Issue(s): Daredevil #102
Cover Date: Aug 73
Title: "Stilt-Man stalks the city!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Syd Shores - Penciler
Frank Giacoia - Inker

Review/plot:
Since we've been looking at the treatment of the Black Widow from a feminist angle, this issue, written by Chris Claremont, who is renown for his positive treatment of female characters, is of interest. But of course this is very early Claremont, writing in the House style and using phrases like "Dig?"...

...and "right on, brothers 'n' sisters".

This is Claremont's first credited work at Marvel, although he did have an uncredited assist on Hulk #148.

The story uses Stilt-Man, and goes back to his first appearance, bringing back Dr. Carl Kaxton and his molecular condenser. Stilt-Man now has Kaxton, and his daughter, prisoner...

...and is forcing Kaxton to rebuild the shrink ray device.

As for the treatment of the Black Widow, well, there's this interesting scene where Daredevil's "be careful" message isn't appreciated.

And this scene where the Black Widow manages her fear (fear of Stilt-Man, sure, but within the context of the story he's supposed to be a credible threat).

That said, the fight with the Stilt-Man is remarkably similar to the situation with the Widow and the Man-Bull that i complained about in Daredevil #96. In the end the Widow is defeated and it's up to Daredevil to save the day.

That "hold me" panel was particularly disappointing.

So it's kind of a mixed bag. I do like Syd Shore's rare turn on pencils here.

The shrink ray ends up in the trash.

By the way, if you're reading an early Chris Claremont comic and you don't see a reference to Peter Corbeau, double-check the credits.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Chris Claremont credit

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Kaxton and the molecular condenser first appeared in Daredevil #8.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

How would DD know Pete Corbeau, though? Did Corbeau do mass mailings to all the superheroes?

There's absolutely no explanation in the story about how Daredevil knows Corbeau. What you see in that scan is all there is.

MY EYES. I CAN'T SEE.

Claremont also had a plotting assist on X-Men #59, which had to have been before this, though I don't know if it was credited or not.

Thanks Paul. It was uncredited in UX #59. He also had a credited assist in Avengers #102 prior to this Daredevil issue.

I guess i should also cop to the fact that while both of those issues feature Sentinels either flying into or out of the sun, only the Avengers issue features Peter Corbeau.

In Marvel Team-Up #59, Claremont has a dedication to Roy Thomas because it's the four year anniversary of Claremont getting his first writing assignment, from Thomas, which he says was this issue. So i guess he wasn't counting his earlier plot assists.

Here's some Nathan Adler bait: Corbeau is French for "raven." Mystique connection, or did Claremont just like naming characters after this particular bird.

Although I don't buy Nathan's Mystique-as-Eric-the-Red, I do kind of think Corbeau might have been a candidate to be Ric at one point. And funnily enough, Mystique's pre-WWII male name turns out to be Eric Raven, so...well, plenty of grounds to speculate.

Speaking of Claremont plot assists credited and uncredited, he supposedly contributed something to GSXM 1. My guess is the pseudoscientific explanation about cutting Krakoa off from the earth's gravity. It's kinda like his solar flare suggestions in other stories.

Hi Walter,

That makes a lot of sense re: Peter, particular him being the silhouetted profile. I need to return and review my theory;)

And we need to communicate offline. If keen can you contact fnord for my contacts:)

Speaking of Krakoa, Walter, do you think there is anything to his similar appearance to Man-Thing, or for that matter Geof Isherwood's portrayal or Urthona?

Hmm...it's probably just a coincidence, like Flint Marko and Norman Osborn both having wavy Ditko hair. (I'm surprised, by the way, John Byrne never tried to relate Flint Marko to Cain Marko---or if he did, I don't wanna know.)

On the other hand: Urthona is named after William Blake's character, who is an earth deity or something, and Man-Thing and Krakoa are both kind of earthy, so...

I do wonder if Len Wein might have intended a Krakoa/Man-Thing resemblance, but I think probably not.

I've always wondered if people confuse the 1969 and 1972 Sentinel stories and mistakenly put Claremont in 1969. I can see him being around Marvel in 1972, but what exactly would he have been doing around the bullpen in 1969?

Prior to DD#102, Claremont had a prose SF story in the April 1973 Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction called "Psimed".

I think Claremont interned at Marvel in '69, while he was in college, before joining the staff sometime after he graduated.

Yes, as Claremont relates in the book Comic Creators on X-Men (and elsewhere), he was a "go-fer" or general office helper at Marvel during his 1969 winter break from Bard College. He's said he's the one who came up with the notion of the sun as being the source of all mutations; and that Roy T. liked this idea and asked Adams to use it as the ending of the Sentinels story in X-Men #59.

It may be worth noting that Corbeau debuted in INCREDIBLE HULK #148, another issue on which Claremont apparently had an uncredited plot assist.

For all the buildup of Stilt-Man in this story, he's defeated when Daredevil kicks him really hard...once.

It makes the "hold me" ending even harder to take, for me at least.