Murdock and Marvel: 1973

Comics Over Time

Episode 11 - Murdock and Marvel: 1973

Its 1973, which was a tumultuous and eventful year for America. We left Vietnam without winning, VP Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace and the US dollar was devalued, while momentous events such as Roe v Wade, Nixon visiting China and Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs. By end of year Nixon has resigned and the US has begun to slip into its first recession since the post-War boom of the 40s. Lost in all of that were some pretty important moments for the comics world, including the Miller v California case, which would directly affect the comics world. Buckle up, folks, this year is a bumpy one.

Preshow

• Duane recommends Fallout TV Show on Amazon Prime
• https://www.amazon.com/Fallout-Season-1/dp/B0CN4HV16N

The Year in Comics

This was a crazy year for comics, with major changes in the economy, the law and society at large impacting the industry.

The Big Stories

Comic Fan Art Awards (formerly Goethe Awards)

Shazam Winners

The Year in Marvel

New Titles (and lots of reprints)

New Characters

Big Moments

Who's in the Bullpen

• ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Doug Moench

The Year in Daredevil

Appearances: Daredevil #95-106, Avengers #111

• Gerry Conway (writer) and Gene Colan start the year off in there usual roles with Roy Thomas editing, but that changes several times throughout this year.
• The year starts with the Man-Bull heading to San Francisco to exact revenge on Daredevil and create an army of serum created creatures from unsuspecting San Franciscans.
• Next we see the tragic tale of Mordacai Jones and he’s transformation into Daredevil’s newest foe – the Dark Messiah. He then frees some prisoners to create his disciples of Doom to go after Daredevil. Daredevil is able to defeat him by reminding him of the teenager he used to be.
• Hawkeye comes to San Francisco looking to rekindle a romance with Black Widow which causes a fight between Daredevil and Hawkeye before several other Avengers show up asking for Daredevil’s help.
• In Avengers #111, Daredevil and Black Widow help take down Magneto and free the X-Men and Avengers he had taken control of.
• After helping the Avengers, Daredevil returns to San Francisco while Black Widow stays with the Avengers
• For Daredevil’s big 100th issue, we get the psychedelic spectacular featuring another new villain – Angar the Screamer who can cause hallucinations by screaming. Daredevil is the only one that can remember the hallucinations after they’ve ended. Black Widow returns, but Angar causes DD and Widow to fight while he escapes.
• While looking for Angar the Screamer, Daredevil and Black Widow must take on Stilt-Man (again) to save the original creator of the suit tech (and his daughter) and before Stilt-Man can use his molecular condenser.
• Peter Parker comes to San Francisco to interview Daredevil but his web slinging skills are needed to help Daredevil and Black Widow take on Ramrod – a former oil rig worker who had his skeleton replaced with steel after an accident. He’s after some papers Daredevil is holding but ends up falling from a tall building allowing him to be captured by police.
• Another issue, another new villain for the shadowy figure. This time it’s Kraven the Hunter. Who gets the better of Black Widow and Murdock/Daredevil at a dinner party hosted by Matt’s senior partner Kerwin Broderick. Kraven throws Daredevil off a cliff…
• But ends up in the secret layer of Moon Dragon who thinks Daredevil is a minion of Thanos but after probing his mind (and a gunshot wound) realizes that she’s been manipulated by Kerwin Broderick for his own ends.
• The year ends in a cliffhanger as all of Broderick’s villains – Dark Messiah, Angar the Screamer, Ramrod are causing chaos throughout San Francisco while his latest creation – Terrex is slowly making it’s way towards the city where Kerwin intends to meld with the creature and become king of San Francisco and the world.

New Powers, Toys or Places

New Supporting Characters

New Villains

This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #100 June 1973 “Mind Storm”

Recap

Why We Picked This Story

The Takeaway

The End of Innocence

Questions or comments

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [e-mail] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES

Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm. You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.

The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.

Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.

Man Without Fear: Kuljit Mithra’s Daredevil site contains a staggering collection of resources about our hero, including news, interviews and comic details.

The American Comic Book Chronicles: Published by TwoMorrows, these volumes provide an excellent analysis of American comics through the years. Because these volumes break down comic history by year and decade they are a great place to get a basic orientation on what is happening across the comic industry at a particular point in time.