REVIEW: Daredevil #125

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artists: Bob Brown & Klaus Janson
Colorist: Klaus Janson
Letterer: John Costanza
Review: Art Bee

My last visit to my LCS allowed me to dig up this little treasure out of a back issue box, and I must be very frank with you all as I say this: it was well worth the purchase. Daredevil has really never been a favorite of mine, but the story is familiar to me. Daredevil #125 is packed with amazement from cover to cover.

This issue is the culmination of the previous one in which a new villain, a self-proclaimed hero named Copperhead, has begun a murder spree targeting criminals all over Manhattan. The book begins with Daredevil laying supine on the ground having been shot with a deadly dart from Copperhead’s gun. It is revealed Daredevil is playing possum in order to tail this deadly new lisping villain…hero…crazy guy in a suit of copper armor.

The story is completely gripping even without having read the previous issue. That is one of my favorite qualities of Marvel during this era; they cared about the story. If they care, we can’t help but follow suit. When a person can pick up a random issue in a series and enjoy it without having read any other issues, a quality product exists.
Once I started reading this issue, the world around me figuratively fell away and nothing else seemed to exist. Each page built excitement for the next, and I didn’t feel pulled along or force fed.   

The artwork was very typical for Marvel in the mid-‘70s. This was an era when Marvel had standards for writers, artists, and letterers. If you couldn’t bring the quality they expected, your name did not grace the credits. In this era Marvel protected and treated their intellectual property like it was precious…”my precious.”

There are three things about this comic that stuck out as I read it and made me just love it. First, and as I have said before, there is the smell, because the smell of the older comics printed on real paper just smell great. Second, when there is an ad on the next page, the previous page warns you and reassures you the story will continue afterwards. Third, and most importantly, only Daredevil can get away with saying, “If I could see half of the things I do, I’d be scared to DEATH!”

Reading this issue made me think of the current Marvel staff, and they should take time to revisit some of these old issues and learn why people first fell in love with these heroes. There is an old cliché about reinventing the wheel; Marvel could learn from it. Why must they reinvent their intellectual property? The heroes of old are great enough for all generations. Just treat them like they are precious metals, and they will take care of you. After all, they are superheroes.