Comics Over Time

By Duane Eckholm and Dan NewlandArts Leisure History Visual Arts Animation & Manga

Comics Over Time episodes

November 20, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1994 Part 2
Episode 39 - Murdock and Marvel: 1994 Part 2
1994 was a crazy year in the comics world, with both DC and Marvel continuing to crank out new books, even as other companies tried to claw their way into the market. Retailers and fans were nearly helpless as the onslaught of comics overwhelmed them, leading to one of the worst years in the history of modern comics.
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1994.

The Year in Daredevil
Appearances: Daredevil #324-335, Daredevil Man without Fear #4 and #5, Daredevil Annual #10, Real Heroes #3, What if…? #58 and #64, Marvels #2-4, Marvel Comics Presents #150 - #151, Marvel Tales #285, Spider-Man Unlimited #6, Marvel Super-Heroes Megazine #1- #3, Spider-Man Megazine #1, Spectacular Spider-Man #218 and #219, Guardians of the Galaxy #54, Amazing Spider-Man #396 plus Death of Captain Marvel novel, Punisher Ashcan Edition novel, Marvel Limited: Fantastic Firsts novel and Marvels novel
Writing: Dan G Chichester (324-327, 329-332), Gregory Wright (328, 333-335)
Interviews:
Chichester: https://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-interviews/Chichester
Wright: https://www.manwithoutfear.com/interviews/ddINTERVIEW.shtml?id=Wright
Pencils: Scott McDaniel (324-327, 329-332), Sergio Cariello (328), Tom Grindberg (333-335)
Inks: Hector Collazo and Michael Avon Oeming (324), Hector Collazo (325-327, 329, 331-332), Ariane Lenshoek-Pinharo (328), Collazo and Rich Rankin (330). Ray Kryssing (333) Don Hudson (334-335)
The year begins with the final 2 installments of the Fall from Grace story arc. In it we see the ACTUAL return of Elektra (in an all white outfit) who fights alongside Matt Murdock to kill the ninjas and the Erynys that has part of her essence inside – which see does and absorbs the essence back into herself. Murdock ends up fighting the Hellspawn and after taking the weird virus to become human, it dies in the final fight with Snakeroot. Murdock uses the body to fake his death and become Jack Batlin. Ben Urich realizes his intern Sara Harrington was the one that hacked his files and shared Murdock’s secret identity (hence Murdock faking his death).
Next, we jump right into another multi-book story called Tree of Knowledge. This 6-part story with an extra interlude book (by a different creative team) starts in March with issue 326 and shows Daredevil and Captain America taking on a gang of hackers called System Crash which is being led by Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker of Hydra. Since this is the only full story this year, this will be our spotlight story for the week.
The year ends with the first half of another named storyline Fathoms of Humanity that will end in February 1995. Written by Gregory Wright and Penciled by Tom Grindberg while Chichester and McDaniel work on Elektra: Root of Evil (which was promoted extensively at the end of these books). In this story we see Daredevil follow a homeless man into the sewers where a tribe of people are living including their “King” whom Daredevil rescued Wilson Fisk’s wife Vanessa from back in the original Frank Miller days. Daredevil defeats his old foe – which endears him to the rest of the community (and causes the King to seek out an altar to summon some creature to enact revenge). We also see him take on Bushwacker (another old foe with a gun for an arm). During this story we also see Kingpin who’s working out of an abandoned subway car as he slowly starts working towards regaining his power and influence.
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #326 March 1994 “Tree of Knowledge Part 1” through Daredevil #332 September 1994 “Tree of Knowledge Finale”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway
A great year if you can get through the junk
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
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.
1 hr 29 min
November 13, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1995 Part 1
Episode 40 - Murdock and Marvel: 1995 Part 1
It was a tough year in comics, especially for the big two. Comic shops were having trouble, readers seemed to be moving on to other things, and corporate overlords continued to demand ever higher profits. 1995 was a bit of an…apocalypse.
Preshow
Daredevil Born Again coming March 4, 2025
The Year in Comics
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Information
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
It was a crazy year at Marvel, with pressures to increase sales leading to massive cuts and layoffs, even as the company continued to acquire other businesses and expand its plans. Get ready for a bumpy ride.
TOTAL SERIES: 289
TOTAL NEW SERIES: 191
TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 215
THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):
Age of Apocalypse
The Crossing
BEST SELLING COMICS: X-Men, Spider-Man
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen/Passings
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mark Waid
Dan's Favorite

Next week: 1995 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil

Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
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.
1 hr 14 min
November 06, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1994 Part 1
Episode 38 - Murdock and Marvel: 1994 Part 1
1994 was a crazy year in the comics world, with both DC and Marvel continuing to crank out new books, even as other companies tried to claw their way into the market. Retailers and fans were nearly helpless as the onslaught of comics overwhelmed them, leading to one of the worst years in the history of modern comics.
The Year in Comics
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Information
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
It was a pretty rough year at Marvel, both creatively and in terms of sales. New corporate sales mandates drove a wedge between the staff, and overproduction meant too many books by less talented creators. Even so, there were some bright spots!
TOTAL SERIES: 336
TOTAL NEW SERIES: 195
TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 234
THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):
Phalanx Covenant (Generation X Debuts)
BEST SELLING COMICS: Marvels
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen/Passings
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Mike Deodato
Dan's Favorite

Next week: 1994 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil

Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
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.
1 hr 17 min
October 31, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1993 Part 2
Episode 37 - Murdock and Marvel: 1993 Part 2
There are arguments to be made that this was the best year in the history of comics. There are also a number of ways in which it may have been the worst. In any case, it was not boring. Welcome to 1993, the year everything that has been building for the last decade or so comes to a head.
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1993.

The Year in Daredevil
Appearances: Daredevil #312-323, Daredevil Annual #9, Daredevil: Man without Fear #1-5, Fantastic Four #373 and #378, Slapstick #4, What If…? #47, #48 and #55, Ghost Rider #36, Marvel Comics Presents #129 and #136, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #55, Thor #464, Punisher War Journal #57 and #58, Web of Spider-Man #106, Alpha Flight #127, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #57, Infinity Crusade #1-6, and Marvel Masterworks #25
Writing: Dan G. Chichester (312-323)
Pencils: Scott McDaniel (312-315, 317-323), Kevin Kobasic (316)
Inks: Bud LaRosa (312-317) LaRosa and Greg Adams (318), Hector Collazo and Harry Candelario (319), Michael Avon Oeming (320), Hector Callazo (321), Collazo and Rich Rankin (322-323)
The year starts with a mysterious fire at a Hell’s Kitchen pizzeria in which a young man “Marky” is killed and his girlfriend Lisa Rizzo needs to be rescued. After, she gets arrested and goes to court as an apparent arsonist – so Matt Murdock volunteers to be her lawyer. With Lisa not talking, Daredevil looks into the various patrons the day of the fire to figure out what really happened. In the end we find out Lisa is pregnant with Marky’s child and the pizza shop owners set fire to their own store to get the insurance money.
In Daredevil Annual #9, We get 3 different stories. In devouring madness, we see Daredevil break up a museum robbery. On the clock shows a typical day in the life of our fearless hero and Resurrection shows Calypso resurrect a zombie to fight Daredevil.
Next, Daredevil takes on a new incarnation of Mr. Fear… Shock who is Alan Fagan’s (the original Fear) daughter. The story, however, turns a bit weird as Shock enlists Taskmaster, the Wildboys and Stiltman to go after Daredevil – with the ending in issue 318 that’s played off as silly more than anything. The issue itself has a weird “That’s it folks! The last issue of Daredevil Before… Daredevil #319” on the cover. I had no idea what that meant until…
Issue 319 starts the final story arch of the year… Fall from Grace. This year we get a prologue and the first 4 chapters of the story (which appears to go through issue 325 – February 1994). We’ll speak in more detail about this story during our spotlight.
In Daredevil: Man without Fear we get a thorough retelling of the Daredevil origin story as well as his relationship with Elektra. This 5-book story was written by Frank Miller and penciled by John Romita Jr (Al Williamson on inks). This story goes into far more detail than what we got originally. We also see how Kingpin came into power as well as introduced to a few new characters (Mickey/Lars). Despite knowing the story well, I really enjoyed this series. It looked amazing.
This Week's Spotlight: #319 August 1993 “Fall From Grace Prologue: Temptation” through Daredevil #323 December 1993 “Fall From Grace Chapter 4: Conflict”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions
The Takeaway
Garbage in, Garbage out.
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
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.
1 hr 13 min
October 23, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1993 Part 1
Episode 36 - Murdock and Marvel: 1993 Part 1
There are arguments to be made that this was the best year in the history of comics. There are also a number of ways in which it may have been the worst. In any case, it was not boring. Welcome to 1993, the year everything that has been building for the last decade or so comes to a head.
Announcements
Show Tweaks
The Year in Comics
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Information
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
TOTAL SERIES: 313
TOTAL NEW SERIES: 198
TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 170
THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):
Maximum Carnage
Bloodties
Fatal Attractions
BEST SELLING COMICS: Uncanny X-Men, Cable, ASM, SM Unlimited, X-Men 2099
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Salvador LaRocca
Dan's Favorite

Next week: 1993 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil

Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
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.
1 hr 19 min
October 17, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 2
Episode 35 - Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 2
Well, here we are. Image starts a new creator-owned era, even as the man who created the superhero sensation dies, along with one of his creators. 1992 was a very big year for changes.
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1992.

The Year in Daredevil
Appearances: Daredevil #300-311, Daredevil Annual #8, Punisher Annual #5, Web of Spider-Man Annual #8, Infinity War #1-4, Death’s Head 2 #4, Fantastic Four #367-368 and #370, Alpha Flight #111, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #41 and #43, Marvel Comics Presents #113, Spider-Man Special Edition #1, What if…? #44, Daredevil Gangwar and Infinity Gauntlet graphic novels and Marvel Masterworks #21 and #22
Writing: Dan G Chichester (300-309) , Glenn Herdling (310-311)
Pencils: Lee Weeks (300), M.C. Wyman (301-303), Ron Garney (304), Scott McDaniel (305-311)
Inks: Al Williamson (300), Chris Ivy (301-303, 305), Bud LaRosa (304, 306-311),
The year begins with the huge double issue that concludes the Last Rites storyline that began late in 1991. Daredevil has been enlisted by SHIELD to take down Kingpin and by extension Hydra who is bankrolling his media empire. Last week we saw the pieces get put in place and during our spotlight this week, we’ll see how this terrific story ends.
Next, we see Daredevil take on one of his oldest foes, the Owl, in a solid 3-book story arc.
Outside of the spotlight book, “34 Hours” from May 1992 is one of the best single-story books in the last few years. In it we see Daredevil saving lives across a 34-hour timeframe.
We are then introduced to a new villain, Surgeon General, who’s picking up men in clubs, drugging them and then operating on them to steal body parts for the black market. To set a trap for the Surgeon General, Daredevil sets a trap using Peter Parker as bait. Fortunately for Peter, the trap worked with the help of Parker’s secret identity, Spider-Man.
Next, we get another multi-book story arc involving the Nomad and Punisher called Dead Man’s Hand. This 7-part story arc that takes place in Las Vegas shows various crime factions all trying to get a piece of the Kingpin’s empire now that he’s not there to lead it. During this event we also see what has happened to the kingpin. Among the groups fighting for Kingpin’s empire include – The Hand, Yakuza, the Maggia, Hydra, Hammer Industries, Andreas and Andrea Strucker (Known as Fenris?). This story was hard to follow as several parts of the story appear in other books (parts 3&4 were in Nomad & Punisher books) and part 6 was somewhere else but was communicated to the reader.
After Vegas, Matt Murdock returns to New York and we finish out the year with a multi-book story arc with Calypso, the Nameless One and a Daredevil doppelganger known as Hellspawn from the Infinity War Crossover. This story centers around a Haitian refugee named Yves Chapoteau who is seeking asylum in the U.S. During the story Calypso performs a voodoo ritual on Daredevil and enslaves him to her. He is able to escape by destroying her magic soul-possessing jars which also free some other zombie refugees who attack her. In an epilogue of this story, we see two people digging up someone's grave.
New Powers, Toys or Places: Back in Vegas for the Dead Man’s Hand story arc.
New Supporting Characters: Yves Chapoteau (Haitian refugee who seeks out Matt Murdock for his asylum case)
New Villains: Surgeon General (woman seducing men and then stealing organs for the black market), Hellspawn (Daredevil doppleganger from Infinity War crossover who’s killed by Calyspo)
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #300 January 1992 “Last Rites Part 4: Long Live the King”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
Writers still matter!
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics. This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss. This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.
BOOKLIST
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show. Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo. Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon. London: Titan Books, 2020. This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print. It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion. So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.
Wells, John. American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964. Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015. Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.
Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. This is the revised edition.
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2022. The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.
Cowsill, Alan et al. DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2010. Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.
Dauber, Jeremy. American Comics: A History. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022. An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments. An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation.
1 hr 11 min
October 09, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 1
Episode 34 - Murdock and Marvel: 1992 Part 1
Well, here we are. Image starts a new creator-owned era, even as the man who created the superhero sensation dies, along with one of his creators. 1992 was a very big year for changes.
The Year in Comics
Comic books managed to make it into the news and public consciousness in different ways in 1992, as movies, TV shows, new companies and a massive character death kept things interesting!
Notable and Newsworthy
Sales & Industry Trends
Beginnings and Endings
Memorials
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
1992 is a weird year, in that as it begins nothing seems to have changed from the heady days of 1991. But the Image artists no longer are present as the summer rolls around, and the Marvel Universe itself moves into darker territory. Here begins the anti-hero turn of the 90s, with dark futures and truly irredeemable villains.
TOTAL SERIES: 246
TOTAL NEW SERIES: 149
TOTAL ENDING SERIES: 129
THIS YEAR'S EVENT(S):
Operation Galactic Storm (Avengers and Quasar in a Kree/Shiar war)
X-Cutioner’s Song (X-Men fight Stryfe)
BEST SELLING COMICS: Death of Superman, Spawn and all the Image books
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chris Bachalo
Dan's Favorite

Next week: 1992 Part 2 - The year in Daredevil
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics. This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss. This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.
BOOKLIST
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show. Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo. Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon. London: Titan Books, 2020. This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print. It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion. So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.
Wells, John. American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964. Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015. Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.
Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. This is the revised edition.
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2022. The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.
Cowsill, Alan et al. DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2010. Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.
Dauber, Jeremy. American Comics: A History. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022. An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments. An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation.
1 hr 19 min
October 02, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 2
Episode 33 - Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 2
It’s the year of Marvel’s greatest success…and quite possibly its greatest failure! Welcome to 1991, the year that sets the stage for the next evolution of American comics.
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1991.

The Year in Daredevil
Appearances: Daredevil #288-299, Daredevil Annual #7, Marvel Comic Presents #69-72, #75, #81 and #91, What if…? 24 and 26, Avengers #332-#333, Excalibur #39, Darkhawk #6, Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero, Very Best of Marvel Comics, Very Best of What If, Amazing Spider-Man: The Wedding graphic novels and Marvel Masterworks
Writing: Ann Nocenti (288-291) Dan G Chichester (292-299)
Pencils: Lee Weeks (288, 291-295, 297-299) Kieron Dwyer (289-290), Ron Garney (296)
Inks: Al Williamson and Weeks (288) Williamson and Fred Fredricks (289), Fredricks (290-292), Williamson (293-299)
The year begins with Matt Murdock having dreams of Elektra and Stick and the Kingpin orchestrating a similar ultimatum to throw a boxing match to save Nyla whom he’s kidnapped. Matt refuses to do so, wins the fight and saves Nyla with the help of Ben Urich
Meanwhile Bullseye continues to pretend to be Daredevil and ruin his reputation, but is confronted and defeated by Murdock who’s disguised as Bullseye.
After taking on Bullet for one last time, Matt Murdock reunites with his friend and law partner Foggy Nelson – who’s been working on getting Murdock’s law license reinstated.
As Daredevil and the Punisher deal with Taskmaster and Tombstone causing trouble, we see Kingpin and Typhoid Mary enter a deal with a General Strang, an investor who agrees to fund Fisk’s media enterprises but secretly hopes to infiltrate Fisk’s finances from within.
Halfway through the year we see the Hand returns to New York and we learn they were the ones behind setting lose Taskmaster and Tombstone on the city.
What follows is a multi-book story arc involving Daredevil attempts to take down the Hand. This includes a cameo by the Ghost Rider and some of Stick’s old students (including Stone) showing up to help Daredevil in the final showdown – which is our spotlight story this week.
The year ends with the first 3 of 4 parts to the Last Rites story arc. In it, we see Daredevil causing division between Kingpin and Typhoid before having her committed. Then we see Nick Fury bring Matt Murdock into SHIELD and ask him for help taking down Kingpin and Hydra who’s bankrolling his media enterprise. We then see the chess pieces put in place for a final showdown. The finale of this story is a giant double issue #300 we’ll talk about in 1992.
New Powers, Toys or Places: None
New Supporting Characters: Maltese (Kingpin’s right-hand man), Danny Ketch aka Ghost Rider, Kathy Malper (US District Attorney looking to take down Kingpin)
New Villains: Taskmaster (big time Marvel baddie), Tombstone (another Marvel baddie), General Strang (Kingpin’s media investor that turns out to be more than he bargained for – Lieutenant Garotte). Jonin (head of the latest version of the Hand in New York), a new Izanami (large female enforcer of the Hand)
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #296 September 1991 “Balancing Act”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
Writers matter!
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics. This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss. This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.
BOOKLIST
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show. Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo. Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon. London: Titan Books, 2020. This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print. It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion. So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.
Wells, John. American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964. Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015. Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.
Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. This is the revised edition.
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2022. The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.
Cowsill, Alan et al. DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2010. Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.
Dauber, Jeremy. American Comics: A History. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022. An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments. An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation.
1 hr 2 min
September 25, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 1
Episode 32 - Murdock and Marvel: 1991 Part 1
It’s the year of Marvel’s greatest success…and quite possibly its greatest failure! Welcome to 1991, the year that sets the stage for the next evolution of American comics.
The Year in Comics
Notable and Newsworthy
Industry Trends
Eisner Awards
Dan's Favorite
The Year in Marvel
Events & Happenings
New Titles (Ongoing and Limited)
New Characters
Series Ending
Who's in the Bullpen
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Don Slott
Dan's Favorite

Due to the time it took to get through this and to fully cover Daredevil, we've split 1991 into 2 podcasts. Next week you'll hear the rest of this episode - which will discuss the year for Daredevil and Dan's takeaway.

Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics. This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss. This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.
BOOKLIST
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show. Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo. Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon. London: Titan Books, 2020. This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print. It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion. So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.
Wells, John. American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964. Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015. Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.
Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. This is the revised edition.
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2022. The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.
Cowsill, Alan et al. DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2010. Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.
Dauber, Jeremy. American Comics: A History. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022. An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments. An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation.
1 hr 13 min
September 18, 2024Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 2
Episode 31 - Murdock and Marvel: 1990 Part 2
As we start the 90s Marvel and DC are approaching monopoly status on comic store shelves, leaving other publishers to look for success at the margins. But if you are a big fan of the Big 2, 1990 was a good time to be reading comic books!
This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 1990.

The Year in Daredevil
Appearances: Daredevil #276-287, Wolverine #21, Captain America #368, 374 - 376, Count Duckula #10, Punisher Magazine #8 and 15-16, What if…? #13, 15, 17, 20, Marvel Comics presents #49 and Daredevil: Marked for Death and Elektra Lives Again graphic novels
Writing credits: Ann Nocenti (276-287)
Pencilers: John Romita Jr (276, 278-282), Rick Leonardi (277), Mark Bagley (283), Lee Weeks (284-285, 287), Greg Capullo (286)
Inks: Al Williamson (276-282, 284-285, 287), Williamson and Tom Morgan (283), Doug Hazlewood (286)
As the year begins, The Acts of Vengeance event continues with Ultron looking to take Number Nine as a bride and Daredevil must try to save her.
Next, we get an out of timeline story involving Daredevil and a psychologist whose star patient is his wife.
Back to the current timeline, The Inhumans are set to leave for Pottersville in search of Black Bolts' son and it turms into a road trip for them, Daredevil, Number 9 and Brandy. Meanwhile, Blackheart and Mephisto discuss the finer points of evil and Blackheart is tasked with making Daredevil and the others do evil.
In Pottersville, the team finds a boy, Pope, with powers who the town is scared of and wants to kill him. They save the boy, but in the aftermath fall into a crack in the earth caused by an earthquake. We then see Daredevil and his companions experience different versions of Hell before a final showdown with Mephisto in which they are aided by the Silver Surfer.
Next, we get a single (what I assume is out of timeline) story in which Captain America and Daredevil are trying to help an inventor whose fantastic invention could change the world. This social issue focused book will be our spotlight story this week.
Daredevil finally returns to New York, but his memories are scrambled by the recent trip to Hell. Not knowing who he really is, he assumes the identity of Jack Murdock. Bullseye finds out about the confusion and decides to take advantage of the situation by impersonating the horned hero.
The rest of the year we see Matt Murdock meet a homeless woman, Nyla, who takes him in and the two become close. Murdock becomes a boxer, like his father, at Fogwell’s Gym and Bullseye continues stealing from the rich and beating up police to ruin the reputation of the once great hero. Ben Urich returns and seems to realize things don’t add up and goes looking for Matt Murdock.
In the final panels of the year, we see Wilson Fisk at a “Jack Murdock” boxing match and he too recognizes his former adversary.
New Powers, Toys or Places: Still in upstate New York to start the year, we see the team head to Hell/Mephisto’s realm across several books before returning to familiar New York City.
New Supporting Characters: Daniel and Vivian (psychologist and his wife), Pope (Boy in Pottersville’s with powers that the townsfolk want to kill), Victor Cieszkowska (Inventor disillusioned by the US and their people), Nyla (homeless woman that befriends Matt Murdock while he’s going by Jack Murdock, becomes a love interest)
New Villains:
This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #283 August 1990 “The American Nightmare”
Recap
Why We Picked This Story
The Takeaway
Marvel has won.
Questions or comments
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.
------------------
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.
Joshua and Jamie Do Daredevil: A fantastic podcast that does a deep-dive into Daredevil comics. This ran from 2018-2020, and covered most of the first volume of Daredevil, and was a fun way to get an in-depth look at each issue of Daredevil from 1-377.
My Marvelous Year: This is a reading-club style podcast where Dave Buesing and friends chose important or interesting books from a particular year to read and discuss. This helped me remember some fun and crazy stories, and would be a great companion piece to Murdock and Marvel for those who want more comic-story-specific coverage.
BOOKLIST
The following books have been frequently used as reference while preparing summaries of the comic history segments of our show. Each and every one comes recommended by Dan for fans wanting to read more about it!
Licari, Fabio and Marco Rizzo. Marvel: The First 80 Years: The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon. London: Titan Books, 2020. This book is sort of a mess, as the print quality is terrible, and Titan doesn’t even credit the authors unless you check the fine print. It’s like this was published by Marvel in the early 60s! But the information is good, and it is presented in an entertaining fashion. So its decent, but I would recommend you see if you can just borrow it from the library instead of purchasing.
Wells, John. American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964. Raleigh: Two Morrows, 2015. Not cheap, but a fantastic series that is informative and fun to read.
Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. This is the revised edition.
Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2022. The academic in my rails at using information from any work that doesn’t have an author credit, but this is a decent (if very surface) look at each year in the history of Timely / Marvel from 1939 to 2021.
Cowsill, Alan et al. DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual History. New York: DK Publishing, 2010. Because its nice to occasionally take a peek at what the Distinguished Competition is up to.
Dauber, Jeremy. American Comics: A History. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2022. An excellent, relatively compact history of the domestic comic industry from its 19th century origins through to recent 21st century developments. An excellent successor to Bradford Wright’s Comic Book Nation.
55 min

About Comics Over Time

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Each week Dan, Duane and Siena bring you a look at comics new and old! Since 2021 we have been discussing comics, TV and film. For 2024 Duane and Dan are focusing on Marvel history that centers on Daredevil, and Siena and Dan are keeping up with current happenings in the Marvel Comics Universe. Our previous seasons are also available here: Phases of the Moon Knight covered the Moon Knight character in comics and TV, and our MCU Review saw us comparing the Phase 1 thru Phase 4 Marvel Cinematic Universe films with the comics that inspired them.

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