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DD Book Club - The Price

 
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Mike Murdock
Golden Age


Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 1750

PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 10:31 am    Post subject: DD Book Club - The Price Reply with quote

Daredevil Vol. 1 # 223 - The Price



Quote:
Daredevil, blessed with the gift of sight! The otherworldly Beyonder restores what once was taken from Matt Murdock- why then is Matt begging to be blind again? And will the Beyonder hold up his end of the bargain?


In preparation for this one, I've been reading Secret Wars II. It's not something I'd recommend, but I do like to think of the Beyonder as essentially Jim Shooter going in and screwing up whatever is happening in everyone's book. It's also a story that gets referenced either just before or in the early issues of Born Again.

Due 7/23
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Mike Murdock
Golden Age


Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 1750

PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, as I mentioned, I've been reading Secret Wars II in anticipation of this story. It's a stupid story I wouldn't want to inflict on anyone. But Daredevil # 223 has been suggested for awhile so I hope it's better. Denny O'Neil and Jim Shooter are listed as co-writers. Jim Shooter actually wrote Daredevil a long time prior before Frank Miller. However, the hope is O'Neil has the bigger influence.

At this time, Matt Murdock is dating Glorianna. The story starts with her camera being stolen. Luckily, Matt promises that he knows some people in the criminal underworld who can get it back. Obviously, that's a cover for his secret identity, but I feel the average person would be a bit more disturbed by the way he said that.

As described briefly, but seen in excruciating detail elsewhere, the Beyonder had just used his power to take over the entire world. However, he found it unsatisfying and now would like to use the services of Nelson and Murdock to do so legally. All they have to do is set up a corporation for him and he's offering a million dollar retainer. But Matt will have none of it.

However, as he thinks about it, he decides maybe it'll work out and the Beyonder suddenly pays him by giving him his sight back. The art for "seeing" Daredevil is weird because his eyes are white instead of red. Likewise, his glasses are gone. Later writers would let him take them off more but, at this point, those tropes were firmly set. What follows is Matt going around admiring everything. His staring at a baby is perfect for a no context meme, but I like his admiring the tall buildings, etc. But it's his interactions with Glori that are just beautiful. Ultimately, he decides the temptation is too much. He refuses to compromise his integrity and gives up his sight. The ending hits the right note and captures the beauty of what Glori sees. It's a shame that the relationship is pretty much forgotten these days because there were some nice moments here.

Overall, it's a nice little vignette. It's got a lot of sweetness to it and it's done well. I can't say it's among the best, though. Four Stars.
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Matt Murdock's cooler twin brother

Not sure what to read next? Check out the Book Club for some ideas!

I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons
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Dimetre
Underboss


Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 1366
Location: Toronto

PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is the first Daredevil comic I ever purchased, way back when I was 13 years old. He quickly became my favourite character.

I remember my friends and I were being sucked in by Secret Wars II. The Beyonder was such an enormously-powerful character, he could take over the imagination of any teenage boy. Anything was possible for this guy. Unfortunately, looking back, it seems like Secret Wars II was more conceptually driven than plot driven, and a lot of it is just plain cheesy after so many years.

Still, it was this issue that sold me on Daredevil. The panel where he is doing a handstand on a beam on top of a building still defines the character for me. "At moments like this, he does not think -- perhaps he can not think, not conventionally. He senses. He knows. He becomes one with the environment." Under Mazzucchelli's pencils, Daredevil was probably the most agile seeming character in the Marvel Universe, even more so than Spider-Man to me. Throw in the panel where he can hear the relay switches in the traffic light, and you have the perfect introduction to one of Marvel's best characters.

The Beyonder is a relic of the eighties who hasn't aged well. In 1985 he was drawn to look like Gino Vanelli, and Jim Shooter shoehorned a confusing recap of Secret Wars II events as quickly as he could into this issue. It is beyond explanation how Matt could be aware of the Beyonder previously taking over the world and erasing everyone's memory of it, but somehow he knows.

This isn't even Mazzucchelli's best Daredevil artwork. The scenes early on in this issue look hurried. However, the moment when Daredevil is given his sight is so understated. All we see is a catwalk in the factory get closer as Daredevil swings toward it. Then he shouts, "I can see!" It has a huge impact, and no one could have expected the Beyonder to pay Matt in that way.

I can see how having sight would completely overwhelm Matt. He even forgets about getting back Glorianna's camera. His sight overwhelms him to the point that his other senses no longer allow him to help him focus. He has become a clutz. He now is amazed to see how tall Manhattan buildings are, when just a day before he was jumping off them. So I thought the consequences of getting his sight back were handled very well.

Glorianna doesn't press Matt about how he got his sight back, and that is difficult to believe. Matt just promises to tell her later. Anyone I know would have demanded to know right away how it happened, and wouldn't understand why he couldn't tell them. Maybe O'Neil's first draft had that, but there was no room for it and ended up on the cutting room floor.

However, it's so nice to see Matt have such a great day. It really does make New York City look like a wonderful place. I've only been to New York once. Glorianna and Matt seemed to be a great couple. It's sad to know what would end up happening to her. The scenes of their day together are a swirl of romance and love for New York. (It kind of reminds me of Mack and Quesada's rendering of Matt's date with Maya Lopez in "Parts of a Hole".)

By this point, Mazzuchelli's art looks more detailed than the beginning of the issue. This panels of Matt dressed in the red costume from neck down yelling for the Beyonder are full of rage and passion. (David Mazzucchelli, for my money, is the definitive Daredevil artist. I don't know how anyone can ever top him. Gene Colan was great, but Mazzucchelli is a whole other level.)

I love the language the Beyonder uses after Matt asks for him to take back the retainer. "Why should you suffer such incompleteness? The restoration of your sight was an act of no consequence to me. Keep it. Consider it fair payment, if you must, for the insight into you have given me into a strange facet of human nature." The Beyonder isn't an evil being. He is this ultra-powerful entity that, for some reason, needs to understand how us humans tick. But he does what Matt says, and Matt immediately goes to work, even it it does leave Nelson & Murdock in a pickle.

I'll admit, a lot of what I love about this issue is due to nostalgia. I guess I will always love the team of Denny O'Neil and David Mazzucchelli. And even though Beyonder Vanelli is a supremely dated character, he was one that could have been amazing in a more plot-driven company-wide event, instead of one where he just explores what it means to be human on planet earth. It's a valid concept, but it needed more clear execution. But that's a failing of Secret Wars II, not Daredevil #223.

If this issue has any faults, it's that certain scenes seem to be hastily truncated to fit in one issue. The opening scene with Glorianna seems very rushed. I suppose the whole mission to recover her camera can seem mundane, and the story even points that out, but that's not what the issue is about. Because this is a tie-in issue to a crossover event, this was an opportunity to introduce a lot of new readers to Daredevil in 1985, and I have to say, it does the job amazingly well. You get Matt's agility, grace, nobility, principles, legal knowledge, passion... everything. I bought it at a hobby store, read it, and became a fan... and I'm still a fan.

Nowadays, Marvel is much more dependent upon crossover events, and I'm not sure the tie-in issues do as good a job introducing characters to new readers. The last tie-in issues Daredevil was involved in were for Original Sin. I wonder what someone who never read Daredevil before thought of those issues?

Anyway, I still love "The Price." 4.5 out of 5.
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