Podcasts about twomorrows

Previews! Comic Talk! And a lot more as we're joined this month by Mike Atchison of Mike's Comic Shop Roadshow podcast, one of our 20th Anniversary event sponsors! Covering comic coming attractions for the month of April 2025, our recommendations include new Resurrection Man and Fire & Ice titles, never before collected Doctor Fate stories from DC and Tower of Shadows issues from Marvel, Dynamite's Wacky Races, a Marshall Rogers biography from TwoMorrows, Moonshine Bigfoot from Image, Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell and others. Go Birds! (1:13:46)

Scott Dunbier's Act 4 imprint heads to Skybound with new Connoisseur Editions. Dark Horse has laid off a significant number of employees. TwoMorrows Publishing signs with Lunar.SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON BLUESKY, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Episode 50 - Murdock and Marvel: 1999 Part 2 Last week we closed the curtain on the first volume of Daredevil, and now we are reaching the end of the millennium itself, as comics continue to barrel towards their own version of Y2K.  Sales keep dropping and more publishers leave the field, but signs of life start to show if you look in the right places.  It's 1999, and comics still are not dead.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1999.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #3-9, Earth X #0-2 and 5-7, Mutant X #6, Avengers #15-16, Avengers Forever #8, Black Widow #1-3, Spider-Man: Chapter One #9 and 12, Fantastic Four #21 and 23, Uncanny X-Men #370, Wolverine/Punisher: Revelations #3, Deathlok #1, along with Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil #1 and the Avengers 1999 and Contest of Champions graphic novels Writing: Kevin Smith (#1-8), David Mack (#9) Pencils: Joe Quesada (#1-9) Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti (#1-9) The year for Daredevil actually began in November 1998 when the first book of the Guardian Devil storyline hit comic book stores. We briefly touched on what happened during the first two books a couple weeks ago, but with this storyline taking up half the year – we'll be looking at the story in-depth as our spotlight story this week.  After the guardian Devil storyline ended in June 1999, we didn't get another book in the main Daredevil title until December. When we get the start of another multi-book storyline called Parts of a Hole with a new writer in David Mack. We won't go into much detail on this until we look at Daredevil in 2000, but it starts with The Kingpin sends a hitman after a stoolie being questioned by Nelson and Murdock.  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil volume 2 #1-8 November 1998 – June 1999 “Guardian Devil”  Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway Setting up the foundation to the future. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 49 - Murdock and Marvel: 1999 Part 1 Last week we closed the curtain on the first volume of Daredevil, and now we are reaching the end of the millennium itself, as comics continue to barrel towards their own version of Y2K.  Sales keep dropping and more publishers leave the field, but signs of life start to show if you look in the right places.  It's 1999, and comics still are not dead. Preshow  The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Marvel continued to contract and retrench, as it reduced the number of books it published, and concentrated more and more on proven creators and characters, especially the X-Men. The company also sold off their remaining trading card companies at a catastrophic loss and tried to undo some of the damage that had been inflicted on fans and characters in the last few years.  TOTAL SERIES: 142 TOTAL NEW SERIES: 101  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 89  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S): Earth X BEST SELLING COMICS: X-Men Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen/Passings ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: David Mack Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1999 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 47 - Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 2 Things continued to be grim in the comic world, but it seemed as though the freefall might be over.  Marvel had escaped bankruptcy without missing even a single month of publishing, most of the other companies still in business made it through the year (but not all) and some very interesting new players entered the scene.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story. The Takeaway for 1998 - which is a look back at volume 1 of Daredevil - will be released next week as it's own episode.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances:  Daredevil #371-380, Marvel Knights: Daredevil #1-2, Uncanny X-Men #351, Thunderbolts #10, Unlimited Access #2, Shadow & Light #1, Cable #55, Ka-Zar #15, Spider-Man Made Men #1, Nighthawk #1-3, Avengers #10-11, and Bring Back the Bad Guys graphic novel.  Writing: Joe Kelly (#371-373) Kelly and Jonathan Barron (#374), Kelly and Chris Claremont (#375), Scott Lobdell (#376-379), Dan G. Chichester (#380)  Pencils: Ariel Olivetti (#371-372, #374), Richie Acosta (#373), Cary Nord, Olivetti, John Paul Leon, Tom Lyle, Brian Denham and Rick Leonardi (#375), Cully Hamner (#376-379), Lee Weeks (#380)  Inks: Pier Brito (#371-372, #374), Bud LaRosa (#373), Mark Lipka, Brito, John Paul Leon, Robert Jones, Chis Carlson and Scott Hanna (#375), Jason Martin (#376-379), Robert Campanella (#380)  The year begins with Black Widow and Daredevil discussing their recent run-ins both professionally and personally. Meanwhile Karen goes shopping with Rosalind. Matt and Karen do make up despite Daredevil leaving for a bit  Next Mr. Fear pops back up after we learn something weird happened during the prison riot he planned last year. DD tries to talk to the warden, but Ghost Rider beats him to it. Fear and DD play cat and mouse for a couple issues before things come to a head. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Charlie, a likely cop whose working for Fear, who first tries to kill Fogy's sister Candice before going after Karen.  In a double sized issue #375, We learn Charlie has been killed and Karen is awaiting trial for his murder. Mr. Fear is trying to manipulate things so that she will go to jail and DD will suffer a breakdown as a result. Matt is Karen's lawyer and while the case slowly slips away from him, he continues to search for Fear as Daredevil hoping it will save his case. We won't spoil the ending, as this is the spotlight story for the week.  And just like that, the story quickly shifts to France...  In the final named story arc of volume 1, Flying Blind, we meet Laurent Levasseur whom very much seems like our man without fear – though he thinks his just an artist. Turns out Murdock is working deep undercover for SHIELD and had his memory reprogrammed. Murdock is there to stop the sale of agent information to international buyers of the Kingpin. After spending most of the story trying to remember who he is and save the doctor who initially treated him at the start of this tale, Murdock gets his memories back from a mutant named Synapse just as SHIELD locates him and busts in as the cavalry.   One side effect of the reprogramming was Murdock was able to actually see. He loses it after getting his memories back but he's able to see his friend Foggy for the first and only time.  In November, Volume 1 ends with one last issue – issue #380 – and the return on Dan G Chichester and Lee Weeks for “a tale from Daredevil's past” dedicated to Archie Goodwin. A pretty straight-forward story though told non-sequentially in which the Kingpin tries to frame a Middle Eastern man for terrorism so he can get his hands on a shipment of weapons; Matt defends the patsy and wins in court; Meanwhile DD takes on several of his deadliest foes to foil the Kingpin's scheme. (The Hand/Bushwacker/Bullseye)  The final page sees Murdock and his mom Maggie walking and having ice cream with narration “You want to know the truth? The good guys don't always win. But because of who they are, they never stop fighting. There's always a Daredevil willing to take a risk on our behalf. And in a city that never sleeps, we can all rest easy knowing we have that to protect us.”  That same month, Volume 2 begins under the Marvel Knight branding begins with a new creative team – Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti. In the first 2 books of the Guardian Devil storyline, we learn Karen left Matt and NYC for LA 6 months ago and Matt has been trying to move on with his life. A teenage girl brings a baby to Matt that she claims is the new Messiah and leaves the kid in his care but then Murdock is approached by a mysterious old man claims the same child is the Anti-Christ and a curse to those around it.  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #375 May 1998 “With a Little Help From My Friends”  Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway - Next week The Takeaway was a recap and discussion of volume 1 of Daredevil. It ended up running long so we will be releasing that separately.  Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 46 - Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 1 Things continued to be grim in the comic world, but it seemed as though the freefall might be over.  Marvel had escaped bankruptcy without missing even a single month of publishing, most of the other companies still in business made it through the year (but not all) and some very interesting new players entered the scene.  Preshow  The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel TOTAL SERIES: 188 TOTAL NEW SERIES: 139  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 141  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Identity Crisis (Spider-Man) The Gathering of Five (also Spidey) Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen/Passings Passings: Archie Goodwin ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Joe Casey Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1998 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 45 - Murdock and Marvel: 1997 Part 2 We've got a pretty quiet week in comic terms, partly because everything has gone completely to the dogs, and there is a lot less happening than there was a few years ago.  Still, I was surprised to find that 1997 had some pretty great things going on under the surface!  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1997.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #360-370, Daredevil #-1, Adventures of Spider-Man #10, Bug #1, Code of Honor #2-4, Punisher #17-18, Venom: On Trial #1-3, Marvel Valentine Special #1, Silver Surfer #128, Essential Spider-Man #2, Electra #-1, Ka-Zar #5 and 8, Uncanny Origins #13, Elektra #10-11 and 13, Marvel Heroes & Legends 1997 #1, Spider-Man El Hombre Arana #30, Spider-Man Unlimited #18, Thunderbolts #8 along with Daredevil/Batman, Untold Tales of Spider-Man '97, Kingpin, Origin of Marvel Comics Revised Edition and Son of Origins of the Marvel Comics Revised Edition graphic novels  Writing: Karl Kesel (#360-364), Joe Kelly (#365-370 and #-1)  Pencils: Cary Nord (#360-362, 364-365), Gene Colan (#363, -1, 366-368, 370), Ariel Olivetti (#369)  Inks: Matt Ryan (#360-362, 364-365, -1), Cam Smith and Paul Neary (#363), Al Williamson (#366), Bud LaRosa (#367-368, 370), Pier Brito (#369)  The year begins with Daredevil taking on the Absorbing Man as he tries to take down NYC with no Avengers to stop him. While that's going on, we learn why Foggy was so keen on partnering with Rosalind Sharpe – she's his biological mother.  And it's Sharpe who thinks Foggy and the firm need to play up Foggy's “best bud” status with Daredevil – which leads to work for the firm as Molten Man (Mark Raxton) seeks help with break-ins at Osborne Chemicals. Daredevil is reunited with the Black Widow as the pair take down the Grey Gargoyle.  We learn a bit about Rosalind's Sharpe's past after Daredevil saves her from an armed man in the firm's lobby then follow's her to visit the gangster responsible.   Next we get a multi-book story involving a new villainous, Insomnia – he's try to keep Daredevil and the rest of New York up at night. We eventually learn she's working for Mr Fear – who himself is causing trouble by enlisting a friend of Molten Man to release a gas during a Osborn Chemicals boardroom meeting which causes Raxton to freak out and start tearing the place apart.  Before we can get a resolution to Mr Fear, we get a Flashback issue of Daredevil (Daredevil #-1) in which Jack Murdock is taking his son Matt to college. This story, from writer Joe Kelly and art by Gene Colan and Matt Ryan is a lot of fun and will be our spotlight story of the week.  Returning back to present time, Daredevil must, once again, deal with Mr Fear's plotting – this time on Ryker's Island when Fear releases a gas to start a prison riot. Daredevil must then take on new and improved Gladiator. (what happened to fear???)  The year ends with a multi-book storyline called “widow's Kiss” that starts with Daredevil helping a firm client who's facing a hostile takeover by the Russians – only to have to tangle Omega Red. Black Widow comes to the aid of Daredevil only to then shoot him herself. She tries then save DD by bring him to Karen for help, before returning to meet with a Russian general we eventually learn she's trying to take down. Despite just being shot, Daredevil goes after Widow and gets the pair captured. The story ends Daredevil escapes and convinces Ursa Major and Vanguard that they are being used by the General – and that he's being running experiments on Vanguards sister – Darkstar.  One other secondary story that ran through much of the year involves Foggy and Liz Osborne. Rosalind Sharpe isn't pleased with their relationship and continually tries to undermine it – with other women. In the final book of the year Foggy and Liz's attempt to have a romantic evening together is derailed when he receives a constant stream of phone calls from other women.  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #-1 July 1997 “A Time to Say Farewell”  Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway Marvel messed up more than their own fortunes with their unwise expansions.  Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 44 - Murdock and Marvel: 1997 Part 1 We've got a pretty quiet week in comic terms, partly because everything has gone completely to the dogs, and there is a lot less happening than there was a few years ago.  Still, I was surprised to find that 1997 had some pretty great things going on under the surface! Preshow  The Year in Comics  As harsh as 1996 had been, 1997 was in most senses even worse.  Sales continued to plummet, Marvel had to dig out from a messy financial mess, and other publishers felt the pain as well.  Once again, as they had before in the 50s and in the 70s, people were asking if this was the end for American comic books.  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel It was a rough year to be Marvel.  The line continued to shrink, sales plummeted, and fewer and fewer series seemed to last more than a few issues.  Plus, both the sticker company and the distribution company had to go.   TOTAL SERIES: 179 TOTAL NEW SERIES: 120  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 126  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Operation: Zero Tolerance Unlimited Access (with DC) Heroes Reborn: The Return Flashback BEST SELLING COMICS: Uncanny X-Men 345, Heroes Reborn #1 Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen/Passings ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Leinil Francis Yu Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1997 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 43 - Murdock and Marvel: 1996 Part 2 Well, here we are, Duane.  At the End of Days.  I have been promising you that everything was going to explode eventually.  And finally we have arrived.  Welcome to the fateful year 1996, when Marvel came crashing down.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1996.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances:  Daredevil #348-359, Punisher #4, What if…? #83, Marvel versus DC / DC versus Marvel #2-3, Green Goblin #6 and 12, Doom 2099 #40-42, Over the Edge #6 and 10, Wolverine #103-104, New Warriors #73, Spider-Man Unlimited #13, Essential Wolverine #1, Essential X-Men #1, Spider-Man #74, Elektra Megazine #1-2, Essential Spider-Man #1 and Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man, Spider-Man's Greatest Team-Ups and Elektra Lives Again graphic novels  Writing: J.M. DeMatteis (348-350), John Rozum (351), Ben Rabb (352), Karl Kesel (353-357), Joe Kelly (358-359)  Pencils: Cary Nord (348-349, 353-357), Ron Wagner (350), Shawn McManus (351-352), Pasqual Ferry (358), Nord and Larry Hama (359)  Inks: Bill Reinhold (348, 350), Al Williamson (349), Shawn McManus (351-352), Matt Ryan (353-357, 359), Pasqual Ferry (358)  The year begins with Matt trying to reconcile his recent identity crisis while Foggy is angry about the secret he's finally learned. Matt tries visiting with his mother Maggie, but it's his old Mentor Stick that helps him – though in the process he ends up taking on the Chaste.  Foggy and Matt begin practicing law together again. From there, things return to normal (or at least what's normal for Daredevil or Matt Murdock), He takes out Agent Vice who's extorting money from other criminals. Daredevil must take on Mastermind who is also Matt Murdock's client.   In June we get a new creative team that was teased at the end of issue 352. Karl Kesel and Cary Nord. We also get a re-imagined Mr. Hyde from John Romita Jr. Hyde seems to be totally unhinged (with an equally terrifying look). Daredevil confronts Hyde in an old Osborn warehouse where a woman has been murdered. Hyde continues to act crazy and is ultimately arrested.   During this issue Foggy and Matt (mostly Matt) are asked to partner with hotshot lawyer Rosalind (Razor) Sharpe. Sharpe tells Matt privately that the two are a package deal. She doesn't just want Foggy. Foggy seemed weirdly eager to join her so Matt accepts.  And as a first case under the new partnership, Sharpe was Murdock to represent Mr. Hyde. At first, Murdock doesn't want to do it, but after meeting with Hyde – Matt doesn't think he killed the girl. The leads to Daredevil taking on Pyro and looking for clues at the warehouse – with the help of Misty Knight – which leads to a secret tunnel and a group of criminals called the Enforcers and their newest member the Eel – who captures our hero. The story ends when Daredevil escapes and captures the Eel and presents the Eel to the courtroom waiting for the trial of Mr. Hyde to start.  The year ends with two standalone stories that have a much different look and feel from the rest of the year. In the first, Daredevil takes on Mysterio who's working on a super-hero insurance scam. This fun story will be our spotlight story for the week. In the second, we see a night of Daredevil fighting crime while Karen Page talks to people of New York about their thoughts on Daredevil (now that the Fantastic Four and Avengers are gone) during her late-night radio call in show.  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #358 November 1996 “Aftermath”  Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway Stick to what you are good at.  Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 42 - Murdock and Marvel: 1996 Part 1 Well, here we are, Duane.  At the End of Days.  I have been promising you that everything was going to explode eventually.  And finally we have arrived.  Welcome to the fateful year 1996, when Marvel came crashing down. Preshow  The Year in Comics  As usual, there was a lot of great stuff going on in comics this year.  There was also a lot of junk, though, and 1996 is the year we start seeing that problem sort itself out.  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Passings Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel The year at Marvel started rough and just got worse, with fans, industry insiders and the stock market all seeming to be against them.  Layoffs, failed storylines and an end of year bombshell made this a year to forget at Marvel comics.  TOTAL SERIES: 232 TOTAL NEW SERIES: 155  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 169  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Onslaught Saga Heroes Reborn BEST SELLING COMICS:  Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen/Passings ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: David Finch Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1996 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 41 - Murdock and Marvel: 1995 Part 2 It was a tough year in comics, especially for the big two.  Comic shops were having trouble, readers seemed to be moving on to other things, and corporate overlords continued to demand ever higher profits.  1995 was a bit of an…apocalypse.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1995.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #336-347, Elekrta: Root of Evil #1, Marvel Super-Heroes Megazine #4 and 6, Spider-Man: Power of Terror #2 - #4, Sabertooth Classic #11, Marvel: Portraits #2 - #4, What if…? #73, Ghost Rider #61, X-Universe #1 – #2, Ruins #1, Incredible Hulk #434, Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe #1, Over the Edge #1, and Double Edge: Omega graphic novel    Writing: Gregory Wright (336-337), Alan Smithee [actually Dan G Chichester] (338-342), Warren Ellis (343), J.M. DeMatteis (344-347)  Pencils: Tom Grindberg (336-337), Alexander Jubran (339-340), Keith Pollard (341-342), Pollard and Arvell Malcolm Jones (343), Ron Wagner (344-347)  Inks: Don Hudson (336-337), Andre Parks and Hudson (338), Parks, Hudson Bud LaRosa and Rodney Ramos (339), Parks, Hudson and Marie Severin (340), Art Nichols (341), Tom Palmer (342-343), Bill Reinhold (344-347)  The year begins with the final 2 chapters of the Fathoms of Humanity story arc that started last year. You'll recall that story stared with Daredevil following a homeless man into the sewers and coming befriending him and a whole group of people who live there. He battled the King of the Sewers and defeated him again. And we also saw the kingpin attempting to slowly grow his power back. In these final two chapters we learn the homeless man Daredevil followed was once a superhero himself – peacekeeper – in order to help Daredevil and his community against the Sewer King's attempts to take back control of the community and defeat Daredevil. From there, we get the story of Victor “Kruel” Krueller and the Ghost of a Chance diner in flashbacks to explain why Kruel is going after those near and dear to Daredevil/Matt Murdock (Foogy, Glorianna, DA Malpher, Ben Urich). Seems he double crossed Wilson Fisk and at the diner, Fisk caught him and nearly killed him – then covered it up by drugging those same people to wipe their memory. Now Kruel is bent on revenge and is seeking out the witnesses to help him remember what happened. During the quest for information, Kruel kills Glorianna which causes Fisk and Daredevil to team up to locate and confront Kruel. When they do, Fisk ends up killing Kruel.   There's a side story going on in this story as we see Karen Page trying to get information about some troubling images, she saw on a CD given to her by her former adult movie producers.   After a stand-alone book that was part of the Over the Edge event that didn't really make a lot of sense involving the Punisher. We get the start of the Inferno story arc. In it, we see a second Daredevil in the original red and yellow costume and a bonding around the city and talking with Foggy and Karen (as well as leaving taunting messages with Matt). We also see a villain names Sir who's attacking and killing women.   At one point, the two meet and Sir beats up Daredevil so badly, Sir is able to take his costume.  This leads to a very confusing confrontation in which Sir as Daredevil fights the red and yellow daredevil – who happens to be Murdock as an alternate personality. In the end, Batlin as Daredevil defeats Sir as Daredevil and Karen and Foggy come to realize that Batlin is actually Matt Murdock!  Elektra: Root of Evil  Daito of the Snakeroot kills himself with the Sakki sword and makes it impure. So the rest of the snakeroot need to kill three specific people to purify the blade again. (not sure how they know who). There's a brief cameo by Daredevil is issue 1 where he stops Elektra from killing some random mercenaries who are after her.  Elektra wants to form her own Ryu (ninja group like the Chaste) and works with Nick Fury to get recruits.  We briefly meet Target, Lynch, Impact, Masquerade, Niko and Salvo before most are killed in their very first battle against the snakeroot (like the X-force in Deadpool 2).   Via flashbacks, we learn Elektra has an older brother, Orestez who saved Elektra when she was a child and whom killed their mother for seemly cheating on their father. Though Elektra did turn out to be their father's daughter  Other flashbacks show Elektra was a member of the Snakeroot and fell in love with Tekagi – whom she ends up killing at the end of this series with new sais covered in poison before they could kill all 3 purity people.  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #347 December 1995 “Inferno Part 3”  Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway Sometimes the crossover is actually cool. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 39 - Murdock and Marvel: 1994 Part 2 1994 was a crazy year in the comics world, with both DC and Marvel continuing to crank out new books, even as other companies tried to claw their way into the market.  Retailers and fans were nearly helpless as the onslaught of comics overwhelmed them, leading to one of the worst years in the history of modern comics.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1994.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #324-335, Daredevil Man without Fear #4 and #5, Daredevil Annual #10, Real Heroes #3, What if…? #58 and #64, Marvels #2-4, Marvel Comics Presents #150 - #151, Marvel Tales #285, Spider-Man Unlimited #6, Marvel Super-Heroes Megazine #1- #3, Spider-Man Megazine #1, Spectacular Spider-Man #218 and #219, Guardians of the Galaxy #54, Amazing Spider-Man #396 plus Death of Captain Marvel novel, Punisher Ashcan Edition novel, Marvel Limited: Fantastic Firsts novel and Marvels novel Writing: Dan G Chichester (324-327, 329-332), Gregory Wright (328, 333-335)  Interviews: Chichester: https://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-interviews/Chichester Wright: https://www.manwithoutfear.com/interviews/ddINTERVIEW.shtml?id=Wright Pencils: Scott McDaniel (324-327, 329-332), Sergio Cariello (328), Tom Grindberg (333-335) Inks: Hector Collazo and Michael Avon Oeming (324), Hector Collazo (325-327, 329, 331-332), Ariane Lenshoek-Pinharo (328), Collazo and Rich Rankin (330). Ray Kryssing (333) Don Hudson (334-335)  The year begins with the final 2 installments of the Fall from Grace story arc. In it we see the ACTUAL return of Elektra (in an all white outfit) who fights alongside Matt Murdock to kill the ninjas and the Erynys that has part of her essence inside – which see does and absorbs the essence back into herself. Murdock ends up fighting the Hellspawn and after taking the weird virus to become human, it dies in the final fight with Snakeroot. Murdock uses the body to fake his death and become Jack Batlin. Ben Urich realizes his intern Sara Harrington was the one that hacked his files and shared Murdock's secret identity (hence Murdock faking his death).  Next, we jump right into another multi-book story called Tree of Knowledge. This 6-part story with an extra interlude book (by a different creative team) starts in March with issue 326 and shows Daredevil and Captain America taking on a gang of hackers called System Crash which is being led by Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker of Hydra. Since this is the only full story this year, this will be our spotlight story for the week.  The year ends with the first half of another named storyline Fathoms of Humanity that will end in February 1995. Written by Gregory Wright and Penciled by Tom Grindberg while Chichester and McDaniel work on Elektra: Root of Evil (which was promoted extensively at the end of these books). In this story we see Daredevil follow a homeless man into the sewers where a tribe of people are living including their “King” whom Daredevil rescued Wilson Fisk's wife Vanessa from back in the original Frank Miller days. Daredevil defeats his old foe – which endears him to the rest of the community (and causes the King to seek out an altar to summon some creature to enact revenge). We also see him take on Bushwacker (another old foe with a gun for an arm). During this story we also see Kingpin who's working out of an abandoned subway car as he slowly starts working towards regaining his power and influence.  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #326 March 1994 “Tree of Knowledge Part 1” through Daredevil #332 September 1994 “Tree of Knowledge Finale”  Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway A great year if you can get through the junk Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.   

Episode 40 - Murdock and Marvel: 1995 Part 1 It was a tough year in comics, especially for the big two.  Comic shops were having trouble, readers seemed to be moving on to other things, and corporate overlords continued to demand ever higher profits.  1995 was a bit of an…apocalypse. Preshow  Daredevil Born Again coming March 4, 2025 The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel It was a crazy year at Marvel, with pressures to increase sales leading to massive cuts and layoffs, even as the company continued to acquire other businesses and expand its plans.  Get ready for a bumpy ride. TOTAL SERIES: 289 TOTAL NEW SERIES: 191  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 215  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Age of Apocalypse The Crossing BEST SELLING COMICS: X-Men, Spider-Man Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen/Passings ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mark Waid Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1995 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 38 - Murdock and Marvel: 1994 Part 1 1994 was a crazy year in the comics world, with both DC and Marvel continuing to crank out new books, even as other companies tried to claw their way into the market.  Retailers and fans were nearly helpless as the onslaught of comics overwhelmed them, leading to one of the worst years in the history of modern comics.  The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel It was a pretty rough year at Marvel, both creatively and in terms of sales.  New corporate sales mandates drove a wedge between the staff, and overproduction meant too many books by less talented creators.  Even so, there were some bright spots!  TOTAL SERIES: 336  TOTAL NEW SERIES: 195  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 234  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Phalanx Covenant (Generation X Debuts) BEST SELLING COMICS: Marvels Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen/Passings ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mike Deodato Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1994 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.   

Cyberpunk 2077: XOXO by Bartosz Sztybor and Jakub Rebelka from Dark Horse, Superman: The Triangle Era Omnibus and Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite, Fantagraphics-O-Rama: The Empty Lot by Mia Wolff and Sunday by Olivier Schrauwen, Iron Man by Spencer Ackerman, Julius Ohta, and Alex Sinclair, Tokyo These Days by Taiyo Matusmoto, Cryptology from TwoMorrows, Batman and Robin: Year One by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, Adventure Time Omnibus Volume One from Oni Press, plus a whole mess more!

Episode 37 - Murdock and Marvel: 1993 Part 2 There are arguments to be made that this was the best year in the history of comics.  There are also a number of ways in which it may have been the worst.  In any case, it was not boring. Welcome to 1993, the year everything that has been building for the last decade or so comes to a head.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1993.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #312-323, Daredevil Annual #9, Daredevil: Man without Fear #1-5, Fantastic Four #373 and #378, Slapstick #4, What If…? #47, #48 and #55, Ghost Rider #36, Marvel Comics Presents #129 and #136, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #55, Thor #464, Punisher War Journal #57 and #58, Web of Spider-Man #106, Alpha Flight #127, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #57, Infinity Crusade #1-6, and Marvel Masterworks #25  Writing: Dan G. Chichester (312-323)  Pencils: Scott McDaniel (312-315, 317-323), Kevin Kobasic (316)  Inks: Bud LaRosa (312-317) LaRosa and Greg Adams (318), Hector Collazo and Harry Candelario (319), Michael Avon Oeming (320), Hector Callazo (321), Collazo and Rich Rankin (322-323)  The year starts with a mysterious fire at a Hell's Kitchen pizzeria in which a young man “Marky” is killed and his girlfriend Lisa Rizzo needs to be rescued. After, she gets arrested and goes to court as an apparent arsonist – so Matt Murdock volunteers to be her lawyer. With Lisa not talking, Daredevil looks into the various patrons the day of the fire to figure out what really happened. In the end we find out Lisa is pregnant with Marky's child and the pizza shop owners set fire to their own store to get the insurance money.  In Daredevil Annual #9, We get 3 different stories. In devouring madness, we see Daredevil break up a museum robbery. On the clock shows a typical day in the life of our fearless hero and Resurrection shows Calypso resurrect a zombie to fight Daredevil.  Next, Daredevil takes on a new incarnation of Mr. Fear… Shock who is Alan Fagan's (the original Fear) daughter. The story, however, turns a bit weird as Shock enlists Taskmaster, the Wildboys and Stiltman to go after Daredevil – with the ending in issue 318 that's played off as silly more than anything. The issue itself has a weird “That's it folks! The last issue of Daredevil Before… Daredevil #319” on the cover. I had no idea what that meant until…  Issue 319 starts the final story arch of the year… Fall from Grace. This year we get a prologue and the first 4 chapters of the story (which appears to go through issue 325 – February 1994). We'll speak in more detail about this story during our spotlight.  In Daredevil: Man without Fear we get a thorough retelling of the Daredevil origin story as well as his relationship with Elektra. This 5-book story was written by Frank Miller and penciled by John Romita Jr (Al Williamson on inks). This story goes into far more detail than what we got originally. We also see how Kingpin came into power as well as introduced to a few new characters (Mickey/Lars). Despite knowing the story well, I really enjoyed this series. It looked amazing.  This Week's Spotlight: #319 August 1993 “Fall From Grace Prologue: Temptation” through Daredevil #323 December 1993 “Fall From Grace Chapter 4: Conflict” Recap Why We Picked This Story Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions The Takeaway Garbage in, Garbage out. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.   

Episode 36 - Murdock and Marvel: 1993 Part 1 There are arguments to be made that this was the best year in the history of comics.  There are also a number of ways in which it may have been the worst.  In any case, it was not boring.  Welcome to 1993, the year everything that has been building for the last decade or so comes to a head.  Announcements Show Tweaks The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Information Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel TOTAL SERIES: 313  TOTAL NEW SERIES: 198  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 170  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Maximum Carnage Bloodties Fatal Attractions BEST SELLING COMICS: Uncanny X-Men, Cable, ASM, SM Unlimited, X-Men 2099 Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Salvador LaRocca Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1993 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.   

Episode 35 - Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 2 Well, here we are.  Image starts a new creator-owned era, even as the man who created the superhero sensation dies, along with one of his creators. 1992 was a very big year for changes.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1992.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #300-311, Daredevil Annual #8, Punisher Annual #5, Web of Spider-Man Annual #8, Infinity War #1-4, Death's Head 2 #4, Fantastic Four #367-368 and #370, Alpha Flight #111, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #41 and #43, Marvel Comics Presents #113, Spider-Man Special Edition #1, What if…? #44, Daredevil Gangwar and Infinity Gauntlet graphic novels and Marvel Masterworks #21 and #22  Writing: Dan G Chichester (300-309) , Glenn Herdling (310-311)  Pencils: Lee Weeks (300), M.C. Wyman (301-303), Ron Garney (304), Scott McDaniel (305-311)  Inks: Al Williamson (300), Chris Ivy (301-303, 305), Bud LaRosa (304, 306-311),   The year begins with the huge double issue that concludes the Last Rites storyline that began late in 1991. Daredevil has been enlisted by SHIELD to take down Kingpin and by extension Hydra who is bankrolling his media empire. Last week we saw the pieces get put in place and during our spotlight this week, we'll see how this terrific story ends.  Next, we see Daredevil take on one of his oldest foes, the Owl, in a solid 3-book story arc. Outside of the spotlight book, “34 Hours” from May 1992 is one of the best single-story books in the last few years. In it we see Daredevil saving lives across a 34-hour timeframe.   We are then introduced to a new villain, Surgeon General, who's picking up men in clubs, drugging them and then operating on them to steal body parts for the black market. To set a trap for the Surgeon General, Daredevil sets a trap using Peter Parker as bait. Fortunately for Peter, the trap worked with the help of Parker's secret identity, Spider-Man.  Next, we get another multi-book story arc involving the Nomad and Punisher called Dead Man's Hand. This 7-part story arc that takes place in Las Vegas shows various crime factions all trying to get a piece of the Kingpin's empire now that he's not there to lead it. During this event we also see what has happened to the kingpin. Among the groups fighting for Kingpin's empire include – The Hand, Yakuza, the Maggia, Hydra, Hammer Industries, Andreas and Andrea Strucker (Known as Fenris?). This story was hard to follow as several parts of the story appear in other books (parts 3&4 were in Nomad & Punisher books) and part 6 was somewhere else but was communicated to the reader.   After Vegas, Matt Murdock returns to New York and we finish out the year with a multi-book story arc with Calypso, the Nameless One and a Daredevil doppelganger known as Hellspawn from the Infinity War Crossover. This story centers around a Haitian refugee named Yves Chapoteau who is seeking asylum in the U.S. During the story Calypso performs a voodoo ritual on Daredevil and enslaves him to her. He is able to escape by destroying her magic soul-possessing jars which also free some other zombie refugees who attack her. In an epilogue of this story, we see two people digging up someone's grave.  New Powers, Toys or Places: Back in Vegas for the Dead Man's Hand story arc. New Supporting Characters: Yves Chapoteau (Haitian refugee who seeks out Matt Murdock for his asylum case) New Villains: Surgeon General (woman seducing men and then stealing organs for the black market), Hellspawn (Daredevil doppleganger from Infinity War crossover who's killed by Calyspo) This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #300 January 1992 “Last Rites Part 4: Long Live the King” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Writers still matter! Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 34 - Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 1 Well, here we are.  Image starts a new creator-owned era, even as the man who created the superhero sensation dies, along with one of his creators. 1992 was a very big year for changes. The Year in Comics  Comic books managed to make it into the news and public consciousness in different ways in 1992, as movies, TV shows, new companies and a massive character death kept things interesting!  Notable and Newsworthy Sales & Industry Trends Beginnings and Endings Memorials Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel 1992 is a weird year, in that as it begins nothing seems to have changed from the heady days of 1991.  But the Image artists no longer are present as the summer rolls around, and the Marvel Universe itself moves into darker territory.  Here begins the anti-hero turn of the 90s, with dark futures and truly irredeemable villains.  TOTAL SERIES: 246  TOTAL NEW SERIES: 149  TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 129  THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):   Operation Galactic Storm (Avengers and Quasar in a Kree/Shiar war) X-Cutioner's Song (X-Men fight Stryfe)  BEST SELLING COMICS: Death of Superman, Spawn and all the Image books  Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chris Bachalo Dan's Favorite   Next week: 1992 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil  Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 33 - Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 2 It's the year of Marvel's greatest success…and quite possibly its greatest failure!  Welcome to 1991, the year that sets the stage for the next evolution of American comics.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1991.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #288-299, Daredevil Annual #7, Marvel Comic Presents #69-72, #75, #81 and #91, What if…? 24 and 26, Avengers #332-#333, Excalibur #39, Darkhawk #6, Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero, Very Best of Marvel Comics, Very Best of What If, Amazing Spider-Man: The Wedding graphic novels and Marvel Masterworks  Writing: Ann Nocenti (288-291) Dan G Chichester (292-299)  Pencils: Lee Weeks (288, 291-295, 297-299) Kieron Dwyer (289-290), Ron Garney (296)  Inks: Al Williamson and Weeks (288) Williamson and Fred Fredricks (289), Fredricks (290-292), Williamson (293-299)  The year begins with Matt Murdock having dreams of Elektra and Stick and the Kingpin orchestrating a similar ultimatum to throw a boxing match to save Nyla whom he's kidnapped. Matt refuses to do so, wins the fight and saves Nyla with the help of Ben Urich  Meanwhile Bullseye continues to pretend to be Daredevil and ruin his reputation, but is confronted and defeated by Murdock who's disguised as Bullseye.    After taking on Bullet for one last time, Matt Murdock reunites with his friend and law partner Foggy Nelson – who's been working on getting Murdock's law license reinstated.  As Daredevil and the Punisher deal with Taskmaster and Tombstone causing trouble, we see Kingpin and Typhoid Mary enter a deal with a General Strang, an investor who agrees to fund Fisk's media enterprises but secretly hopes to infiltrate Fisk's finances from within.  Halfway through the year we see the Hand returns to New York and we learn they were the ones behind setting lose Taskmaster and Tombstone on the city.    What follows is a multi-book story arc involving Daredevil attempts to take down the Hand. This includes a cameo by the Ghost Rider and some of Stick's old students (including Stone) showing up to help Daredevil in the final showdown – which is our spotlight story this week.  The year ends with the first 3 of 4 parts to the Last Rites story arc. In it, we see Daredevil causing division between Kingpin and Typhoid before having her committed. Then we see Nick Fury bring Matt Murdock into SHIELD and ask him for help taking down Kingpin and Hydra who's bankrolling his media enterprise. We then see the chess pieces put in place for a final showdown. The finale of this story is a giant double issue #300 we'll talk about in 1992.  New Powers, Toys or Places: None New Supporting Characters: Maltese (Kingpin's right-hand man), Danny Ketch aka Ghost Rider, Kathy Malper (US District Attorney looking to take down Kingpin)  New Villains: Taskmaster (big time Marvel baddie), Tombstone (another Marvel baddie), General Strang (Kingpin's media investor that turns out to be more than he bargained for – Lieutenant Garotte). Jonin (head of the latest version of the Hand in New York), a new Izanami (large female enforcer of the Hand) This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #296 September 1991 “Balancing Act”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Writers matter! Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 32 - Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 1 It's the year of Marvel's greatest success…and quite possibly its greatest failure!  Welcome to 1991, the year that sets the stage for the next evolution of American comics.  The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Don Slott Dan's Favorite Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1991 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will discuss the year for Daredevil and Dan's takeaway.    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 31 - Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 2 As we start the 90s Marvel and DC are approaching monopoly status on comic store shelves, leaving other publishers to look for success at the margins.  But if you are a big fan of the Big 2, 1990 was a good time to be reading comic books!  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1990.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #276-287, Wolverine #21, Captain America #368, 374 - 376, Count Duckula #10, Punisher Magazine #8 and 15-16, What if…? #13, 15, 17, 20, Marvel Comics presents #49 and Daredevil: Marked for Death and Elektra Lives Again graphic novels  Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (276-287)   Pencilers: John Romita Jr (276, 278-282), Rick Leonardi (277), Mark Bagley (283), Lee Weeks (284-285, 287), Greg Capullo (286)  Inks: Al Williamson (276-282, 284-285, 287), Williamson and Tom Morgan (283), Doug Hazlewood (286) As the year begins, The Acts of Vengeance event continues with Ultron looking to take Number Nine as a bride and Daredevil must try to save her.  Next, we get an out of timeline story involving Daredevil and a psychologist whose star patient is his wife. Back to the current timeline, The Inhumans are set to leave for Pottersville in search of Black Bolts' son and it turms into a road trip for them, Daredevil, Number 9 and Brandy. Meanwhile, Blackheart and Mephisto discuss the finer points of evil and Blackheart is tasked with making Daredevil and the others do evil.  In Pottersville, the team finds a boy, Pope, with powers who the town is scared of and wants to kill him. They save the boy, but in the aftermath fall into a crack in the earth caused by an earthquake. We then see Daredevil and his companions experience different versions of Hell before a final showdown with Mephisto in which they are aided by the Silver Surfer.  Next, we get a single (what I assume is out of timeline) story in which Captain America and Daredevil are trying to help an inventor whose fantastic invention could change the world. This social issue focused book will be our spotlight story this week.  Daredevil finally returns to New York, but his memories are scrambled by the recent trip to Hell. Not knowing who he really is, he assumes the identity of Jack Murdock. Bullseye finds out about the confusion and decides to take advantage of the situation by impersonating the horned hero.  The rest of the year we see Matt Murdock meet a homeless woman, Nyla, who takes him in and the two become close. Murdock becomes a boxer, like his father, at Fogwell's Gym and Bullseye continues stealing from the rich and beating up police to ruin the reputation of the once great hero. Ben Urich returns and seems to realize things don't add up and goes looking for Matt Murdock.   In the final panels of the year, we see Wilson Fisk at a “Jack Murdock” boxing match and he too recognizes his former adversary.    New Powers, Toys or Places: Still in upstate New York to start the year, we see the team head to Hell/Mephisto's realm across several books before returning to familiar New York City. New Supporting Characters: Daniel and Vivian (psychologist and his wife), Pope (Boy in Pottersville's with powers that the townsfolk want to kill), Victor Cieszkowska (Inventor disillusioned by the US and their people), Nyla (homeless woman that befriends Matt Murdock while he's going by Jack Murdock, becomes a love interest) New Villains:  This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #283 August 1990 “The American Nightmare” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Marvel has won. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 30 - Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 1 As we start the 90s Marvel and DC are approaching monopoly status on comic store shelves, leaving other publishers to look for success at the margins.  But if you are a big fan of the Big 2, 1990 was a good time to be reading comic books!  The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eisner Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles (Ongoing and Limited) New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Tom Brevoort Dan's Favorite Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1990 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will discuss the year for Daredevil and Dan's takeaway.    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 29 - Murdock and Marvel: 1989 Part 2 This week we finish up the 80s, and see what another round of Batmania can do to and for the comics world.  This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1989.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #262- 275, Marvel Tales #222, Marvel Comics Presents #19, Saga of the Sub-Mariner #9, What if…? #1-2, Excalibur #14, Wolverine #17   Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (262-275) Nocenti & Romita Jr (266 - Plot by Nocenti and Romita Jr., script by Nocenti)  Pencilers: John Romita Jr (262-263, 265-275), Steve Ditko (264)  Inks: Al Williamson (262-263, 265-275), Mike Manley and Williamson (264)  As the year begins, Daredevil is still missing and presumed dead. Though Daredevil is coached (taunted) by to live by his old mentor Stick. Meanwhile NYC is seeing objects come to life and attacking humans (Think Maximum Overdrive) – which seems to be part of the inferno event.  Upon going to the hospital, Karen and Mary show up to visit and Karen learns Matt has been cheating on her.  After an issue hiatus featuring the Owl and the Bombers because John Romita Jr was getting married and wasn't available to draw, we see a resolution of sorts with Daredevil taking down a demon onslaught.  After spending Christmas in a bar with Mephisto as Daredevil, Matt burns all his belongings and leaves NYC.  What followings is a string of stories about Murdock being a loner and helping out as Daredevil when he can. He saves a man from a crashed plane, helps a man get out of an illegal loansharking business, saves a mutant girl from Blob and Pyro.   In September we see Daredevil and Spider-Man team up. This will be our spotlight story for the week.  Next Daredevil helps Brandy Ash expose her father's inhumane animal farm – which leads to release of young woman who was being experimented on known as number 9. This led to a multi-book story arch that finished out the year by introduced a new villain, Shotgun, and brought in the inhumans.   The year ends with a second December book that was part of the Acts of Vengeance event and shows Doctor Doom reviving Ultron and orders it to destroy Daredevil but it is conflicted by all the previous versions of itself and meeting Number 9.  New Powers, Toys or Places: half the year takes place outside of New York city, but seemly not outside New York state – in various small towns. New Supporting Characters: Amanda (young mutant saved from Freedom Force), Brandy Ash (young ecologist who doesn't like her father's farm), Number 9 (young woman experimented on by Skip Ash), inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon Petragon, Karnak Mander-Azur) New Villains: Mephisto (demon lord who has drinks with Daredevil in a bar as a young woman), Blackheart (Mephisto's “son”), Freedom Force (Blob, Pyro and Spiral), Skip Ash (terrible human to animals and young women), Shotgun (special forces in the military and member of the CIA called on by Skip Ash) This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #270 September 1989 “Blackheart” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway So how is that “comics are dying” idea going a decade later?  Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 28 - Murdock and Marvel: 1989 Part 1 This week we finish up the 80s, and see what another round of Batmania can do to and for the comics world.  Pre-Show  Letter from Mo The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Swamp Thing Movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098193/ Robert Crumb comic strip with Donald Trump: https://www.openculture.com/2016/06/r-crumb-takes-down-donald-trump-in-a-1989-cartoon.html Industry Trends Harvey Awards Notable Passings Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Rob Liefeld Dan's Favorite Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1989 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will be entirely on Daredevil.    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 27 - Murdock and Marvel: 1988 This week we begin to see what happens when two massive Kaiju go to war in a region.  Everything else either runs away or is destroyed.  Such is the world of comics, circa 1988. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Series/Limited Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Bryan Hitch Dan's Favorite The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #250-261, West Coast Avengers #28, Thor #392, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22, Marvel Masterworks #5, Punisher War Journal #2 along with the Daredevil/Punisher Child's Play and Hawkeye graphic novels.   Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (#250-261)  Pencilers: John Romita Jr (#250-261)  Inks: Al Williamson (#250-261)  The year being with a new artist, John Romita Jr, and the introduction of a new villain (Bullet) who's been hired by Kelco as we see the continuation of the Tyrone Janson story from late last year. We also meet Bullet's son, Lance, who is afraid the world will end at any moment.  Next Daredevil takes on another new villain in Ammo and the Wild Boys during a blackout caused by the Apocalypse's Horsemen – which is part of the Fall of the Mutants event. Daredevil stops him and he ends up in prison.  After being robbed several times, Kingpin hires the robber by offering the dissociative identity disorder alter Typhoid $1 million dollars to make Murdock/Daredevil fall in love with her and then crush him – which she agrees.  When then see Matt Murdock meeting the other alter, Mary.  What follows is a brilliant story arch that lasts through the end of the year. Murdock does fall in love with Mary and ends up fighting Typhoid several times (but doesn't realize the connection).   Other subplots going on throughout this arch:   Tyrone gets his day in court with Kelco Chemicals – whom is represented by Foggy Nelson – and wins thanks to some ghost lawyering by Murdock  Karen Page realizes she's losing Murdock as he's sneaking around to meet with Mary  Typhoid grows concerned that Mary's love for Matt is allowing her to grow stronger and could eventually take over.  Kingpin falls in love with Typhoid and eventually gets jealous of the Murdock/Mary relationship.  After ordering Typhoid to take out Murdock/Daredevil, She assembles a team of Bullet, Ammo, the Wild Boys and Bushwacker to soften him up before she finishes the job. This climatic story is our spotlight story for the week.  As the year ends, Daredevil is missing and Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) has been enlisted to help a desperate Karen find him. Meanwhile Kingpin isn't exactly happy how Typhoid carried out his order, but sees it as an opportunity to expand in Hell's Kitchen.   Strong year of storytelling and brilliant art throughout the year  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #260 November 1988 “Vital Signs”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Is it still an industry if there are only two companies? Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 26 - Murdock and Marvel: 1987 After the wonders of 1986 the comic industry found itself with a glut of new companies, new titles, and new awards shows.  How would it all work out?  Lets go back to '87 and find out… PreShow Banter  A tweet from Forrest about the Watchmen books. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Series/Limited Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mark Bagley Dan's Favorite The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #238-249, Amazing Spider-Man #284 and #286-288, Marvel Saga the Official History #14-16 and #23, Classic X-Men #6, Marvel Fanfare #31, Spectacular Spider-Man #128, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 and Web of Spider-Man #30  Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (238-245, 247-249), Jim Owsley (246)  Pencilers: Sal Bucema (238), Louis Williams (239-240, 243-244), Todd McFarland (241), Keith Pollard (242), Chuck Patton (245), Tom Morgan (246), Keith Giffen (247), Rick Loenardi (248-249)  Inks: Steve Leiaoha (238), Al Williamson and Geof Isherwood (239), Williamson (240, 248-249), Al Milgrom (241), Danny Bulanadi (242) Williamson and Bulandi (243), Tony DeZuniga (244-246), Dan Hunt (247) Nerdist top Daredevil comic runs: https://nerdist.com/article/10-greatest-daredevil-comic-book-runs-of-all-time-ranked/  The year begins with the Daredevil befriending a group of kids called the Fatboys – who we'll see many more times throughout the year – and Daredevil save a girl from Sabretooth  We then get a series of stories from Nocenti featuring a new villain – First is Rot-Gut a Jack-the Ripper style villain who doesn't have powers – just likes to cut up people, Next we had the Trixster who's causing problems for the city of New York over Christmas, An everyday man accidently kills his boss and becomes the Caviar killer, and finally a drug dealer who uses voodoo to control things that incurs the wrath of a real voodoo creature.  We then get likely the best story of the year and it guest stars the Black Panther. This will be our spotlight story for the week.  As the year continues, we have more solo book stories that feel similar in scope and impact to the character as the ones before the spotlight book. We do see the return of Black Widow for an issue as the pair take down a deranged super soldier. Karen tries to get Matt back into office work by surprising him with new offices   There is a short-lived subplot where Karen Page starts to be frightened by the violence Daredevil dishes out, but she came to see it as fine after an issue or two.  The year ends with a two-book story arc involving another new villain, Bushwacker, who has an arm he can convert into a gun that sees the return of Wolverine to aid him in tracking the villain – which leads to a battle between the two over how justice should be handled. In this story we also meet Tyrone Janson – who is blinded by chemicals dumped in the Hudson River.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #245 August 1987 “Burn” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Bills come due. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 24 - Murdock and Marvel: 1986 Part 2 If you are every arguing with friends about what was the best year in the history of comics, you could do worse than arguing for 1986.  With a ton of interesting independent books, vibrant small-press publishers popping up everywhere, and four of the most beloved stories in the history of comics, '86 was definitely a banner year! This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1986.   The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #226-237, Spectacular Spider-Man #110, Amazing Spider-Man #277, Marvel Age Annual #2, Avengers Annual #15, Marvel Fanfare #27, Elektra: Assassin #1 and 4, Marvel Saga the Official History #13, and Marvel Graphic Novel: Daredevil Love and War  Writing credits: Frank Miller and Denny O'Neil (226), Frank Miller (227-233), Mark Gruenwald (234), Danny Fingeroth (235), Ann Nocenti (236), “John Harkness” (237)   Pencilers: David Mazzucchelli (226-233), Steve Ditko (234-235), Barry Windsor-Smith (236), Lois Williams (237)  Inks: Dennis Janke (226), David Mazzucchelli (227-233), Klaus Jansen (234), Danny Bulanadi (235), Windsor-Smith and Bob Wiacek (236), Al Williamson and Bulandi (237)  The year begins Frank Miller returning to the title and a story where Daredevil helps Gladiator save Betsy Beatty after confronting him stealing from a museum  Next, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli start an iconic run of books that you've probably heard of “Born Again” that starts with book 227 and finishes with 233. This incredible will be the spotlight for this week.  After Born Again, we get four stand-alone stories by four different writers to finish out the year. The first against a weird “hero” named Mad Cap who spouts nonsense and seemly can't be killed. Next Daredevil takes on Mr. Hyde yet again. Then Daredevil and the Black Widow team up to track down another deranged member of the Super Soldier Project. Finally, Daredevil takes on the Klaw who's looking to re-establish himself by taking him down.  Issue #237 was initially going to be the start of Steve Engelhart's run on DD, but he was replaced by Ann Nocenti after writing just one issue, which he had his name taken off of, and the pen name “John Harkness” was credited  Daredevil: Love and War GN told the story of how the Kingpin kidnapped a psychiatrist's wife to coerce him to help his wife, who was not recovering well from her accident and her captivity in the sewers.  By the end of the story we find out Vanessa only wants to escape from Fisk, and he sends her away to Europe with the doctor and his wife so she can heal and start a new life.  Elektra: Assassin is completely batshit.  Fully painted by Bill S., it is wildly experimental and confusing.  Elektra and a cyborg who is obsessed with her try to stop a presidential candidate who looks kind of like Dan Quayle from doing the will of “the beast” and causing a nuclear holocaust.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #227 February 1986 “Apocalypse” through Daredevil #233 August 1986 “Armageddon” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway It was the Best of Times, but it led to the Worst of Times.  Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 24 - Murdock and Marvel: 1986 Part 1 If you are every arguing with friends about what was the best year in the history of comics, you could do worse than arguing for 1986.  With a ton of interesting independent books, vibrant small-press publishers popping up everywhere, and four of the most beloved stories in the history of comics, '86 was definitely a banner year! The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Kirby Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Alan Davis Dan's Favorite Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1986 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will be entirely on Daredevil.    Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

The journalistic career of Mark Voger began in the living room of Muhammad Ali, who Mark interviewed for The Holy Rosary School Times in 1971, when he was in the seventh grade. Mark writes about entertainment topics and designs for print and online. At The Star-Ledger, he was the home video critic and a page designer. Before that, he was a longtime writer-designer for the Asbury Park Press. The resident of Monmouth County, NJ, is currently the design director of At Home New Jersey and a columnist for RetroFan magazine.  BUY HIS NEW BOOK HERE:  https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_96&products_id=1803 https://www.amazon.com/Zowie-Superhero-Craze-60s-Culture/dp/160549125X/ref=sr_1_110?keywords=Twomorrows&qid=1706567153&sr=8-110  

Episode 23 - Murdock and Marvel: 1985 This year Marvel is all about the cash grab, and so we get Secret Wars II, a bunch of vaguely copyright-infringing kids books, and some fantastic Bill Sienkiewicz art that makes everything else worth it.  Let's talk 1985 in comics, Marvel and Daredevil. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Comics and Sequential Art: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33476.Comics_and_Sequential_Art Industry Trends Eagle/Kirby Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Peter David Dan's Favorite The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #214-225, Fantastic Four #281, Marvel Tales #181, Spectacular Spider-Man #108-109, Marvel Fanfare #23   Writing credits: Denny O'Neil (214-18, 220-222, 225), Frank Miller (219), O'Neil and Jim Shooter (223), Jim Owsley (224)  Pencilers: David Mazzucchelli (214-17, 220-223, 225), Sal Buscema (218), John Buscema (219), Dan Jurgens and Geof Isherwood (224)  Inks: David Mazzucchelli (214-17, 220-221, 225), Ian Akin and Brian Garvey (218), Gerry Talaoc (219), Kim DeMulder (222-223), Mel Candido and Bruce Patterson (224)  The year starts with the conclusion of the Micah Synn story that took most of 1984. Synn is weakened and running for his life. Daredevil saves Synn from Kingpin's men and some homeless men before himself asking for help.  Next was an interesting if not confusing western inspired story taking place in two different places and times that seemed to have a connection to Daredevil  We learn in a story with the Gael that Glorianna works for the I.R.A. as the Old Woman of Beare  We get another story with the Jester who breaks out of prison just so he can kidnap a noted actor and take his place for a tv production of Cyranno De Bergerac. In that story we see Daredevil dress up as the Jester and lead police around as a distraction allowing the Jester to finish his flawless performance.  We got a really fascinating story from Frank Miller in which Matt Murdock doesn't appear as Daredevil at all nor does he even speak.  Next, we get a tragic end to a long-time character. This will be our spotlight for this week.  The follow-up to that story takes Daredevil/Murdock to Venice, Italy in which he succeeds in getting the patents back – but it doesn't help his feelings of guilt.  The Mudd Brothers kidnap Glorianna and Daredevil and Black Widow come to her rescue.  We get a tie-in to Secret Wars with a character called the Beyonder that…in all honesty… Didn't make much sense.   The year ends with Daredevil taking down a new villain, the Saturion, and returning a locket to a blind man and then taking on another Spider-Man villain – the Vulture. There is also an epilogue with Black Crow was never followed on.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #220 July 1985 “Fog” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Quality counts less than we'd like. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

It's another Previews deep dive this time for books shipping in September! The Speakers of Geek cover a bevy of publishers giving recommendations for American TV Comic Books from Twomorrows, Kill Shakespeare: First Folio from Gemstone, Kevin Maguire's Tanga vs the Kaiju of Cammera GN, The Moon is Following Us by Johnson and Rossmo, a new Lady Mechanika mini-series entitled the Devil in the Lake, Incredible Hulk 900, Star Wars: Darth Vader 50, Batman the Barbarian and so much more. We then wrap up the episode with preliminary reactions to the recent announcement for DC All In! (1:10:44)

Episode 22 - Murdock and Marvel: 1984 This week we enter continue with the massive expansion era for Marvel and the Direct Market, with important new creators, new companies, and a whole lot of turtles…its 1984!  The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Cartoon Art Museum: https://www.cartoonart.org/ Eagle Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings Box Brown's “The He-Man Effect”: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250261403/thehemaneffect  New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Arthur Adams Dan's Favorite The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #202-213, Incredible Hulk #291 and 293, Defenders #127, Spider-Man and Daredevil Special Edition #1, Marvel Team-up #140-141, Elektra Saga #3-4, Marvel Age #17  Writing credits: Denny O'Neill (202, 204-207, 211-213), Steven Grant (203), Harlan Ellison and Arthur Byron Cover (208), Arthur Byron Cover (209), Denny O'Neill and David Mazzucchelli (210)  Pencilers: William Johnson (202, 205, 207), Geof Isherwood (203), Luke McDonnell (204), David Mazzucchelli (206, 208-13)  Inks: Danny Bulanadi (202-206, 208-11, 213), Bulanadi and Mel Candido (207), Bulanadi and Pat Redding (212)  The year starts and ends with Micah Synn – Chief of an East African Kingorge Tribe who are also descendants of British explorers who have been isolated until very recently. Synn, his two wives and a group of other followers have traveled to the United States. Many of the books this year chronicle Synn turning from a media darling to a wanted criminal hunted by Daredevil and Kingpin.  It starts off in Assistant Editor's month where we meet Micah Synn, his group and Professor Horactio Piper who wants to Enlist Nelson & Murdock to help with legal documents for Synn and company. Synn gets arrested for stealing food and then attacking a store owner as well as 3 police officers, upon release one of Micah's wives walks into the street and is hit by a car. At the hospital, Synn attacks another office before Daredevil intervenes.   One of the few detours from the Synn story, Daredevil takes on a new foe – The Trump – whom has one of Daredevil's childhood bullies is accused of helping. Daredevil stops Trump from taking a shipment of weapons. After being confronted by Foggy, Murdock drops Schmidt as a client.  Back to Synn, An assassination attempt on the chief that has ties to his family is thwarted by Daredevil and Debbie Harris throws a party and becomes infatuated with the Synn.  Next we meet Glorianna O'Breen, Debbie Harris' niece from Ireland, who is in New York over concerns she's in danger after her father is killed. Which turns out to be true. Daredevil saves her from being abducted and then saves her from a friend of her father's that turns out to be a killer called the Gael.  Micah Synn and company crash a Christmas Party and Matt Murdock's house which leads to a stolen kiss with Debbie Harris and another battle between Daredevil (aided by Kingpin no less) and Synn.  Another side story, As Daredevil must find a Russian defector and stolen microchip for Hydra in order to save a captured Black Widow. Daredevil finds the defector but not the chip and instead saves widow without it and the pair take down the Hydra agents who captured her.  Next Daredevil stumbles into a murder house trap set by the mother of a former villain. This story will be our spotlight story for the week.  Back to Synn, Chief Micah files a restraining order against Daredevil and his men have a run-in with Kingpin. During yet another battle between Synn and Daredevil, Synn learns of Murdock's secret.   Micah captures Becky and Vanessa for a human sacrifice to his god; DD intervenes, but Vanessa is killed; Kingpin reveals that Vanessa was really an actress he hired to keep his wife safe; DD and Kingpin team-up to take down Micah.  Matt Murdock holds a press conference to get the word out on Micah Synn, but his and Becky Blake's account is called into question by Foggy Nelson (at the urging of his wife Debbie). Harris then goes to Synn and professes her love to him and it's met with indifference and a needless slap to the face sending her to the ground.  As the year ends, the story with Synn is still going. Harris remains captive by Synn. Professor Piper seems able to look the other way on Synn until a friend and colleague of his is inadvertently killed. Piper creates a diversion and frees Harris who returns home and tells him what happened with Synn. When Foggy goes to confront Synn, he finds Piper dead and Synn's men looking to fight. Daredevil arrives and makes quick work of the tribesmen, but they aren't able to find Micah Synn.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #208 July 1984 “The Deadliest Night of My Life” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway This is a golden age. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 21 - Murdock and Marvel: 1983 This year things really start to accelerate in the comics world, as the direct market kicks into high gear. Marvel leads the way again, with a truly astounding number of new books. Welcome to the crazy years, folks. Its time to talk 1983.  Convergence Con: https://www.convergence-con.org/ The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eagle Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Paul Neary Dan's Favorite The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #190-201, Incredible Hulk #279, Marvel Two-in-One #96, Marvel Fanfare #7, Iron Man #169 and Fantastic Four #255  Writing credits: Frank Miller (190-91), Alan Brennert (192), Larry Hama (193), Denny O'Neil (194-201)  Pencilers: Klaus Janson (190, 192-96), Frank Miller (191), Larry Hama and William Johnson (197), William Johnson (198-201)  Inks: Klaus Janson (190, 192-96), Terry Austin (191), Larry Hama and Klaus Janson (197), Danny Bulanadi (198-201)  The year starts with another Double Issue as DD, Widow and Stone race to keep the Hand from resurrecting Elektra; Unbeknownst to DD, Stone finishes the job the Hand started, and Elektra lives again. Daredevil visits Bullseye telling him a story about a recent client and how's he's questioning what he's doing. This amazing story is our spotlight story this week. Next, we have a story about kingpin trying to get Ben Urich under his thumb by using his wife's desire for a new house to turn Urich dirty; ultimately Ben must decide how best to be a good reporter, a good husband and a good man. DD is on the trail of some stolen missiles, and they lead him to a cruise ship and a traveling magician who doesn't know the gun she stole from a guard she killed at the heist doesn't work. Tarkington Brown, who works for the mayor, finds that he only has a few weeks to live, so he recruits some cops to form a criminal killing murder squad as his way of making a final contribution before he dies; While she is drunk at a party, Heather tells Tark that Matt is DD, and Tarkington sends his squad to take down the Man Without Fear. The incapacitated Bullseye is kidnapped from his hospital by mysterious Asian agents. In the process, they shoot a visiting Wolverine, who tries to intervene. When Daredevil investigates, a recuperated Wolverine insists that the two team up and work on the case which sends Daredevil to Honshu Japan (the largest island).  There he meets up with Dark Wind's daughter, Yuriko, who offers to help Daredevil find Bullseye if he's able to help her save her love interest from the power sway of her father. We learn Dark wind took Bullseye to repair his paralyzed body with adamantium so he can kill a Japanese delegate he doesn't agree with. Now healed, Bullseye betrays Dark Wind and makes his way back to the States; while Yuriko kills her father to save DD's life. The 5-book story arc ends with Bullseye back in New York who is looking to get back on Kingpin's payroll as a hit man. Black Widow comes checking in on Daredevil and a climactic battle in an old arena Jack Murdock once wrestled in to try to make ends meet. After a lengthy battle, Daredevil looks to finish Bullseye once and for all but is stopped by an image of his father that reminds him who he is (which is not a killer). The year ends with someone takes a shot at Foggy, and a wounded Daredevil enlists the Black Widow's aid in trying to find out who is trying to kill his partner. Issue 201 cover is by John Byrne.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #191 February 1983 “Roulette”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway The start of superstar creators. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 20 - Murdock and Marvel: 1982 Have you noticed that every year for about a decade we have been recounting the impending death of the comic industry, with sales seemly slipping another 10% and publishers falling to the wayside?  I am happy to say that at least for Marvel this is the year that things started to turn around.  Its 1982, and the Direct Market is showing its power as Marvel and others pile onboard the comic shop train. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Passings Eagle Awards Dan's Favorite The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Paul Smith Dan's Favorite The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #178-189, Power Man and Iron First #77, Defenders #103-106, Marvel Graphic Novel #1, Fantastic Four #242, Contest of Champions #1-3, Dazzler #21, Marvel Team-up #123, Incredible Hulk #277-278  Writing credits: Frank Miller (178-189), Roger McKenzie (183)  Pencilers:  Frank Miller (178-184), Klaus Jansen (181,185-189) The year begins with Kingpin trying to and successfully recruiting Elektra and Matt Murdock looking into Mayoral Candidate Randolph Cherryh as an intern has come forward with evidence he's working for Wilson Fisk. Meanwhile, Nelson and Murdock have a new office in a New York high rise.   Elektra then “encourages” Daredevil and Ben Urich to drop the Cherryh/Fisk story he's about to run for the Daily Bugle. The latter getting a Sai in the chest.   Despite this, Urich and Murdock realize Vanessa Fisk may still be alive and are able to find/rescue her from the King of the Sewers. Daredevil then hands her over to Fisk. In exchange, Cherryh (who was just elected Mayor of New York) is forced to resign his new post. Kingpin orders Elektra to kill Murdock's partner, Foggy Nelson, as payback.  In a BIG double Issue narrated by Bullseye, we see the villain escape prison, learn Matt Murdock's secret, attack and kill Elektra before battling and losing to Daredevil which puts him in the hospital. This is our feature story this week.  Murdock has trouble dealing with Elektra's death and starts acting out at work and as our horned hero. At one point he accuses Kingpin of hiding her.   A young girl on drugs takes a dive out of her school window and dies, and her brother, DD and the Punisher are all trying to track down the dealer responsible; Matt proposes to Heather. Daredevil and the Punisher get into a fight over how to bring the dealer to justice.   The cover blurb "No More Mr. Nice Guy" is a reference to the 1972 Alice Cooper song of the same name.  This is a reworking of a story that was pulled because of code concerns  Next Foggy begins to investigate why Heather's company is making bombs and this causes him to run up against both Eric Slaughter and the Kingpin; Daredevil ends up caught in an explosion that messes up his radar sense.  That doesn't stop Murdock from gather evidence to take down Glenn Industries even as his other sense go haywire. Meanwhile He's also pressuring Heather to accept the proposal.  As Daredevil's hyper senses continue to get worse and he seeks out Stick for help; In a fight with the Hand, the Black Widow is poisoned. The ninja villain Kirigi is reanimated, and his body is made whole from his previous decapitation by Elektra. (Kah Ear Ah Gee)  Black Widow is dying of poison she got in a fight with the Hand and is desperately trying to find DD to help; Matt is recovering his hyper senses in an isolation chamber under the watchful eye of Stick and his ninja.  The year ends with The Black Widow dying to the poison but then resurrected by Stone (Stick's right hand man); Daredevil and company have a free-for-all with the Hand, in which Stick gives his life to save Matt; Widow and Foggy break up Heather and Matt using handwritten notes; Stone tells Daredevil that the Hand is planning on resurrecting Elektra like they did Kirigi.  Daredevil sales went up from 130,000 copies an issue in 1981 to 180,000 in 1982.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #181 from April 1982 “Last Hand”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Early Returns on Direct Market prove promising Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 19 - Murdock and Marvel: 1981 Welcome, my friends, to the dawning of a new Golden Age for Marvel Comics! Researching this episode was also a trip down memory lane for for Dan, because this was the summer when he first pulled a comic book off the spinner rack.  Let's take a look back at the wonder that was 1981 in comics! Announcement: This Week in Marvel Unlimited – Hiatus while we rethink the format.  Siena has tired of current Marvel comics offerings... The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eagle Awards or lack thereof Passings Wally Wood https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/the-life-and-legend-of-wallace-wood-volume-1   https://www.amazon.com/Wallys-World-Brilliant-Tragic-Worlds/dp/188759180X   Fredric Wertham https://www.amazon.com/Seal-Approval-History-Studies-Popular/dp/087805975X The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Ann Nocenti The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #168-177, Defenders #91, Amazing Spider-Man #218-219, Marvel Team-Up #107, Marvel Two-in-One #78, Marvel Team-Up Annual #4, Rom #23 and Moon Knight #13  Writing credits: Frank Miller (168-177)  Pencilers:  Frank Miller (168-177) Inks: Klaus Janson (168-1977)  The year begins with a bang as we are introduced to a previous love interest of Murdock's, Elektra Natchois. This fantastic story is this week's spotlight.   Next Daredevil saves Bullseye who has a brain tumor and needs surgery.  After that, We meet Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin. Who is negotiating giving up information on his former colleagues as an East Coast crime boss to the US government. His wife, Vanessa, goes to New York to hire Nelson and Murdock but is captured by the mob. She ultimately “dies” during a botched exchange that nearly kills Fisk. Angry, Kingpin reasserts control of the East Coast mob scene and hires a now healthy Bullseye as an assassin. Daredevil comes calling and takes Bullseye down but leaves the Kingpin in power to rebuild his organization.  It's during the previous story arch that - on the cover of issue 171, June 1981 – the cover notes Daredevil is back to a monthly title.  Next, A lady killer is roaming the streets, and he looks exactly like Melvin Potter. Daredevil tracks down the man responsible for crippling Becky and clears the Gladiator. Important background information is given this issue on Rebecca Blake. She had been assaulted years ago by Michael Reese and lost the use of her legs. She had not reported the assault, but does so this issue at the urging of Matt Murdock.  Kingpin secretly hires the Hand to take out Matt Murdock, but Elektra and Gladiator get in the way; When the Hand blows up his law office at the storefront, Daredevil loses his radar sense.  Daredevil is without his radar sense and teamed-up with Elektra against the Hand and their master assassin, Kirigi. While Matt is off fighting ninja, Foggy is defending the Gladiator in court.  Daredevil and Elektra hunt down Matt's old teacher Stick to try to get Murdock's radar sense back; meanwhile Turk steals the Mauler uniform to try and take down Daredevil. Elektra has a final confrontation with Kirigi. (Kear-ah-gee)  The year ends with Stick successfully helping Murdock get his radar sense back through training and some very vivid dreams. We learn Wilson Fisk is trying to put a figurehead in his control in the mayor's office but is exposed by Ben Urich at the Daily Bugle. This angers Fisk who appears planning some sort of action – that may involve Elektra, whom he wants to find.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #168 from January 1981 “Elektra”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Women have been a big part of comics – in the stories and making them – for a LONG time now. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 18 - Murdock and Marvel: 1980 It's a rough time for America and for comics in general, but big things are happening at Marvel this year, and it's a great time to be a Daredevil fan.  Let's talk a bit about the start of a new decade, and a new era for this podcast's featured hero – welcome to 1980! Announcement: Duane screwed up... That's why the podcast was late last week. Sorry. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eagle Awards The Year in Marvel Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Louise Simonson The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil 162-167, Avengers #191, Marvel Treasury Edition #25, Captain America #250, Defenders #88-90 and Marvel Two-in-One #69  Writing: Michael Fleisher (162), Roger McKenzie (163-4), McKenzie/Miller (165-6), David Michelinie (167)  Art: Steve Ditko (162), Frank Miller (163-7)  After absorbing a large amount of radiation while stopping a malfunctioning reactor, Daredevil passes out and comes to with amnesia. Mr. Hyle, a boxing promoter, tries to recruit him to be a prizefighter – but when he refuses to fight - Hyle shoots his trainer causing Daredevil to regain his memories and he quickly defeats Hyle, his henchmen and a pet leopard.  Next, Daredevil confronts the Hulk as he wreaks havoc in NYC. Daredevil convinces him to turn back in Bruce Banner. Banner agrees to leave the city, but in trying to do so the Hulk comes out again. Daredevil confronts again only to be badly beaten and collapses. Rather than killing Daredevil, a confused Hulk leaps out of the city. Daredevil lays motionless as our story ends.   While in the hospital recovering from the Hulk attack, we finally get a payoff in the Ben Urich investigation into Murdock/Daredevil. Urich questions Daredevil and he admits the two are the same person. We get another recap of his origin story. After recounting his story, Matt tells Ben that if he publishes his story, he can no longer be Daredevil. After some reflection, Ben burns his papers keeping Murdock's secret intact.   Heather finds out that her company is doing business with Doc Ock, and Daredevil (alone) comes to her rescue when she is captured. The Widow realizes her relationship with Matt is through and leaves New York. This is our spotlight story for the week.  Foggy's wedding day with Debbie Harris finally arrives, but the Gladiator holds a group of kids (and their teacher/chaperone) hostage. Foggy “loses” the wedding ring giving Murdock an excuse to take down the Gladiator and return during the ceremony. Turns out the ring was in Foggy's pocket the whole time.  Issue 166 featured a new cover logo said to be designed by Miller. Slanted “Daredevil” with it getting smaller to larger. And just below it “The Man without Fear!”  In Defenders, Matt Murdock acts as Kyle Richmond's (aka Nighthawk) Lawyer and ends up fighting Fem-Force and is captured before being broken out by Nighthawk. The two then help the Hulk fight Fem-Forces along with Hellcat and Valkyrie – who are being mind-controlled by Mandrill. They free the defenders but Mandrill escapes.  The year ends with a new villain, the Mauler who is going after Edwin Cord – who's trying to recruit Murdock for a lawyer job at his company Cordco Incorporated. We learn Mauler is Aaron Soames, a 30+ year employee of Cord's who was recently denied his pension due to a clerical error (he never existed). Mauler gets a bit of revenge by destroying Cord's driver's license and credit cards before being shot and killed by Cord's security team. Because of his security clearance and the mauler suit being government property, Cord can't be brought to justice beyond getting knocked out by Daredevil.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #165 July 1980 “Arms of the Octopus” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Marvel is in an interesting place and an appreciation of Jim Shooter Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 17 - Murdock and Marvel: 1979 This week the industry tries to pick itself back up after the disastrous DC implosion, the Direct Market starts to take on its modern look, and sales and hope are dwindling with retailers, publishers and creators.  Its time to see if the 70s go out with a whimper or a bang (hint: it's a whimper).  Lets look at 1979. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eagle Awards The Year in Marvel The year of licensed I.P.s Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Steven Grant The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #156-161, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #26-28, Captain America #234-236, and Avengers #190  Writing credits: Roger McKenzie (156-161) Mary Jo Duffy (157)  Pencilers:  Gene Colan (156-157), Frank Miller (158-161) The year begins with Daredevil at Avengers mansion picking a fight with Beast, Hercules, Captain America and threatening Black Widow. After again issuing the warning to Widow, Daredevil collapses and is rushed to the hospital – where we learn he's gone into a coma.  During his hospital stay we see a dream sequence where Daredevil fights himself (which explains the cover of the issue (Daredevil fighting Daredevil) and Death-Stalker tries to make a move to kill him once and for all. He's first delayed by the Avengers and then confronted by an awakened Daredevil himself before escaping.  Next we see the Ani-Men trash the Legal Storefront and hurt Foggy as Heather Glenn, Becky Blake look on and Black Widow tries to create a diversion so Murdock can become Daredevil. Ultimately Murdock is kidnapped by the Unholy Three. Though Widow is able to take down Bird-Man as they make their escape.  This leads to a final confrontation with the Death-Stalker in a cemetery – next to a grave site with Matt Murdock's name on it. Death-Stalker kills Ape-Man and Cat-Man rather than giving them their reward for bringing him Murdock. We also learn that the Death-Stalker was once another villain Daredevil took on – The Exterminator (whom he fought way back in issue 40). Daredevil and Death-Stalker fight but the fight ends when Death-Stalker re-materializes while passing through a tombstone. This is our spotlight this week.  The year ends on a three-book story arc involving Eric Slaughter who is hired by a mysterious Mr Poindexter to capture and/or kill Daredevil for half a million dollars. This leads to Daredevil fighting them at a pier at midnight and when they are unsuccessful in taking him down, we learn that Poindexter aka Bullseye has kidnapped Black Widow as a way to get to Daredevil.  Meanwhile we see Ben Urich looking into Daredevil and Matt Murdock at Fogwell's Gym (and it seems like he's made the connection).  Back in the action, Daredevil goes to confront Bullseye and Slaughter at Coney Island. Bullseye stages a death of Black Widow on a roller coaster but Daredevil “sees” right through it. The scene shifts to the arcade where a final battle takes place between Daredevil, a freed Black Widow and Bullseye, Slaughter and his men.   Bullseye briefly gets the upper hand before Daredevil is able to knock him to the ground. Bullseye tells Slaughter and his men to attack, but they refuse saying they respect Daredevil and don't believe he'll honor their contract – which allows Daredevil and Widow to tie him up and take him to the authorities. New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #158 from May 1979 “A Grave Mistake!”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway ROM and the Toys of 1979 Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 16 - Murdock and Marvel: 1978 This week Marvel starts to steady the ship, even as the Distinguished Competition is kneecapped by their corporate overlords.  Prices go up!  Prices go down!  Great new companies sprout up!  Established companies die!  And as usual there are predictions about the impending death of comics.  Welcome to 1978, everyone.  Preshow Listener Mail from Zach Duane at Fan Fusion (https://www.phoenixfanfusion.com/) The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Dr. Strange TV Movie: https://archive.org/details/dr.-strange-1978-movie Industry Trends Eagle Awards The Year in Marvel Chaos continues and a big name leaves...again. Events & Happenings New Titles New Characters Series Ending Who's in the Bullpen Marvel Comics in the 1970s by Eliot Borenstein (https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501769368/marvel-comics-in-the-1970s/) ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Frank Miller The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #150-155, Marvel Two-In-One #37-39, Human Fly #9, Thor #271, Marvel Team-Up #73 and Fantastic Four Annual #13  Writing credits: Jim Shooter (150), Roger McKenzie/Shooter/Kane (151), McKenzie (152-155)  Pencilers:  Carmine Infantino (150, 152), Gil Kane (151), Gene Colan (153-154), Frank Robbins (155)  The year begins with Daredevil looking for Killgrave. Meanwhile, another of New York's elite that was manipulated by Killgrave hires the Paladin to hunt down Killgrave as well. Eventually Daredevil and Paladin meet, briefly fight and part ways.   After a bad dream, Murdock decides to come clean to Heather Glenn about his Daredevil secret and tell her that Maxwell Glenn is innocent and he's working to find the person responsible. While waiting for Heather to come home, he answers her phone and learns Maxwell Glenn has committed suicide in prison. When she arrives, he still comes clean and Heather blames Daredevil/Matt for everything including Maxwell Glenn's death. She then disappears.  In the Marvel Two-In-One, Matt Murdock is called on to represent Ben Grimm as he's trial for causing too much damage in New York but leads to Daredevil briefly working for the Mad Thinker whom is out to get Grimm. However, with the Help of Vision and Yellowjacket, they are able to take down the villain.  Knowing he can't fix his relationship with Heather, Daredevil orchestrates an intervention/meet-up between Debbie Harris and Foggy Nelson in Central Park – which leads to them deciding they are going to get married again. While in Central Park, Daredevil has another run-in with the Paladin.  Next Daredevil is lured into a trap with Heather Glenn as the bait by Mister Hyde and Cobra. After a lengthy battle that includes the Billy Club being destroyed (again) and Hyde and Daredevil falling from the 12th floor of Glenn's apartment complex, Daredevil is captured.  That leads to an epic final show-down in which Daredevil must take on the Jester, Gladiator, Hyde, Cobra (and briefly Paladin) who are under the influence of Killgrave. This will be our spotlight story for the week.  The year ends with Daredevil experiencing mysterious headaches which is causing him trouble with his radar sense. We also learn Death-Stalker is working on a plan to get Daredevil.  At the Storefront, Murdock interviews and hires a new assistant. During the walk to dinner, Murdock learns Black Widow is in town with the Avengers so he bails on Becky Blake and Foggy. As Daredevil, he invades Avengers mansion taking down Beast and Captain America and calls out Black Widow saying “She'll pay dearly”  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #154 September 1978 "Arena" Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway The Strange Case of Jack Kirby Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 15 - Murdock and Marvel: 1977 Its 1977, and this week we see the dawn of a number of very influential independent titles, and Marvel and DC continue to try to bash each other into the ground.  Comics are gaining in popularity on TV, with THREE superhero shows now on the small screen, and Marvel catches a tiger by the tail as it agrees to do a comic book adaptation of a movie that is about to change everything for geek culture in America.  Preshow Murdock & Marvel on a break for Duane's move. Next Show should be June 5th. Marvel Unlimited Show will return in the meantime. The Year in Comics  Notable and Newsworthy Industry Trends Eagle Awards The Year in Marvel Overall it was a rough year, as delays and problems are rampant.  This is evidenced by our own Daredevil, who only managed to get out 9 issues this year, after a decade of monthly releases. New Titles Series Ending New Characters Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mike Zeck The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #141-149, Iron Fist #11, Marvel Team-Up #56, Avengers #159 and Marvel Comics Super Special #1 Marv Wolfman starts the year as writer, but Jim Shooter takes over with issue 144.  Bob Brown also starts the year as artist but like Wolfman, would leave after issue 143 with 30 artist credits in the series. Later in 1977, Brown would lose his battle with Leukemia. Artist credits from 144-149 include Lee Elias, George Tuska, Gil Kane and Klaus Jansen. The year starts with Daredevil taking down Maxwell Glenn's assistant Stone after he takes a shot at Foggy Nelson. If that wasn't enough, Bulleye is back in town, captures Daredevil with the cunning use of a paper airplane (“In my hands anything is a deadly weapon”) and ties him to a giant crossbow arrow and fires him towards New Jersey. Though Daredevil is able to escape the death trap with the help of Nova.  Next Daredevil must take on Cobra and Hyde who are again working together and trying to steal a new serum recipe from a couple who have a rooftop jungle (and a pet lion) in the middle of the city.   The Owl breaks Man-Bull out of prison and asks him to be his bodyguard and kidnap a doctor who can help him regain the use of his legs. Once captured the doctor gives the Owl an exoskeleton which allows him to walk and fly. But it also has (unknown to the Owl) a flaw that Daredevil is able to exploit to defeat the villain.  Next, we see Bullseye again set his sights on Daredevil. This time challenging him to a duel at a TV Studio while broadcasting it. With Daredevil's radar sense on the fritz due to a golf ball, Daredevil takes a beating (and being shot) Daredevil is finally able to take down Bullseye in the Studio's wrestling ring. When pressed who hired him, Bullseye says the name “Glenn”.  Daredevil goes to confront Maxwell Glenn and he confesses to several crimes (including kidnapping Deborah Harris, Foggy's Fiancée) without much resistance. We learn that Killgrave was pulling the strings and after Harris is rescued, Maxwell Glenn is arrested. Daredevil realizes something is up and upon returning to Glenn's office he finds a secret door leading to Killgrave and a group of entranced business leaders. Killgrave escapes while Daredevil has to fight through the group.  On the search for Killgrave and a way to clear Maxwell Glenn's name, Daredevil runs into Death-Stalker instead. Death-Stalker creates a new Smasher in an attempt to take down his foe. The two have fight on a rooftop and then a final battle in an alley where Daredevil causes Smasher to drop a garbage bin on himself.  As the year ends, Heather Glenn decides to leave Matt Murdock because he wasn't there for her during the whole ordeal with her father. And Debbie Harris will not see or talk to Foggy as she's still in shock from her kidnapping.  As a preview at the end of issue 149, we see the message: Next: Daredevil's Landmark 150th issue, introducing the power of Paladin and possibly the most shattering shock ending ever!  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #146 June 1977 “Duel!” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Marvel is in a lot of trouble Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 14 - Murdock and Marvel: 1976 Another year of Marvel and DC vying for minds and coins of comic book readers which is consolidating the industry despite some up and coming indie publishers. To that end, Marvel is now publishing over a 3rd of all comics in the U.S. But is it sustainable and at what cost? This week we'll look at all that, the return of Jack Kirby to Marvel and Daredevil's adventure with Uri Gellar in this week's spotlight.   Preshow Marvel Unlimited Show on a short break The Year in Comics  The Big Stories Industry Trends 1976 Top 10 comics The Year in Marvel Marvel puts out over 1/3 of all comics published in America in 1976.  New Titles (and lots of reprints) Series Ending New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Bob Layton The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #129-140, Ghost Rider #20, Daredevil Annual #4 Marv Wolfman is the writer for most of the appearances in the Daredevil series. Bob Brown (art) and Klaus Janson (ink) start off the year on art. Jim Mooney is on inks when Klaus Janson isn't (133-139). Bill Mantlo wrote issue 140. John Buscema (136-137), John Byrne (138), George Tuska (Annual #4) and Sal Buscema (139-140) get art credits the latter half of the year.  1976 starts with an angry Man-Bull wreaking havoc after losing his court case (despite Matt Murdock representing him) and attempting to steal a heavy statue for the Matador before Daredevil can intervene.  Matt opens his storefront legal clinic, Foggy loses his reelection campaign for D.A. to Blake Tower and Daredevil stops a human sacrifice in Central Park.   Next Daredevil must deal with a new hero with impeccable aim in Bullseye, out in public and then under the big top of a circus.   Daredevil and Uri Geller take down Mind-Wave during his attack on Wall Street. This will be the Spotlight story for this week.  The Chameleon looking to make a quick buck becoming other people and ends up taking on Daredevil and Torpedo – whom Daredevil still doesn't trust/believe. We also learn that Deborah Harris is missing but Foggy isn't telling anyone.   When been tested for several issue that the Jester is working on a plan to get Daredevil and now we find out what it is – Framing Daredevil for Murder of 3 NYPD. Daredevil tries to clear his name but the fake TV reports tell people to kill all super heroes and he almost gets hung. A final confrontation happens in Jesters deadly murder maze that ends up being more deadly for the Jester than Daredevil.  Another kidnapping… This time Karen Page. Daredevil works with Johnny Blaze (aka Ghost Rider) to save Page from a new Death's Head who turns out to be another old villain Death Stalker (who is seeking Paxton Page's (Karen's Dad) formulas to free himself). Ghost Rider burns him up with his hellfire. During the whole ordeal, Matt realizes he just wants to be friends with Karen and that he does love Heather.  In Daredevil Annual #4, Daredevil and Black Panther try to stop a blackmail scheme while Namor wants the new technology to harness the ocean's tides as power stopped. We get a new villain in Mind-Master, but his attempt to kill them both with mental energy shorts out his own mind in the process, reverting him back to normal.  Next, Daredevil tries to find the junkie wife of a mad bomber who is devastating the city as well as a runaway boy with hemophilia.  The year ends with Daredevil taking on Gladiator and Beetle at Grand Central Station after they escape from prison and hijack a train heading to New York. Daredevil saves some innocent bystanders. Gladiator seriously wounds Daredevil's back, but also wounds his partner the Beetle in his rage which takes him out of the action and allows DD to finish off the remaining foe  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #133 May 1976 " Mind-Wave and His Fearsome Think Tank"  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Falling apart from the inside Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 13 - Murdock and Marvel: 1975 It's 1975. Things are improving a bit in the world but in comics the race continues to fill up newsstands. With that, we start seeing more company causalities if you weren't D.C. or Marvel. We have 2 comic gods duking it out in the rookie of the year and in the spotlight this week, we see Daredevil take on... A comic book character!?!?! Preshow Recap of Dan and Sienna's C2E2 and their panel The Year in Comics  The Big Stories Industry Trends 1975 Top 10 comics The Year in Marvel Average of about 40 comics per month published, for a total of 474.  Most were in the Marvel Universe.  Tons of new titles, and also tons of cancellations.  They were trying for new markets and new readers. New Titles (and lots of reprints) Series Ending New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: John Byrne The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #117-128, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #8, Giant-Size Defenders #3, Thor #233, Defenders #24-25 A number of writers worked on Daredevil this year: Starting with Chris Claremont and Steve Gerber in 117, Gerry Conway in 118, Tony Isabella in 119-122, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman in 124. Marv Wolfman finished the year as writer. William Robert (Bob) Brown provides art for most of those and is joined by Klaus Jansen starting with issue #124  The year starts with the Owl trying to steal Daredevils mind but he agrees to release him if Black Widow kidnaps someone – who turns out to be Shanna the She-Devil. The two women work together to trick the Owl and save Daredevil.  Daredevil lost his billy club at the end of last year, but it returns thanks to Ivan Petrovich. Though Black Widow returns to San Francisco.  Next Daredevil takes on the Circus of Crime and saves New York City from being hypnotized and lose all their money. Though one member – Blackwing gets away.  Daredevil then sees Pop Fenton, his dad's old trainer, and attempts to save him and his former boxer – now priest – Father Gawaine from Juan Aponte who's been working with a doctor who's recreated Iron Man villain the Crusher strength formula. After the battle, he dies in Pop Fenton's arms.  New Years arrives and Black Widow comes to visit and they attend a New Year's Eve party thrown by Foggy Nelson – though Widow isn't happy about it. Though it was for the best because agents of Hydra attack being led by El Jaguar. We learn they are after Foggy because SHIELD is intending to have him join their advisory committee. Eventually Foggy is captured by Hydra when Foggy gives himself up to save Black Widow from the Dreadnought.  Black Widow and Daredevil scour the city looking for Foggy and end up fighting El Jaguar and Blackwing who turns out to be the son of Supreme Hydra – Silvermane – as Fury's forces head into a trap. They are able to avoid the trap with Life Model Decoys.  In a final battle with Hydra, the Black Widow destroys the Dreadnought by shooting it in its only weak spot. Daredevil then goes up against Jackhammer and easily defeats him. El Jaguar is knocked out by Dum Dum Dugan, and Man-Killer is incapacitated when Ivan places a jamming device on her exoskeleton. With their plan failing, Blackwing and Silvermane make a hurried escape and the remaining Hydra agents are captured.  Next Daredevil takes on Copperhead – a real life recreation of a 1930s comic book. This two book arc is this week's spotlight.  A new Torpedo show up looking to complete an important mission but when he's killed during a battle with Daredevil, former pro quarterback Brock Jones takes the costume and wants to complete the mission. Those two then fight as Jones attempts to explain the mission. In the process they destroy the home of an innocent family. When the mother yells at them for the destruction, they stop fighting and leave.  As the year ends, Murdock says he's done being Daredevil but it doesn't last long as he's needed to take on Death-Starker who's stealing artifacts from museums in an attempt to build a powerful weapon. In their final battle, Death-Stalker ends up disappearing while standing on a platform near a mysterious Sky-Walker.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #124 Aug 1975 "In the Coils of the Copperhead!" and Daredevil #125 Sep 1975 “Vengeance Is the Copperhead!”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Inmates running the asylum Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 12 - Murdock and Marvel: 1974 Well, here we are in 1974, when Richard Nixon leaves the White House in shame in real life even as he is shown to be leading a secret criminal organization in the Marvel universe.  The economy is a mess, crime is up, and comics are affected in all sorts of ways. Preshow Reminder about Dan and Sienna's C2E2 Panel Saturday, April 27th from 10:30am – 11:30am.  Room S405-B The Year in Comics  The Big Stories Shazam Winners (final year) Comic Fan Art Awards (formerly Goethe Awards) The Year in Marvel Marvel published 86 different titles in 1974, including 9 new quarterly “Giant-Size” books, resulting in anywhere from 31 to 50 different Marvel titles hitting the stands each month. New Titles (and lots of reprints) Series Ending New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: George Perez The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #107-116, Man-Thing #1, Marvel Two-in-One #3, Marvel Team-Up #25 Steve Gerber (writer) and William Robert (Bob) Brown (art) were the main creative pair for most of the year. Sal Buscema on art in Marvel 2-in-1. Gene Colan returned to go art on #112 and #116.  Captain Marvel comes to the aid of Daredevil and Black Widow in their attempt to take down Kerwin Broderick and his Terrex. But it is Moon Dragon amplifying Angar's powers that trap the Terrex in a black void where it is killed along with Broderick. During all this we learn that Captain O'Hara's brother has died in Africa  Next Daredevil takes on the Beetle while Moon Dragon hangs out at the Daredevil/Black Widow Mansion. Daredevil then heads back to New York after hearing about an assassination attempt on Foggy Nelson. We also learn Foggy has a sister named Candice.  We learn the Beetle was hired by the Black Spectre criminal organization who are looking to overthrow the US government and attempt to forcefully recruit Daredevil and Black Widow to their cause. In the 2-in-1, Daredevil and Thing board the Black Spectre Zeppelin in an attempt to confront their leader, but it doesn't go well and they have to flee. Daredevil is finally able to unmask the Black Spectre leader and it's an apish mutant known as the Mandrill. Shanna and Daredevil are captured by another hired villain, Silver Samurai, and brought back to the Zepplin where they find Black Widow has also been kidnapped and is being mind controlled.  The final showdown with Mandrill and Black Spectre comes in Washington D.C. at the White House after Daredevil is able to snap Black Widow from her mind control. Black Widow and Shanna are able to defeat Nekra when she's distracted by the explosion and Daredevil defeats Mandrill on the white house roof after he falls – but no body of the mutant is found.  Next Matt Murdock/Daredevil go to Florida in search of Gladiator and Candice Nelson – whom he kidnapped. The trail takes him to the Everglades where he finds Candice but also Death Stalker – whom hired Gladiator to get the project notes. Death Stalker captures Daredevil but the Man-Thing intervenes which ultimately saves Daredevil from the Gladiator.   Death Stalker heads to New York and tries to lure Murdock/Daredevil into a trap with the help of Foggy Nelson, but it doesn't go as planned and Death Stalker escapes. Foggy and Matt hide Candice at Matt's hotel. A final confrontation takes place in a chemical plant with Daredevil using his Billy Club to know Death Stalker into a vat of acid (along with the project notes).     The year ends with Daredevil returning to San Francisco to help Black Widow and her financial woes, but the pair are attacked and defeated by the Owl. He loads the unconscious heroes on his chopper so he can deal with them as he sees fit.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #112 August 1974 “Death of a Nation?”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Crediting Creators in the collaborative and evolving world of corporate comics https://www.newsfromme.com/2024/04/08/claws-for-debate-part-1/ Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 11 - Murdock and Marvel: 1973 Its 1973, which was a tumultuous and eventful year for America.  We left Vietnam without winning, VP Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace and the US dollar was devalued, while momentous events such as Roe v Wade, Nixon visiting China and Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs.  By end of year Nixon has resigned and the US has begun to slip into its first recession since the post-War boom of the 40s.  Lost in all of that were some pretty important moments for the comics world, including the Miller v California case, which would directly affect the comics world.  Buckle up, folks, this year is a bumpy one.  Preshow Duane recommends Fallout TV Show on Amazon Prime https://www.amazon.com/Fallout-Season-1/dp/B0CN4HV16N The Year in Comics  This was a crazy year for comics, with major changes in the economy, the law and society at large impacting the industry. The Big Stories Comic Fan Art Awards (formerly Goethe Awards) Shazam Winners The Year in Marvel New Titles (and lots of reprints) New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Doug Moench The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #95-106, Avengers #111 Gerry Conway (writer) and Gene Colan start the year off in there usual roles with Roy Thomas editing, but that changes several times throughout this year.  The year starts with the Man-Bull heading to San Francisco to exact revenge on Daredevil and create an army of serum created creatures from unsuspecting San Franciscans.   Next we see the tragic tale of Mordacai Jones and he's transformation into Daredevil's newest foe – the Dark Messiah. He then frees some prisoners to create his disciples of Doom to go after Daredevil. Daredevil is able to defeat him by reminding him of the teenager he used to be.  Hawkeye comes to San Francisco looking to rekindle a romance with Black Widow which causes a fight between Daredevil and Hawkeye before several other Avengers show up asking for Daredevil's help.   In Avengers #111, Daredevil and Black Widow help take down Magneto and free the X-Men and Avengers he had taken control of.  After helping the Avengers, Daredevil returns to San Francisco while Black Widow stays with the Avengers  For Daredevil's big 100th issue, we get the psychedelic spectacular featuring another new villain – Angar the Screamer who can cause hallucinations by screaming. Daredevil is the only one that can remember the hallucinations after they've ended. Black Widow returns, but Angar causes DD and Widow to fight while he escapes.  While looking for Angar the Screamer, Daredevil and Black Widow must take on Stilt-Man (again) to save the original creator of the suit tech (and his daughter) and before Stilt-Man can use his molecular condenser.  Peter Parker comes to San Francisco to interview Daredevil but his web slinging skills are needed to help Daredevil and Black Widow take on Ramrod – a former oil rig worker who had his skeleton replaced with steel after an accident.  He's after some papers Daredevil is holding but ends up falling from a tall building allowing him to be captured by police.  Another issue, another new villain for the shadowy figure. This time it's Kraven the Hunter. Who gets the better of Black Widow and Murdock/Daredevil at a dinner party hosted by Matt's senior partner Kerwin Broderick. Kraven throws Daredevil off a cliff…  But ends up in the secret layer of Moon Dragon who thinks Daredevil is a minion of Thanos but after probing his mind (and a gunshot wound) realizes that she's been manipulated by Kerwin Broderick for his own ends.  The year ends in a cliffhanger as all of Broderick's villains – Dark Messiah, Angar the Screamer, Ramrod are causing chaos throughout San Francisco while his latest creation – Terrex is slowly making it's way towards the city where Kerwin intends to meld with the creature and become king of San Francisco and the world.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #100 June 1973 “Mind Storm”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway The End of Innocence Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 10 - Murdock and Marvel: 1972 This week it seems everything is coming up Marvel, as Stan Lee and his expanding young team seem to be flooding the market, but a lot of other interesting things happened around the comic world.  Preshow Marvel Snap new season: Thunderbolts https://www.marvelsnap.com/newsdetail?id=7296765558303775494 The Year in Comics  Superheroes take a bit of a back stage... The Big Stories Betty and Veronica: The Leading Ladies of Riverdale: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538129739/Betty-and-Veronica-The-Leading-Ladies-of-Riverdale Maus: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171065/the-complete-maus-by-art-spiegelman/ Goethe Awards Shazam Winners The Year in Marvel New Titles (and lots of reprints) New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jim Starlin Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World Inside Your Head by Eliot Borenstein  https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501769368/marvel-comics-in-the-1970s/  The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #83-94, Incredible Hulk #152-153 Gerry Conway wrote most of these issues with Gene Colan on art. Stan Lee starts as editor to start the year, but Roy Thomas takes over in issue #91. Stan Lee is still named in the other issues as “presenting”.  The year starts with Daredevil trying to convince Black Widow to trust the police and his friend the District Attorney and she ultimately goes to prison. The case is eventually dismissed because the body of Scorpion was lost in an explosion during a battle between Daredevil and Mr. Hyde. I should note that we aren't actually sure if there ever was a body.  A plot to blackmail Foggy Nelson by Mr. Klein causes him to resign as District Attorney. Yet he seems to have remained D.A.? Not sure what happened there.  In the Hulk books, Matt Murdock represents Bruce Banner and ends up angering the Hulk despite trying to follow Bruce Banners wishes and getting his client a fair trial.  Black Widow heads to Switzerland and meets with a doctor who says they can restore sight to the blind. She calls Murdock in New York and he heads there only to find out the doctor was Mr. Klein/MK-9/The Assassin. We learn the android is a being known as Baal from the future who's traveled back in time to stop the end of humanity. Two Executioners from Baal's time arrive and kill him during a final confrontation.  Next, Daredevil and Black Widow take on the Gladiator during their flight back to the U.S. They are able to defeat him and his accomplices with Daredevil then landing the plane.  Back in New York, It looked like Karen Page and her Agent Phil were going to end up together in California but upon arriving in New York, Matt runs into Karen at the airport and the two share a kiss and an embrace, causing heartache to Natasha.  Daredevil takes on the Ox after his release from prison but during the battle, the Ox's radiation builds up to a point that he explodes. After the battle, Karen admits to Matt that she still cannot handle him being Daredevil, and leaves him to return to L.A. Matt then rekindles his romance with the Black Widow and the two move to San Francisco.  Once in San Fran, the two must take on Electro and Killgrave separately before the two team up in an effort to take down Daredevil – none of which actually works. The team-up issue will be our Spotlight issue this week.  Black Widow talks about Danny French and Project 4 from her past with Daredevil and Ivan Petrovich and thinks it may be related to bouts of fear that is causing issues with them crime fighting. Turns out it was a new Mr. Fear whom Daredevil confronts and takes down at Jason Sloan's law office.  Starting with issue 92, The covers list the title as “Daredevil and the Black Widow”  The year ends with Daredevil and Black Widow taking on Indestructible Man who's after the Project 4 sphere. The final battle goes poorly until Danny French throws a spear at the glove providing Damon Dran's powers. The resulting explosion destroys Dran's powers and seemingly kills Drann. However, this victory comes at a cost, Danny bore the brunt of the explosion and dies in Black Widow's arms with Daredevil looking on.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #89 July 1972 "Crisis in the Sky"  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Marvel reaches the top of the mountain Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Episode 8 - Murdock and Marvel: 1971 We have a fun show this week, with Marvel being a critical part of a couple big changes that happen in 1971.  We also see a new character swinging into Daredevil this year, who is going be a big part of Matt Murdock's life for the next few years!  Preshow Note from Amanda The Year in Comics  1971 was a year of transition and upheaval for the comics industry, as fundamental changes to content and pricing occurred that would impact what stories comics could tell going forward, and who they would be telling them for.  The Big Stories Other Tidbits Shazam Winners The Year in Marvel New Titles (and lots of reprints) New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: John Costanza The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #72-82, Iron Man #35-36 Gerry Conway wrote most of these issues with Gene Colan on art and Stan Lee editing. More logo changes starting with issue 72. More blocky (but now on one line) Daredevil.   The year starts with Daredevil teaming up with Tagak the Leopard Lord to capture a burglar from another dimension. Both came to earth through a mirror. Matt Murdock then butts heads with Tony Stark as the pair, along with Nick Fury, keep the Zodiac key away from Spymaster, Capricorn and others in a story that crossed over from Iron Man's comic (and then back).   Daredevil teams up with a group of Blind people to thwart the committee after they blind New York City.   While on a fact-finding mission in Delvadia, Daredevil has to save the new US ambassador Jerome Villiers and pursue El Condor who sent the men after Villiers.   Namor is drawn to a park as an alien spacecraft lands while Daredevil and Spider-Man attempt to figure out what has people's attention.    Daredevil saves the lives of a couple visiting New York and ends up dealing with a professor and his super strengthen Man-Bull. Meanwhile, Foggy is getting blackmailed by a mysterious Mr. Klein.   The Owl returns to after being hired by Mr. Klein to take down Daredevil. Daredevil fights Owl on his owl-copter and the ship crashes and explodes – causing Karen to believe Matt has died… again.   Black Widow saves a knocked-out Daredevil from drowning. The Owl and Mr. Klein (who is now code-named Assassin) cut ties and Karen get “comforted” by her agent Phil.    The year ends with Daredevil and Black Widow taking on the Scorpion who's been brought in by Mr. Klein. During a battle on top of the World Trade Center, Widow accidentally knocks Scorpion off the edge of the building and an eyewitness accuses her of murder.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #80 Sept 1971 "In the Eyes... of the Owl!" and Daredevil #81 Nov 1971 "And Death Is a Woman Called Widow"  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Changes with the Comics Code means Changes at Marvel (and comics in general) Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

I'm revisiting the grooviest era in Marvel Comics history with Marvel legend, Roy Thomas! “Rascally” Roy drops by the Lair to chat about Marvel in the 70s, writing for animation, and co-creating some of the greatest comics characters of all time! Photo courtesy Roy Thomas & John CiminoBook images TM & copyright © Marvel, TwoMorrows […]

Episode 8 - Murdock and Marvel: 1970 We have made it to the second decade of the Marvel era!  The 1970s saw significant changes and challenges for comics, and we start to see them immediately as we take a look at the very first year of this eventful decade! Preshow Steve Ditko is now a “Disney Legend.” https://d23.com/disney-legends-2024/  Dan and Siena C2E2 panel is on Saturday, April 27th from 10:30am – 11:30am.  Room S405-B https://www.c2e2.com/en-us.html The Year in Comics  1970 marks the end of the “Silver Age of Comics” and the start of the “Bronze Age.” Underground comix continue to flourish The Steranko History of Comics by Jim Steranko (https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=482701) and All In Color for a Dime by Richard A. Lupoff (https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=20515571) were published  Robert Overstreet publishes his first Comic Book Price Guide The first Golden State Comic Book Convention is held in San Diego, with 300 attendees Shazam Awards honored comics excellence annually from 1970-1974 The Year in Marvel With a new distribution deal in place and its bullpen bursting with young talent, Marvel continued to expand in all directions, with 15 new titles that covered nearly every major comic genre. New Titles (and lots of reprints) New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Marv Wolfman The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil #60-71, Avengers #82 Stan Lee continues as Editor through these books with Roy Thomas writing most and Gene Colan continuing for another year as the artist.   After Deborah cancels her engagement with Foggy after the fact that she is an ex-convict comes up once more. Daredevil takes down Crime Wave's illegal gambling ship and captures the boss – who's revealed to be Foggy's Assistant Hollis. Daredevil must deal with another villain team up as the Trio of Doom lure him into a trap at an old amusement park. Daredevil gets upstaged by another would be superhero – Nighthawk - who turns out to be just another villain in disguise.    Daredevil fights the Gladiator who pretends not to be the gladiator in an attempt to escape prison. While this is happening, Karen – fed up with Murdock, leaves for Los Angeles.   Daredevil heads to LA to try to find Karen, but instead finds the Stunt-Master – who has agreed to steal a film as a way to try to earn money.   Karen gets a job acting on the now struggling Strange Secrets TV Show. After she witnesses the actor playing Brother Brimstone attack another actor (as well as her), She is stocked by a new Brother Brimstone who is trying to murder the cast and crew. Daredevil finds Karen and saves her from the La Brea Tar Pits. Brother Brimstone isn't so lucky.   While on the set of the new Stunt-Master Tv Show, Daredevil fights Stilt-Man who is posing as Stunt-Master. Afterwards, DD tells Karen that he has to go back to New York. Karen declines to go with him having found she enjoys her career as an actress.    Daredevil helps out his Dad's old coach get his current boxer out from under an extremist group   Daredevil and Black Panther help out the Carver brothers who are being bullied/harassed by the Thunderbolts.    Finally, Daredevil goes up against the Tribune who's attempting to be judge, jury and executioner of the New York Three after they are arrested for blowing up the New York Hilton  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #70 Nov 1970 “The Tribune” and Daredevil #71 Dec 1970 “If an Eye Offend Thee...!” Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Tough year for Marvel Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 

Episode 7 - Murdock and Marvel: 1969 Its 1969, and comics are returning to normal after the disruptions of the Marvel Age and Batmania.  Small publishers continue to fail, even as Marvel and DC expand their offerings, and small independent publishers begin to test the waters.  Marvel continues its expansion, but does so in some new directions, and Daredevil decides to stop keeping so many secrets. It's another busy year in the world of comics!  Preshow Announcement: Off next week. Next episode will be March 27th. The Year in Comics - 5 Key points Prices skyrocket Batman sales sink to their lowest level EVER Generational battles at DC and other publishers Charlie Brown and Snoopy were on the moon The alternative comix scene continued to expand The Year in Marvel With their distribution bottlenecks removed, Marvel continued to expand their publishing line in 1969, although they did so mostly by turning their eye back towards genres that had been left behind in the superhero boom of the mid-60s.  Stan Lee greenlit three new romance / teen titles, two horror/suspense books, and a western in 1969, while continuing to publish all the Marvel superhero titles that the company had expanded with in 1968.  Signs of change were everywhere at Marvel, as Jack Kirby moved to California and new faces popped up in the bullpen with increasing regularity.    New Titles New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chris Claremont The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil Issues 48-59 and Avengers #60 Stan Lee is now listed as Editor as of issue 51, with Roy Thomas being brought in to write. Gene Colan continues as artist for most of the books.    Barry Windsor-Smith gets artist create for issues 50-52   Old “Here comes…” and Daredevil logo return in issue 48   Stiltman returns again to go after Foggy, so Murdock acts like a jerk to him and Karen Page (who just returned to the office) causing another falling out of the group.   Foggy wins the election for District attorney    Matt Murdock briefly decides to give up by Daredevil, only to get pulled back in   Saxon's robot is defeated by Daredevil and is re-programmed incorrectly by Saxon to take out Biggie Benson – which it does before Daredevil can stop it.   Daredevil is in need of an antidote or could potentially die, but is nowhere to be found. The Black Panther assists in finding him before it's too late.   Issue 54 was a retelling of the Daredevil origin story that convinces Daredevil that Matt Murdock is no longer necessary – leading Murdock to fake his own death because Saxon knows Murdock is Daredevil.   Now only Daredevil, he's challenged by Mr. Fear (and old foe from early in the DD run) who gets the better of him and makes him look bad. In the rematch, we learn that Mr. Fear is actually Starr Saxon. Saxon battles Daredevil and loses, breaking his neck in a fall from a flying hovercraft platform.   Daredevil follows a grief-strickened Karen Page to Vermont and her parents' home where he must help tangles with a horseman threatening people that go near the estate – which turns out to be Karen's father. It is after the events of this story he shows Karen that Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same person.   Daredevil finishes off the year taking down Stunt-Master and Torpedo, who were hired by crime boss Crime Wave, much to the dismay of Karen who agreed to marry him if he retired his DD identity.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #56 Sept 1969 “... And Death Came Riding!” and Daredevil #57 Oct 1969 “In the Midst of Life...!”    Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Comics were everywhere in daily life Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation. 

Episode 6 - Murdock and Marvel: 1968 Marvel had been a dominant force in the comics world through most of the early and mid 1960s, which is all the more amazing when you realize that they made all the noise they did while limited to publishing only 8 -14 comics a month.  The Marvel contract with their distributor (essentially DC Comics) was up for re-negotiation in 1968, and Martin Goodman used the opportunity to expand the line to a maximum of 24 books instead, giving Stan Lee a much larger canvas for the Marvel Universe.  What did he do with all that new space?  Let's take a look at the year 1968 and find out!  Preshow Reader Mail: Marvel Unlimited Tech Support Reader Mail: Comics in the UK and Deadman Comics The Year in Comics 1968 was a devastating year for America, as the Vietnam conflict deepened and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy seemed to drain hope in our domestic political future.  Comics continued to respond to popular trends, but seemed largely unable to respond effectively to such significant social and political events, especially as they were waited down by the Comics Code Authority and the perception that the medium was “just for kids.”  When mainstream comics tried to step outside the box, it often went poorly.  This was a year where storied companies met their end, a year when amazing new creators started to show what they could do, and a year defined in many ways by comic creators' accelerating search for new markets and avenues of expression. New Comics, New Creators Big Moments Quick Notes Best Selling Books... and Marvels The Year in Marvel New Titles New Characters Big Moments Who's in the Bullpen ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Archie Goodwin The Year in Daredevil  Appearances: Daredevil Issues 36-47, Fantastic Four #73 Another full year of Stan Lee and Gene Colan stories.   “Here comes…” removed from the Daredevil cover logo starting on issue 43 (Aug)  Daredevil logo on cover changes starting on issue 44 (Sept)  Daredevil saves the Invisible Girl from a bomb planted by the Trapster.  Daredevil fights Victor Von Doom for the first time in his books  To take down the Exterminator, Daredevil makes it look like Daredevil (and by Extension his “brother” Mike Murdock) was killed by an explosion.   Daredevil fights Captain America in Madison Square Garden after encountering some radioactive chemicals. DD seemed not like himself.  Daredevil is framed for murder by the Jester and must clear his name with police while taking down his foe.  Murdock is mean to Karen so they won't get close, and she decided to leave the law office for a while.   Daredevil caps the year by visits Vietnam to rally the troops and befriends a blind soldier, Willie Lincoln. Matt Murdock then helps Lincoln stateside when he's framed for taking a bribe by a mob boss.  New Powers, Toys or Places New Supporting Characters New Villains This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #37 Feb 1968 “Don't Look Now, But It's… Dr. Doom”, Daredevil #38 Mar 1968 “The Living Prison!” and Fantastic Four #73 April 1968 “The Flames of Battle…”  Recap Why We Picked This Story The Takeaway Comics Code and it's impact... Something had to change. Questions or comments We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime. ------------------ THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES  Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.  The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.  Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.  Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra's Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.    The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.  Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.  My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.  BOOKLIST  The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!  Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn't even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It's like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.  Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.  Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition.  Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn't have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.    Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright's Comic Book Nation.