The Man Without Fear...By The Year: 1969
By Bruno Savill De Jong — It’s 1969. The Manson Family murders five people in Los Angeles, Woodstock takes place on a farm in upstate New York, and the first men walk on the moon. People are listening to “Crystal Blue Persuasion,” watching Midnight Cowboy, and reading Daredevil.
Written by Stan Lee (48-50), Roy Thomas (51-59)
Illustrated by Gene Colan (48-49, 53-59), Barry Windsor Smith (50-52)
Inks by George Klein (48-49, 51, 53-54), Johnny Craig (50, 52), Syd Shores (55-59)
Colors unknown/unlisted
Lettered by Sam Rosen (52, 58), Artie Simek (48-49, 51, 53-57, 59), Herb Cooper (50)
Daredevil spends 1969 chasing Karen Page. This romance has been in the background of Daredevil since the beginning, but 1969 commits to this with renewed intent. It starts with Matt Murdock (again) coldly rejecting Karen for her “protection,” and ends with Matt revealing his secret double-life to her. It’s the first time Daredevil has ever intentionally unmasked to anyone. We’re even given Karen’s backstory in 1969, when she returns home and finds her father Dr Paxton Page – a scientists whose perfected a “cobalt bomb” – has been kidnapped. However, its later revealed Paxton went insane from radiation poisoning and disguised himself as Karen’s childhood nightmare “the Death’s-Head.” Such dual-identities, brought on by radiation, seem to orbit around Karen. So, Matt revealing himself (hopefully) concludes a saga of heartbreak and duplicity. Although their relationship is hardly secure at the end, and faces significant bumps along the way.
Daredevil endures major turbulence over 1969 before he catches up with Karen. First, Matt decides to quit being Daredevil, realizing the selfish glamour of superhero-ing has alienated him from his friends. But then Daredevil is attack in revenge, leading to the enlisted attacker Starr Saxon discovering his secret identity. So, fearing blackmail from Saxon, Daredevil’s solution is to stop being Matt Murdock, staging the lawyer’s death in a plane crash. Then – after Matt unmasks to Karen – he returns from the dead and joins Foggy as the D.A.’s assistant, promising Karen to give up her dangerous double-life in a “farewell performance.” Throughout 1969, Daredevil seesaws between his two identities, seemingly unable to maintain both at the same time.
Most of this is caused by Starr Saxon, who delays Daredevil’s initial attachment by building a powerful android to hunt him down (on behalf of Biggie Benson from Daredevil #47). Since the android operates on a “scentalator” that tracks down Daredevil “no matter how he is disguised” – much like Daredevil’s own super-senses – Saxon discovers Daredevil is Matt Murdock. It’s this knowledge that gives Saxon power over Daredevil, and makes Daredevil conclude “it was always Matt – the blind lawyer – the helpless, hapless invalid. He’s been my plague… since the day I donned the costume.”
Saxon has an identity crisis of his own. His first few issues are spent hiding behind others, either his android of Biggie Benson, before taking a more direct approach against Daredevil. Then this personal attack – which includes kidnapping Karen by pretending to be “a friend of Matt’s” – includes several movie references, with Saxon talking about Lon Chaney, Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks and how “in my screenplay, it’s I who am hero… while you, Murdock, are the villain!” When Daredevil “kills off” Matt, and thwarts Saxon’s blackmail scheme, he then disguises himself as a new Mr Fear to torment Daredevil. Saxon appears across 7 issues in 1969 before plunging to his death, but he manifests in various forms. Saxon motivates much of Daredevil’s tumult, with his anxious identities apparently rubbing off on him.
Matt faces other turbulence than his identities in 1969. For one, he suffers from a poor blood reaction, which makes him faint and hallucinate through the city as Matt and Daredevil. For another, Mr Fear’s toxins shatters Daredevil’s confidence and makes him labelled as a coward. Daredevil was always bothered by the “pity” he faced as blind Matt Murdock, and partially killed him off to avoid such vulnerabilities. Now when he’s the swashbuckling adventurer full-time, this public “pity” towards Daredevil agonizes him. With the Man Without Fear viewed as “afraid,” his now one-sided identity has been diluted.
The other complication, when Matt was stumbling around New York poisoned, was illustrated by Daredevil’s first “guest artists” (instead of a changeover), Barry Windsor-Smith. Windsor-Smith would develop a distinctive style throughout the ‘70s, but he’s noticeably different from Gene Colan here. While Colan goes brash and big with his panels, Windsor-Smith is more compact and precise in his pencils, while upping the number of panels. The hallucinatory nature of this story-arc also means Windsor-Smith can experiment with imagery, like when Saxon’s face “congeals” out of darkness for Matt, or when Daredevil’s identities gruesomely “melt” together. It’s during this arc that Daredevil’s first “silent” panels occur, both when Daredevil fails to make a jump, and two pages of Black Panther leaping around the city searching for the unconscious Daredevil. Black Panther is another who discovers Daredevil’s secret identity, although he keeps this to himself, reasoning Matt has “enough crosses to bear.”
But Gene Colan shouldn’t be discounted, as he continues providing impressive work on Daredevil, with a panel of him ducking underneath a speeding car a particular highlight. Karen being plagued by the “Death’s-Head” also allows some trippy, phantasmagorical images. Plus, 1969 allows Colan to redo Daredevil’s origin, as Daredevil #53 is a “remake” of Daredevil #1 with new art. Its fascinating, from a craft perspective, to compare the two issues and see how the art-style differs from working on the exact same script.
The script is practically identical, although there are some minor amendments by Roy Thomas, who takes over as writer after Daredevil #50. Stan Lee has written Daredevil since the start, but around this time stepped back from day-to-day duties to become Marvel’s editorial figurehead. Thomas’ writing style isn’t radically different, but perhaps he has more grandeur than Lee, who tended towards hijinks and light-hearted cracks. Thomas’ Daredevil carries more torment, relative to the time. It’s impossible to know who was responsible for Matt unmasking to Karen – whether it was planned by Lee, Thomas’ invention, or even Colan’s – but it signals a definite shift in Daredevil’s status quo. Although soon afterwards, Matt continues being Daredevil due to the gangster “Crime Wave” sending out several goons (including Stunt-Master and the Torpedo), and Karen shrinks from this dangerous lifestyle. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Check out past installments from The Man Without Fear…By The Year!
Check out Bruno Savill De Jong’s last regular series, Gotham Central Case by Case!
Bruno Savill De Jong is a recent undergraduate of English and freelance writer on films and comics, living in London. His infrequent comics-blog is Panels are Windows and semi-frequent Twitter is BrunoSavillDeJo.
