Issue(s): Daredevil #317, Daredevil #318
Cover Date: Jun-Jul 93
Title: "Grease is the word" / "Grease monkeys"
Credits:
D.G. Chichester - Writer
Scott McDaniel - Penciler
Bud LaRosa / Greg Adams & Bud LaRosa - Inker
Pat Garrahy - Assistant Editor
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
As the cover of issue #318 indicates, these issues are a little goofy fun "before we ruin DD's life - AGAIN" in the Fall From Grace storyline. The credits for issue #318 are based on the cast of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...

...and the premise is also based on that, with a weird twist. It also has someone literally kicking a bucket when they die, just like in the movie.

The premise is that the guy kicking the bucket, Slick Jimmy Norton, has a legacy of a half million dollars hidden away, and a group of criminals are going to search for it now that he's dead. The twist is that the legacy isn't stored as cash or some other valuables, but as grease, like restaurant grease. So all the criminals are searching for a cache of grease barrels.

The criminals searching for the grease are:

1) Pete London and his pair of dysfunctional goons. London is a minor mobster that appeared once before in Chichester's run.

2) The Wildboys, Jet and Spit.

3) The Taskmaster.

4) And Stiltman.

Also lurking about is the Tatterdemalion. You can see him out of costume with the bug eye in Slick Jimmy's death scene above (Taskmaster and Stilt-Man are also out of costume).

Scott McDaniel has such a straight, dry art style that the story barely feels like a comedy at times, even when we're supposed to be amused the antics of London's goons.

A lot of the humor is just based on the premise, which allows for various puns.

D.G. Chichester also relies on the idea that anything involving the Stilt-Man is inherently funny. And the idea that Stilt-Man's been storing his costume in a roach infested warehouse at least ups the gross out factor (and advances the Marvel Appendix's Cockroach Conspiracy theory).

Daredevil eventually decides that the best way to deal with the situation is to find the grease himself and then lead all the villains to it and ensure that it gets dumped all over them.

I'm not really a fan of zany screwball humor, but as i said, even though the story clearly wants to be that, it feels a little too stale and flat. I'm not saying i'd like it better if it were drawn in more of a Fred Hembeck or Marie Severin style but at least i'd be more confident about what was meant to be funny. Still, it's interesting to see Chichester and McDaniel going for a very different tone prior to Fall From Grace, and they did manage to add a contender for Stilt-Man's Worst Moments. There is also a short but nice legit fight between Daredevil and Taskmaster.

Unrelated to the main story, we check in with Vanessa Fisk and Dr. Mondat in Paris.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Mmm I'm hungry now.

The title to issue #317 comes from the 1978 mega-hit film adaptation of the mega-hit musical "Grease", starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The song "Grease is the Word" was written for the film by Barry Gibb (oldest and last-surviving Bee Gee) and sung by early rock pioneer Frankie Valli (minus the Four Seasons). And yes, I'm kinda ashamed I know this:-)