Episode 97 - Murdock and Marvel: 2023

The pandemic book that brought comics to their highest sales figures ever finally ended, and sales dropped about 7% from 2022’s all-time high. Even so, both sales and quality made this another fantastic year for American comics. The movies…well that is something else…

Preshow Talk

Alec Seguera’s Enemy of My Enemy: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781368095365

Comic Book Yeti: https://www.comicbookyeti.com/

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 v7 #5-14, Daredevil & Echo (#1-4), Daredevil Omnibus #2, Daredevil v8 #1-2, Daredevil Epic Collection #6 and #17, Thor Epic Collection #9, Captain America Epic Collection #5, Defenders Omnibus #2, Moon Knight Epic Collection #7, Iron Man Epic Collection #6, Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection #27, Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil #18 and Devil’s Reign Omnibus

Writer: Chip Zdarsky (#5-14), Saladin Ahmed (v8 #1-2)

Pencils: Marco Checchetto (#5, #8, #10, #12-14) Rafael De LaTorre (#6, #11) Checchetto and De Latorre (#7), Manuel Garcia (#9), Aaron Kuder (v8 #1-2)

Inks: Rafael De LaTorre (#5-6, #11), Elisabetta D’Amico (#7), Marco Checchetto (#8, #10, #12-14), Manuel Garcia (#9), Aaron Kuder (v8 #1-2)

Quick refresher from last week’s 2022 Daredevil talk: We left off with The Red Fist Saga kicking into gear—Matt confronting Butch, revealing his identity to Spider-Man, and realizing the Hand is now being steered by bigger, scarier forces tied to the Stromwyns and the Punisher, making it clear Hell’s Kitchen isn’t the endgame anymore.
Where it landed: Matt pulls Foggy and Cole North out of New York, links up with Elektra and Stick, and by the end of issue #4 the ritual is complete—Matt and Elektra are declared King and Queen of the reborn Fist (and man and wife), officially stepping into a global war that takes Daredevil far beyond the streets we’re used to.
As 2023 kicks off we learn - A reborn Fist with real stakes. The resurrection ritual doesn’t just crown Daredevil and Elektra as King and Queen—it supercharges everyone, including Foggy and Cole North, and the Book of the Fist literally rewrites itself to guide them. Its warning is chilling: the Hand is using the Lunate Talisman to replace world leaders with undead puppets, quietly steering global power while no one notices.
Recruiting monsters to stop monsters. Daredevil leads a breakout at the Myrmidon, offering prisoners a chance to fight for something bigger. Speed Demon, Stilt-Man, Agony, Stegron, and others join up. During the escape, Matt easily takes down U.S. Agent and is shaken to find Robert Goldman imprisoned there, clearly still part of a larger “plan.” In the aftermath, Iron Man and Captain America watch the footage and agree on one thing—Daredevil has crossed a line and needs to be brought in.
Elektra lights the fuse. While Doc Sasquatch tries to hold this unstable team together through therapy, Elektra infiltrates the White House, confirms the President is a Hand construct, and throws him out a window—on camera. It’s a tactical win and a PR nightmare, pushing the Avengers closer and painting the Fist as terrorists instead of saviors.
Doing good the hard way. Matt insists the Fist prove they’re different, leading a mission to North Carolina where they stop illegal evictions, defuse coordinated bombings, and protect a falling child—caught midair by Stilt-Man. Afterwards, Bullet leaves to find his son Lance, and we learn he’s unknowingly walking straight into the Hand’s trap.
The war with the Hand. Knowing it’s a setup but knowing they need to save Lance, Daredevil still attacks when the Book warns that the Punisher—who’s leading the Hand—is killing again. The battle is massive and brutal: Daredevil and Elektra vs. the Punisher, Stick vs. Aka, Cole North vs. a Hand-controlled Bullet, and the rest of the Fist fighting dragons and assassins. They lose ground, barely escape, but Elektra steals the Lunate Talisman—proof the Hand can be beaten.
Everything falls apart. The Avengers close in, the Stromwyns escalate, and Re-Cid gas bombs rain down on the Fist’s base. Elektra destroys the Talisman, which reveals the truth _ Stick and Foggy were resurrected by the Hand—then disintegrate. The cost to beat the Hand is devastating as the Avengers arrive to arrest most of the team.
God’s plan goes loud. Daredevil manages to escape along with Robert Goldman, who unleashing an avalanche that forces the Avengers to retreat while nearly everyone else is captured. Weeks later, Cole North snaps Matt out of his spiral—telling him to put the suit back on, go fix it. Matt confronts the Stromwyns and trades himself for Elektra’s freedom, proving his loyalty by plunging blades into his own eyes.
Death, rebirth, and the real enemy. Believing sacrifice is the only answer, Matt travels to Japan to die at the Beast’s gate and rescue the trapped souls—Foggy included. Elektra tries to stop him; he dies anyway, is reborn in white, and learns he’s been manipulated by the Wild, sister to the Beast. In the collapsing afterlife, Matt rejects comforting illusions, frees Foggy and the others through love and willpower, and stays behind—armless but defiant—to face the Beast alone.
The final book of volume 7 and the Red Fist Saga was an epilogue to this story and seemly sets us up for volume 8. This seemed like a good book for this week’s spotlight story.
We did get the first 2 books of volume 8 at the end of this year with a new creative team but we are going to save those and talk about them when we look at 2024.

This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil Volume 7 issue #14 from October 2023 “The Red Fist Saga Part 14”

Recap

Why We Picked This Story

Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions

The Takeaway

No takeaway - too recent

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/