Daredevil #13

Location, location, location.  Having moved from New York to Antartica last month, this issue Daredevil and co are quickly transported from the Savage Land to England, DD still part of the Plunderer's crew, though discovered to be blind.  One peculiarity, typical of comics at this time, occurs early on - Plunder appears to have no interest in unmasking the seemingly defenseless Daredevil, which, one must feel, that he would at least be curious about. 

Plunder is actually a Lord and, as we learn, Ka-Zar's brother, both brothers having half of a magic medallion that can open a stone tomb in which is encased a very powerful ore.  Plunder wants Ka-Zar's half so that he can have first dibs on these resources, presumably, and tries to provoke Daredevil into getting the medallion off his brother (real name, Kevin, which is. at least, not as bad as Parnival - no wonder Plunder is furious). 

Great names for villains continues this month, when we learn the name of one of the Plunderer's crew, the unintentionally hilariously monikered Slagg.  Like his name suggests, Slagg is a thoroughly unappealing character, which, as he is a bad guy, is actually quite a good thing.  His introduction really amps up the potential villainy as we now have not only Plunder, Slagg, the Swamp Men and Maa-gor the ape man (and later the butler, Feepers) all seemingly at odds with Ka-Zar and DD.  One of the hallmarks of Stan Lee's terrific scripting is his ability to introduce many different factions in one story, seemingly unconcerned about using up all his good ideas at once.

Slagg is a lot of fun.  He's typical pirate with eye-patch, bandana and parrot on his shoulder - much more the stereotype than Plunder is.  Best scene involving Slagg is when he barks orders at Plunder's waiters in the pirates' castle, calling them 'over-stuffed salamanders' and demanding food and booze.  However, his comeuppance is at the hands of an unlikely source - the seemingly mild manner and subservient butler, Feepers.  "I've waited for years, suffered every taunt, every indignity," Feepers wails.  "I was content to be Feepers, the humble flunky, for I always knew this supreme moment would one day be mine!"  It's a great speech from a minor character.

There's one bizarre panel of England towards the end of the issue, which seems to indicate that the country is made up of 'foggy, murky, mysterious moorlands.'  Presumably Stan hadn't been in the UK for a while.

3 out of 5