MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE No. 3, May 1974 |
To make matters worse, even the half-realised insight into “Daredevil’s ongoing battle with Nekra and the Mandrill” which this comic does depict isn’t arguably all that satisfying, courtesy of the Missouri-born author’s insistence to predominantly focus the opening third of “Inside Black Spectre!” on Reed Richards’ experiments upon the child-like Wundarr in order to design the super-powered alien a brand new costume. True, this sequence does lead to an enjoyable acrobatic display from Matt Murdock’s alter-ego, but it’s then rather trivialised by depicting the blind crime-fighter having to ask the Fantastic Four for his baton back like he was some hapless child who had inadvertently kicked their ball over into someone’s back garden; "Listen… I need your help. I, eh, left my billy club up on your roof, and…”
Adding to this book’s choppiness is an utterly whacky theatre date Murdock ‘enjoys’ with Foggy Nelson’s mysterious sister Candace. Featuring an actor dressed as Captain America who is then brutally gunned down by a suicidal Adolf Hitler lookalike, this farcical fuss seems to have been solely manufactured as a contrivance to have Matt chase after the Black Widow’s “bizarre aircraft” across New York’s skyline, and makes as much sense as Daredevil subsequently attempting to drop-kick Ben Grimm into submission so as to steal the Fantasticar from the top of the Baxter Building.
Resultantly, perhaps this comic’s one saving grace are Sal Buscema’s layouts, which together with Joe Sinnott’s inking, incredibly manage to bring many of the aforementioned oddities to dynamic life. The heroic duo’s fisticuffs against Nekra and her goon squad appear especially well-pencilled, with an enraged Ben Grimm tossing around his would-be attackers like they were skittles, and completely ignoring the best efforts of Natasha Romanova to bring the Thing down with her famous Widow’s Sting.
Writer: Steve Gerber, Artist: Sal Buscema, and Inker: Joe Sinnott |
No comments:
Post a Comment