Thursday, November 29, 2018

It's not a good sign if you can't tell the new guy from the old one.


I'm not sure why the change, but here's the second Torpedo, in today's book: from 1975, Daredevil #127, "You Killed that Man, Torpedo--and Now You're Going to Pay!" Written and edited by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Klaus Janson.

The original Torpedo is dead, but he's convinced bystander Brock Jones to carry on his mysterious crusade. (And possibly trade clothes, unless the original was wearing a tie and jacket beneath the super-suit.) Unfortunately, Daredevil can't see the difference: the original had gray hair, while Brock had blond sticking out of his mask. Moreover, the Torpedo-suit is too noisy for DD to hear his heart, so he can't tell if he's lying or not. Brock gets one punch in on Daredevil and takes off, leaving DD to take out his frustration on district attorney Foggy Nelson. Seriously, he's kind of a dick here; I'm also not sure how Brock was able to instantly master a suit that "would make Iron Man's armor look like a third grade Tinkertoy set!" (Anyone who made a suit of armor says crap like that; and Iron Man must just chuckle and shake his head...)

After a brief stop at home, and an encounter with possible future love interest (or sexual predator) Heather Glenn, Matt Murdock stops by to help Foggy, and hears the Torpedo was on his way to Westchester. Torpedo was looking to make sure there weren't any more copies of the plans for the suit, and explains the backstory while still fighting Daredevil: he wants to make him understand, but won't stop fighting since he doesn't trust him. The fight goes on long enough that both of them are good and mad at each other, and they don't stop until a screaming mom makes them realize they just demolished a family's home. Both men are appropriately contrite, with Torpedo giving DD the evidence and taking off, maybe or maybe not to appear again.

Okay, he'd be back in DD #134; but if you've been reading this blog for, well, ever, you may remember Brock's unfortunate fate.

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