The 'Classic' Chichester Issues (Volume 1, # 292-219)
This section reviews issues written by D.G. Chichester prior to the switchover to the New Look, or 'Motocross' Daredevil...
Daredevil #292: "Body Count"; 22 pages
Writer: D.G. Chichester
Artist: Lee Weeks, pencils; Fred Fredricks, inks
A rash of mysterious, motiveless murders is distracting Matt Murdock from preparing for his Bar reinstatement hearing. When he discovers that there's a macabre competition going on between the Taskmaster and Tombstone, he wants to find out who's orchestrating it. Unfortunately, the Punisher isn't willing to be as patient as the Man Without Fear...
It's sort of sad that Ann Nocenti's successor, D.G. Chichester, will most likely be judged by where his run on the series ended up rather than where it started. People who vilify him for the mess that was "The Motocross Daredevil" era most likely forget how much his early work was hailed as being just what the title needed after Nocenti's string of deep thoughts masquerading as comic books. And by perusing this, his first issue, you do get an impression his grip on the Man Without Fear was firm.
And that's perhaps the most noteworthy thing about this issue: Chichester has a very sharp, very clear concept of where he wants to take Daredevil right from the monologue that accompanies the character's first appearance. Wisely, Chichester chooses to write narrative captions only in Matt's voice, a motif he used for the bulk of his run, and his take of Matt as a person who loves New York despite its many flaws, a man infuriated by what can go on in its city limits but accepting his role as one of its protector is one of the best elements in the story. In fact, it's one of the best elements in his run, and the best of his stories focus solely on that (including the absolutely spectacular "Day in the Life" issue). Not surprisingly, it's the major element of Matt's personality that goes by the wayside once we hit the dreaded Motocross DD run.
Although, to be fair, the weaknesses that ultimately sank Chichester's run are evident even this early in his run. With this first story, Chichester's obsession with his pet bad guys, The Snakeroot, is in full force (his other pet villains, Hydra, plays a very small part in this issue before getting the honor of appearing in his crowning moment, "The Fall of the Kingpin", and the dubious distinction of appearing in the seemingly endless "Tree of Knowledge" storyline toward the end of Chichester's run); otherwise mundane villains Tombstone and Taskmaster are so enamored of these also-rans that the engage in this contest on their say-so. His grasp of the the psychology of these enemies are sort of shaky--Tombstone is basically a thug, whereas Taskmaster is a self-serving opportunist, yet both seem to have both a knowledge of and respect for the corrupted Asian philosophy that makes up the Hand's code of conduct. There's an overreliance on guest-stars, in this case The Punisher, who have no real reason to be in the story (this will culminate in the nonsensical excesses of "Tree of Knowledge," where heroes like Gambit show up just to, you know, have a few words with the 'new' Daredevil). There's a weird sense of shorthand in some scenes, particularly the ones involving Daredevil's interrogation of a low-level thug; I was able to figure out that what DD was doing was the Chinese Water Torture, but without that knowledge the scene would have made no sense whatsoever.
The remarkable thing is that these weaknesses don't stunt the story in the least. Chichester does move the story along, does keep the reader engaged, and does raise enough questions that you're wondering what's going to happen next. And, as he goes along in the pre-Motocross issues, he'll show more and more confidence until, in about a year's time, he'll be kicking out the jams harder than anybody. And if that isn't enough, this is one of the issues drawn by the criminally underrated, criminally little-known artist Lee Weeks. Weeks is certainly of the Louis Williams/early Mazzuchelli school, but his expressive faces and amazingly vibrant lines are a joy to behold. It's a pity he gave up the series after the masterful 'Fall of the Kingpin' arc; if he has stuck around longer, there's no doubt in my mind that he would be considered one of the premiere Daredevil pencillers.
"Body Count" may have the seeds of its writer's downfall already planted, but it deserves a look for an example of one of the few writers post-Nocenti who simply got the character of Matt Murdock, both in and out of his costume.
Daredevil #311: "Soul Search"; 22 pages
Writer: Glen Alan Herdling
Artist: Scott McDaniel, pencils; Bud La Rosa, inks
Struggling to shake off the effects of Calypso's Tetratoxin, Matt tries to stop the mad mambo from shipping his client back to Haiti.
And now we reach a rather curious moment in the Chichester run. In many ways, the seeds of the disastrous Motocross run are planted here in a fill-in that can't decide whether it wants to be supernatural or true-to-life. Characters are introduced that act as a catalyst for the New Look set-up, and McDaniel experiments with the weird 'floating holes in space' layout trick he overuses in the first two stories in the Motocross sequence. There's also a heavy-handed emphasis on real world problems gussied up with costumed characters that will prove to be a singular Motocross era leitmotif.
The really funny thing is...this issue is not written by Chichester. It's a fill-in by assistant editor Glen Alan Herdling, a man who may very well have been instrumental in shaping the Motocross era stories. Lord knows it very much reads like a primer on how to write those tales.
The idea of Daredevil grounding itself in more real-life issues is a good one; the arson two-parter that follows this story proves that. Where Herdling, and later Chichester, falls down is in the he jams costumed bogeymen and weird happenings into the story without thinking them through. The concept of Daredevil, both as Matt Murdock and the Man Without Fear, becoming involved with the plight of Hatian political refugees is a good one. Even disguising the coercion and forcible return with voodoo mufti to increase confusion and fear is potentially effective. But when the mastermind is a bizarrely-coiffed woman in a loincloth and Marvel third-rater Brother Voodoo astrally projects himself through the television to command Matt to get the lead out of his ass, it the good elements are lost. Herdling, who apparently watched The Serpent and The Rainbow one too many times, wants to have his cake and eat it too--thus his zombification ritual is based in reality, but it results in a Matt who casts no shadow. It's this inability to commit to one interpretation that sinks the story hook, line and sinker.
Calypso, the aforementioned bizarrely coiffed woman is another problem with the story. Originally a supporting character in a somewhat pleasant issue of Amazing Spider-Man featuring Kraven the Hunter, she was inexplicably turned into a voodoo priestess in the first Todd MacFarlane-written arc of Spider-Man . Unwisely choosing to embrace this nonsensical rewrite of the character, Herdling embraced it and tried his best to position Calypso as a major Daredevil villain. She pops up in the 1993 Annual in a story even more incoherent than this one before indirectly playing a major role in the "Fall From Grace" storyline.
Even though the Motocross Era begins with issue # 219, this story is pretty much the beginning of the dead end that was the 'New Look' Daredevil. As such, this story bears a look. A very, very brief look.