A recent thread on the highly entertaining
“Crivens” blog brought up the issue of what was the first Marvel comic that you purchased. Although I couldn’t be 100% certain on what that comic was (it may have been Sgt. Fury Annual issue 5) the question did make me ponder on the subject of what was the first issue of specific comic book titles that I purchased back in the day. The comic that immediately came to my mind as a “famous first” for me was the above issue of Daredevil (issue 87) which was released in February 1972. I still have a mental picture of seeing this comic neatly stacked along with some other titles in my local newsagents at time, around August that year. I had of course been aware of Daredevil before this day having read his adventures reprinted in various UK Alan Class comics and in the “Mighty World of Marvel” weekly comic where the characters stories appeared from February 1973 (issue 20) when he took over the pages made vacant when Spider-Man graduated to his own weekly title.
This was a great issue to be my first U.S. Daredevil comic. Not only was it the start of a new chapter for Daredevil and the Black Widow who were both relocating to a new city, but the internal art by the legendary Gene Colan was taken to new hights by the addition of Tom Palmers amazing inks (his first inks on Gene’s DD art for several issue). And of course the exciting cover by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia was a bonus.
An interesting storyline in this issue was the fact that not only had Matt and Natasha moved from New York to San Francisco they had also moved in together as a couple without actually being married. From memory this may have been the first time in a comic book that this had happened with two characters, although as noted in the page above Natasha makes it very clear that they will not (for the time being at least) be sharing a room or indeed will not even be living on the same floor of their new house.
In this story titled “From Stage Left, Enter: Electro.” after relocating to San Francisco Daredevil and the Black Widow battle Electro who himself has come to the city to make his name as a super villain on the West coast. Gaining the upper hand in the fight DD battles Electro forcing him to retreat from the fight. At the same time as the battle is in progress a man named Danny French arrives at their new house to ask for Natasha. This causes her some concern when Ivan, their driver/assistant informs her of his visit. The story of Danny French unravels over the next 4 issues where it is revealed that he and Natasha had undertaken a mission to obtain a powerful globe called Project 4.
I wouldn’t pick up another US edition of Daredevil (now titled “Daredevil and the Black Widow” ) until issue 106 around 1974 but I contented myself with reading their adventures in the weekly “Mighty World Of Marvel” comic.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
Although Sue Storm and Reed Richards had their own separate bedrooms in the Baxter Building, they were living in the same place, so perhaps they should be considered the first courting couple who 'lived together' in the MU. Having said that, in Strange Tales, Johnny and Sue were sometimes shown as sharing a house in their home town (I assume), so Sue and Johnny obviously split their time between there and the BB.
ReplyDeleteAhhh of course I never thought of Reed and Sue in that way, they always seemed married in my mind.
DeleteP.S. 'Highly entertaining Crivens blog'? You been on the 'sauce' again? However, thanks for the complimentary plug.
ReplyDeleteI will need to look at adding links on this blog. I keep forgetting.
DeleteThis is arguably my favorite era for DD. He and Widow had what seemed to my youthful eyes a healthy adult relationship. She was a strong woman who chose to be with him and vice versa. It wasn't the co-dependency of Janet and Hank, or even the gooey homespun civility of Reed and Sue, or the admitted novelty of Wanda and Vision, but rather was something else -- something that felt normal. A relationship and a partnership at the same time that wasn't built on some sort of personal weakness. And the art and stories were excellent throughout!
ReplyDeleteRip Off
That's actually how I looked their relationship at the time as well Rip. Hank and Janet turned into a very strange \ unsettling relationship. The Colan \ Palmer art team really were excellent, DD was my favourite strip for some time albeit reprinted in black and white in UK comics for art and story.
DeleteI like the Mighty World Of Marvel cover - too many UK-exclusive covers were badly drawn but that one is excellent (and the comic is dated Feb 17, my birthday).
ReplyDeleteThat cover's by Jim Starlin, CJ, and despite the cover date, it went on sale on February 10th.
DeleteI know that, Kid, but it's dated February 17th :)
DeleteMost of the first 30 or so (paper) covers were really nice Colin. Bit as the years went on some covers were shocking. As Kid says this one like most of the best UK ones , were by Jim Starlin.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Daredevil in that period. Checking my logbook from that period, I started collecting them with issue 88 (so missed your issue 87) and did an uninterrupted run through to #118. I also managed to get a number of earlier issues from second=hand shops, but probably didn't focus too much on that as I was reading reprints in MWOM. I do remember one of my earliest Marvel comics was one of those Mike Murdock/Matt Murdock stories (probably Daredevil #40 "The Death of Mike Murdock" that was an issue that Thorpe & Porter had re-purposed as one of 4 books trimmed and glued into a "special". It might even have been one of their DC specials, and a Marvel comic got slipped in?
ReplyDeleteI really rated Gene Colan's artwork, and hoped that one day he would draw Batman, as DD's resemblance to Batman attracted me to the character. Have you read the Vol 3 Daredevil run by Mark Waid and artists Paolo Rivera/Chris Sammee (amongst others?). I really enjoyed that run as evoking memories of DD in the 1960s.
I'm a big fan of Gene Colan's art as well but by the time he drew Batman I was getting a bit fed up with comics so I didn't appreciate his work on the character at that time. I loved the Waid\ Samnee Daredevil comic and bought it most months and even got the collected editions. It was a pity Samnee moved on from DD he was a great match for the character.
ReplyDelete