Comics Over Time

Murdock and Marvel: 2000 Part 2

Episode 52 - Murdock and Marvel: 2000 Part 2
The new millenium started with some big endings, and comic book sales kept slipping this year.  But 2000 featured some big developments that would point the way to the future of comics.  Welcome to the Oughts, everyone! 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 2000.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances:  Daredevil #10-13, Earth X #10-12 and X, Fantastic Four #27, Avenger #27, Essential Fantastic Four #3, Marvel Knights #5-6, Daredevil: Ninja #1, Maximum Security #1, and Nick Fury: Agent of Shield graphic novel.   
Writing: David Mack (#10 – 11 and 13), Quesada and Palmiotti (12) 
Pencils: Joe Quesada (#10 – 11 and 13), Rob Haynes (12) 
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti (#10 – 11), Rob Haynes (12), Mike Morales (13) 
A very light year for Daredevil as the main run only released four books this year – all part of the Parts of a Hole storyline started in December 1999. The story would continue until March 2001 when Parts of a Hole conclusion called Vision would reach stores. Visions will be our spotlight for this week. 
Issue 12, Gun Play, feels like a fill-in story covering a series of vignettes about Hell’s Kitchen residents (featuring some very adult themes) while Echo and Daredevil fight rooftop-to-rooftop that was written by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Rob Haynes. Although it was well written, it does stall the pacing of the story for an issue. 
Outside of the main title, many of the Daredevil appearances this year were reprints including the Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller collection that was released in October which included 10 stories from the Frank Miller era and a second printing of the Punisher kills the Marvel Universe graphic novel.  
One other original story was started in December and spilled over into 2001 - Daredevil: Ninja which was a limited series written by Brian Michael Bendis and Rob Hayes that saw Daredevil dealing with the Hand and reuniting with Stone in Japan. When the scene shifts back to New York, Baby Karen (From Daredevil Vol.2 #1-8) turns out to be the next great hero of Japan. 
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil volume 2 #15 March 2001 “Parts of a Hole Conclusion: Vision” 
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway
A lot of great work can get done when expectations are low and no one is watching. 
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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/ 
https://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-interviews/Mack

Murdock and Marvel: 2000 Part 1

Episode 51 - Murdock and Marvel: 2000 Part 1
The new millenium started with some big endings, and comic book sales kept slipping this year.  But 2000 featured some big developments that would point the way to the future of comics.  Welcome to the Oughts, everyone! 
Preshow 
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Information
Beginnings & Endings
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
2000 was a year of big changes at Marvel Comics.  Bill Jemas was promoted to President, and replaced Bob Harras with Joe Quesada.
TOTAL SERIES: 170TOTAL NEW SERIES: 121 TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 120HIGHEST ISSUE NUMBER: 387 (UXM)THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S): Apocalypse: The Twelve, Maximum SecurityBEST SELLING COMICS: X-Men and Uncanny X-Men
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen/Passings
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Brian Michael Bendis
Dan's Favorite
 
Next week: 2000 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil 
 
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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/ 
https://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-interviews/Mack

Murdock and Marvel: 1999 Part 2

Episode 50 - Murdock and Marvel: 1999 Part 2
Last week we closed the curtain on the first volume of Daredevil, and now we are reaching the end of the millennium itself, as comics continue to barrel towards their own version of Y2K.  Sales keep dropping and more publishers leave the field, but signs of life start to show if you look in the right places.  It's 1999, and comics still are not dead. 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1999.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances: Daredevil #3-9, Earth X #0-2 and 5-7, Mutant X #6, Avengers #15-16, Avengers Forever #8, Black Widow #1-3, Spider-Man: Chapter One #9 and 12, Fantastic Four #21 and 23, Uncanny X-Men #370, Wolverine/Punisher: Revelations #3, Deathlok #1, along with Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil #1 and the Avengers 1999 and Contest of Champions graphic novels
Writing: Kevin Smith (#1-8), David Mack (#9)
Pencils: Joe Quesada (#1-9)
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti (#1-9)
The year for Daredevil actually began in November 1998 when the first book of the Guardian Devil storyline hit comic book stores. We briefly touched on what happened during the first two books a couple weeks ago, but with this storyline taking up half the year – we’ll be looking at the story in-depth as our spotlight story this week. 
After the guardian Devil storyline ended in June 1999, we didn’t get another book in the main Daredevil title until December. When we get the start of another multi-book storyline called Parts of a Hole with a new writer in David Mack. We won’t go into much detail on this until we look at Daredevil in 2000, but it starts with The Kingpin sends a hitman after a stoolie being questioned by Nelson and Murdock. 
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil volume 2 #1-8 November 1998 – June 1999 “Guardian Devil” 
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway
Setting up the foundation to the future.
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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. 
The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1999 Part 1

Episode 49 - Murdock and Marvel: 1999 Part 1
Last week we closed the curtain on the first volume of Daredevil, and now we are reaching the end of the millennium itself, as comics continue to barrel towards their own version of Y2K.  Sales keep dropping and more publishers leave the field, but signs of life start to show if you look in the right places.  It's 1999, and comics still are not dead.
Preshow 
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Information
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
Marvel continued to contract and retrench, as it reduced the number of books it published, and concentrated more and more on proven creators and characters, especially the X-Men. The company also sold off their remaining trading card companies at a catastrophic loss and tried to undo some of the damage that had been inflicted on fans and characters in the last few years. 
TOTAL SERIES: 142TOTAL NEW SERIES: 101 TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 89 THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S): Earth XBEST SELLING COMICS: X-Men
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen/Passings
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: David Mack
Dan's Favorite
 
Next week: 1999 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil 
 
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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. 
The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 3

Episode 48 - Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 3
Things continued to be grim in the comic world, but it seemed as though the freefall might be over.  Marvel had escaped bankruptcy without missing even a single month of publishing, most of the other companies still in business made it through the year (but not all) and some very interesting new players entered the scene. 
This is part 3 of the podcast. that will feature the Takeaway for 1998 - which is a look back at volume 1 of Daredevil.
The Takeaway
Daredevil Vol 1 is an interesting journey. 
Age 
Issues 
Writers 
Artists 
Silver 
1-50 
Stan Lee 
Ditko, Wood Colon 
Bronze 
51-157 
Thomas, Conway, Gerber 
Colan, Brown 
(Black Widow) 
(92-107) 
(Gerber) 
(Colan) 
Miller 
158-234 
Frank Miller 
Miller, Mazzuccelli 
Nocenti 
237-291 
Ann Nocenti 
John Romita, Jr, Lee Weeks 
Chichester Era 
292-342 
DG Chichester 
Scott McDaniel, Weeks 
The Long Goodbye 
343-380 
Various 
Various 
 

Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 2

Episode 47 - Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 2
Things continued to be grim in the comic world, but it seemed as though the freefall might be over.  Marvel had escaped bankruptcy without missing even a single month of publishing, most of the other companies still in business made it through the year (but not all) and some very interesting new players entered the scene. 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story. The Takeaway for 1998 - which is a look back at volume 1 of Daredevil - will be released next week as it's own episode.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances:  Daredevil #371-380, Marvel Knights: Daredevil #1-2, Uncanny X-Men #351, Thunderbolts #10, Unlimited Access #2, Shadow & Light #1, Cable #55, Ka-Zar #15, Spider-Man Made Men #1, Nighthawk #1-3, Avengers #10-11, and Bring Back the Bad Guys graphic novel. 
Writing: Joe Kelly (#371-373) Kelly and Jonathan Barron (#374), Kelly and Chris Claremont (#375), Scott Lobdell (#376-379), Dan G. Chichester (#380) 
Pencils: Ariel Olivetti (#371-372, #374), Richie Acosta (#373), Cary Nord, Olivetti, John Paul Leon, Tom Lyle, Brian Denham and Rick Leonardi (#375), Cully Hamner (#376-379), Lee Weeks (#380) 
Inks: Pier Brito (#371-372, #374), Bud LaRosa (#373), Mark Lipka, Brito, John Paul Leon, Robert Jones, Chis Carlson and Scott Hanna (#375), Jason Martin (#376-379), Robert Campanella (#380) 
The year begins with Black Widow and Daredevil discussing their recent run-ins both professionally and personally. Meanwhile Karen goes shopping with Rosalind. Matt and Karen do make up despite Daredevil leaving for a bit 
Next Mr. Fear pops back up after we learn something weird happened during the prison riot he planned last year. DD tries to talk to the warden, but Ghost Rider beats him to it. Fear and DD play cat and mouse for a couple issues before things come to a head. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Charlie, a likely cop whose working for Fear, who first tries to kill Fogy’s sister Candice before going after Karen. 
In a double sized issue #375, We learn Charlie has been killed and Karen is awaiting trial for his murder. Mr. Fear is trying to manipulate things so that she will go to jail and DD will suffer a breakdown as a result. Matt is Karen’s lawyer and while the case slowly slips away from him, he continues to search for Fear as Daredevil hoping it will save his case. We won’t spoil the ending, as this is the spotlight story for the week. 
And just like that, the story quickly shifts to France... 
In the final named story arc of volume 1, Flying Blind, we meet Laurent Levasseur whom very much seems like our man without fear – though he thinks his just an artist. Turns out Murdock is working deep undercover for SHIELD and had his memory reprogrammed. Murdock is there to stop the sale of agent information to international buyers of the Kingpin. After spending most of the story trying to remember who he is and save the doctor who initially treated him at the start of this tale, Murdock gets his memories back from a mutant named Synapse just as SHIELD locates him and busts in as the cavalry.  
One side effect of the reprogramming was Murdock was able to actually see. He loses it after getting his memories back but he’s able to see his friend Foggy for the first and only time. 
In November, Volume 1 ends with one last issue – issue #380 – and the return on Dan G Chichester and Lee Weeks for “a tale from Daredevil's past” dedicated to Archie Goodwin. A pretty straight-forward story though told non-sequentially in which the Kingpin tries to frame a Middle Eastern man for terrorism so he can get his hands on a shipment of weapons; Matt defends the patsy and wins in court; Meanwhile DD takes on several of his deadliest foes to foil the Kingpin's scheme. (The Hand/Bushwacker/Bullseye) 
The final page sees Murdock and his mom Maggie walking and having ice cream with narration “You want to know the truth? The good guys don’t always win. But because of who they are, they never stop fighting. There’s always a Daredevil willing to take a risk on our behalf. And in a city that never sleeps, we can all rest easy knowing we have that to protect us.” 
That same month, Volume 2 begins under the Marvel Knight branding begins with a new creative team – Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti. In the first 2 books of the Guardian Devil storyline, we learn Karen left Matt and NYC for LA 6 months ago and Matt has been trying to move on with his life. A teenage girl brings a baby to Matt that she claims is the new Messiah and leaves the kid in his care but then Murdock is approached by a mysterious old man claims the same child is the Anti-Christ and a curse to those around it. 
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #375 May 1998 “With a Little Help From My Friends” 
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway - Next week
The Takeaway was a recap and discussion of volume 1 of Daredevil. It ended up running long so we will be releasing that separately. 
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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. 
The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 1

Episode 46 - Murdock and Marvel: 1998 Part 1
Things continued to be grim in the comic world, but it seemed as though the freefall might be over.  Marvel had escaped bankruptcy without missing even a single month of publishing, most of the other companies still in business made it through the year (but not all) and some very interesting new players entered the scene. 
Preshow 
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Information
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
TOTAL SERIES: 188TOTAL NEW SERIES: 139 TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 141 THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):  
Identity Crisis (Spider-Man)
The Gathering of Five (also Spidey)
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen/Passings
Passings: Archie Goodwin
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Joe Casey
Dan's Favorite
 
Next week: 1998 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil 
 
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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. 
The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1997 Part 2

Episode 45 - Murdock and Marvel: 1997 Part 2
We’ve got a pretty quiet week in comic terms, partly because everything has gone completely to the dogs, and there is a lot less happening than there was a few years ago.  Still, I was surprised to find that 1997 had some pretty great things going on under the surface! 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1997.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances: Daredevil #360-370, Daredevil #-1, Adventures of Spider-Man #10, Bug #1, Code of Honor #2-4, Punisher #17-18, Venom: On Trial #1-3, Marvel Valentine Special #1, Silver Surfer #128, Essential Spider-Man #2, Electra #-1, Ka-Zar #5 and 8, Uncanny Origins #13, Elektra #10-11 and 13, Marvel Heroes & Legends 1997 #1, Spider-Man El Hombre Arana #30, Spider-Man Unlimited #18, Thunderbolts #8 along with Daredevil/Batman, Untold Tales of Spider-Man ’97, Kingpin, Origin of Marvel Comics Revised Edition and Son of Origins of the Marvel Comics Revised Edition graphic novels 
Writing: Karl Kesel (#360-364), Joe Kelly (#365-370 and #-1) 
Pencils: Cary Nord (#360-362, 364-365), Gene Colan (#363, -1, 366-368, 370), Ariel Olivetti (#369) 
Inks: Matt Ryan (#360-362, 364-365, -1), Cam Smith and Paul Neary (#363), Al Williamson (#366), Bud LaRosa (#367-368, 370), Pier Brito (#369) 
The year begins with Daredevil taking on the Absorbing Man as he tries to take down NYC with no Avengers to stop him. While that’s going on, we learn why Foggy was so keen on partnering with Rosalind Sharpe – she’s his biological mother. 
And it’s Sharpe who thinks Foggy and the firm need to play up Foggy’s “best bud” status with Daredevil – which leads to work for the firm as Molten Man (Mark Raxton) seeks help with break-ins at Osborne Chemicals. Daredevil is reunited with the Black Widow as the pair take down the Grey Gargoyle. 
We learn a bit about Rosalind’s Sharpe’s past after Daredevil saves her from an armed man in the firm’s lobby then follow’s her to visit the gangster responsible.  
Next we get a multi-book story involving a new villainous, Insomnia – he’s try to keep Daredevil and the rest of New York up at night. We eventually learn she’s working for Mr Fear – who himself is causing trouble by enlisting a friend of Molten Man to release a gas during a Osborn Chemicals boardroom meeting which causes Raxton to freak out and start tearing the place apart. 
Before we can get a resolution to Mr Fear, we get a Flashback issue of Daredevil (Daredevil #-1) in which Jack Murdock is taking his son Matt to college. This story, from writer Joe Kelly and art by Gene Colan and Matt Ryan is a lot of fun and will be our spotlight story of the week. 
Returning back to present time, Daredevil must, once again, deal with Mr Fear’s plotting – this time on Ryker’s Island when Fear releases a gas to start a prison riot. Daredevil must then take on new and improved Gladiator. (what happened to fear???) 
The year ends with a multi-book storyline called “widow’s Kiss” that starts with Daredevil helping a firm client who’s facing a hostile takeover by the Russians – only to have to tangle Omega Red. Black Widow comes to the aid of Daredevil only to then shoot him herself. She tries then save DD by bring him to Karen for help, before returning to meet with a Russian general we eventually learn she’s trying to take down. Despite just being shot, Daredevil goes after Widow and gets the pair captured. The story ends Daredevil escapes and convinces Ursa Major and Vanguard that they are being used by the General – and that he’s being running experiments on Vanguards sister – Darkstar. 
One other secondary story that ran through much of the year involves Foggy and Liz Osborne. Rosalind Sharpe isn’t pleased with their relationship and continually tries to undermine it – with other women. In the final book of the year Foggy and Liz's attempt to have a romantic evening together is derailed when he receives a constant stream of phone calls from other women. 
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #-1 July 1997 “A Time to Say Farewell” 
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway
Marvel messed up more than their own fortunes with their unwise expansions. 
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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. 
The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years.  Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.