In 1966, John Romita is only recently returned to Marvel after doing some work for them in the 50s (Notably on a failed revival of Captain America). Now best known for his work on romance comics at other publishers, he finds himself on Daredevil. This is his 5th issue. Stan Lee recognized the power and unique appeal of Jack Kirby’s art, and saw training other artists to work in the same bombastic, powerful idiom as the key to success. But that manifested in him having Kirby do breakdowns for other artists, to “show them how it’s done,” which meant that, sometimes, Kirby was plotting and laying out almost the whole Marvel line and being paid a pittance for it, all while being expected to produce the same full pencils on his regular titles. He would eventually balk at this brazen abuse, but being by most accounts so nice that he was often a pushover, he did do it for awhile. It’s an incident that kind of sums up everything good and bad about Stan Lee as Marvel’s only editor at the time. And that’s how Romita came back to Marvel, finishing 2 issues of Kirby breakdowns on Daredevil when the infamously mercurial Wally Wood disappeared on them, soaking up the Marvel style. Romita has recounted in many interviews over the years that “The Marvel Method” really intimidated him, that he didn’t think he could do it at first, but that he quickly came to love the level of freedom it gave him to craft stories. And he’s a company man, often working out of the office and everything, so it’s no surprise that he becomes Stan’s new Jack Kirby when Kirby leaves, just as Jack was his new Big Joe Maneely in the late 50s after Maneely died suddenly. Romita has said that by this point, with things very rocky between Stan & Steve, Stan had made inquiries about whether Romita would want the gig of drawing Spider-Man, and he’d said “no.” He liked Daredevil, and he felt Spidey was Ditko’s book, and not only did he not want to take someone else’s book, but he couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it, including himself (He would later react the same way when Jack left for DC and Stan pressed Romita to draw Fantastic Four). He’s also said he believes Stan wanted Spidey in DD specifically as a test run for ASM, anyway. Spider-Man’s 2-part appearance in Daredevil is published at the same time as ASM 35 & 36. Ditko quits after turning in ASM 38, and Jazzy Johnny debuts on ASM with 39. Stan couldn’t have known how close these “try out” issues were to Romita having to step in. And Romita has no idea that he’s drawing a character he will define for generations when Spidey shows up here. But I do, so it’s very fun to see how it looks. Even for a 60s Marvel book, this one’s really aggressive about getting to the action quickly. After the splash tells us this issue is inked by Frank Giacoia and will introduce us to our old friend, the Masked Marauder, we join the regular cast of Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson & Karen Page…
These pages are very much Romita, making just how closely he aped Ditko in his early ASMs pretty impressive. So we get Spider-Man’s first battle with Masked Marauder told after the fact in news footage, in a story that acts like MM is an established player even tho this is his first appearance. Crazy start. One of MM’s goons objects to the idea of trying to fight Spider-Man, which would seem to mark him as way too smart for goonin’, but MM zaps with his “blinding opti-beam” and sends everyone else on their way. And you know what that means…
Masky wastes no time sending in another Daredevil, who manages to shoot a rope around Spidey’s ankle. But he easily snaps it, and when he goes after DD, he’s disappeared again. Spider-Man is confused and furious now, so when Matt Murdock blows off an unsubtle hint from Karen to take her to dinner because he’s been hearing Daredevil was sighted all over town and becomes the real DD to investigate, when Spider-Man finds him, he’s in no mood to chat.
They’re gonna rob the place Spidey stopped them from robbing before. Not too creative. This is a pretty crazy experience. Everything about this issue is so visibly Romita EXCEPT Spider-Man. He’s doing a version of the Ditko Spidey. Not aping Ditko at all, but trying to be faithful to his presentation of the character. Fascinating, really. A Spider-Man story by the artist whose work has been the definitive presentation of the character for over 50 years, where everything looks right except Spider-Man. Reading the early stuff, I’ve come to realize just how much Bill Mantlo was revisiting/retreading this period when he was on Spectacular in the 70s. And that feeling continues as we see MM and his gang go to steal “the plans for the newest, most powerful AUTO ENGINE ever devised!” in the same van with the goofy hydraulic tube that we saw in TAC 26. While his boys steal the plans, MM and the van are happened upon by security guards, and he zaps them with his beam. It’s worth noting that Romita has the beams coming out of the sides of the glasses, not the lenses. Unlike in that TAC story, MM doesn’t shoot beams that blind people out of his own eyes. Then the goons return with the plans and they take off. And what’re the heroes doing during this daring break in?
DD swings around Spider-Man as quick as he can, tying him to that pole with his line, which is much stronger than the imitation used against our hero earlier. Having briefly incapacitated Spider-Man, DD runs for it, surprised he got away so clean, but not wanting to press his luck. Spider-Man eventually snaps the cable, but by then, DD is nowhere in sight. So, our frustrated hero decides to pack it in, and we get a first look at Romita trying out some of the ASM supporting cast.
A little crude, but no mistaking that Romita JJJ. And now, Masked Marauder has pretty expertly convinced both men that the other is working for him. For such a dopey villain, it’s a pretty good plan. As Matt, Foggy & Karen debate whether DD is a villain or not, Masked Marauder tells his goons this was only phase one. That any number of criminals and countries would pay a lot for the plans they stole, but he’s not ready to sell yet. And then we’re almost out of pages, so…
A pretty great cliffhanger! Matt’s in a bad spot! How will he get out of it next issue? I have no idea. This issue’s Bullpen Bulletins reveals that the artist who;s been drawing for Marvel under the name “Adam Austin” is really Gene Colan. I believe I’ve read he was under contract elsewhere when he, like Romita, Kirby and so much of the 60s art staff, returned to the company after having worked there in the 40s or 50s. There’s also this bit that is perhaps telling of Stan’s hope that people will like Romita drawing Spider-Man:
Next time, we’ll see how this story ends.