As promised, let’s take a look at one of those ignored classics: Daredevil #105 (a forgotten episode of the Thanos War saga!!!). The cover speaks for itself, and if you are not already dying to read it after seeing it, you might want to skip the rest of the article.
The whole thing starts innocently enough:
Kraven stoically throws DD to his sure death:
Then, after Kraven has a fight with the Black Widow, we switch to the following scene:
Yes, the first two panels seem to have switched places, but it is more fun this way. And, before you ask, no, I don’t understand why I am not talking about a Lucretia Jones (and her director Ashley Sanders) mini-series, ongoing or movie. Anyway, the couple does not appear again in the issue, because as you will see soon enough, there is no page space left for anything which is not exclusively epic!
It turns out Daredevil has been transported to Madame McEvil’s lair! For people who are not Moondragon completists, Madame McEvil is the name Moondragon used for her first 2 appearances in the Iron Man series, as she explains herself.
All of this is information is unnecessarily offered while they fight. The reason for the fight? That one of them looks like a demon and the other is called Madame McEvil.
As we all know, there is no better way to catch a breather in a fight than telling your origin, so we are then treated to the origin of Moondragon drawn by none other than Jim Starlin himself, in what I am pretty sure is the first appearance of baby Thanos.
We all know that they are going to end up getting along by the end of the issue, but before that, Moondragon launches her plan:
And yes, this is the moment where this issue shines even brighter. The last few pages are nothing but the introduction of one one-hit-wonder villain after another. It is brilliantly done, with virtuoso tempo and not a chance to even gasp with all the evilness going around!!!
It starts with the Dark Messiah … (wasn’t there a crossover with that title? No? Then there should be!)
A pillar of fire! Atoms… or molecules… or… whatever! I get it Chuck, if I was hanging out with with the wrong crowd and a construction worker was holding a red crow bar next to my face, I, too, would drop a laconic comment mixing modern science and biblical imagery while making sure my cigarette doesn’t leave my lower lip.
Then, it’s Ramrod‘s turn …
Sleeping in a red-sheeted bed in a hospital while wearing a rather interesting headset and a huge belt? Check! Helping people somersault backwards with a powerful triceps flex? Check! Breaking through the wall of a gaudy coloured super tall building overlooking the whole city (bridge and bay included) and falling into the void while screaming incongruities and talking about yourself in the third person while addressing a crumb? Check! Henry Rollins, we know where you learned your routine!
And, finally, in case you thought Steve Gerber would not give it his all (even if it was work-for-hire… ouch!), we go from American Hardcore to Berkeley Coffeehouses, where they weren’t able to flush down all the LSD lingering on the air. Meet Angar the Screamer, who before becoming a Marvel Comics Presents joke, was able to out-Starlin future Starlin himself. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Jim Morrison of z-supervillains!
And you ask me what poetry is? Poetry is… Angar! Try this pickup line next Friday at the pub: “I am…, Am I sane? I MUST!! Cos I am!” Introduce yourself as a Destroyer of Men’s mind, and suggestively offer to show them your Demonsong that will burst reality apart, flying that way and that way in jagged shards! Guaranteed to work with members of Manson’s Family. If DC had the ’60s hipster scene down, the seedy ’70s grime has been Marvel’s pasture… for the last 40 years, at least!
Right after unleashing her creations, Moondragon realises that Daredevil is a good guy, so just when you are thinking they are going to team up next issue to defeat all those bastards, Kerwin J. Broderick appears …
And as the epic coda to this epic third act, we get a glimpse of Terrex!!!
Logical explanation? Who needs one!? Why even pretend there is one? I am now dying to read the next issue, although I hope that none of these characters show up again, and that it was all a dream caused by Daredevil’s fall (even the Lucretia-Ashley thing, of course)!! In any case, you can be sure that a guy who has problems with ninjas and Bullseye couldn’t do shit about this, uncle Frank!!!
P.S.: If you are going to try some of these lines while picking up lunchmeat at a pub this week-end, please ABSOLUTELY DO NOT scream: “The RAMROD IS BUSTIN’ LOOSE!!” to another human being. I think that they arrest people for less than that in Alabama!
if you haven’t, good stuff.
