Cluttered Like My Head

 And so we come to the final issue of The Daredevils. Behind a cover of the Fury clobbering Captain Britain, there's an editorial from Bernie Jaye, revealing both that the title is going to merge with the (recently relaunched) Mighty World of Marvel, and that she is going to be moving on as well. I haven't read any issues of the latter title, but it's clear that a lot of credit for the approach of the Daredevils has to go to the editorial team and the lead they provided to the creatives - it's notable that there's a short Moore / Davis strip wishing her well.  The Captain Britain strip rounds off the story. It's a bit rushed but Alan Moore and Alan Davis perform an effective job of corralling all of our main players together to see of the Fury, with one particularly striking double page sequence by Davis featuring a sequence of full height wordless panels, ending with the Fury buried under tons of rock. The Special Executive take their leave and the story promis...

 We're in the home stretch now - I think it's fair to see that the creators knew the end was coming, as the Captain Britain story is coming close to wrapping up. The Fury meets with our assortment of heroes, and has the upper stakes in the battle that kicks off, ending with a shocking fade to black for the final page. As ever, it's wonderful stuff, Moore and Davis working wonderfully as a team, and with an opening triptych that plays to Davis's strengths. I know I'm forty years after the curve, but I'm glad to have finally got around to reading this,  As an extra this month, we have a strip called The Crusader by Davis and Paul Neary, apparently Davis's first professional work. It's another amusing parody of comic book tropes with our hero having been disturbed by the death of his parents, and deciding to become a superhero to avenge them. II'm not sure how it would have fitted originally in the pages of Rampage but it's an effective filler here,...

 Now we are up to September 1983. There's no sense here of a title that knows its on its last legs and going through the motions. I reckon this is probably one of the best issues of Daredevils - it knows exactly what it's doing and its doing it brilliantly.  Firstly - we've got the instalment of Captain Britain where Moore is literally lining up the chess pieces in the story and bringing them into play. It's a treat to see, and its nice to see supporting characters from the US comics (Shaw and Gyrich) appear - it helps to sustain the conceit that the stories are taking place in one big shared universe.  The art by Alan Davis is immaculate - he really has come on in leaps and bounds since the first issues and the twist on the last page, as the Fury make his return to this universe, is spectacular.  Then we've got Daredevil which this month includes the first appearance of Elektra. It's a marvellous piece of continuity mangling, Miller managing to convince us that...

 And onwards to issue 8. There's a letter in this month's issue bemoaning how the issue is becoming the Alan Moore monthly, and complaining that the 4 page backup strips are a step too far. Well - this time around instead of one of those backup strips with 'The Special Executive', we have a 4 page Daredevil pisstake by Moore with sumptuous art by Mike Collins and Mark Farmer. The strip has moments of quality - I like the intro text panels where it says that "Noo Yawk is grim, and gritty and realistic. There are big black buildings with little white squares on, and water towers, and manholes and lots of other gritty stuff." I think it tails off though and after 4 pages of gags about him not being able to see anybody outstays its welcome.  Before that of course, we have another fantastic Captain Britain instalment. The Fury is getting closer to our heroes and at the end of the episode, Captain UK from the previous issue makes a reappearance and it definitely fee...

  Another issue, another fine Alan Davis cover, and the disappearance of the Marvel Superheroes logo from the front - it lasted all of one issue.  I wonder if they knew that there was pressure on them for sales by this point. There's an excellent Alan Davis poster featuring the cast of Captain Britain, Nightraven and Daredevil. It also has a lot of blurb on the posted explaining what it's all about, and a competition where if you can get your local newsagent to display the poster, they will replace it with a signed copy. It's a shame because it's really firing on all cylinders by this point.  The Captain Britain strip, taking place at the trial of Saturnyne, again features multiple Captains from different universes fighting against the slightly rigged process. There's a prologue and epilogue though which features Linda McQuillan (another alternative Captain Britain I believe) having nightmares - in the prologue she sees the death of Miracleman (at this point, not in...

 In which I track back and actually read issue 5 now, having already read the following issue.  There's a couple of characters in here that do stuff with time - one of the members of the Special Executive (Cobweb) apparently has constant psychic contact with a number of past and future versions of herself, and when Betsy Braddock scans her mind, she will be "plunged into a word where time has no meaning, where past, present and future melt into a terrifying kaleidoscope" which of course, is how I felt reading these issues in the wrong order.  Anyway - this time around we get to see the Special Executive for the first time - there's also a 2 page colour poster and a text page explaining who they are. There's also a piece explaining why the Spider-Man strips have been dropped (basically, they felt out of place), some fanzine reviews focussing on some publications from Ed Hillyer, and as well as the second part of Alan Moore's article on sexism in comics, there...

  Our reading journey brings us now to issue 5 which as well as featuring a price increase from 50p to 60p, also includes a Marvel Super-Heroes logo on the cover as well as the Daredevils one. Were the two comics merged at this point? It's unclear and I can't find any mention of it inside.  In a previous issue they had asked people whether they should continue with the Spider-Man strip? I guess the answers came in negative as its no longer featured - in its place is a slightly larger page count for Captain Britain, a Nightraven text piece, and a Special Executive script that was originally printed in Doctor Who Monthly (I believe)  The latter is a good choice - the Special Executive pop cup in the main story as well this month, so the intro script, although it makes mention of Gallifreyans, is a good piece of background. The lead strip is excellent as usual - as I said with the previous issue, the quality of the art is visible month-on-month. This story has appearances of...

 And with issue 4, I think we are up to April 1983.  I had a wilderness year after the UK Captain America comic was cancelled where my parents made it clear how they felt about superheroes - which is part of the reason why I didn't read this title when it was originally released. I am reminded with this issue as to how close they must have been to each other though as this one still has subscription offers for the Scooby-Doo comic, and I distinctly remember that being launched towards the end of the earlier title.  Behind a dynamic Captain Britain cover, we get another instalment of his story from Messrs Moore & Davis. I don't think it's disingenuous to say that the artwork here seems a step up from the earlier issues - they seem more finished than they did previously - maybe Davis had more time to work on them. Notable this time around for featuring the US villain Arcade, as well as another early appearance of Betsy Braddock. It's an enjoyable romp - particularly w...

 It's taken me a while, but I'm back to Issue 3 of the Daredevils. Again, there's an excellent Moore / Davis Captain Britain at the start of the issue, featuring Brian Braddock's sister Betsy, and a load of her psychic colleagues being tracked and eliminated by a character from Captain Britain's past.  Especially notable is that some of the action takes place in a shop off of Denmark Street. Anybody who was dipping their toes into the British Comics scene around that time will know that the shop is Forbidden Planet in its original location and I wonder if the two staffers that Davis illustrates in the story were based in people who actually worked there at the time.  There's a continuation of the Daredevil / Bullseye story later n. Again this is excellent stuff, despite the 4 page interlude for Parker Brothers videogames in the middle of it, and it show Ben Urich getting more evidence of his suspicions about Matt Murdock. It remains a treat.  There's another...