Comics Over Time

Murdock and Marvel: 2021

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Episode 95 - Murdock and Marvel: 2021

As the Covid-19 pandemic entered its second year comics continued to charge forward, with the unchallenged biggest year in the history of the medium (so far!) in 2021.  Great books and a public desperate to be entertained combined to make this a great year to be a comic retailer…or a comic fan! 

The Year in Comics 

Comics in Other Media

Comic Sales

Notable Comics

Top Comic News

Notable Passings

Marvel

Eisner Awards

Dan's Favorite

The Year in Daredevil 

Appearances: Daredevil v6 #24-35, Daredevil Epic Collection #5 and 16, Avengers: Marvels Snapshots #1, Marvel Masterworks: Dazzler #2, Namor, the Sub-Mariner Epic Collection #1, Avenger’s Epic Collection #6 and 20, Power Pack Classic Omnibus #2, Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil #15, Heroes Reborn: American Knights #1, Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1, Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders #8, Phoenix Omnibus #1, Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #23, Thor Epic Collection #7 and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, along with Daredevil No.1 Halloween Comic Extravaganza 2021, Shang-Chi: Earth’s Mightiest Martial Artist, Marvel Snapshots, X-Men: Fall of the Mutants Omnibus graphic novels 

Writer: Chip Zdarsky (#24-35) 

Pencils: Mike Hawthorne (#24, #31), Marco Checchetto (#25, #28-29, #33) Checchetto and Hawthorne (#26-27, #30-32), Stefano Landini (#34), Landini and Francesco Mobili (#35) 

Inks: JP Mayer (#24), Marco Checchetto (#25, #28-29, #33), Adriano Di Benedetto (#26, #30-32), Checchetto and Di Benedetto (#27), Stefano Landini (#34), Landini and Francesco Mobili (#35) 

  • As the year begins, we open with Matt Murdock behind bars — two years into a sentence he chose — when Elektra pays him a visit with classic Elektra energy and apocalyptic stakes. She and Stick have uncovered a book that could finally wipe out the Hand, but it requires a King and a Queen. Translation: Daredevil and Elektra. Matt refuses, believing prison is his penance. Elektra walks away… but not from Hell’s Kitchen. 
  • On the streets, Elektra becomes Daredevil — literally putting on the horns to protect the neighborhood while Matt can’t. Her first night nearly kills her until Stick intervenes, confirming the book’s prophecy: only one of the King or Queen survives. Meanwhile, symbiotes descend on the city, targeting a mother and her daughter Alice, and Elektra-as-Daredevil jumps straight into the chaos. 
  • The symbiote crisis explodes everywhere at once — Typhoid Mary joins the fight, Fisk scrambles for control, and the creatures even breach Matt’s prison. Mistaking them for Venom at first, Daredevil is briefly overtaken by a symbiote tied to Knull himself, who offers partnership and power. Matt rejects it the hardest way possible — strapping himself into an electric chair to burn the symbiote out rather than escape prison. 
  • Elektra’s war turns personal as Mary bonds with a symbiote and targets her. In a brutal construction-site showdown, Mary kills Alice’s mother, nearly kills Elektra, and walks away believing Daredevil is dead. Elektra survives, consoles Alice, and quietly takes the orphaned girl under her wing — not to comfort her, but to prepare her. “First you’re sad,” she tells her. “Then you’re angry. That’s when I can help.” 
  • Back inside, Matt spirals — poisoned, hallucinating, and haunted by the deaths tied to his past as a prosecutor. Inmates die mysteriously; the warden circles him like a vulture, and when Daredevil is lured into the yard, he’s jumped, stabbed, and left bleeding out as the warden declares him dead. 
  • Crime shifts hands in Hell’s Kitchen while Matt is down. Elektra shakes down Izzy Libris, demands tribute, and Izzy responds by handing control of Hell’s Kitchen to Butch — an Owl defector and, in a major reveal in the Daredevil Annual last year, Wilson Fisk’s son. Meanwhile, Mike Murdock is posing as Matt on the outside, secretly working with Butch to undermine Izzy from within. 
  • Matt survives the prison attack and wakes up in the hospital to Foggy, Kirsten, Cole North, and the FBI. They want his help investigating a string of inside-job murders in exchange for commuting his sentence. Matt agrees… but insists he’ll still serve the full two years. This isn’t about freedom anymore — it’s about responsibility. 
  • Everything starts breaking loose at once: Elektra and Alice survive an ambush when Alice pulls the trigger herself; Fisk and Mary quietly plan their future over dinner; and Ravencroft calls with catastrophic news — Bullseye has slaughtered everyone inside and escaped. Two Daredevils. A rising crime heir. And the Devil’s deadliest enemy is back on the board. 
  • The final story arch of 2021 is an action packed 6-book story arch called “Lock Down”. Which definitely feels like the spotlight for this week. 

    • This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil Volume 6 issues #31-36 from August 2021 to January 2022 “Lock Down” 

    Recap

    Why We Picked This Story

    Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions

    The Takeaway

    This was a “making lemonade” year.  Sometimes you need to have something big happen to shake things up.

    Questions or comments

    We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at [email protected] 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. 

    Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History 

    DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_superhero_debuts 

    https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/ 

    https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards/past-recipients/past-recipients-1990s/ 

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    Comics Over TimeBy Duane Eckholm and Dan Newland