By Bruno Savill De Jong — It’s 1994. Tonya Harding is accused of assaulting Nancy Kerrigan, O.J. Simpson fleas police in the infamous white Bronco, Kurt Cobain commits suicide, and Amazon and Yahoo are both founded. People are listening to Sabotage, watching Pulp Fiction and reading Daredevil.

Written by D. G. Chichester (326-327, 329-332), Gregory Wright (328, 333-337)
Illustrated Scott McDaniel (326-327, 329-332), Sergio Cariello (328), Tom Grindberg (333-337)
Inks by Hector Collazo (326-327, 329-332), Ariane (328), Rich Rankin (330), Ray Kryssing (333), Don Hudson (334-337)
Colors by Max Scheele (326-327, 331, 335-337), Ovi Hondru (328), Paul Becton (328), Joe Andreani (329-330, 332), Marie Javins (332), Eva Grindberg (333-334)
Lettered by Bill Oakley (326-327, 329-331, 334, 336-337), Susan Crespi (328), Jon Babcock (329, 333), Janice Chiang (335), NJQ (336-337)

As the 1990s went on, a new digital world began to emerge. Despite some pre-history, the mid-90s was when the internet evolved from a niche underground fad into something that would sweep over the world. Media depictions and pop-culture began to take note of its importance, although many of them remained ignorant of what it actually was. 1995 was a boom year of such cinematic depictions – including Hackers, The Net, and Johnny Mnemonic – but 1994 featured the Daredevil “cyber-terrorism” storyline “Tree of Knowledge” that aligns with such amusingly outdated notions of the digital world.

Although that might be unfair, as D.G. Chichester was an early pioneer of “Virtual Comics” that experimented with interactive online demos. He’s stated how “technology is a great, double-edged sword: very cool and gleaming to look at, potentially deadly to touch,” like a poisoned fruit of forbidden knowledge. Heck, it was due to Ben Urich’s computerized films being hacked that meant Matt Murdock felt he had to fake his own death.

Matt Murdock remains “dead” during 1994, Daredevil creating a new alter-ego of street con-artist “Jack Batlin.” Ostensibly this is to have a “real life” outside his costumed crime-fighting, although all “Batlin” seems to do is gain information for Daredevil’s investigations. Matt also makes Daredevil act more edgy and aggressive, pretending to be a “new” Daredevil. Although the logic is hard to follow here. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Daredevil to be the same after Matt Murdock publicly “died” to demonstrate there was no link between the two? For that matter, shouldn’t Daredevil’s new “armoured” costume have been introduced now, instead of mid-way through Fall From Grace. Perhaps this is so Matt’s loved ones – like Black Widow and Karen Page – will also be convinced of this legacy character, but such total secrecy and isolation still feels unnecessary.

Without Matt around, Karen throws herself into her anti-pornography “smutbusters” advocacy, including lobbying outside of sex shops to publicly shame their clientele. Karen’s protests uncomfortably align with newly elected Mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani, major policy to “clean up Times Square.” This transformed the area from a seedy centre of peep shows and prostitution to a cleaner and more commercialised space. Pornography is a complex issue, but there are many feminist pro-porn advocates and sex-positive expressions that “Tree of Knowledge” does not touch upon. It makes total sense for Karen Page to make a hard stand against pornography, which represents a dark and abusive part of her life, but Chichester’s narration comparing her acts to “selling her soul” makes it feel like the story itself is passing judgement here.

Karen is only a small part of “Tree of Knowledge,” though, as it focuses upon New York being attacked by terrorists calling themselves “The Silicon Pirates,” causing public bombings for free public access to the internet. Except they are actually a disguise for “System Crash,” a HYDRA team of technology-based villains – filled with characters called Steel Collar, Wirehead, Technospike, Infomorph, Bitamp and Kill-o-Byte – attempting to indirectly impose martial law on the city. Simultaneously, they seem to be seeking government codes through a (now dead) computer hacker called Knowbot, while Daredevil bounces around the city to stop them.

“Tree of Knowledge” suffers from many of the same flaws as “Fall From Grace,” being overstuffed with characters and cameos but lacking a clear direction. Issues will often open with ‘in media res’ battles between Daredevil and random System Crash members that do little but reiterate their existence. One chapter promising Gambit on the cover has him appear for literally 3 pages before disappearing. A more substantial appearance is Captain America, who is threaded throughout “Tree of Knowledge” as a doubtful eye on the modern world given his “antiquated view of technology.” However, Chichester later gives Cap a hopeful Jeffersonian vision of what future technology could provide, while Daredevil acts as the cynical counterpart.

But any actual observations Chichester was trying to make with “Tree of Knowledge” get lost within the convoluted story. Not the least of which is how Baron Strucker’s mastermind plan is to find these codes that would enable the government to spy on civilian’s personal devices, and then offer countermeasures to such spyware, hoping that this renewed privacy would lead to increased distrust and anarchy.

Not only is this a very long-term plan (as well as a fairly righteous one) but it ends up being completely superfluous. “Tree of Knowledge” ultimately lacks impact because there’s zero sense of in-universe consequences. We get no feeling of “increased martial law” or citizens being stoked to anarchy. There’s no clue whether this government was planning to spy on the public or if its hysteria Hydra wishes to whip up. And they don’t put this plan into action anyway. It all just becomes noise, extra bits of chaos that swim around this already cramped story.

By contrast, the other multi-part story of 1994 – “Fathoms of Humanity” – is refreshingly straightforward. This was written by Gregory Wright, who added a fill-in during “Tree of Knowledge” and wrote for a few Daredevil Annuals, but now has an opportunity for his own story-arc as Chichester and McDaniel took time off to work on Elektra: Root of Evil (heavily promoted in the “Fathoms of Humanity” backmatter). “Fathoms of Humanity” is by no means perfect, being heavy-handed in its own way and with Wright admitting he also shoved in guest-stars like Deathlok the Demolisher (and his unrelated side-story) into the book. But “Fathoms of Humanity” places Daredevil in a unique environment and follows him through a linear, satisfying manner, which is a welcome relief from the headache of previous arcs.

While “Tree of Knowledge” followed a high-tech “virtual community” that lived in the digital-sphere, “Fathoms of Humanity” contrasts this with an underground tribe dwelling in the sewers, away from the selfishness and judgement of the surface world. Daredevil chases a harassed homeless man into here and discovers this community, alongside their protective collectivist spirit that, like himself, does not rely on “surface sight.”

While underground, Daredevil must also face an old forgotten nemesis, The Sewer King. One of Frank Miller’s more outlandish creations within his original Daredevil run, the Sewer King represented the unsavoury and unvarnished greed of Wilson Fisk stripped of its opulence, whom Daredevil had to rescue the Kingpin’s wife Vanessa from. Now, the actual Kingpin has been humbled and operates out of an abandoned subway carriage in the underground, even if he is slowly clambering his way back into power. Indeed, Kingpin even secretly helps exonerate two of the underground dwellers who have been falsely accused of a bombing and helps imprison the rich businessman behind it. Even if this is all only to clear his own pathway back to the top.

As with the clear and satisfying pacing, “Fathoms of Humanity” features some nice and kinetic artwork from Tom Grindberg. In fairness, Scott McDaniel has been improving his style, leaning into a more shadowed and dynamic direction. But McDaniels’ tendency towards splash-pages and extreme close-ups mean his artwork lacks the energy and sequencing that Grinberg brings to Daredevil’s battle with Bushwhacker. “Fathoms of Humanity” also has more muted colours, but this is a consequence of being set underground, and it adds a certain authentic grit so that Daredevil’s exhaustion and injuries during this storyline are actually viscerally felt.

Nathaniel Hawthorn once wrote how “families are always rising and falling in America.” 1994 takes us from the heights of shimmering cyberspace to the depths of underground sewer dwellers. All of them are trying to carve out an acceptable, alternative, space for themselves. The homeless man Daredevil followed in “Fathoms of Humanity” is revealed to be the ex-superhero Peacekeeper (a total invention by Gregory Wright to “show that it isn’t just the dreg of society who wind up down below”). Peacekeeper puts on his old mantle again, while Karen Page is worried about “falling” back into her sleazy old life, and Daredevil tries to start a new one as Jack Batlin. Characters rise and fall many times during 1994 – the Kingpin looking up at his old ivory tower from down in the gutter – and sometimes it takes knowing both positions to understand the true distance between the two.

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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.