Daredevil Message Board

[Kuljit Mithra]

As most of you know, there was a previous version of the board here at the site, and it was sorta like how the existing ComicBoards.com site is.

Anyway, I've stumbled upon a backup I had of a few messages from that board, and I'll post these from time to time...

Here's one from Kevin Smith on November 28, 1999, where he dropped by to defend the killing of Karen Page...

http://www.manwithoutfear.com/boardarchive/87.html
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Gloria]

It is interesting to read his views.

But I still resent the death of Karen. Very much... weren't any other possibilities to revamp the character than killing the hero's companion?

if the argument about dead girlfriends is that Miller killed Elektra, at least what Miller took was what Miller had given. He killed his own creature.

Plus, before the death of Elektra no girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend) of Matt had ever died.

When Smith started to write his Dd story, Murdock had already three dead women... it's just... Man! this has been used already!
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Gloria
Devuélveme el rosario de mi madre y quédate con todo lo demás

"Para la cuesta arriba quiero mi burro, que la cuesta abajo yo me la subo"

[Marvel Knight]

[Neilan]

[james castle]

Whatever, time has proven that Smith is the little whiney one. Appreciation for his arc has for sure dropped as people have given it a sober second look and come to the obvious conclusion that it was pretty crap. His crap Spiderman/Black Cat mini didn't help and his non-mini Target just further confirms that he's an idiot. The idea that Guardian Devil is "a good, strong story" is just laughable.

He asserts that the arc was "steaped in DD history". Err? Where? Killing Karen made no sense in terms of the story and certainly didn't add to it in any way. Again, he just asserts that it did and throws out the childish "if you don't get it, that's your problem".

It's kind of cute though. Smith, like MC Hammer was a fad in the 90s. He hasn't produced anything even partially relevant in a decade. It's fun reading stuff he wrote when he thought he was a big shot as opposed to the hacky flash in the pan he's proven himself to be.
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JC

So why can't you see the funny side?
Why aren't you laughing?

[user747]

I didn't like his arc either. First I thought it was because I wasn't a fan of Daredevil yet and was completely clueless on most of the character's relationships/histories etc.
However I recently reread it and still think it's mostly nothing special, and at times bad.
Karen's death still seems slightly random and rushed, and uneffecting emotionally, plus her characterisation is shallow. If she was meant to be really important character to Matt, like say Gwen Stacy or Jean Grey then he wholly failed to adequately sell it to me.
Bendis and Alex Maleev got me hooked though, they had a (mostly) great/good run that'll be dear to me.

My second post and I'm blasting Kevin Smith. He did boost Daredevils sales though, didn't he. Cheers.

[Gloria]

User747,

Welcome to the club. Not only of Daredevil fans, but of those who find questionable the way poor Karen was "offed from continuity".

My message to those arguing a very gratuitous death (would Smith have killed Natasha if allowed to write a further 8 issues? I wonder) as a means to boost sales is: DD #100 has sold out, without having to kill Matt, Foggy, Milla, Dakota, Becky, etc...

Yes! Good stories can be written without killing characters! And they can sell out!
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Gloria
Devuélveme el rosario de mi madre y quédate con todo lo demás

"Para la cuesta arriba quiero mi burro, que la cuesta abajo yo me la subo"

[Neilan]

[james castle]

[Gloria]

Mmmh... I didn't know that other meaning of the phrase, so now I have added a new idiom to my database.

Hee, hee "sell out" hee, hee
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Gloria
Devuélveme el rosario de mi madre y quédate con todo lo demás

"Para la cuesta arriba quiero mi burro, que la cuesta abajo yo me la subo"

[Clayton Blind Love]

Regardless of what one may think of Karen's offing in Guardian Devil and whether it was done specifically to sell comicbooks, this allowed for a brilliant tale to be told in the form of Daredevil: Yellow. This reflection piece is one of my all time favorite Daredevil stories. Her death may of been a cheap thing to do (a classic case of "hit and run" by a writer), but this did set up a monumental moment for Loeb and Sale to put their stamp on the history of Daredevil. I have enjoyed their tale many times over.

C.
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Love is blindness, I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night around me

[Marvel Knight]

Clayton, I strongly agree. Like I said earlier, I think it's lamentable what Kevin Smith did to Karen Page but at least Yellow shows how a talented writer can take even the worst plot point and turn it into an inspired story that's worth reading.
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Andrew

[Francesco]

Bah, after an important character such as Karen gets killed, it's just pretty logical for the writers to consider this loss (and its consequences in the main character) in the subsequent stories. I see no big deal in this.

[blacktyphoid]

[Gloria]