FSC: DAREDEVIL #192

In the early 1980s, Frank Miller had a transformative run on DAREDEVIL. Starting out as only the book’s penciler, he began to shift it in tone, moving it away from the ersatz Spider-Man clone it had been towards something with a bit more of a noir sensibility to it. This process accelerated when he took over writing the series as well, and his run launched the title for perhaps the first time in its history to the forefront of popularity among the comic book fan community. There was no more electrifying and innovative series during this time than DAREDEVIL. But eventually, all things must come to an end, and Miler’s time as DAREDEVIL’s scribe and artist wrapped up with issue #191. And collectively, fans held their breaths: what was going to become of the series next?

DAREDEVIL #192 brought an answer, though it was only a momentary answer, unfortunately. Speaking for myself, I was pretty jazzed that Klaus Janson, who had been taking on more and more a role in the artwork particularly during the back half of Miller’s tenure, was staying in place as the regular artist and colorist. But more crucially for me, the writer of this issue turned out to be Alan Brennert. Brennert came from the world of television, but he’d written a number of notable stories for DC prior to this, including the classic “To End A Legend” in DETECTIVE COMICS #500 as well as some ridiculously good stories in BRAVE AND THE BOLD. The idea of him inheriting DAREDEVIL was incredibly exciting to me. Unfortunately, Brennert had done no such thing. Rather, he’s been commissioned by editor Denny O’Neil to write a single issue, effectively a fill-in to hold the line until a new regular writer could be found. (Denny would wind up taking that position himself.) So that was disappointing. But for one brief issue, we got a sense as to what a Brennert-helmed DAREDEVIL series might have looked like. And it was terrific.

As a number of stories prior to this had done, this issue focuses very heavily on Ben Urich, a Daily Bugle reporter introduced months earlier by Miller and Roger McKenzie. Urich had worked out the secret of Daredevil’s true identity, then chose to bury that potentially prize-winning piece of investigative journalism so as to not impede all of the good that the sightless crusader was doing for the city. Thereafter, Ben had become a regular player in the book, lending it a middle class ground level perspective among all of the ninjas and crime figures and super villains. He became a popular character, and when it seemed as though his life might have been snuffed out by Elektra at the close of one issue, fans were apoplectic.

The actual story involves two parallel threads. As the issue opens, Ben is on the rooftop of the Daily Bugle, being given information by a fellow reporter that Urich’s old mentor, former editor Jimmy Hughes, had been under the thumb of the mob, killing stories that the underworld didn’t like. The situation is too hot for the other reporter, and Urich is skeptical–but he’s willing to run it to ground. He’s also on the bullseye of a rifleman, but Daredevil shows up to kibosh the attempted hit. The gunman claims that he was only hired to scare the two reporters off of following up on the story, and Daredevil’s hyper-senses confirm that he’s telling the truth. After consulting with Ben, Daredevil agrees to help Urich get to the truth.

The other story thread involves Urich’s personal life and his wife Doris. She’s been steadily growing more and more unhappy with the shabby apartment that she and Ben live in, and an early morning encounter with cockroaches in the silverware drawer provides the impetus for the pair to seek out other living accommodations, in particular a house of their own. Doris doesn’t work, so she feels trapped in their small place all day, and even though she’s proud of Ben’s accomplishments, she wants more. So the couple goes house hunting, and while they find a place that Doris loves, it’s clear that they can’t afford the downpayment. But the broker claims that he needs to sell the place and is willing to work with his bank to make it possible for Urich to take ownership. it all seems too good to be true.

Daredevil, meanwhile, has tracked down and confirmed the evidence that Urich’s mentor Hughes was on the take. Disappointed, Urich heads over to the old man’s house to confront him with the news before he publishes it. Hughes doesn’t really even try to hide it, he just sighs forlornly and explains to Urich that it was the easiest thing in the world, just one small step after another and very soon he was in a position from which he couldn’t escape. When Urich gets on Hughes’ case about killing stories for the mob, Hughes retorts that Urich did the same thing in a recent story when his own life was threatened. So Ben realizes that he’s already a few steps down the slippery slope.

Daredevil also happens to be at the Urich apartment when the call comes in from the realtor informing Ben that he’d been able to get his financers to take a smaller down payment on the house the couple was looking at. Smelling a rat and hating himself for it, Daredevil runs down the fact that the property used to be owned by Frank Farnum, the villainous Masked Marauder, and since his demise has passed into the hands of a businessman with mob connections. He goes to confront the Kingpin about this, and Wilson Fisk tells him that it’s often easier to put such journalists under pressure than to simply kill them. Fisk knows that Urich’s wife wants that house, and that Ben will have no choice but to purchase it for her, and that will put him unknowingly in the Kingpin’s debt. Fisk tells daredevil this freely, knowing that there isn’t anything that the Man Without Fear can do to stop it. And when Daredevil looks down on the Kingpin for using a man’s wife against him, the Kingpin turns the tables on him, confronting him with the fact that Daredevil himself had used the Kingpin’s wife Vanessa as a bargaining ploy in a recent adventure. Like Urich, Daredevil is already slightly tainted, already on that same shaky slope.

Daredevil reveals everything that he’s discovered to Ben, but as the Kingpin predicted, it isn’t enough to dissuade him. Their conversation is very pointed, as it’s clear that the very convictions that prevented Ben from revealing Daredevil’s true identity are also the things that have kept him from getting ahead in life. Ben made a promise to his wife about their future and he’s not about to break that promise, not even if it means compromising himself. So Daredevil does the only thing that he can he tells Doris about the situation, and she finds Ben out on the Coney Island pier where they first met. And she tells him that she doesn’t want him to buy that tainted house for her, that she couldn’t stand it if he wound up compromised the way Jimmy Hughes did. She’s willing to give up her own happiness if that means that Ben can live without that weight on his conscience. And that’s how the issue wraps up. It’s a great little story, not the most action-packed or super hero-oriented (the cover is just a bit of a cheat given that nobody takes a shot at Ben or anybody else from a window, but it isn’t egregious). But it’s got great character-based turns for all of the principle players, and it uses the recent history to good effect. This issue energized me for what new stories might be coming down the pike for Daredevil, and made it feel as though the book would be fine even in the wake of Frank Miller’s departure. I was more disappointed the following month when Brennert was no longer in evidence, though, and I only read perhaps another issue or so beyond that.