Daredevil Message Board

[brentdevil]

#158 that is, when does the story arc that leads up to that issue 'begin'? I'm collecting the single issues and want to have the complete story of which that was the final part of the Death Stalker thing. I know he came into it a few issues prior, but was there some distinct issue where all of the plot lines leading up to it started? Would the first Roger McKenzie issue, for example, be the place everything that later built into Miller's run came into play, or do I only need a couple issues beforehand?

Hope this is making sense. For example, if someone asked where the Elektra 'saga' began, you'd easily say 168. Other runs were defined by writer. The period before this, which hasn't really been collected, is nebulous. I'd bet money that a huge number of DD fans haven't read a single issue before Miller's first, save maybe a few Stan Lee stories.

[Dimetre]

I'm looking through my copy of Daredevil Masterworks Volume 14, and I would say it begins with #155. The Death Stalker only appears on one page though, and on another one the following issue. These two issues really set him up to dominate #157.

#155 is also the first appearance of Becky Blake!

[Thayrone Ibsen]

I think Dimetre's answer is reasonable, but I also think you would do a great service to yourself by beginning from #146...

Edit: because I think those two stories (the whole from #146 to #158) click well together.

[Dimetre]

Thayrone Ibsen makes a fair point.

If you'd like to hunt down a copy of Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Volume 14, it collects issues #144 until 158, so it would serve your purposes nicely, brentdevil.

[brentdevil]

These are great answers. I have all the DD Marvel Essentials, the only ones I haven't read are the issues they didn't collect. I feel like the line petered out right before getting one last volume in for every single title to sync up with the more modern stories. I'll probably hold out for an Epic Collection of these issues, or go for the singles.

144 or 146 sounds like a nice place to start? Who knows how these things work, Marvel in the 70s just had one long continuing soap opera with no beginning or end point. Probably would have been easier for Miller to just start with the next issue!

[Thayrone Ibsen]

You certainly are right about the '70s long hauls, so much so that I recommended picking up at least from #146, because much of the feeling/momentum from the story that ends in #158 comes from the process of the previous "arc" (if we can call it that).
And: even if not just only to see how that Death Stalker thing started, those stories are pretty good if you consider the low quality DD had before Miller reinvented it. I tend to argue that Miller actually took on the title at the wrong time, because McKenzie was nowhere near as bad as a looot of writers that preceded him, so it would be nice to read more of his DD. Oh well...