Stan Lee and Wally Wood, �Marvel Masterworks � Daredevil�
Back when I was 11 years old, living with my father in Hawaii and being incredibly bored out of my mind, I wandered into the basement area of our house and came across the stoner housemate�s collection of Penthouse magazine and comic books. Yes, I looked at Penthouse first. Eventually, though, I started to read the comics. From what I remembered, he had three different series: Nick Fury, which was boring military stuff that I was never interested in, Howard the Duck, which I really didn�t understand, and something called Daredevil.
My parents had imposed rules on violence and media and were just now starting to loosen up. Still, I had never read any of the superhero comics because of the �violence.� Now Evil Dead II is one of my favorite movies of all time. So much for parental nurturing. Anyway, I hid away in the corner and read Daredevil, just as afraid of getting caught as when I leafed through Penthouse.
The Daredevil comics he had were all from the Frank Miller heyday, arguably the best writer for the series (although Kevin Smith of Clerks and Dogma fame did a great run about two years back). It�s a good thing these were the issues I found, or else I may have buried them under the copies of Nick Fury. (Although I suppose it could also be a bad thing, as Daredevil has been one of my few obsessions over the years and I now own every issue, including the first one.)
Marvel Masterworks is a reprint of the first 11 issues of Daredevil. Using the word �Masterworks� is nothing short of hyperbole, for these are in reality pretty goddamn silly. Fortunately, like with what Frank Miller did with Batman, he took a character that was drowning it its own goofiness and turned it into a dark and brooding piece of art. But I guess I shouldn�t be talking about Miller�s era, since he�s not represented here.
Stan Lee�s Daredevil is just plain goofy, using corny one-liners and constantly going into what my former girlfriend dubbed �Captain Rehash,� meaning he had to recall his origin at least once every issue, usually by talking to himself. (�Wow, if I hadn�t been struck with that radioactive isotope that blinded me, but ultimately gave me a sort of radar sense, I might be actually frightened by what I see happening!�) If you remember the Radioactive Man issue from the Simpsons, this plays almost exactly the same way, complete with words like �YAAAARGH!�
Funnier still, in nearly every issue they introduce a new high tech gizmo that he created in his spare time, everything from a radio transmitter, a billy club that can snap into a boomerang, and a radio receiver built into the horns of his costume. Thankfully that�s all been scrapped now and Stan Lee is relegated to the back room with no creative input into the comics at all, only being carted out for public appearances.
There was no reason for me to buy this since I already own issues 1 through 11, but what can I say? I�m a dork.
This deserves a new category rating: The only reason to buy this is if you�re an obsessive fan of the series, so you�re already going to pay through the nose for it. I was lucky and got it through my bookstore, but it still cost me $12.50. Getting the actual comics probably cost me somewhere in the range of $75. Like I said, I�m a dork.
My eyes hurt.
