Issue 5 “The Mysterious Masked Matador” (December, 1964) Released: October 1, 1964 Written by Stan Lee Drawn and inked by Wally Wood Lettered by Sam Rosen Cover drawn by Wally Wood
Issue 5 not only premieres a brand new villain, but features the work of a new artist. This artist is none other than legendary comic artist Wally Wood. You gotta trust Aaron when he says that Wood’s importance to this comic cannot be quantified. Kyle is not impressed, leading to our very first official disagreement between our cast members!
In this episode, we discover that comic books look way different in the original printed format than they do on Rodney’s Ipad. We dare to ask the question: “Is it unbelievable that Karen Page is so stupid, or is Karen Page just unbelievably stupid?” We also discuss lame villain origins, exactly who does what in the creation of a page of comic book art, and whether or not Kyle should be replaced for insulting the late and great Wally Wood!
Speaking of insulting Wally Wood . . . to the best of our knowledge, this legendary comic book artist NEVER participated in, or was in any way responsible, for a one-man crime wave. We here at The Devil’s Archive regret this error. Also, Wally Wood was a contributor to 7 issues of Daredevil and not 5.
Check behind the cut for our collective grades on this issue and see the artwork that we discuss in the episode!
This issue had the biggest disparity so far between the individual grades of our participants. Aaron gives it an A-, Rodney gives it a B, and Kyle gives it a D+. The average between those grades comes out to a B-.
This is Manuel Eloganto aka The Matador. He has no powers. He’s just your average every day bullfighter, complete with red cape and sword. Swords are pretty cool.
There’s a lot of discussion in this episode about the printing process of comic books, and it is discovered that there is a pretty major shift in the palette tone between the original comic book and the reprints as we see them in Marvel Unlimited or in present-day reprints. This photo is of page 3 of the original comic. We present it as reference. And while we’re at it, let’s answer a commonly-asked question: yes, Aaron has all of the comics we discuss in his personal collection. He is only missing four issues of the original run. The very first appearance of The Matador is on page 2. When we first see him, he is using his cape to distract the driver of an armored truck, causing the truck to crash into a street pole. Kyle puts it best: his powers are not getting hit by a truck. This is page 3 as it appears in the Marvel Masterworks reprint and on Marvel Unlimited (see above). In this sequence, Daredevil rescues a window washer in spectacular fashion before he plummets to his death. It’s a great sequence! On page 5, Karen Page (dressed as Cleopatra) and Matt Murdock (dressed as, um, Matt Murdock) attend a charity costume party. One of the other party-goers is The Matador. Matt can recognize his heartbeat, though, and susses him out, but not before The Matador makes an attempt to rob a hidden wall safe. For some reason, Kyle thinks this is dumb. The only thing in this issue that might qualify as what we refer to as “shenanigans” is a two-panel explanation of Daredevil’s radar sense. Rodney is correct, though: we’ve had very little explanation of the radar in the previous four issues. This issue, in fact, is the first one since issue #1 to even address the fact that Daredevil has a radar sense at all. Unfortunately for Daredevil, however, his radar sense is imperfect, and Daredevil becomes very disoriented due to the clamor of the crowd at the party (a tidbit that Kyle seems to have no issue with) and the air ripples caused by Matador’s cape (a tidbit that Kyle thinks is stupid).We’re all in agreement that this is stupid. Daredevil is too skilled a fighter to be defeated by what amounts to little more than getting trapped under a bedsheet. We give the writers credit when they make Daredevil fallible, but it’s cloying when they do it in such a ridiculous and terrible way. At a certain point, Kyle is just going to have to concede that he is being overly hard in this issue. He takes issue with this sequence as well, a silly one-panel gag that depicts children in the neighborhood playing Daredevil versus The Matador and arguing over which one gets to be The Matador. Kyle thinks robbing a safe at a costume party is dumb, but thinks that robbing a burglar alarm company is “an alpha move.” Regardless of which it happens to be, we all three agree that this is not a security company that we are interested in hiring. The Matador basically disarms the system with a stick. We didn’t mention this in the episode, but we probably should have. Aaron, in particular, will have a lot to say about things like this in future issues. This issue marks the first time that Matt Murdock uses his heightened sense of touch to read newsprint. Shamed by his defeat at the hands of The Matador (and– let’s face it– he should be), Matt Murdock makes the bold public claim that The Matador is none other than Daredevil and that the fight between them at the costume party was staged. His intentions are to draw The Matador out of hiding. His result is that all three of us roll our eyes because this plan makes no sense. This “plan” is ridiculous for many reasons, but one of the biggest is that Daredevil has now planted the seeds in the mind of the public that Daredevil is an imposter. Even if he defeats The Matador, and he eventually does, how is the public to believe that this is really Daredevil fighting The Matador? Not much time is spent in this issue on the love triangle nonsense, but it should be mentioned that Foggy decides that he is going to propose to Karen. Matt, of course, decides that he must give up on Karen since Foggy is his best friend and he doesn’t want to stand in the way of his best friend finding true love and blah blah blah whatevercakes. What’s up, by the way, with Foggy proposing when he has no proof whatsoever that Karen is even interested? It’s creepy. And weird. This is the final page of issue 5. It’s a full-page pin-up of our hero as drawn and inked by Wally Wood. Rodney and I think it’s gorgeous and life-like. Kyle is not impressed. Let us know what you think!
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