Random Back Issues #175 - Daredevil #260

Daredevil's having a great day! He's over his infatuation with that strumpet Mary Walker, he and Karen Page are very much in love. Why, he might even march in the anti-nuke rally today! What could go wrong?

Spongebob Narrator Voice: Three Minutes Later. . .

Bullet jumps DD as he's crossing the rooftops. He speaks in riddles, saying he's attacking Daredevil because he exists, that his punches are 'kisses from someone who loves him'. Matt contemplates just walking away. The fight has no point, why not just leave? But Bullet's next charge sends him careening off the edge of the roof, into the anti-nuke parade, so now DD feels committed.

The crowd is split on this development. A few insist Daredevil protects the streets. Others counter he's only protection in the way nuclear warheads are a deterrent, that guys like Daredevil and Bullet are really fighting over nothing, just stupid territorial spats. Ann Nocenti is nothing if not blunt.

Anyway, Bullet knocks himself stupid(er) by crashing into one too many walls. Now here's Bushwacker, shirtless, covered in bandages, and shooting at DD with his gun-arm while roaring down the sidewalk on a motorcycle, just as the Founding Fathers intended. Daredevil dives into an alley and climbs a fire escape, determined to get clear of the crowd, but Bushwacker brought a flamethrower along and manages to torch DD's legs as he flips onto the roof. If you shoot a flamethrower straight up, doesn't that make it rain jellied, burning gasoline? Oh well, the fight continues on the rooftop, Daredevil trying to punch out Bushwacker from his knees. He gets clipped by a shot and has to acrobatically flip and leap away.

Straight off a roof and onto a "Nukeman" (looks a little like Superman with a missile cone on his head) balloon. A balloon Bushwacker shoots, causing it to explode and sending the crowd into a panic. Daredevil lands in the middle of this, costume torn and senses are warped. He mistakes a blind, wheelchair bound man with a tin cup for Buschwacker, juggling bullets. A random woman stops Daredevil from beating up a blind man, but can't convince him to visit a hospital.

Because Daredevil is fine, just fine. Staggering down the sidewalk, using buildings to stay upright, muttering to himself while annoying someone by ringing their intercom. Perfectly normal behavior. Then he gets punched in the face by Ammo. Thank goodness for House to Astonish's recap of Daredevil villains, or I'd have to pull out my copy of issue #252 to remember that goober's name. Hadn't forgotten those zebra-striped spandex pants, though.

Matt's got nothing left in the tank, mostly just eating a beating. Meanwhile, the anti-nuke march has met the Fourth of July "God Bless 'Murica" parade and, predictably, violence has begun. I gotta say, for having been disrupted multiple times by Daredevil-related violence, those anti-nuke protestors kept on marching.

The Human Torch flies overhead, sees a guy in a red suit he figures is Daredevil, doesn't note he's getting his ass kicked, and flies off to whatever emergency the FF were dealing with. FYI, this issue came out concurrently with Fantastic Four #320, which was the first half of Spiky-Thing vs. Joe Fixit Hulk (continued in Incredible Hulk #350), so I'm not sure what emergency Johnny's rushing off to. He'll show up a couple of issues from now, trying to help and mostly messing it up.

Meanwhile, Ammo's telling Daredevil this, meaning violence, is Daredevil's life. It's what he is, so why does expect anything different than to be attacked? Meanwhile, the two parades are still fighting, and minus whatever signage they're carrying, you can't tell the sides apart. Ammo makes a final comment about DD having one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel, hits him with a solid right cross that rolls him into the street, and there Daredevil stays as the crowd moves on.

But we're not done yet! This was a super-sized issue, 48 pages of Daredevil getting tenderized. Matt eventually staggers his way into an alley where a hallucination of his father tells him to stand and fight. As Matt shadowboxes himself, he's haunted by visions of other foes: Bullseye, Gladiator, Elektra, Typhoid and Kingpin, all taunting him for his reliance on violence. (I wonder if Elektra's comment Matt seemed to love her more as she grew more violent is accurate.) Then his ghost father berates him for fighting, right before Matt gets sucker-punched by the "Wildboys", a couple of losers he dealt with at Christmas in issue #253.

While one Wildboy brags about how strong a punch he's got, the other complains he didn't get to do anything. So he throws Daredevil through a rotted fence. Then they beat him with the planks. Matt can't do much more than throw handfuls of garbage in their face and sorry, these guys aren't that big a pair of losers. Maybe soapy water would have done the trick. They decide to chuck him off a bridge, despite orders to leave the 'last inch' to the woman who hired them.

At which point Typhoid Mary appears, machete at their throats. Even allowing the Wildboys' legs are bent somewhat at the knees, I think Romita Jr. draws her as taller than them. The losers run, and she hauls Daredevil up by one arm. He asks her to save him, she asks if he loves her, wants her. Matt denies it. He doesn't, not even to save his life. Give it a few issues, Matt. As he's done all day, he asks why she's doing this. She doesn't even know him.

And he falls, and she cries. Soon, he'll be getting strangled by a demonically-possessed vacuum cleaner, taking a flamethrower to his entire life and fleeing the city like Napoleon fled Russia (see Random Back Issues #51 and #104.) This run is so bonkers, I love it.

{3rd longbox, 80th comic. Daredevil #260, by Ann Nocenti (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Max Scheele (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)}