Don't say the Black Widow, she's dead at the start of this one: from 1982, Daredevil #189, "Siege" Story and layouts by Frank Miller, finishes and color by Klaus Janson. Which is what we're looking at today, and not maybe the reprint I've read before, from Elektra Megazine #2. Which will explain part of my upcoming confusion...
Yes, the Black Widow is pretty much toast here, having succumbed to poison from the Hand; but she is saved by Stick. The Chaste are shorthanded, as it were, as the Hand attack Matt's apartment; and several die fighting before Stick and Shaft absorb the lifeforce of their attackers--which causes them both to explode! That might be the last we see of Shaft, but I'm pretty sure Stick would be back, as he seems to get "killed" whenever it's more dramatic for Matt to have to go it alone or without his guidance, or whenever Stick doesn't feel like putting up with Matt's crap.
Matt also fights with a pair of sais here and on the cover, telling Natasha he had fought someone who used them recently, and taught himself!
After the battle, Stone meditates, to try and figure out their next option against the Hand; and Natasha takes a shower and makes a pass at Matt, who declines, since he was engaged to Heather Glenn! Who shows up on cue, drunk as a lemur. Now, this kind of threw me, since I thought I had read this stretch of issues before, but I didn't remember Heather; and that may be because her subplot might've been cut from the Elektra-centric reprints I read! Anyway, I don't think this was the expression at the time, but Natasha gives Heather a blistering amount of side eye.
Matt and Natasha hit the rooftops looking for the Hand, but split up after Matt clams up about Heather. She goes to visit Foggy, and asks about Matt: at the time, Foggy knew Matt knew Natasha, but I don't think he knew Matt was Daredevil. Or maybe he just didn't let on. Still, Foggy dishes about Elektra, then about Heather, and how Matt had "ruined her, professionally, just to convince her to marry him." A bad situation. What to do, what to do...how about forgery! Matt and Heather both receive notes, supposedly from each other, to the effect of I don't love you, don't call me, goodbye. In a two-page sequence, Heather seems pretty distraught, while Matt is looking at his...well, he's blind, so I don't know what he's doing. Actually, would this work at all? Could Natasha forge a note that would fool Matt's senses? I'm thinking he could literally smell her hand in this, so to speak. But there are bigger fish to fry, as Stone tells Matt and Natasha that the Hand would be looking for a replacement for their number one guy, Kirigi, and would have to recruit from the dead...you know who.
So I had a big blind spot on the Heather Glenn thing, except I knew this wasn't her last appearance! Hmm, back in the day, Karen Page went from being a supporting character in Daredevil over to Ghost Rider; and Ms. Glenn did the same over to Iron Man! Her appearances were during the stretch when Rhodey was IM and Tony was a raging alcoholic on a downward spiral. I had thought she was killed off there, but nope! She would return to die in Daredevil #220, an apparent suicide. (I don't know if that qualifies as fridging, but it was almost definitely to make Matt feel guilty. Guiltier. There's always a strong baseline of guilt to Matt.)
Also, I liked this issue's cover, even though it really looks like DD's gonna be filled full of arrows or stab wounds shortly. Reminds me of this Michael Golden Savage Sword of Conan cover; I don't know what Conan's aiming to land on there.
Oh most definitely he could've known that it was a forgery or not. But like you said, he probably didn't care.
ReplyDeletePoor Heather Glenn. The writers did not make her a sympathetic character at all, much like Jason Todd in his Post-Crisis Robin days, so when he she died, I don't think DD fans were all that broken up about it, especially when there was always chicks like Widow and Elektra around.
Personally, I feel he's better off dating fellow superheroes. At least they can defend themselves(for the most part) and tend to be more interesting character-wise.
Still, Matt didn't do Heather any favors by mistreating her though.