Nocenti/Romita Daredevil

Daredevil 250-254

John Romita Jr finally joins Ann Nocenti, and the book immediately improves.  I have a few issues with his style, but man, can he ball.

Those cheekbone lines.  He does it so much, I've never liked it.

But look at that flow!

Nocenti continues to write a spiritually grimy and filthy world.  By issue 254, a prolonged garbage strike reflects this materially as well.  The Kingpin’s responsible for the stoppage, and he starts to make his presence felt in other ways as well as Matt’s community clinic begins to nip at the heels of his machinations and schemes.  

I’ll mention here that JRJR and Bill Sienkiewicz draw the best Kingpins, huge solid masses of physicality with equally imposing wills.

If you ever wanted to see a sumo wrestler play racketball.

Sienkiewicz's interpretation

Kingpin also hires Typhoid Mary, making her first appearance in the Marvel universe.  I love this character.  Her mix of depravity and allure makes for a compelling and dangerous adversary.  As Mary’s creator, Nocenti provided the blueprint to future writers to show how she can shine in all her wicked glory.

10-year old me was haunted by this ad after seeing it in an issue of Transformers.

From Nocenti’s list of why the world sucks:

Nocenti's Daredevil thesis statement.

Bullet leaves his elementary school son alone at home, has no problems touching him with radioactive waste, and tells him to lie about his whereabouts.  His son is also has an obsessive complex about nuclear war, and has all the makings of a survival nut.  Nocenti spends enough time on the kid that the mental damage inflicted on him by his dad, upbringing, and surroundings feels especially messed up.  

Therapy's not going to help this kid.

Corporations are dumping toxic waste all over the place, and Foggy Nelson is defending them.  The eco-terrorists fighting them aren’t much better.

For all the crap the Fatboys go through, they still wear helmets when they skateboard.  That’s actually a good thing, but I wonder why they even bother.  Something else in the world is sure to kill them.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice.  Pretty good once Typhoid Mary shows up.