Marvel Mondays: "Daredevil" #102

Hey folks! I now know why there was so much stuff posted yesterday on Wizard Universe...I had posted stuff stretching TWO days! Well, there's quite a lot more stuff today, so enjoy!

Have I mentioned that Daredevil is now one of my favourite characters in the Marvel Universe? Ever since Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada relaunched the title as part of the Marvel Knights stable, the book has gone from strength to strength. Then Brian Michael Bendis started his legendary run and Ed Brubaker now carries on that legacy.

It's remarkable, considering there's nothing really special about Daredevil. Sure, he's got pretty unique powers. But he can't shoot lightning bolts out of his arse or anything fancy like that...he's just an expert hand-to-hand combatant with a radar sense and enhanced senses...and those enhanced senses are sometimes more of a disadvantage than an advantage!

So why do I like the character so much? Perhaps it's because he's a flawed hero. He makes bad choices in his personal life (some of which he's been pushed into) and his interaction with his supporting cast makes it one of the best reads right now. Daredevil, the hero, isn't anything special, when you're talking about superpowers. Matt Murdock, the CHARACTER though, now there's someone unique and special.


MARVEL MONDAYS: 'DAREDEVIL' #102
A glimpse at Mr. Fear and a look at Daredevil’s most vicious vendettas throughout history
By Brian Warmoth

Posted November 26, 2007 5:10 PM

Daredevil’s long history with Mr. Fear dates back for decades, but the masked villain crossed a new line when he sent Murdock’s wife Milla over the edge into a drug-induced psychotic rage. Now, Milla sits in a mental institution and things are very personal for the Man Without Fear. Mr. Fear earned a slot on top of an elite list of villains to land on the wrong end of one of Daredevil’s grudges. Alongside a preview of this week’s Daredevil #102, here are the worst of Daredevil’s rogues and what happened to them.

FIXER
The Grudge: Roscoe Sweeny had Matt Murdock’s dad Jack killed after the veteran boxer refused to throw a fight. If that wasn’t bad enough, he slipped right through the legal system and back onto the streets. The crime inspired Matt to take on his identity as Daredevil.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Daredevil not only managed to track down his father’s assailant Slade, he also found the Fixer in a subway and scared the life out of him—literally, the old man had a heart attack and croaked.

MICAH SYNN
The Grudge: Synn beat Daredevil to a pulp and then not only got a restraining order filed against him, but also tarnished his image in the media and kidnapped Murdock’s secretary. Synn also messed around with Foggy Nelson’s wife and used her against both Nelson and Murdock.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Daredevil teamed together with the Kingpin to completely dismantle Synn's crime syndicate and reduced the bare-chested pile of machismo to a groveling, begging embarrassment to supervillains everywhere.

KINGPIN
The Grudge: The Kingpin outed Daredevil as Matthew Murdock to the F.B.I. and got him thrown in jail. Then he had Murdock's partner and pal Foggy Nelson brutally stabbed. Unfortunately for him, the F.B.I. threw the Kingpin for a loop and tossed him in jail as well, right along with Murdock.
Daredevil’s Revenge: When a prison riot broke out and Daredevil and the Kingpin were forced to look out for each other momentarily, Murdock let the Kingpin catch a crippling blow from Bullseye and jumped out of jail with the big criminal Kahuna still behind bars in a world of pain.

OWL
The Grudge: The Owl got way out of line and teased Murdock about Foggy’s stabbing. The crude comments hit a nasty chord with the recently arrested hero.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Murdock slammed a few fistfuls of hurt into the Owl in response to the taunt and left him with a few bruises to remember him by.

MR. FEAR
The Grudge: Murdock’s law school classmate Larry Cranston carried his own grudge into a career as the third Mr. Fear. Partnering with chemist Dante Govich, Cranston lashed out at Milla and drugged her into a psychotic stupor.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Daredevil’s out for blood now, as well as an antidote for Milla’s condition. As history shows, messing with Daredevil’s loved ones rarely ends with a slap a on the wrist.

---

[PREVIEW] Daredevil Annual #1

Seems like Brian Michael Bendis' and Ed Brubaker's arcs on Daredevil are linked so closely that everything seems interconnected. I'm really loving reading Daredevil when I pick up the TPBs...so much so that I want to pick up the HCs and preserve all those awesome stories!

The Daredevil Annual #1 is coming up:


[PREVIEW] DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1
An under-the-weather Matt Murdock comes face to face with Black Tarantula—is he friend or foe?

Posted October 29, 2007 3:55 PM

Daredevil’s having a tough week. A flu bug has rendered his radar power useless, a Yakuza gang is trying to reclaim its power in Hell’s Kitchen, and there’s a murder to be solved. Now, he has to deal with a visitor from his time in prison—Carlos LaMuerto, aka the Black Tarantula. Carlos has been released, and he’s looking to Matt Murdock for some help in setting up a new life on the outside. Will Murdock and LaMuerto end up as allies, or foes? Will Black Tarantula really go straight, or will his inner demons lure him back to his crimelord past?

DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1
Written by ED BRUBAKER & ANDE PARKS
Penciled by ROY ALLEN MARTINEZ
Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Rated T+…$3.99
On sale 10/31/07

Comic Book Movie Poll

Wizard Universe has got a fabulous comic book movie poll! Go log onto their site and vote for your favourite answers!

I'll be commenting on which my selections would be within the post.

COMIC BOOK MOVIE POLL
Best actor? Sexiest heroine? Worst movie? Tell us what you think about your favorite (or least favorite) comic book movies!

Posted October 8, 2007 11:45 AM

Here at Wizard, our favorite types of movies are, of course, those based on comic books. We can be the biggest critics, but now, we’d like to hear what you think! We’ve assembled a few questions about comic book movies that have come out already and would like to know your opinions! Check for the results in the next Wizard Movie Spectacular issue, on sale Dec. 5th in comic book shops!

Of the following, which male actor gave the best performance as a superhero in a movie based on a comic book?
Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine in “X-Men”
Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in “Spider-Man”
Ron Perlman as Hellboy in “Hellboy”
Welsey Snipes as Blade in “Blade”
Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman in “Superman”
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman in “Batman Begins”

This is a tough one. A VERY tough one. I'd have to think long and hard before actually voting for this one. I love Maguire's turn in Spider-man, just like I loved Jackman's role as Wolverine. But because Christopher Reeve preceded them a good 20+ years ago, that would have to be my vote.


Which of the following female actors gave the best performance as a non-superheroine in a movie based on a comic book?
Natalie Portman as Evey in “V for Vendetta”
Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo in “300”
Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner in “American Splendor”
Rachel Weisz as Angela/Isabel Dodson in “Constantine”
Thora Birch as Enid in “Ghost World”

Not much choice, eh? I really like Thora Birch in Ghost World, but this one would easily be Natalie Portman. And no, I'm not biased or anything. :p


Who is the hottest movie superheroine?
Helen Slater as Supergirl in “Supergirl”
Halle Berry as Storm in the “X-Men” movies
Famke Janssen as Jean Grey in the “X-Men” movies
Pamela Anderson as Barb Wire in “Barb Wire”
Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman in the “Fantastic Four” movies
Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl in “Batman and Robin”

Ugh. Who's the hottest movie superheroine or who's the hottest out of all these women who HAPPEN to play a movie superheroine? Ask me ten years ago, I would have easily answered Alicia Silverstone. I didn't like Alba's bimbo-esque Sue Storm though, so I'm giving this to Famke Janssen, just because I loved her interpretation of Jean Grey...though Jean could have been so much hotter.


Which of the following is the best movie based on a Dark Horse comic book?
“Sin City”
“300”
“Hellboy”
“The Mask”
“Mystery Men”

Close one between Sin City and 300. And I really loved Hellboy too. But I think I'll go Sin City.


Which of the following has done the best job directing a comic book movie?
Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man” movies)
Christopher Nolan (“Batman Begins”)
Zack Snyder (“300”)
Guillermo del Toro (“Hellboy”)
Bryan Singer (“X-Men” and “X2”)
Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller (“Sin City”)

Bryan Singer for sure. Not only did her predate the rest of the directors for comic book movies, he almost singlehandedly revived the genre with the success of X-men, after Batman and Robin pretty much crippled the comic book movie market. Plus Sam Raimi gets knocked down a few rungs because of certain scenes in Spidey 3.


Which of the following was the coolest shout-out to die-hard fans in a comic book movie?
The Fastball Special in “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Sentinel head in “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Stan Lee not being able to get into Sue and Reed’s wedding in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Uncle Ben telling Peter, “With great power comes great responsibility” in “Spider-Man”
The appearance of a dormant Roger the Homunculus in the BPRD headquarters in “Hellboy”
The appearance of Willie Lumpkin the mailman in “Fantastic Four”

Stan Lee not getting into the FF wedding was hilarious. Uncle Ben's speech to Peter was poignant and fantastic...just a classic moment. I hated the Fastball special. But I think, to answer the question, the coolest shout-out for comic book fans had to tbe the Sentinel head.


Which of the following comic book movie moments gave you the biggest goose bumps?
Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent ripping his shirt open to reveal the big “S” on his chest in “Superman”
Christopher Reeve as Superman heralding his return by saying, “General, would you care to step outside?” in “Superman II”
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine baring his claws for the first time during the fight in the seedy Canadian bar in “X-Men”
Michael Keaton as Batman saying, “I’m Batman” in Tim Burton’s “Batman”
The first time Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze transforms into Ghost Rider in “Ghost Rider”

The comic book movie moment that gave me the biggest goosebumps isn't one of the choices...it was in X-Men 2 when Colossus "armoured up" for the first time. But that isn't one of the choices, so I'll go with Christopher Reeve ripping his shirt open. Such an iconic image.


Of the following, which was the best one-liner in a comic book movie?
“You’re a d--k.” –Wolverine to Cyclops in “X-Men”
“What do they call you? Wheels?” -Wolverine to Prof. X in “X-Men”
“I’m giving away money, and where is the Batman? He’s at home, washing his tights!” –Joker to henchman in “Batman”
“Do you know why the number 200 is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It’s your weight and my I.Q.” –Lex Luthor to Otis in “Superman”
“That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?” –Spider-Man to Bonesaw McGraw in “Spider-Man”

"Wheels!" Easily, out of the other choices. There are so many more classic one-liners though, and I've got so many other favourites than those listed here.


Which superhero looked best in their panel-to-screen translation?
Daredevil in “Daredevil”
Ghost Rider in “Ghost Rider”
Superman in “Superman”
Batman in “Batman Begins”
Spider-Man in “Spider-Man”

Spider-man. Superman did look kinda cheesy in his costume even though he made everyone believe a man can fly. And while Batman really looks awesome, it's gotta be Spidey, simply because of the acrobatics involved when swinging around in New York City and the breathtaking camera angles.


Which is your favorite comic book movie city?
New York in “Spider-Man”
Gotham City in “Batman”
Gotham City in “Batman Begins”
Metropolis in “Superman Returns”
Sin City in “Sin City”

Sin City comes close, but let's go with the ONLY city listed there based on a real city: New York.


Which is your favorite headquarters in a comic book movie?
Xavier’s Mansion (“X-Men”)
Matt Murdock’s apartment (“Daredevil”)
Fortress of Solitude (“Superman” and “Superman II”)
BPRD headquarters (“Hellboy”)
The Batcave (“Batman”)
The Baxter Building (“Fantastic Four”)

Xavier's Mansion. Because we got to see so many cool cameos within the mansion. Plus, Danger Room!


Which of the following is the coolest comic book movie vehicle?
The Fantasticar in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Ghost Rider’s motorcycle in “Ghost Rider”
The Tumbler in “Batman Begins”
The X-Jet in “X-Men” and “X2”
The Batmobile in “Batman”
Green Goblin’s rocket sled in “Spider-Man”

I thought the Tumbler would look ridiculous before actually seeing the movie, but it came off really well. So that's my coolest comic book movie vehicle...mainly because that really could be something that could be developed in real life. For a long time, I thought the original Batmobile from Burton's Batman was awesome though. I still do...Tumbler edges it out though.


Which of the following comic book movies had the best special effects?
“X-Men: The Last Stand”
“Spider-Man 3”
“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
“Ghost Rider”
“Hellboy”

I'd actually have gone with X-Men 2. But since those are the choices...I think I've got to go with Spider-man 3 because of Venom!


Which is the best series of comic book movie films?
“X-Men,” “X2” and “X-Men: The Last Stand”
“Superman,” Superman II,” “Superman III” and “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”
“Batman,” “Batman Returns,” “Batman Forever” and “Batman and Robin”
“Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Spider-Man 3”
“Fantastic Four” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
“Blade,” “Blade II” and “Blade: Trinity”

OoOo...tough one. The first two Superman movies are perhaps the most iconic comic book movies of all time. But III and IV were just poo. I liked Batman, but being lumped with Batman and Robin means it's out of contention. Only watched Blade and not the other. Fantastic Four was ok...nothing spectacular compared to the rest. Even though X-Men 2 is probably my favourite comic book movie of all time so far, I'd have to go with the Spider-man series.


Which of the following theatrical releases was the worst movie based on a comic book?
“Howard the Duck”
“The Punisher” (1989)
“Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”
“Batman and Robin”
“Steel”

What, you mean there's a choice? Batman and Robin wins hands down EVERY TIME.


What is your favorite straight-to-DVD animated movie from the past two years?
“Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms”
“Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron”
“Ultimate Avengers”
“Ultimate Avengers II”
“The Invincible Iron Man”
“Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme”
“Superman Doomsday”

Really hard to choose, since I've only watched Ultimate Avengers I and II. I'll go with Ultimate Avengers though.


Who’s your favorite X-Men movie villain?
Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto in all movies
Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut in “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Brian Cox as Stryker in “X2”
Aaron Stanford as Pyro in “X2” and “X-Men: The Last Stand”
Tyler Mane as Sabretooth in “X-Men”
Rebecca Romijn as Mystique in all movies

Geez, the deck is stacked in this choice. Obviously Magneto.


Who’s your favorite Batman movie villain?
Jack Nicholson as the Joker in “Batman”
Liam Neeson as Ra’s Al Ghul in “Batman Begins”
Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in “Batman Returns”
Jim Carrey as Riddler in “Batman Forever”
Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy in “Batman and Robin”

As much as I liked Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Ra's Al Ghul, portrayed by Liam Neeson, wins hands down.


Who’s your favorite Spider-Man movie villain?
Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin in “Spider-Man”
Topher Grace as Venom in “Spider-Man 3”
Thomas Haden Church as Sandman in “Spider-Man 3”
Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in “Spider-Man 2”
James Franco as the new Green Goblin in “Spider-Man 3”

VENOM! Actually, no, because he wasn't given that much screen time. Topher Grace was awesome as a big jerkoff though. I'd vote for Dock Ock for this one.


Which was Stan Lee’s best cameo?
As a security guard in “Hulk”
As a hot dog vendor in “X-Men”
As a man dodging debris in “Spider-Man”
As Willie Lumpkin in “Fantastic Four”
As himself in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”

Hot dog vendor! I suppose his most SIGNIFICANT role would be as Willie Lumpkin, but hot dog vendor was the first classic appearance.

Living Between Wednesdays is just awesome!

I enjoy reading the blog entries from Living Between Wednesdays. Heck, it's because of Living Between Wednesdays that I decided to start up my own blog dedicated to comics and pop culture (though most of it is cut-and-paste stuff from Wizard Universe, I must admit)! And I really enjoyed reading THIS entry:

Rating the Super Hunks #15: Daredevil

Pretty current with the Daredevil stuff I'm reading now. The entry is so much fun! It's funny, it's got witty commentary, and best of all, it AGREES that Ben Affleck should never have been Daredevil, his buddy Matt Damon should have been!

Love the way she's posted all those panels where Daredevil has uttered some double entendre lines. The first one about grabbing the pole is just classic.

Catching up on reading TPBs

No new updates from Wizard Universe today, unfortunately...nothing that really interests me much. There's an interview with Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey and Chris Yost about the latest storyline, Messiah Complex, that's going to be the prevalent storyarc in the X-Men titles, but I've been weaned off the X-Universe for quite a long time now that it doesn't really interest me much anymore. The last real storyarc/series I read was Morrison and Quitely's run on New X-Men...and not only was that ages ago, but I didn't even get the single issues and resorted to purchasing the HCs and TPBs to read the entire storyline! Oh yeah, must remind myself to save up for that New X-Men Omnibus...I really love those Marvel Omnibuses which are something like the DC Absolute Editions, though with less extras but more issues collected.

I'd finished reading Preacher Vol.7, so I'm about 70 to 80 per cent through the entire series. Jarrod from Classic Comics rang me yesterday evening to inform me that Preacher Vol.8 is in store now, so once I get it, just another two more TPBs to read and I'd have read the Preacher series for the third time. It gets better everytime I read it...learn so much more! I'd really love for one day to have loads of free time to read the entire series from cover to cover in one go. Would take me a good portion of the day methinks. But hell, it'd be worth it.

Obviously, I needed something else to read in the meantime, since I didn't know when Preacher Vol.8 was going to be available, so I started on Brian K. Vaughan's Y - The Last Man Vol.8. I've got the seven previous volumes back in Singapore and I THOUGHT I'd remember enough of the story to make reading the latest TPB worthwhile...but alas, it felt like just jumping into the series midway with not much of an idea what had happened previously before! That's one of the reasons why I decided to get the ENTIRE Preacher series again here...I wanted to have the whole collection to read in the one go. Y - The Last Man is absolutely brilliant as well and well worth getting the entire series too. Hmmm...priorities.

I started on the Ed Brubaker run of Daredevil as well last night, which is kinda nice because while it was good to have some previous idea of what happened in the past in Brian Michael Bendis' run, it certainly wasn't necessary to know ALL that had transpired. Got through the first three issues in the TPB and it's as good as the critics have said. I really love the whole notion of Daredevil's secret identity being outed in the press, then everyone looking at him as if he's this street urban vigilante who fights crime at night but fights evil in the court of law in the day. Which is exactly what he does...but now with the added "twist" that people know and shoot accusatory glares at him!

It's funny seeing how Murdock keeps denying that he's Daredevil, but then proceeds to prove that he's anything BUT a blind man. Take for instance: Murdock is thrown in jail and he keeps telling the prison warden that he's not Daredevil. So the prison warden, who's been bought off, sets a trap for him in which a group of superthugs all jump Murdock, hoping to shiv him. A couple of panels later, the prison guards bust in and they find everyone bruised, bloody and down for the count...all except Murdock, who's ATTEMPTING to hide in the corner, completely unharmed. Murdock's excuse? That the thugs (who ALL work for the same person) just started beating up on each other and in the panic, he was trying to find some corner to escape the violence. Yeah, I'm sure they'd believe that.

There are too many incidents in the prison where the prisoners all start heading to the infirmary, one by one. And is it a massive coincidence that these prisoners all have had run-ins with Murdock BEFORE being sent to the hospital? It doesn't look good for Murdock's secret identity, but I love the way that it's playing out this way. Oh! In the last panel of the third issue, we see a man snapping the neck of a wannabe rapist. A bunch of cops see this happening and they rush up to arrest the man. The man opens up his trenchcoat and then puts his arms up in the air, asking for the cops to arrest him and take him to prison...the same prison that Murdock is in.

All this is well and good, until they focus in on the man's chest and there's this eerie huge fricking skull on his chest. You guessed it...the Punisher wants to go to prison! Does he want to save Daredevil, his one time ally? Or does he want to kill him, since Daredevil has been his long-time nemesis...not nemesis in terms of "I want to kill you because you're my enemy", but nemesis because both of them don't agree on the way to deal with villains. Daredevil wants villains to go through due process in a court of law, while the Punisher, well, he wants to punish them by killing them all and letting God sort them out.

I can't wait to read the rest tonight!

Daredevil Art Attack!

Check out the awesome cover by Marko Djurdjevic for the upcoming Daredevil #100!

ART ATTACK!
Cover painter supreme Marko Djurdjevic takes us behind the scenes of creating his landmark cover to August’s Daredevil #100!

Posted August 27, 2007 1:50 PM

·“[Daredevil] Editor Warren Simons has complete trust in me when I’m working. Basically what he wanted here was a wraparound cover that featured Daredevil’s main allies and villains from the last 40 years—and a lot of ninjas.”

“I think I counted like 50 or 60 [ninjas]. I broke down where I wanted the bad guys and the good guys and then basically built the ninjas around them.”



“From initial sketch to final painting, it took me 50 hours to get [this cover] done.”

“In the initial sketch, Bullseye wasn’t there because I’m doing Thunderbolts covers as well and already drawing him like every other week, so I didn’t want to draw him again. [Laughs] Warren called after seeing the sketch and said, ‘I need Bullseye in there.’”