime he didn’t commit and wasn’t present for, seemingly committed by an impostor, and Matt Murdock is representing the rich guy. Page one offers something of a catch-up.
That Unger guy is a hotshot rival attorney introduced in this story. Gale also introduced a new investigator working for Nelson & Murdock who looks exactly like Karen Page and with whom he immediately suggested a romantic tension with Matt. Neither of these characters will ever be seen again. Well, we get into it, as Foggy questions DD about having allegedly fought ninjas in Griggs’ greenhouse, and then Daredevil showing up in Griggs’ office as mentioned on the first page. DD says it must have been someone impersonating him.
Now, at this point, you might think, “But how could Matt Murdock cross-examine–”
–and here’s why I think this story sucks and have remembered it without fondness all these years. You can’t do a story this dumb in 2002. Adding insult to injury, another Daredevil crashes through the window, and immediately unmasks, explaining that he’s Terrence Hillman, the real Daredevil. This one is a surprise to Matt. Hillman says it was him in the greenhouse, and he’s brought a $50,000 cashier’s check to pay for the damages. When asked who’s on trial here if Hillman is the real DD, he responds that it’s the NEW DD. That he’s decided to retire, so he’s been training a replacement. The judge is understandably outraged by the madness in his courtroom. Me, too, judge!
Well, that’s that. What’s all this got to do with Spider-Man?
Yes. Matt was attempting to win this case by having Peter impersonate him on the stand, which is both a narrative cop out and a prrrrrrrretty dishonest thing for a lawyer to do. Well, it’s a circus outside, with Hillman, the prosecuting attorney, Matt & Foggy all talking to the press. Then we cut to some news coverage similar to page one, including a very angry JJJ, and then…
So the real DD goes to bust into Hillman’s apartment and get answers. Hillman is a down-on-his-luck actor who heard the possibility that someone is impersonating DD and decided to cash in. He’s looking forward to the fame of being the former Daredevil, and hopes to impress a woman. Matt warns him he better be giving some of his money to charity to soften the blow when he’s eventually outed as a fake and leaves. What, like the Owl or Bullseye won’t chop this guy into bite-sized pieces first chance they get? Anything less than witness protection is a death sentence for this guy, and Matt just leaves! This comic is so bad.
DD goes to learn the Ringmaster was behind everything, and he can’t even do anything about it. He reports this to his lawyer, Kate, and tries to ask her out, but she’s not in the mood.
Not the most essential chapters in Spidey history, but it sez “All The Spider-Mans I Have” at the top of the page, so we got it. The next issue of DD brings with it Bendis, Maleeve & Hollingsworth to turn Dd’s world upside down. And Spider-Man will make some appearances there, too, so I get to talk about that later. I thought my next post would be about the one-shot Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, but I am shocked to discover I don’t seem to own it anymore. I got rid of a bunch of comics before a move many years ago, but I didn’t think they included that one. I am not exactly heartbroken, it’s a wretched, terrible comic. I just really thought I still had it. Well, I guess that’s doing me a solid. Its bad due to its writer, and I can’t escape him entirely on this blog, so I guess I talk about it when he comes up.