Episode 10 - Murdock and Marvel: 1972

This week it seems everything is coming up Marvel, as Stan Lee and his expanding young team seem to be flooding the market, but a lot of other interesting things happened around the comic world.

Preshow

• Marvel Snap new season: Thunderbolts
• https://www.marvelsnap.com/newsdetail?id=7296765558303775494

The Year in Comics

Superheroes take a bit of a back stage...

The Big Stories

• Betty and Veronica: The Leading Ladies of Riverdale: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538129739/Betty-and-Veronica-The-Leading-Ladies-of-Riverdale
• Maus: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171065/the-complete-maus-by-art-spiegelman/

Goethe Awards

Shazam Winners

The Year in Marvel

New Titles (and lots of reprints)

New Characters

Big Moments

Who's in the Bullpen

• ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jim Starlin

• Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World Inside Your Head by Eliot Borenstein https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501769368/marvel-comics-in-the-1970s/

The Year in Daredevil

Appearances: Daredevil #83-94, Incredible Hulk #152-153

• Gerry Conway wrote most of these issues with Gene Colan on art. Stan Lee starts as editor to start the year, but Roy Thomas takes over in issue #91. Stan Lee is still named in the other issues as “presenting”.
• The year starts with Daredevil trying to convince Black Widow to trust the police and his friend the District Attorney and she ultimately goes to prison. The case is eventually dismissed because the body of Scorpion was lost in an explosion during a battle between Daredevil and Mr. Hyde. I should note that we aren’t actually sure if there ever was a body.
• A plot to blackmail Foggy Nelson by Mr. Klein causes him to resign as District Attorney. Yet he seems to have remained D.A.? Not sure what happened there.
• In the Hulk books, Matt Murdock represents Bruce Banner and ends up angering the Hulk despite trying to follow Bruce Banners wishes and getting his client a fair trial.
• Black Widow heads to Switzerland and meets with a doctor who says they can restore sight to the blind. She calls Murdock in New York and he heads there only to find out the doctor was Mr. Klein/MK-9/The Assassin. We learn the android is a being known as Baal from the future who’s traveled back in time to stop the end of humanity. Two Executioners from Baal’s time arrive and kill him during a final confrontation.
• Next, Daredevil and Black Widow take on the Gladiator during their flight back to the U.S. They are able to defeat him and his accomplices with Daredevil then landing the plane.
• Back in New York, It looked like Karen Page and her Agent Phil were going to end up together in California but upon arriving in New York, Matt runs into Karen at the airport and the two share a kiss and an embrace, causing heartache to Natasha.
• Daredevil takes on the Ox after his release from prison but during the battle, the Ox’s radiation builds up to a point that he explodes. After the battle, Karen admits to Matt that she still cannot handle him being Daredevil, and leaves him to return to L.A. Matt then rekindles his romance with the Black Widow and the two move to San Francisco.
• Once in San Fran, the two must take on Electro and Killgrave separately before the two team up in an effort to take down Daredevil – none of which actually works. The team-up issue will be our Spotlight issue this week.
• Black Widow talks about Danny French and Project 4 from her past with Daredevil and Ivan Petrovich and thinks it may be related to bouts of fear that is causing issues with them crime fighting. Turns out it was a new Mr. Fear whom Daredevil confronts and takes down at Jason Sloan’s law office.
• Starting with issue 92, The covers list the title as “Daredevil and the Black Widow”
• The year ends with Daredevil and Black Widow taking on Indestructible Man who’s after the Project 4 sphere. The final battle goes poorly until Danny French throws a spear at the glove providing Damon Dran’s powers. The resulting explosion destroys Dran's powers and seemingly kills Drann. However, this victory comes at a cost, Danny bore the brunt of the explosion and dies in Black Widow’s arms with Daredevil looking on.

New Powers, Toys or Places

New Supporting Characters

New Villains

This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #89 July 1972 "Crisis in the Sky"

Recap

Why We Picked This Story

The Takeaway

Marvel reaches the top of the mountain

Questions or comments

We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES

Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.

The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.

Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.

Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.

The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.