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C'mon, you have to admit - a blind superhero is quite an outrageous concept for a comicbook character, and one that perhaps only Smilin' STAN LEE could have come up with. I wonder how he managed to sell the idea to his publisher, Merry MARTIN GOODMAN - it surely couldn't have been easy.
"Er, how's that again? He swings around the city on a nylon rope and fights gun-totin' gangsters and super-powered criminals... but he's blind?! Are you outta your gourd, Stan?"
"Calm down, Martin. Yes, he can't see, but due to an accident with a radioactive cannister, he's developed a kind of radar sense and his other senses have been heightened to an unbelievable degree!"
"You're right, Stan - it is unbelievable. You're fired!"
And thus endeth the MARVEL AGE.
At least, that's how it could've happened, but thankfully didn't. Ol' Horn-head is still around today and remains one of MARVEL's most popular heroes amongst the ranks of comics fandom.
"Hey, I've got an idea - let's hold the show right here!"
What show? Why, the Daredevil Cover Gallery show, of course. So, without any further ado ('cos all our ado is done), here it is!
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10 comments:
Issue No.1 was awesome but Vinnie Colletta ruined some of he others with his inks. Thank goodness Wally Wood salvaged the series and John Romita and Gene Colan.
Well, I know he's not everyone's 'cup of tea', but I think Vince actually did a good job inking Joe Orlando in #s 2-4. Shame Woody didn't stay on the series longer 'though.
Hi Kid,
I do not think Daredeil was such a hard sell for Stan Lee. The character was not as unique as one might assume. Lee was probably aware of the pulp character "The Black Bat" that had appeared a quarter of a century earlier in 1939.
Like Matt Murdock, the Black Bat's secret identity also worked in the Law, as a District Attorney Tony Quinn.
He became the Black Bat following the loss of his eyesight after being splashed with acid by criminals. While blind he developed his other senses to a greater degree than normal. But more dramatically, following an eye transplant that restores his sight, he gains the ability to see in the dark! But he keeps this a secret and to the outside world Tony Quinn pretends that he is still blind. As the Black Bat, he brings criminals who escape the law to justice.
Interestingly this character appeared at approximately the same time as Batman and there was some controversy as to who copied who, because there was a number of similarities between the characters. Apparently, the publishers of the Black Bat even threatened DC with a lawsuit. There is also evidence according to writer Bill Finger, that the fins on Batman's gloves was indeed copied from the Black Bat.
So, maybe Lee just took the concept further into the realms of fantasy.
I am sure you are familiar with much of what I have written.
(Jake)
Actually, Jake, apart from the name The Black Bat, if I EVER knew the rest, I'd long since forgotten. Funnily enough, I know a real-life Tony Quinn, but he doesn't dress up in a Bat suit (that I know of). Thanks for the interesting info
Yeah I dropped a reference on the troublesome subject of Vince Colletta the other day, I didn't want to get under the guy who's blog it was skin so I kept it quite oblique. I would be one of those who spat that tea out. It's just that he's so intrusive, it's more a case of inked by V. Colletta, pencilled by [whoever], sure he doesn't offend consistently and some of is work seems more faithful, his work on Thor probably being that which I have most trouble with. My problems with him don't stop there though, some figures have ineffective modelling with ugly blacks blocked in, where there should be texture or moderation, he had a particular habit of omitting reverse hi lights. I'd speculate that was probably a result of his stated habit of cutting corners. Of course as a consumer, some complaints are just that, speculation, it's sometimes possible to overstate the problems and I feel the Vince bashing is occasionally a case of parroting complaints about his work.
Inking some of these guys must have been a tough job though, "...bloody 'ell Jack look at all those dots -- I'm gonna get cramp" but isn't it the inkers job to faithfully represent the artist's vision? Certainly the standard of pencils submitted by the greats of the comic industry offer no excuse for falling short of the task.
I'd have to disagree with you about his work on Thor, DSE - I thought Vince, despite all his 'shortcuts', gave JK's pencils an illustrative quality that suited the strip down to the ground. He made Kirby's musculature more realistic, diluting the 'squiggly line' dileanation of sinews, resulting in a more convincing representation of human anatomy.
As for 'faithfully representing the artist's vision', Stan Lee didn't regard that as the inker's job - he wanted the strengths of the inker to compensate for any weaknesses of the penciller - and the results of the combination of Kirby and Sinnott or Kirby and Colletta proves he was right, in my humble estimation.
When Wally Wood inked Jack's Challengers of the Unknown for DC, the finished product was better than either artist could have produced by themselves.
There's certainly some blue sky between us on the Thor/Kirby/Colletta issue but I'm conscious of kicking off another debate upon a subject, which let's face it, has been aired a mite too often already on a tenuous pretext. So I'm just gonna to enjoy Daredevil covers.
Enjoy away. You're allowed to express your opinions on this blog 'though - unlike some others. I don't ban anyone for disagreeing with me.
Kid,
when it comes to the subject of comics, I'm sure you have forgotten more than I will ever know.
Like I said before, even if you focus as far back as 40 or 50 years ago, most of the stuff on your blog is totally new to me
(Jake)
That's the handy thing about having books about comics, Jake. Anything I've forgotten or don't know, I can look up. Glad you're finding the blog interesting.
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