Episode 92 - Murdock and Marvel: 2018

It was a great year for comics, everywhere except the shops, and movies, graphic novels and TV continued to do well.

The Year in Comics

Comics in Other Media

Comic Sales

Notable Comics

Top Comic News

Notable Passings

Marvel

Eisner Awards

Dan's Favorite

The Year in Daredevil

Appearances: Daredevil v5 #595-610, Daredevil Annual #1, She-Hulk #159, Falcon #6, All-New Wolverine #33, Avengers #687-689, Hunt for Wolverine #1, Hunt for Wolverine: Weapon Lost #1-4, Hunt for Wolverine: Dead Ends #1, Infinity Countdown: Daredevil #1, True Believers: Infinity War #1, True Believers: Fantastic Four – The Wedding of Redd & Sue #1, True Believers: Marvel Knights 20th Anniversary – Daredevil by Bendis and Maleev #1, True Believers: What if Kraven the Hunter Had Killed Spider-Man? #1

Writer: Charles Soule (#595-610)

Pencils: Stefano Landini (#595-597), Ron Garney (#598-600), Mike Henderson (#601-605), Phil Noto (#606-610)

Inks: Stefano Landini (#595-597), Ron Garney (#598-600), Mike Henderson (#601-605), Phil Noto (#606-610)

Most of 2018 is devoted to one storyline – Mayor Fisk. The Kingpin has fully legitimized himself — not in the shadows or backrooms like the past, but right out in public with a suit, a flag pin, and a press conference. His first major move? He weaponizes the entire NYPD against vigilantes. Anyone in a mask is now considered a rogue element. And he’s specifically asked the DA’s office, and in particular Matt Murdock, build a case against Daredevil.
But that doesn’t last very long as Fisk offers Murdock a job as Deputy Mayor (keep your friends close…) which Murdock surprisingly accepts. Fisk’s plan is to keep him occupied with things of his choosing so Fisk can continue what he’s doing without Murdock full attention.
Meanwhile, the inhuman serial killer Muse escapes from prison so Frank McGee (head of security force for New Attilan) asks Daredevil to help find him while Muse creates new pro vigilante art throughout the city. But it’s Blindspot who ends up coming face to face with the killer who once took his sight. Meanwhile, 6 cops get killed in the Meatpacking District and Fisk uses it as an opportunity to further demonize vigilante’s by blaming the killings on Frank Castle aka the Punisher.
In an oversized issue 600 adorned on the cover with the who’s who of street level heroes and villains behind our man in red. In it we see a trap set by Fisk to roundup street level heroes as well as the confrontation between Blindspot and Muse that ends up having major consequences. This issue will be our spotlight story this week.
Over the next few issues, we see Matt Murdock as the acting mayor and see him enlist heroes and then villains in the fight against the hand. Murdock fires Welsey, Fisk’s chief of Staff, for fighting him every step of the way and installs his lifelong friend Foggy Nelson in the role – He also gets to act as cover so Matt can go out and fight the hand as Daredevil. This continues until the Hand launches their latest offensive – a gas cloud that incapacitates Matt Murdock who was looking down at the city from the roof of city hall. And he’s only able to be awoken by Father Jordan, Matt’s priest, who arrives at city hall offering the help of Ordo Draconum, The Order of the Dragon, of whom Jordan is a member.
The story comminates with a final battle at City Hall that includes horses and swords. It ends with Daredevil plunging a sword into the Beast and a bright white light. With the Hand now defeated, Matt and Wilson Fisk, who has recovered, talk. To spare New York further stress and political turmoil, Matt agrees to relinquish the mayor's office back to Fisk, but only on the condition that Fisk ends his anti-vigilante crusade. Fisk agrees to the terms. As Matt and Foggy are leaving, Matt overhears Fisk and his associate Wesley admitting to rigging the mayoral election.
Now knowing for sure the election was rigged, Daredevil reaches out to Frank McGee to help him start an investigation into Wilson Fisk. McGee brings in a couple inhumans to help them with the case. Cypher, who can read and understand any code or language as well as Reader (and his dog Forey) who has the ability to make anything he reads manifest into reality 3 times per day.
In a short 2-book story in the latter part of the year, we see the return of Mike Murdock – and not just Matt Murdock pretending to be his twin brother but an actual separate person. Daredevil saves Mike from some C list villains at the Bar with No Name. We learn Reader read Mike into existence and can easily erase him. But Mike insists on talking to his brother Matt. He escapes and enlists Foggy’s help (at gunpoint) in setting up a meeting.
The two meet in public and after talking Matt lets Mike leave saying it’s not their decision to erase Mike anymore. Mike then approaches Wilson Fisk and to prove he’s not Matt, tells Fisk that Matt knows he rigged the election and is trying to build a case against him. The story ends with the Hood offering Mike an opportunity to prove himself.
The year ends with the start of the final story arc of volume 5 “The Death of Daredevil” which spills over into 2019 so we are going to save this story until next episode.

This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil Volume 5, Issue 600 May 2018 “Mayor Fisk part 6”

Recap

Why We Picked This Story

Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions

The Takeaway

Everything is a circle!

Questions or comments

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES

Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm. You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.

The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.

Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.

Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History

DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_superhero_debuts

https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/

https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards/past-recipients/past-recipients-1990s/