gc8's Daredevil #5 - The Mysterious Masked Matador! review

    Avatar image for gc8
    • Score:
    • gc8 wrote this review on .
    • 2 out of 2 Comic Vine users found it helpful.
    • gc8 has written a total of 1420 reviews. The last one was for
    • This review received 1 comments

    A Golden Age Throwback

    No Caption Provided

    Up to now Daredevil has had some good artists in Bill Everett, Joe Orlando and Vince Colletta, but with issue #5, the title gets the first of it's great artists; one of the artists who would have a lasting impact on the character: Wallace Wood.

    Wally Wood immediately begins that impact by redesigning Daredevil's costume, removing the V neck and giving him the trademark overlapping 'D's on his chest.

    The story itself is a bit of a Golden Age throwback, with Daredevil fighting a villain with no more lofty aspirations than to pull off daring crimes purely to satisfy his own bruised ego. That villain, The Matador, is just that, a former bullfighter with no fancy radiation accident powers - nothing more than athletic skill with the sword and cape and some acrobatics. A lot of people will probably call this issue a 'dud' because of the lack of energy blasts and over-the-top villainous plots, but for my money, this kind of plausible street-level villain with a mask is exactly the kind of adversary where Daredevil is its best.

    The Matador pulls off crimes like robbing a wall safe during a party in a room full of people, or burglarizing a burglar alarm factory, just to get his name in the papers. Brilliantly simple crimes. He even bests Daredevil with little more than a cape, and likewise, Daredevil must take him down using little more than his wits and fists. If that weren't enough, things are heating up between Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, to the point where Foggy is contemplating popping the question.

    Early Daredevil comics were pretty hit-and-miss, but this is one of the better issues.

    Other reviews for Daredevil #5 - The Mysterious Masked Matador!

      Daredevil 5 0

      Wally Wood is a new addition to the Daredevil ranks with this issue and his clean and handsome art style is a fine fit for the title.  Storywise, this is quite peculiar.  The Matador is a strange villian - possibly a D lister in terms of ability.  Still, Stan Lee cleverly presents him as something of suave swashbuckler and soon has the good folks of New York city treating him like he was some kind of latter day Robin Hood (even if he doesn't give his bounty to the poor).  There is one good scene...

      2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.