Daredevil calls it quits this issue in some character beats I felt were done fairly well even if it doesn't even last half of an issue. Then he gets pulled into this story with Death-Stalker and it's not much of a plot, nor is the battle any good at all, but it is big on style and that is something.

Heather comes across as annoying and a poor man's Karen. I'm not a fan of what I've seen of her character so far. more

The art was like this a bit in the last issue but really gets over-the-top edgy by this comic. The whole issue feels overly dark and grim, in that cheesy 13-year-old-edgelord kind of way. The dialogue was pretty awful and Daredevil interrogating a pyromaniac with fire was worse.

Still, the actual investigation into the fires isn't terrible, but it is a little repetitive in its storytelling. I do appreciate how it elegantly requires both the Matt and Daredevil identities to solve. All told this might be one of Chichester's better Daredevil stories, as much as that is damning him with faint praise. more

The first half of the comic is just a very stressful and realistic situation where Daredevil is dealing with a building on fire. It's quite well done on the whole. The second half deals with the legal consequences of the fire, which works well in a Daredevil comic but Chichester is clumsy with his dialogue as always. Still, there are good moments here - like the firefighters smashing cars like they do in real life if they are blocking a fire hydrant, or when a photographer agrees to give Matt information in exchange for letting him film himself punching Daredevil. The second part is less endearing when Matt winds up punching him back, but it's kind of deserved. more

A pretty standard Silver Age affair where Daredevil is in Hollywood and battles the Stilt-Man. Not a lot to it, for good or ill. It's not very fun but the art from this era is reliable as always. Karen and Matt breaking up felt really rushed, even if it makes sense with her being in LA now.

This wound up being a pretty solid Owl story. It's still a Chichester book, but at least he made the villain quite interesting here.

This was a pretty fun and action packed issue. For a comic where the Owl and Daredevil are mostly just fighting each other, they do manage to still make Owl seem both sinister and tragic. While not perfect and I don't love all the art here, I'd say this was a solid issue on the whole.

Way too overly wordy right out of the gate for a comic book. Especially one from the 90s that should be more deferential to the art, because the art is really nice. The Owl is presented in a somewhat sinister way, at least, and the comic does have some stylish moments as we see our characters living their lives in New York. Certainly not the worst Chichester comic I've read at this point.

Chichester is a bore

I loved the cover of this one. Otherwise it's a very clunky, slow, and repetitive end to Lobdell's arc in a way I didn't find all that satisfying, nor did I enjoy Cully Hamner's art that much. One that essentially closes out this iteration of the Daredevil series, which is interesting. Not great or even good, but interesting. And to its credit I did enjoy the idea of this Jason Bourne-style story for Daredevil. Here's to the brighter days that were in store for this character's storytelling. more

It's fun having Foggy so directly involved in Matt's espionage adventure overseas. The arc got off to a rocky start with me but has had its moments so far. It's still just okay at best, though. Lobdell isn't exactly writing this story with finesse, often being overly clunky in his wording, not just in its style but also in the sheer volume of text he throws around sometimes like the worst of Daredevil writers. To his credit, he did put together a Kingpin moment in this issue that at least made me chuckle even as most of it didn't. more

Much better than the last issue especially structurally, but still not great. There's a really wholesome moment with Foggy that I liked a lot, at least.

An intriguing start to the last story arc of this volume but one that is executed very poorly. It's basically not a Daredevil comic, nor does it explain its premise very well, but Matt finds himself trapped in a deep cover identity he no longer remembers, and the SHIELD handler responsible for deprogramming dies. Or something along that line. It could have been cool if it were structured better. more

This comic rather infuriatingly opens on a dream sequence. The rest of the issue is more classic Silver Age fun as the people of New York are suddenly struck blind. Mixed feelings about this one overall. At least it feels like the main story is pretty creative. It's the kind of thing that works thematically well for Daredevil's character in the most obvious way possible, but just because it is obvious, doesn't make it a bad story. It's really neat how other blind civilians Matt meets in this issue are able to take the lead and help out. The villains and ending are a little lacking, which seems to be an unfortunate trend with a lot of these early Daredevils. more

There is cool art and cool moments peppered throughout this issue, but Chichester cannot make The Hand exciting for the life of him.

Weird but fine, I guess. Pretty standard Daredevil vs. The Hand stuff coupled with the usual quirky Chichester writing.

It's not the best ending to this already questionable Hyde/Cobra trilogy Stan Lee did. I'm not a fan of a story like this where the villains should win but lose simply because they stalled out on just finishing off Daredevil in some way.

Visually, it's a great comic at least, as we get some great shots of the Hyde/Cobra duo capturing Daredevil and taking him to a scenic lighthouse. And, to it's credit, Daredevil's ultimate victory is pretty satisfying. more

Daredevil continues his conflict with Hyde and Cobra, while having lost his powers and actually experiencing full blindness. It's pretty interesting as a concept but Hyde and Cobra aren't very fun villains here. The Mike Murdock sage reaches a new level of ridiculous as Foggy and Karen are now to believe Mike and Daredevil have also gone blind like Matt. Still, the Lee/Colan team is fun enough, and this is a good example of Silver Age cheese if there ever was one. more

(Cover Date: August, 1967)

Wacky Moments: A woman tears off a piece of DD's mask as a souvenir. Foggy somehow holds the end of DD's cable while a very blind & powerless DD balances on it to distract Hyde & Cobra.

A pretty wild issue where Daredevil somehow uses plastics to make himself look exactly like Thor. The real Thor is here along with the questionable duo of Cobra and Mr. Hyde. There is a fight between Daredevil and Thor that is silly and fun, at least. But it just ends and we're left with some lacklustre stuff around Hyde and Cobra, who do kind of manage to beat Daredevil here.

It alright. I'd probably be more enthusiastic were we not in the "Mike Murdock" era as Daredevil's Mike identity has some truly awful dialogue. more

(Cover Date: July, 1967)

Wacky Moment: DD disguises himself as Thor using flesh-colored plastic.

I love how this opens with Daredevil receiving a summons in court while he is out on the street in costume. It's just the perfect set-up for this court-themed adventure with the villain Tribune posing as a judge. His defeat was abrupt and empty, like so many Silver Age stories of this era, but otherwise it was a pretty solid read. I feel Roy Thomas and Gene Colan did a great job with this one overall. This story also feels weirdly predictive of the Central Park Five case that would happen almost two decades after this comic was published. I think it was a bit ahead of its time. more

I love how much love Stan Lee shows for the series' new artist Wallace Wood. Not a lot of writers do that even to this day. The Matador is not a great Daredevil villain, though. Weirdly this isn't the most racist version of the character I've seen so that's something. I do also like how Matador isn't easily defeated and even racks up a couple of wins against Daredevil during this issue. And that directly leads to him being overconfident and cocky, which leads to his downfall.

Matt at the law firm was pretty good - impressively so for a comic only five issues in and older than my parents. That being said there isn't any lawyer stuff here, Matt just takes Karen to a costume party. I'm not the biggest fan of Foggy and Matt employing and wooing Karen simultaneously like this, but the ultimate love square that forms between them, Karen, and Daredevil (and I guess even "Mike" later) is pretty creative.

Overall, while flawed, there is stuff I do appreciate about Daredevil #5. more

Beetle could have killed Daredevil in this issue and won, or at the very least unmasked him, as his own henchmen point out. Instead, he does that classic villain thing and messes up his own scheme thoroughly by trying to set up an exhibit at the Montreal Expo to try and make a big spectacle of Daredevil's defeat. It is disappointing, and definitely doesn't feel like this story needed to be two parts. A lot of the charm I felt in #33 is kind of absent from #34 and that makes and incredible difference, but it is present in stuff like how we learn the Beetle's origins in this comic. Gene Colan's art remains great, at least. more

Oh boy. I'm not a fan of this "Mike Murdock" era, but he isn't quite as terrible as some of the earlier "Mike" issues. Foggy, Karen, and "Mike" all going to Montreal was silly but the writing wasn't terrible, either. The battle between Beetle and Daredevil was also underwhelming but they fight on a train which leads to a pretty good set piece. I don't have a lot of memories of seeing Daredevil fight outside of a city so that was pretty cool, too.

Also, as Stan Lee actually points out in the comic, Gene Colan did some remarkable work. This comic is flawed but Lee's writing, in spite of all these flaws, is still very charming. more

The art is great, the writing... not as much. The Kingpin is back and the confrontation with him is pretty unhinged in the best way possible. It's a good fight, even if that dialogue leaves a lot to be desired. And the Kingpin kind of just wins and... leaves. It's a very disappointing story with some excellent art. And, at the very least, it leaves Daredevil and Elektra on a nice note. Not a great way for Ahmed to close out his run, though. more

I'm really surprised at how the Nyla relationship stuff went from great to bad so quickly. It kind of feels like we are rushing to just wrap up Ahmed's run as soon as possible all of the sudden and I'm not a fan.

Elektra and Matt solving a murder was more interesting and even got a little gruesome. They even go to the Bar with No Name and battle one of the Wrecking Crew. It's fun stuff, but some of the writing was a little tacky (other parts were great at least). more

Not a bad issue, but there's weird quirks to this comic. I figured the Lionsmane stuff would come back due to the cover but no, the cover is basically just a bad representation of this issue.

But, to be fair, this is a solid Taskmaster comic where the villain actually gets to be cool for a moment. That's something, and the art of these books are so great they make up for a lot of the weirdness of the story. And there's a lot of weirdness going on with Elektra and Nyla this issue. We just saw how happy Nyla and Matt were last issue, and now they're breaking up? Colour me skeptical. more

It started off solid, and then just got cheesier as it went on. Some of that dialogue was horrendous. I'm giving it a little boost for the art.

Pretty unsatisfying ending to the arc. Felt like the way a children’s cartoon would wrap up an episode.

Oh, I was down with this story so far, but now it just feels like we are ripping off the Last of Us, but in a really lame way. Also, the dialogue kind of suddenly takes a nosedive once the villain Lionsmane reveals himself. Not a good sign of what is to come, I fear. And after such a good start, too...

I do like the ending where Daredevil shares a moment with Nyla at least. She seems like a consistently positive point in Matt's otherwise currently bleak life. more