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The Name Of The Game Is... Mayhem!
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After the recent run of pin-ups, cartoons and satire it feels good to be talking about an actual bona fide superhero comic again, although Gene Colan's version arrival on the blog, after so much Jack Kirby, came as something of a shock to my delicate sense. It's a whole different, much more fluid, style, which I remember finding distinctly disconcerting when I first encountered it in my early comics reading days. I always thought that it looked like everyone was underwater and, coming back to it again now, I sort of see my point.
The bulk of the story is a continuation from the previous issue of 'Daredevil', with our hero having to rescue Sue Richards, who has been kidnapped yet again, and then chase down The Trapster. It's scripted by Stan Lee but feels very different from his style on The Fantastic Four. There are still side-stories and references to what's gone on before, but the focus on one central character rather than (at least) four makes it all much more direct and fast-moving, helped along by Gene Colan's art which, despite what 10 year old me may have thought, is perfectly suited to this story and features some gorgeous illustration.
Doctor Doom himself does not appear until the very last panel, when he discovers Daredevil regaining consciousness after his final battle. At the time this must have come as a terrific shock for the reader, as Doom had not been seen in regular continuity for almost a year, after disappearing at the end of Fantastic Four #60 and there had been no indication on the cover that he would be appearing. The fact that a single image of a character who is, technically speaking, a supporting character in a different magazine can be using as the astounding cliff hanger ending here demonstrates both the popularity of Doctor Doom and the assumption that someone reading one Marvel comic would be familiar with all the others,
Surprised, Tiger? They kinda hoped you would be! But what on earth is Doom doing here, in a New York subway, when the last we knew he was colliding with a cosmic barrier high up in the atmosphere? Come back next time (or rather the time after next, as there's more 'Not Brand Echh' to come) to find out!
link to information about this issue
posted 13/6/2018 by Mark Hibbett
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