Random Happenstance

When we looked at Daredevil villain-slash-misfire Shock a bit ago, we mentioned how Mr. Fear probably wasn't very high on anybody's list of DD bad guys. But, it's weird to consider the names you would think of--Bullseye, Kingpin, Elektra--were all relatively late additions to his book, primarily gaining prominence when Frank Miller took over. DD had a completely different rogues' gallery before then: guys like the Jester, the Purple Man, the Matador, the Gladiator. Gladiator was largely reformed and written out in DD #173, the first issue of Daredevil I read as a kid! But Gladiator fared better than today's other bad guy: Death-Stalker! From 1974, Daredevil #114, "A Quiet Night in the Swamp!" Written by Steve Gerber, art by Bob Brown, inks by Vince Colletta.

Looking it up here, this was Death-Stalker's second appearance, out of a mere ten spread over five years. (Although, Daredevil was bi-monthly for a long stretch there.) I mainly remember him from the Bullpen Bulletins shot of the cover of DD #158, where Death-Stalker would die fighting DD in a graveyard, phasing partway through a tombstone and getting stuck! You may want to settle for a reprint of that one, since it was Frank Miller's first issue penciling the book. But I skimmed through a few of Death-Stalker's appearances (DD #128, written by Marv Wolfman, looks especially not great, and I'd love to read it!) and since they were spread across four writers, he's kind of all over the place. He's got some intangibility and a death-touch, but seems surprisingly hands-off, coercing or creating various villains to go after Daredevil. (The Purple Man seemed to be doing about the same thing concurrently, which wasn't helping matters.) Roger McKenzie would reveal his secret identity, which kind of landed like a wet fart: I don't think it was meant to be a dramatic reveal, though, just clearing up some threads. Anyway, this issue, Death-Stalker and Gladiator have Daredevil beat in the Everglades--wait, the Everglades? You know what that means!

Richard Rory? Ooh, I hate that guy! No, I meant the Man-Thing, of course! The Gladiator's sawblades aren't doing anything to Manny, so Glad panics and gets burned, but Death-Stalker is able to take the swamp creature down with a touch--a rare loss for the mindless creature. Death-Stalker defeats a battered Daredevil as well, but doesn't deign to kill him yet; instead ordering a sulking Gladiator to tie them up in a cabin with their other prisoner, Foggy Nelson's sister Candice. She had discovered a conspiracy around the work of (presumed) dead biochemist Ted Sallis, and tried to leak the documents. Since Candice says DD and Rory didn't know anything, Death-Stalker is content to leave them in a burning building: Gladiator wishes he could've killed DD in battle, but wasn't calling the shots. While Daredevil manages to escape with the unconscious Rory not realizing a thing, the Man-Thing knocks out Gladiator, but Death-Stalker still has Candice prisoner.

Daredevil changes back into Matt Murdock, and plays dumb about recent events, since Rory didn't see him as DD. Matt calls Foggy to check in, and is advised that he and Daredevil should get back to New York in a hurry. Except, Matt realizes he didn't know 'Daredevil' was with him: Foggy was trying to sneak him a message, since Death-Stalker now had him prisoner as well! I do have the next issue; we may have to check it sometime. You don't necessarily have to go running out for these, though. Oh, and the Marvel Value Stamp was the Werewolf!