sonotadream

Daredevil (1964) #1-4 - Stan Lee/Bill Everett/Joe Orlando

Daredevil came about due to the success of the other superheroes. Searching for inspiration, Stan Lee reached out to Bill Everett - the creator of Namor - who hashed out some details with Jack Kirby, and Daredevil was born, partially inspired by the experience of Everett's blind daughter.

The first issue covers Daredevil's origin story. It's the same story retold by Frank Miller, but there's some details of note:

Young Matt randomly finds out he's good at gymnastics one day; it’s all genetics
After he loses his sight and develops his super-senses, he has no trouble adaptin and never gets overwhelmed by loud noises and such
He can tell fabric colours apart by touch, very useful when he's putting his costume together
He turns his cane into a billy club
Matt and Foggy don't have to worry about getting a job; Foggy’s dad sets them up with their own law firm
Daredevil first case is finding the men responsible for his father's death. The Fixer suffers an heart attack and he tricks the shooter into confessing in front of the cops
No Stick, no Elektra, no ninjas

The Fantastic Four show up in issue #2. They need a lawyer to look at their lease before renewing (I guess they don't own the Baxter Building after all?). The Thing takes a photo of Matt to show their security system. That way he can get inside while the FF are in Washington getting medals.

When Matt gets to the Baxter Building, his senses alert him to danger - I guess he also has something akin to the spider-sense. The danger is due to Electro. Daredevil had busted his stolen cars operation, so he decided to take advantage of the FF's absence to rob them. His electrical powers allow him to bypass the security system and to knock out Daredevil. Electro then puts him in the FF's rocket and sends him to outer space.

Still, once he regains consciousness, Matt is able to navigate the rocket back down to Earth and land it safely in Central Park. He returns to the Baxter Building with the aid of a sightseeing helicopter and times it perfectly to land trough the skylight - for a moment, he's like the Mad Thinker; also, New York helicopters must be very punctual.

Electro made his way into Mr. Fantastic's safe, but Daredevil stops him and hands him over to the police before he can get away with Reed’s notes. Matt returns the papers and seals the safe, but the FF return before he can clean anything else - or do the job he was hired to do, for that matter. So, looks like the firm of Nelson and Murdock will not have the Fantastic Four as clients…

Matt's next client, the Owl, is a different beast. A financial genius whose crimes are finally coming to light, he hires a random lawyer from the phone book. He's not worried about his problems with the justice, because he decided to come out as a villain. Besides his intelligence, the Owl has the ability to glide in the air, like his namesake bird - although he got his name due to his appearance.

He hires a couple of goons and decides to find himself a new patsy - his last one was his accountant, who committed suicide after being framed for the Owl's crimes. He settles on blind lawyer Matt Murdock and has him kidnapped. Of course, things go wrong and he ends up capturing Daredevil and Karen Page instead.

Matt gets them free and sends Karen to fetch the police, while he deals with the Owl and utterly fails to conceal his identity. Karen, however, decides that if Daredevil reminds her of Matt, she must be really in love with Matt (see, there’s a love triangle going on: Foggy is into Karen, who’s into Matt, who’s into being Daredevil, until he realizes Karen likes him, but he mustn't do anything about it, because Foggy has dibs; no one is into Daredevil, at least yet).

Next up, the Purple Man. He used to be a spy, but he got dosed with some experimental gas in his last mission and he gained the ability to control other people through pheromones. The control disappears once they're out of the Purple Man’s presence, though.

Also, he’s now purple.

Matt gets involved when Killgrave when he’s arrested for robbing a bank, although all he did was ask the cashier for money, which is not a crime. Still, he walks out of prison and takes Karen with him. He also gets himself an army of body builders and takes over the Hilton Hotel, all the while working on a plan to take over the world.

Daredevil seems to be the only one immune and, in the end, defeats him by covering Killgrave with a plastic tarp, which negates his powers.

So, one thing this series has going for it is the art. Orlando, maybe inspired by Everett, gives it a different feel from the other Silver Age books. On the other hand, it has too much text - it really over-explains what’s going on. Also, the text goes out of its way to give Matt zero downsides to being blind, and that flattens his character.

I’m mostly keeping up with it because I really like Daredevil as a character.

Untold Stories of Spider-Man (1995) #10-14 - Kurt Busiek/Pat Ollife

Checking back in the what else was going on in Peter’s life? series. ngl, I’m enjoying it. It both fleshes out aspects of the original and manages to tell a coherent story, despite the constraints of its premise.

While waiting for Doctor Octopus to return to New York, Spider-Man contends with Commanda, a beautiful jewel thief with flying drones and a force-field generating diadem. Peter doesn't succumb to his hormones, but he can't win against a woman who fakes distress and blames Spider-Man for her crimes.

Meanwhile, Sally discovers that Peter is the one taking Spider-Man's photos and gets onto phase 2 of her plan: become Blue Bird - her own costumed superhero - and have Peter take her photos, so she can become famous. Her qualifications are that she's a gymnast and she got Jason (and his engineer father) to build her some gadgets.

Peter forestalls her attempt at blackmail by telling people in school that he's the one taking Spider-Man's pictures. This has the unintended consequence of making Flash want to be Peter's best friend, so he can be introduced to Spider-Man, greatly impeding bit Peter’s and Spider-Man’s careers.

Things get more complicated when the Eel - the electricity powered Human Torch villain - springs Electro out of jail and the two hold the city's electrical grid hostage. Peter manages to sneak out, but gets joined by Blue Bird, who doesn’t acquit herself very well. One of her gadgets is an ether bomb - it does nothing - and, when Spider-Man comes up with a clever solution to neutralize the villain duo’s powers, she ruins it.

Finally, Peter blows up at Flash. Peter’s not introducing Flash to Spider-Man because he doesn't’ know him: he hides and takes photos and sells them to Spidey’s biggest critic, so Spider-Man doesn’t even like Peter. That gets Flash to leave him alone.

We learn a bit more about Betty’s reasons for leaving school. She and her brother were friends with Gordon. He was nice, but he also had a devious streak - he has the one who got Bennet hooked on gambling and embroiled with Blackie, to the point goons came to their house because of Bennet’s debts and hurt their mother. With her brother stuck working for Blackie, Betty has to take care of their mother, so she takes over her old job as Jameson’s secretary.

Betty sees a lot of Gordon in Peter and that makes her worry about him, even if she’s not ready to open up to him about everything.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man has Blue Bird to worry about. She keeps showing up to his fights and thinking everything’s fine, because Spider-Man is always there to help her out. Realizing this, Peter lets her get hit by a random goon, which gets her to put the costume aside. Instead, Sally’s going to be a daring photographer.

Things take a bad turn when she and Jason are trying to get photos of a Spider-Man/Black Knight fight and get hit by a car. Jason survives; Sally does not.

Peter spirals down, blaming himself for Sally’s death. He stops Black Knight’s plot of the week, leaving him badly hurt. The Human Torch is the one who pulls him out of his funk, by giving him a bit of tough love. After all, he did help Sally, he just couldn’t save her from herself.

We finish with the return of the Scorcher, from issue #1. He has a chip on his shoulder because he turned to a life of crime after being wrongly accused of theft at his former job as a respectable chemist. This only matters because it helps Peter find the words to help Tiny, who had ran away from home and dropped out of school. Just because his father tells him he's worthless it doesn't make it true.

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #7-10 - Stan Lee/Steve Ditko

We check back on Spider-Man with the return of the Vulture.

He has been a model prisoner in prison, but it’s just a ruse to get access to the components he needs to create a new flying device. One day, he floats over the prison walls and goes back to his life of crime, with a set of upgraded wings.

After hearing about the Vulture’s escape, Peter ditches school - namely, gym class - to go after him. He fetches his anti-magnetic inverter, but the Vulture’s new wings are resistant to it and he manages to catch Spider-Man off-guard - despite the warning from his spider-sense. The Vulture throws Spider-Man against a building and he barely manages to catch his fall with his shoulder, although it leaves bystanders thinking his dead.

Peter’s arm is hurt badly enough that he needs to find an excuse to explain it to Aunt May. He needs to wear a sling and gets bullied at school over it, to the point he has to repress his anger at Flash.

Meanwhile, the Vulture decides his next target is going to be the Daily Bugle’s payroll. He barges into Jameson’s office through the window and threatens him, but Jameson tries to negotiate instead of giving up his money. That gives Peter - who was trying to sell Vulture pictures at the time - time to slip away and change into Spider-Man. They fight all over the Bugle building, until the Vulture finds a window to escape out of. He also manages to grab Peter, but he has plan. He lets the Vulture drag him up into the sky, only to web his wings. He then constructs a parachute out of webs and glides them down to the street.

The Vulture gets arrested again, Spider-Man gets berated by Jameson for destroying his offices, but Peter gets to spend the evening hanging out with Betty Brant, so at least his romantic prospects are looking up!

Things with Flash, however, blow up when Peter finally gets angry enough to confront him in the boxing ring. Flash is confident and Peter is worried about giving his super-hero identity up - even his lightest punch sends Flash flying into the crowd. Of course, everyone thinks that was an accident and that Peter is dodging every punch because he’s a coward, not because he has amazing reflexes.

Peter figures he can finish the fight by using a flick of his wrist, but he knocks Flash out when a rampaging robot distracts every one.

At the same time, there’s this super smart computer in a robot body, that may-or-may-not be able to find out Spider-Man’s secret identity. Peter deals with him, and then distracts everybody by pointing out a few coincidences that indicate that Flash is actually Spider-Man, so Peter’s day ends in a happy note.

After that, there’s a short story where Spider-Man shows up at the same party Johnny Storm’s at just to start a fight with the Human Torch, and then flirts with Sue Storm ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In issue #9, we have the introduction of another iconic villain, Electro. Originally, Max Dillon was a selfish lineman, who wouldn’t help a coworker unless money was offered. One day, he is struck by lightning and gains the ability to generate and control electricity. Obviously, he uses his powers to become a criminal.

He robs a bank while Jameson’s there and his attitude convinces him that Electro must secretly also be Spider-Man. He rushes to publish his theory, after the police don’t take him seriously, and berates Peter to get him some photo evidence.

Peter, however, is worried about Aunt May. She’s sick and in need of a costly operation. Peter tries to capture Electro for the reward money, but gets electrocuted. Instead, he sells Jameson some fake pictures showing that Spider-Man is indeed Electro. Jameson feels a bit bad for cheating Peter on the price, but Peter feels ashamed for lying and promises to make up for it, somehow.

Aunt May makes a full recovery - to the point she’s able to take a vacation in Florida by the next issue - and Peter feels free to go after Electro.

He decided to get himself a criminal gang by freeing some inmates. It was going well, until Spider-Man shows up and they decide they’re safer inside their cells. Electro goes after him, but Peter came prepared with rubber gloves and shoes. In the end, he defeats Electro by hosing him down with water.

He also makes it up to Jameson with some photos of the Spider-Man/Electro fight and Jameson forgives him for the fake photos. Peter and Betty have their first spat: she’s not happy about him getting himself in danger over some photos, after she asked him no to, and he’s not happy about her trying to control him, but they make up in the end.

Things go sideways between the two lovebirds when a new criminal gang shows up. The Enforcers take over all criminal activity, and that includes a loan shark that Betty must repay. She ends up fleeing New York, because she doesn’t want Peter to get involved in her problems.

Jameson is now convinced Spider-Man is the leader of the Enforcers, while Peter suspects Jameson at one point. In the end, the Big Man is one of Jameson’s reporters, which leaves both dumbfounded.

And the reason Jameson hates Spider-Man so much is revealed. The truth is that Jameson can’t respect himself with Spider-Man around. He has always been greedy, but Spider-Man helps people without expecting anything in return, so the only thing Jameson can do is to tear him down, to appease his jealousy.

Random stuff:

Spider-Man uses his webs to make a sling for his arm, a heart for Sue and a spider to scare a bad guy he’s interrogating.

Aunt May needs a blood transfusion. Peter hesitates to give his blood at first, worried about how it might affect her, but May doesn’t seem to get spider powers…

Betty thinks the only one who can help her is Spider-Man, but why would he?