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[Mike Murdock]

Skipping ahead in honor of St. Patrick's Day

Daredevil Vol. 1 #205 - The Gael

[Mike Murdock]

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit (Happy St. Patrick's Day). I have friends who are very Irish(-American) and that means they're very enthusiastic about their perception about their homeland. I suspect Dennis O'Neil was the same way. This issue is just dripping with Irishness. It begins with someone with a strong accent murdering people while calling them "boyo." Then we are introduced to Glorianna O'Breen, Debbie Nelson's niece. It's an odd way she's introduced. It really feels like O'Neil is setting up a love interest and doesn't have time to waste. Here's her backstory, here's her personality (she's Irish and likes taking pictures), and here's how she's going to collide with Matt (Debbie told her to stay at his place). Still, it's combined with the Gael story so there's still a sense of drama. I also like the Irish Republican Army stuff and the spider's web of hidden loyalty (it almost has a Kingpin vibe where anyone could be on the take, so to speak).

Apparently, the clue to solve the mystery of the Gael is in Glori's camera. I like the scene. Matt can't solve it by himself since he can't see the photographs. He tries to ask Becky for help, but to no avail. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Glori manages to get kidnapped by the Gael. The Gael interests me as a villain. He clearly isn't stronger or faster than Daredevil. But he is quick-witted and ruthless, which works well as a combination. Still, this is a very fast-paced issue that does not leave a lot of time for anything to sink in. I'll still give it Four Stars.
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[Dimetre]

So I'm writing this the day after St. Patrick's Day. I'm only one eighth Irish, and it always amuses me how excited people in my city of Toronto get -- wearing green, overdrinking and singing Irish Rovers songs. Meanwhile, this issue from the mid '80s shows a side of the old country that doesn't match up with the merry stereotype. Things weren't good in Ireland in the 80s, at least not politically.

This issue marks the debut of Glorianna O'Breen whose presence would loom large in the series for the next hundred or so issues. I had forgotten she was Debbie Nelson's niece, which makes the relationship that would develop between Foggy and Glorianna during "Born Again" seem somewhat messy, although the age difference doesn't seem that big.

During writer Denny O'Neil's run, he seems to have actively avoided stories with supervillains. O'Neil seems to have focused on situations that challenge Matt on a basic character level. I agree with Mike that the highlight of this issue was his inability to draw clues from the photographs. O'Neil told our webmaster Kuljit in an interview 25 years ago that he viewed Matt's blindness as a narrative plus, and he's not the only Daredevil writer to say so. Often the things that Matt can't do force him to operate in a way that's unique to him, and that makes him more distinct from other heroes in the Marvel Universe.

The Gael's brutality makes him a threat, but I don't find him to be a memorable character otherwise. I can see how an Irish writer working on a book about an Irish-American hero would want to do this story, but as a fan of O'Neil's run I think this is far from his best Daredevil work. It's in now way bad though, and this is some of William Johnson's best art. It's little moments like when O'Neil use three panels to show Matt's phone ringing, him saying, "Just a moment", and then passing the receiver to Glorianna saying, "For you." It's such a small thing, but spacing the moment out over three panels adds weight. It just shows me that O'Neil and Johnson were master craftsmen who understood the medium and knew what they were doing.

I'm giving this issue a 3.5 out of 5.