Comics Over Time

Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 1

Episode 34 - Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 1
Well, here we are.  Image starts a new creator-owned era, even as the man who created the superhero sensation dies, along with one of his creators. 1992 was a very big year for changes.
The Year in Comics 
Comic books managed to make it into the news and public consciousness in different ways in 1992, as movies, TV shows, new companies and a massive character death kept things interesting! 
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Trends
Beginnings and Endings
Memorials
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
1992 is a weird year, in that as it begins nothing seems to have changed from the heady days of 1991.  But the Image artists no longer are present as the summer rolls around, and the Marvel Universe itself moves into darker territory.  Here begins the anti-hero turn of the 90s, with dark futures and truly irredeemable villains. 
TOTAL SERIES: 246 TOTAL NEW SERIES: 149 TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 129 THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):  
Operation Galactic Storm (Avengers and Quasar in a Kree/Shiar war)
X-Cutioner’s Song (X-Men fight Stryfe) 
BEST SELLING COMICS: Death of Superman, Spawn and all the Image books 
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chris Bachalo
Dan's Favorite
 
Next week: 1992 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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 2

Episode 33 - Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 2
It’s the year of Marvel’s greatest success…and quite possibly its greatest failure!  Welcome to 1991, the year that sets the stage for the next evolution of American comics. 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1991.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances: Daredevil #288-299, Daredevil Annual #7, Marvel Comic Presents #69-72, #75, #81 and #91, What if…? 24 and 26, Avengers #332-#333, Excalibur #39, Darkhawk #6, Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero, Very Best of Marvel Comics, Very Best of What If, Amazing Spider-Man: The Wedding graphic novels and Marvel Masterworks 
Writing: Ann Nocenti (288-291) Dan G Chichester (292-299) 
Pencils: Lee Weeks (288, 291-295, 297-299) Kieron Dwyer (289-290), Ron Garney (296) 
Inks: Al Williamson and Weeks (288) Williamson and Fred Fredricks (289), Fredricks (290-292), Williamson (293-299) 
The year begins with Matt Murdock having dreams of Elektra and Stick and the Kingpin orchestrating a similar ultimatum to throw a boxing match to save Nyla whom he’s kidnapped. Matt refuses to do so, wins the fight and saves Nyla with the help of Ben Urich 
Meanwhile Bullseye continues to pretend to be Daredevil and ruin his reputation, but is confronted and defeated by Murdock who’s disguised as Bullseye.   
After taking on Bullet for one last time, Matt Murdock reunites with his friend and law partner Foggy Nelson – who’s been working on getting Murdock’s law license reinstated. 
As Daredevil and the Punisher deal with Taskmaster and Tombstone causing trouble, we see Kingpin and Typhoid Mary enter a deal with a General Strang, an investor who agrees to fund Fisk’s media enterprises but secretly hopes to infiltrate Fisk’s finances from within. 
Halfway through the year we see the Hand returns to New York and we learn they were the ones behind setting lose Taskmaster and Tombstone on the city.   
What follows is a multi-book story arc involving Daredevil attempts to take down the Hand. This includes a cameo by the Ghost Rider and some of Stick’s old students (including Stone) showing up to help Daredevil in the final showdown – which is our spotlight story this week. 
The year ends with the first 3 of 4 parts to the Last Rites story arc. In it, we see Daredevil causing division between Kingpin and Typhoid before having her committed. Then we see Nick Fury bring Matt Murdock into SHIELD and ask him for help taking down Kingpin and Hydra who’s bankrolling his media enterprise. We then see the chess pieces put in place for a final showdown. The finale of this story is a giant double issue #300 we’ll talk about in 1992. 
New Powers, Toys or Places: None
New Supporting Characters: Maltese (Kingpin’s right-hand man), Danny Ketch aka Ghost Rider, Kathy Malper (US District Attorney looking to take down Kingpin) 
New Villains: Taskmaster (big time Marvel baddie), Tombstone (another Marvel baddie), General Strang (Kingpin’s media investor that turns out to be more than he bargained for – Lieutenant Garotte). Jonin (head of the latest version of the Hand in New York), a new Izanami (large female enforcer of the Hand)
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #296 September 1991 “Balancing Act” 
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
Writers matter!
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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 1

Episode 32 - Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 1
It’s the year of Marvel’s greatest success…and quite possibly its greatest failure!  Welcome to 1991, the year that sets the stage for the next evolution of American comics. 
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Industry Trends
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Don Slott
Dan's Favorite
Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1991 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will discuss the year for Daredevil and Dan's takeaway. 
 
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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 2

Episode 31 - Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 2
As we start the 90s Marvel and DC are approaching monopoly status on comic store shelves, leaving other publishers to look for success at the margins.  But if you are a big fan of the Big 2, 1990 was a good time to be reading comic books! 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1990.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances: Daredevil #276-287, Wolverine #21, Captain America #368, 374 - 376, Count Duckula #10, Punisher Magazine #8 and 15-16, What if…? #13, 15, 17, 20, Marvel Comics presents #49 and Daredevil: Marked for Death and Elektra Lives Again graphic novels 
Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (276-287)  
Pencilers: John Romita Jr (276, 278-282), Rick Leonardi (277), Mark Bagley (283), Lee Weeks (284-285, 287), Greg Capullo (286) 
Inks: Al Williamson (276-282, 284-285, 287), Williamson and Tom Morgan (283), Doug Hazlewood (286)
As the year begins, The Acts of Vengeance event continues with Ultron looking to take Number Nine as a bride and Daredevil must try to save her. 
Next, we get an out of timeline story involving Daredevil and a psychologist whose star patient is his wife.
Back to the current timeline, The Inhumans are set to leave for Pottersville in search of Black Bolts' son and it turms into a road trip for them, Daredevil, Number 9 and Brandy. Meanwhile, Blackheart and Mephisto discuss the finer points of evil and Blackheart is tasked with making Daredevil and the others do evil. 
In Pottersville, the team finds a boy, Pope, with powers who the town is scared of and wants to kill him. They save the boy, but in the aftermath fall into a crack in the earth caused by an earthquake. We then see Daredevil and his companions experience different versions of Hell before a final showdown with Mephisto in which they are aided by the Silver Surfer. 
Next, we get a single (what I assume is out of timeline) story in which Captain America and Daredevil are trying to help an inventor whose fantastic invention could change the world. This social issue focused book will be our spotlight story this week. 
Daredevil finally returns to New York, but his memories are scrambled by the recent trip to Hell. Not knowing who he really is, he assumes the identity of Jack Murdock. Bullseye finds out about the confusion and decides to take advantage of the situation by impersonating the horned hero. 
The rest of the year we see Matt Murdock meet a homeless woman, Nyla, who takes him in and the two become close. Murdock becomes a boxer, like his father, at Fogwell’s Gym and Bullseye continues stealing from the rich and beating up police to ruin the reputation of the once great hero. Ben Urich returns and seems to realize things don’t add up and goes looking for Matt Murdock.  
In the final panels of the year, we see Wilson Fisk at a “Jack Murdock” boxing match and he too recognizes his former adversary.   
New Powers, Toys or Places: Still in upstate New York to start the year, we see the team head to Hell/Mephisto’s realm across several books before returning to familiar New York City.
New Supporting Characters: Daniel and Vivian (psychologist and his wife), Pope (Boy in Pottersville’s with powers that the townsfolk want to kill), Victor Cieszkowska (Inventor disillusioned by the US and their people), Nyla (homeless woman that befriends Matt Murdock while he’s going by Jack Murdock, becomes a love interest)
New Villains: 
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #283 August 1990 “The American Nightmare”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
Marvel has won.
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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 1

Episode 30 - Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 1
As we start the 90s Marvel and DC are approaching monopoly status on comic store shelves, leaving other publishers to look for success at the margins.  But if you are a big fan of the Big 2, 1990 was a good time to be reading comic books! 
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Industry Trends
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Tom Brevoort
Dan's Favorite
Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1990 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will discuss the year for Daredevil and Dan's takeaway. 
 
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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1989 Part 2

Episode 29 - Murdock and Marvel: 1989 Part 2
This week we finish up the 80s, and see what another round of Batmania can do to and for the comics world. 
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1989.
 
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances: Daredevil #262- 275, Marvel Tales #222, Marvel Comics Presents #19, Saga of the Sub-Mariner #9, What if…? #1-2, Excalibur #14, Wolverine #17  
Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (262-275) Nocenti & Romita Jr (266 - Plot by Nocenti and Romita Jr., script by Nocenti) 
Pencilers: John Romita Jr (262-263, 265-275), Steve Ditko (264) 
Inks: Al Williamson (262-263, 265-275), Mike Manley and Williamson (264) 
As the year begins, Daredevil is still missing and presumed dead. Though Daredevil is coached (taunted) by to live by his old mentor Stick. Meanwhile NYC is seeing objects come to life and attacking humans (Think Maximum Overdrive) – which seems to be part of the inferno event. 
Upon going to the hospital, Karen and Mary show up to visit and Karen learns Matt has been cheating on her. 
After an issue hiatus featuring the Owl and the Bombers because John Romita Jr was getting married and wasn’t available to draw, we see a resolution of sorts with Daredevil taking down a demon onslaught. 
After spending Christmas in a bar with Mephisto as Daredevil, Matt burns all his belongings and leaves NYC. 
What followings is a string of stories about Murdock being a loner and helping out as Daredevil when he can. He saves a man from a crashed plane, helps a man get out of an illegal loansharking business, saves a mutant girl from Blob and Pyro.  
In September we see Daredevil and Spider-Man team up. This will be our spotlight story for the week. 
Next Daredevil helps Brandy Ash expose her father’s inhumane animal farm – which leads to release of young woman who was being experimented on known as number 9. This led to a multi-book story arch that finished out the year by introduced a new villain, Shotgun, and brought in the inhumans.  
The year ends with a second December book that was part of the Acts of Vengeance event and shows Doctor Doom reviving Ultron and orders it to destroy Daredevil but it is conflicted by all the previous versions of itself and meeting Number 9. 
New Powers, Toys or Places: half the year takes place outside of New York city, but seemly not outside New York state – in various small towns.
New Supporting Characters: Amanda (young mutant saved from Freedom Force), Brandy Ash (young ecologist who doesn’t like her father’s farm), Number 9 (young woman experimented on by Skip Ash), inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon Petragon, Karnak Mander-Azur)
New Villains: Mephisto (demon lord who has drinks with Daredevil in a bar as a young woman), Blackheart (Mephisto’s “son”), Freedom Force (Blob, Pyro and Spiral), Skip Ash (terrible human to animals and young women), Shotgun (special forces in the military and member of the CIA called on by Skip Ash)
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #270 September 1989 “Blackheart”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
So how is that “comics are dying” idea going a decade later? 
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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1989 Part 1

Episode 28 - Murdock and Marvel: 1989 Part 1
This week we finish up the 80s, and see what another round of Batmania can do to and for the comics world. 
Pre-Show 
Letter from Mo
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Swamp Thing Movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098193/
Robert Crumb comic strip with Donald Trump: https://www.openculture.com/2016/06/r-crumb-takes-down-donald-trump-in-a-1989-cartoon.html
Industry Trends
Harvey Awards
Notable Passings
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
Events & Happenings
New Titles
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Rob Liefeld
Dan's Favorite
Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1989 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will be entirely on 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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation. 

Murdock and Marvel: 1988

Episode 27 - Murdock and Marvel: 1988
This week we begin to see what happens when two massive Kaiju go to war in a region.  Everything else either runs away or is destroyed.  Such is the world of comics, circa 1988.
The Year in Comics 
Notable and Newsworthy
Industry Trends
Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
Events & Happenings
New Series/Limited Titles
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Bryan Hitch
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Daredevil 
Appearances: Daredevil #250-261, West Coast Avengers #28, Thor #392, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22, Marvel Masterworks #5, Punisher War Journal #2 along with the Daredevil/Punisher Child’s Play and Hawkeye graphic novels.  
Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (#250-261) 
Pencilers: John Romita Jr (#250-261) 
Inks: Al Williamson (#250-261) 
The year being with a new artist, John Romita Jr, and the introduction of a new villain (Bullet) who’s been hired by Kelco as we see the continuation of the Tyrone Janson story from late last year. We also meet Bullet’s son, Lance, who is afraid the world will end at any moment. 
Next Daredevil takes on another new villain in Ammo and the Wild Boys during a blackout caused by the Apocalypse's Horsemen – which is part of the Fall of the Mutants event. Daredevil stops him and he ends up in prison. 
After being robbed several times, Kingpin hires the robber by offering the dissociative identity disorder alter Typhoid $1 million dollars to make Murdock/Daredevil fall in love with her and then crush him – which she agrees.  When then see Matt Murdock meeting the other alter, Mary. 
What follows is a brilliant story arch that lasts through the end of the year. Murdock does fall in love with Mary and ends up fighting Typhoid several times (but doesn’t realize the connection).  
Other subplots going on throughout this arch:  
Tyrone gets his day in court with Kelco Chemicals – whom is represented by Foggy Nelson – and wins thanks to some ghost lawyering by Murdock 
Karen Page realizes she’s losing Murdock as he’s sneaking around to meet with Mary 
Typhoid grows concerned that Mary’s love for Matt is allowing her to grow stronger and could eventually take over. 
Kingpin falls in love with Typhoid and eventually gets jealous of the Murdock/Mary relationship. 
After ordering Typhoid to take out Murdock/Daredevil, She assembles a team of Bullet, Ammo, the Wild Boys and Bushwacker to soften him up before she finishes the job. This climatic story is our spotlight story for the week. 
As the year ends, Daredevil is missing and Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) has been enlisted to help a desperate Karen find him. Meanwhile Kingpin isn’t exactly happy how Typhoid carried out his order, but sees it as an opportunity to expand in Hell’s Kitchen.  
Strong year of storytelling and brilliant art throughout the year 
New Powers, Toys or Places
New Supporting Characters
New Villains
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #260 November 1988 “Vital Signs” 
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
Is it still an industry if there are only two companies?
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. 
Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.   
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. 
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics.  This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377. 
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss.  This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage. 
BOOKLIST 
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show.  Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it! 
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo.  Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon.  London: Titan Books, 2020.  This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print.  It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion.  So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing. 
Wells, John.  American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964.  Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015.  Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read. 
Wright, Bradford.  Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.  This is the revised edition. 
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2022.  The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.   
Cowsill, Alan et al.  DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History.  New York: DK Publishing, 2010.  Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to. 
Dauber, Jeremy.  American Comics: A History.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.  An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments.  An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation.