Issue(s): Daredevil #116, Daredevil #117
Cover Date: Dec 74 - Jan 75
Title: ""Two flew over the Owl's nest!"" / "Mind tap!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Script
Steve Gerber - Plot
Gene Colan / Bob Brown - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker

Review/plot:
Despite the fact that Steve Gerber had seemingly turned things around quality-wise on Daredevil, this arc is his last, with Chris Claremont handling scripting for issue #117.

Daredevil heads to San Francisco to talk with the Black Widow since she's been mad at him, and he runs into some awesomely dressed goons...

...that turn out to be working for the Owl.

He does meet up with the Widow, and they reconcile...

...but then the Owl attacks.

The Owl manages to tag Daredevil with a poisoned ring, and the Widow takes a bullet to the head from the Owl's helicopter.

The Owl has captured Daredevil and the Black Widow. He is using the same brain-sucking device he used in his last appearance in the Cat series.

The Black Widow escapes her bonds...

...and manages to defeat most of the Owl's goons...

...but the Owl puts a gun to DD's head and says he'll shoot if she doesn't run an errand for him. The errand is to capture Shanna the She-Devil. The Owl thinks Shanna is just a scientist, and when the Black Widow brings her back wearing a fuzzy bikini...

...he is amused...

...but when she and the Black Widow attack, he starts whining about how everywhere he goes, he runs into more blasted super-heroes.

I found that scene amusing.

The ladies free Daredevil and the three capture the Owl.

I guess it's a nice change of pace that it's Daredevil that spends most of the issue as a hostage.

In a sub-plot, Foggy's sister Candace is set to testify before a Senate subcommittee on the Sallis papers. Foggy is unhappy because she broke the law in order to get the information on the Man-Thing experiments.

At the end of this issue, Daredevil tells the Widow that he's leaving for New York. She won't come with him.

The Black Widow's name hasn't been listed on the cover since issue #107, but her picture was still shown (except for issue #111, which had Shanna the She-Devil instead). With this arc, she is out of the book, although the trade dress doesn't catch up with that until after next issue.

Daredevil lost his billy-club in the fight with Death-Stalker in the previous arc, which is why he's running around with some rope and a grappling hook here.

There's a weird inconsistency in the story where the Owl has the goons that ran into Daredevil killed so that DD and the Widow can't trace them back to him but then he immediately goes and attacks them. Other than that, these were decent issues.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - end of Daredevil/Black Widow romance

Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back in publication time a bit because Princess Python's appearance in Daredevil #118 takes place before Captain America #180-181.

References:

• The Owl previously used the knowledge absorption device in Cat #2
  
• Shanna became a 'super-hero' in Shanna the She-Devil #1.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

A letter in a previous issue called Shanna a "nymphomaniac" for running around NYC in her jungle outfit.

FOOM#7 announced a villain called Vindicator appearing shortly after this, but I don't think it ever happened.