Random Happenstance

A bit ago we saw an Ann Nocenti DD issue I was pretty sure I'd read before; today we've got one I'm pretty sure I hadn't. From 1987, Daredevil #240, "The Face You Deserve" Written by Ann Nocenti, pencils by Louis Williams, inks by Al Williamson.

For a change, we've randomly got the second chapter of a two-parter; as Daredevil is still on the trail of slasher-killer Rotgut, who was convinced the city and its people were poisoning him. DD follows a lead but ends up giving a crooked landlord the what-for instead; unaware that he's just helped out Rotgut's mother. She seemed more than a bit off herself, traumatized by her mother's lingering deathbed illness; which convinced the young Rotgut he was poisoned. Rotgut also seemed to be an albino, but it's unclear if he had been before or if a life believing he was touched by rot had taken its toll.

Matt and Karen go on a double-date with Karen's friend Hilda, and her lout of a new boyfriend. Hilda may have given Rotgut his name; since she had waited on him the week before. In fact, she later takes off on her own, since she thought she had seen Rotgut, and trails him back to his apartment building, where he's got...a massive red pill-shaped container of poison, that he's tying into the water supply. As DD listens for Hilda's police whistle, the Fat Boys approach him about wanting to join in the fight against crime. Not being Batman massively irresponsible, he tells them no way, but they follow DD when he gets the signal, and catch up as he falls into a trap. Hilda warns them about the poisoned water, and the Fat Boys start to warn the building's tenants. Hilda also gets a lead pipe upside the head, but maybe lives?

Rotgut has made one error: maybe he should've told his mother first. Granted, her feelings are a tad hurt at being poisoned a bit, but her psychosis seems just as strong as his, as she accuses him of being "gutrot." Rotgut wants to kill himself, but is stopped by Daredevil. Meanwhile, the Fat Boys saved the tenants; but one lets the blustering, angry landlord have a nice tall glass of water for his headache. He seems a bit guilty about that, but I don't know which Fat Boy it was (if they were differentiated at all at this point) or if it ever came up again. He may or may not have been Cain in DD #252; who also seemed to let a lot of things happen without stopping them.

If you're a longtime Marvel reader, this was the month with the "Brach's Gum Dinger Adventures" ad on the back cover, with Gumby and Pokey! Who, honestly, I don't think I had ever seen before at the time. Quite the disconnect from the insides of this issue, too.