Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
August 1986
*****
Kingpin’s paramilitary assault alerts Captain America (written perfectly as a man out of time) to a secret supersoldier project. The caped critique of the US govt. is out of synch w/ Murdock’s arc. Not quite a perfect ending, but one of the great short runs in superhero comics, thanks esp to Mazz.
last issue: Daredevil #232
next issue: Daredevil #234
also indexed for Aug. ’86
Elektra: Assassin #1 of 8
The Fantastic Four #293
Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
July 1986
*****
There’s more action to this one issue than the previous five! The tonal switch from internal to external feels like spillover from Miller’s recently completed Dark Knight Returns. So does the sight of Fisk, wrapped in a US flag, ordering a pscyho supersoldier in Rambo drag to attack Hell’s Kitchen.
last issue: Daredevil #231
next issue: Daredevil #233
also indexed for Jul. ’86
The Fantastic Four #292
The Mighty Thor #369
Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
June 1986
*****
Matt is the guardian devil once more, biffing ‘pin-hired psychos, incl. one in a DD suit. #231 may be a turning point in Miller’s work, just as it’s one in this superb arc. It’s here, as hero Murdock stops a haggard Karen Page from relapsing on heroin, that his melodramatic impulse overtakes him.
last issue: Daredevil #230
next issue: Daredevil #232
also indexed for Jun. ’86
The Fantastic Four #291
The Mighty Thor #368
Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
May 1986
*****
Tho’ the title character spends the whole ish in bed w/ a fever, the arc’s several subplots begin to boil. The most harrowing, in art & emo, has reporter Ben Urich cowed by Kingpin’s threats. Incidentally, it looks like Miller pencilled some pages—but his style blends seamlessly w/ Mazzucchelli’s.
last issue: Daredevil #229
next issue: Daredevil #231
also indexed for May ’86
Balder the Brave #4 of 4
The Fantastic Four #290
The Mighty Thor #367
The Punisher #5 of 5
Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
April 1986
*****
FM & DM set up an artful network of parallel actions & Christian iconography in a sepulchral tone. They’re telling a death/rebirth tale (shouldn’t they set #229 over Easter, not X-Mas?), but redemption is hard. Murdock, deranged & homeless, ends up in Hell’s Kitchen as subplots twist thrillingly.
last issue: Daredevil #228
next issue: Daredevil #230
also indexed for Apr. ’86
The Fantastic Four #289
The Mighty Thor #366
The Punisher #4 of 5
Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
March 1986
*****
Prefiguring Watchmen, Miller & Mazz delve into the warped psyche of urban vigilantism. Murdock, already unhinged & now stripped of his livelihood, becomes a bipolar paranoid. First he’s unable to muster energy to leave his dive hotel, then he’s nearly killed facing a gleefully sadistic Kingpin.
last issue: Daredevil #227
next issue: Daredevil #229
also indexed for Mar. ’86
Balder the Brave #3 of 4
The Fantastic Four #288
The Mighty Thor #365
The Punisher #3 of 5
Secret Wars II #9 of 9
Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
February 1986
*****
“Someone is out to get Matt Murdock”—the Kingpin, natch, having bought the hero’s secret ID. The seller is Karen Page, long MIA from the mag & now a Tijuana junkie. A classic arc, w/ tough-guy narration & almost no superheroics. Miller urges already expert Mazz into hard-lined, career-defining work.
last issue: Daredevil #226
next issue: Daredevil #228
also indexed for Feb. ’86
The Fantastic Four #287
The Mighty Thor #364
The Punisher #2 of 5
Secret Wars II #8 of 9
Denny O’Neil & Frank Miller // Dave Mazzucchelli
January 1986
*****
Two masters of the Urban Avenger subgenre collaborate on a grim little psychodrama. A mortal thought kindles Murdock’s violent impulses; the mentally unstable Gladiator gets roped into criminal activity. The men are mirror images, & the ish’s irony is that only the villain steps back from the brink.
last issue: Daredevil #225
next issue: Daredevil #227
also indexed for Jan. ’86
Balder the Brave #2 of 4
The Fantastic Four #286
The Mighty Thor #363
The Punisher #1 of 5
Secret Wars II #7 of 9
Index Indigo 