DAREDEVIL #144
(Cover uncredited)
Published and © by Marvel, Apr. 1977
“Man-Bull Means Mayhem”
Synopsis: Looking for a bodyguard, the Owl springs Man-Bull from prison. Unfortunately for them, the Man Without Fear has other ideas.
Writer: Jim Shooter
Penciler: Lee Elias
Inker: Dan Green
Review: This issue of Daredevil is competent, but lacks any real spark. Jim Shooter’s script hits all the required DD notes — Average guy! Radar sense! Shh, I’m blind! — but doesn’t offer much new for this done-in-one adventure. The pre-Frank-Miller characterization of Daredevil as wisecracker seems odd in retrospect; he’s pretty much interchangeable with Spider-Man here. And Shooter’s treatment of the Owl and Man-Bull doesn’t do anything to improve their B-list status. The art, by Lee Elias (of Golden Age Black Cat fame) is also competent but unspectacular. Still, it’s nice seeing old-time artists still getting work in the Bronze Age.
Grade: B-
Cool factor: Well … ummm … hmm …
Not-so-cool factor: Gonna have to go with Man-Bull. No, really.
Notable: Includes an ad for a “Bag of Magic” that had to be an inspiration for Alan Moore’s personal styling. … LOC from comic historian Peter Sanderson.
Character quotable: “And I beg your pardon, but I’ve never been known as ‘that corn!’ ” — Daredevil, Wisecracker Without Fear
Has anyone noticed that the helicopter on the cover looks a lot like Archie from the Watchmen? Maybe this is secret Dave Gibbons work…. (just joking) Also, why didn’t Shooter/Marvel use the name “Minotaur”?
Tom:
Thanks for stopping by. I hadn’t noticed that the Owl’s ship looks like Archie, but it sure does. As for Minotaur, that’s way too cool a name for this sad B-list villain. (Man-Bull was in a recent issue of Guardians of the Galaxy, and the character still elicits a WTF?! from me!)