Episode 69 - Murdock and Marvel: 2005 Part 2
It was a great year in comics, and maybe a turning point. Movies, events and accolades abounded. But somehow it all worries me a bit, in retrospect.
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 2005.
The Year in Daredevil
Appearances: Daredevil #67-78, Daredevil: Redemption #1-6, Daredevil: Father #1-4, Exiles #54, 56 and 62, Marvel Age Spider-Man #15, New Avengers #1-3 and 11, Powerless #6, Ultimate Elektra #4-5, Bullseye: Greatest Hits #4, Marvel Knight 4 #13, What if…Karen Page Had Lived? #1, Wolverine #23-24, Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11, Ultimates 2 #3, Hercules #1, Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects #2-6, Marvel Team-Up #9-10, Daredevil vs Punisher #1-5, House of M #5-7, Ultimate Fantastic Four #22, Black Widow 2 #1-2, Defenders #4, Secret War #5, Weapon X: Days of Future Now #4 along with the Elektra: On the Rise, New Avengers: Pot of Gold, Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee graphic novels
Writing: Brian Michael Bendis (#67-78)
Pencils: Alex Maleev (#67-78)
Inks: Alex Maleev (#67-78)
- The year begins with the continuation of the Golden Age storyline that starts in December. In it, we learn immediately about Alexander Bont (the Kingpin before Wilson Fisk). He was released from prison and plans to get revenge on Daredevil and Matt Murdock for helping him go to prison. Across the 5 issues, we see just how powerful Bont was and how Daredevil got him arrested as well as how Murdock made sure he went to prison for most of his life. Bont enlists the reformed Gladiator to kidnap and beat Murdock before attempting to reveal his now widely known secret on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen.
- Meanwhile, Agent Del Toro of the FBI approaches Matt Murdock asking for help understanding why he and others are superheroes and how to come to terms with her inheriting the White Tiger Amulet from her now deceased uncle Hector Ayala. Murdock as Daredevil does help, helping her to learn to use the Amulet and her new powers – which comes in handy as Del Toro is the one who comes to Murdock’s rescue from Gladiator and Bont.
- After that, we get one of my favorite Bendis stories to date – Decalogue. In it, we see a support group, the Devil Among Us, trying to come to grips of their re-ins with our horned hero. Things start with a junkie telling how she started going straight after seeing her boyfriend and his enlisted help Bullet get taken down when they had designs for taking over for Kingpin after Daredevil’s proclamation, he was the new Kingpin. We get a story from another group member about failing to honor his father’s wish from prison to have Foggy Nelson killed.
- From there, the stories and the group take a turn. The DD support group continues and the wife of a super-powered serial killer tells how DD tracked down her husband but refused to let him fall to his death; The killer's last intended victim whom DD saved turns out to be a member of the group and doesn't take kindly to the story of a troubled man plagued by demons.
- The DD support group continues with the tale of one of Milla Donovan's friends who went to her wedding with Matt Murdock and whose daughter later killed herself after surviving a bank robbery by the Jester. A goading and mysterious member of the group pipes up and promises there are deep dark secrets in all these tales and points out that Matt Murdock is there in the group with them; And he is.
- The story ends with Murdock confronting the Demon that had possessed the Jester (and is currently inhabiting the mysterious member of the group) and interfered with so many lives after which he tries to explain to the group why he does the things he does; For the first time, Matt Murdock publicly admits to outsiders that he is DD.
- After that, we get one last story from Brian Michael Bendis that spills over into 2006 – The Murdock papers. In it, we see the Kingpin attempt to use the knowledge of Murdock’s secret identity to leverage a pardon for all his crimes from the FBI all with Ben Urich unwilling assistance. Claiming he has physical evidence proving Murdock is Daredevil, he gets Urich to write a story saying Kingpin is willing to tell all – forcing the FBI to decide to pursue a case against Murdock rather than their very weak case against Fisk.
- At the same time, Milla Donovan has a change of heart and wants to be with Murdock again – which he happily wants as well.
- This leads to Elektra and Black Widow (along with the recently fired Agent Del Toro) trying to help Daredevil get the papers before the FBI does from Fisk’s lawyer’s office. There’s a big confrontation that includes Bullseye and in which Daredevil gets shot and is briefly presumed dead. Fisk reveals that the papers were a lie and meant to flush Daredevil out so the FBI could arrest him.
- The conclusion of this epic storyline (and the Bendis run on Daredevil) will be our spotlight for this year…
This Week's Spotlight: #80 February 2006 “The Murdock Papers Part 5” and Daredevil #81 March 2006 “The Murdock Papers Part 6”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway
The beginning of an Golden Age? Or the harbinger of future problems?
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.
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History
DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_superhero_debuts
https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/
https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards/past-recipients/past-recipients-1990s/
