Issue(s): Daredevil #15
Cover Date: Apr 66
Title: "--And men shall call him... Ox!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
John Romita Sr. - Penciler
Frank Giacoia - Inker

Review/plot:
Back in Daredevil #6, Foggy took a blow to the head from the Ox. There's a surprising bit of realism in this issue showing us that Foggy still has an injury from that hit.

Granted, the scene is really just meant to remind us about the Ox, who is the villain of this issue.

Actually, the real villain is Dr. Karl Stragg, another prisoner who escapes prison with the Ox.

He's been promising to do something to increase Ox's intelligence, and he technically lives up to that promise by swapping minds with the Ox.

Stragg then goes on a rampage...

...with the idea that an Ox with some intelligence behind him is an unstoppable threat. Stragg slowly loses control of his intellect, however, and in the end he goes barreling off the side of a building.

The real Ox, still in Stragg's body, finds that he's feeling more intelligent, and possibly less criminally inclined as well. He even decides to return to prison.

The Ox is a weird character to me. His partners in the Enforcers - Fancy Dan and Montana - were just regular guys that had some fighting skills. So you would assume that the Ox was also just a regular, albeit beefy, guy. It's pretty clear by now that he's got real super-strength, however, although how he got it is never said.

Here's your melodrama panel for the issue:

Romita's art is nice, enhancing what is otherwise an unremarkable issue of Daredevil.

My reprint also includes a story from Strange Tales #108, which unfortunately does not feature a man encountering a talking Daredevil head in a tree.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first appearance of Karl Stragg, the second Ox

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Foggy was hurt by the Ox in Daredevil #6.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Super-Heroes #30

Ox-in-Stragg's body would reappear later in Daredevil(#81?), and he would mutate for no apparent reason to a duplicate of his old body, so I suppose you could guess that the Ox's anatomy had a weird power to reassert its strength and dumbness.

Does the Ox's brother(in Dazzler and other places) count as Ox 3?

Yeah, it's DD #86, coming "soon" as part of the current back issue add. And I do tag the Ox's twin brother as Ox III.

I definitely agree with you with regards to Ox having super-human strength. Both Ox and especially Kingpin are always being said to have great, but not super-human strength, but that's clearly not the case (especially in any Romita Sr.-drawn Kingpin appearance).

I always like this as a tragic story with a happy ending for the Ox. Unfortunately the later story screwed up the ending of this one.

Also regarding Ox's strength level: at one point early in this issue, Matt thinks that the Ox was the most dangerous member of the Fellowship of Fear, which, if Ox supposedly has not quite superhuman strength, I think is kind of an insult to both Mr. Fear and the Eel, both of whom have actual super-abilities. Maybe in the Marvel Universe, for whatever reason, it is possible to attain a level of strength that wouldn't be achievable in the real world.

Marvel really had a thing for bodyswapping in the old days.

Also, can you imagine if the registration act had gone through before this issue?