Issue(s): Daredevil #150, Daredevil #151
Cover Date: Jan-Mar 78
Title: "Catastrophe!" / "Crisis!"
Credits:
Jim Shooter / Jim Shooter & Gil Kane - Plot
Jim Shooter / Roger McKenzie - Script
Carmine Infantino / Gil Kane - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker

Review/plot:
Issue #150 introduces Paladin, a mercenary with high tech gear who, like Daredevil, is hunting the Purple Man (although the Paladin was hired by a kidnapper who had been possessed by the Purple Man).

First, though, Murdock has a bizarre dream simulating the trial of Heather Glenn's father. The jury is composed entirely of Foggy Nelsons and "worse, another Foggy is advising District Attorney Tower! It--it isn't fair!".

The dream is so compelling, Murdock sleeps right through the actual trial, which causes Foggy to have to beg the judge for a postponement.

Later, Paladin and Daredevil get into their inconclusive fight that has an amusing element when their brawl brings them into a dorm room at the YWCA and Paladin basically stops the fight to flirt with the occupants.

As pointed out by Omar in the comments, here's Paladin declaring that he has super-strength.

Later, Daredevil decides that he's going to reveal his secret identity to Heather Glenn. Unfortunately as he's waiting around in costume at her apartment, waiting for her to get home, he answers a phone call saying that Heather's father has died.

Heather enters the room just as Matt, in costume but unmasked, hangs up the phone. He has no choice but to continue with the identity reveal and inform her about her father. She immediately freaks out and blames DD for the death.

Matt leaves and decides to give up being Daredevil. The rest of the story is a parallel to Amazing Spider-Man #50.

Carmine Infantino's sketchy art in #150 makes for a poor introduction to the Paladin. Kane's art in #151, inked by Janson (as was #150, but that wasn't a good fit), actually looks pretty good. In some ways it looks like a precursor to Frank Miller's work with Janson, although not nearly as good.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - first Paladin. Heather Glenn learns Daredevil's secret ID.

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Paladin was played up at the time to be the next big Marvel hero character, but he pretty much flopped right at the start.

its kind of a pity Paladin wsnt more successful. he could have combined the globetrotting, lady-killing world of james bond with the superhero world

Paladin was announced at this time for his own Marvel Premiere by Don McGregor & Tom Sutton, but it didn't happen.

I beg to differ, Carmine's art it is what led me to this site, because it was the results between his art and Janson's that motivated to do this search. I am interested in his later artwork, just from what I have seen in this period makes me wish he had kept going, because of it's quality. Gil Kane is no slouch, and actually both are excellent all around!

It seems the Marvel Premiere issue did go ahead, see here: http://marvel.wikia.com/Marvel_Premiere_Vol_1_43

I vaguely remembered reading a friend's copy, but I don't have the issue.

That Premiere issue is in the Great Back Issue Add of 2013. So i'll cover it "soon".

This is a great story. Awesome art.

Fnord finally gives Kane his props and doesn't even mention the double nostril shot.One of those being a rare female nostril shot to boot.

Fnord, you describe Paladin as "non-superpowered"- you might want to note that he eventually turns out to have super-strength.

The experimental layouts, with action shots superimposed over facial closeups, along with the Kane/Janson combo and a lot of the coloring choices, imo gove a lot of the individual panels from these DD issues a real striking, almost mind-trip, quality

@Michael, you noted it for me. Thanks.

In my mind, Paladin vies with Gorgon for the title of Most Inappropriately Named Marvel Hero.

I could never understood why Paladin is named, well, Paladin, either...

In any case, I tend to like Infantino's art! The early Spider-Woman issues by him look pretty good.

The show "Have Gun, Will Travel", starring Richard Boone as a mercenary in the Old West was no doubt the inspiration, rather than Charlemagne or D&D. But why Richard Boone's character chose to go by the name "Paladin" I leave to someone who's actually watched it. Wikipedia says he was inspired in story by stories of Charlemagne. It also says that the show is the source of the "have X, will travel" snowcone.

Sorry: "snowclone". Phrasal template. Like turning it into "have rocket, will travel" or "have wok, will travel".

And no... Wikipedia actually says Heinlein's "Have Space Suit - Will Travel" predates it. I'll shut up now!

Never was a fan of Paladin's "ribbed" costume (insert condom joke here). His headgear looks similar to the minor Batman villain the Calculator, who faced several different heroes in Detective Comics' secondary stories (the gimmick being that the heroes could only face and defeat him once because he would figure out his opponents strengths, weaknesses, movements, etc.) until Bats put the kibosh to him for a good long while.

Let me apologize for saying "insert condom", that's a bad pun even by my standards!

Hi fnord

You've given this story a historical significance rating of 4 and indicated it's the first appearance of Paladin.

Shouldn't Heather finding out Matt is Daredevil be worth mentioning and possibly an extra point or two?

I've added it to the HSR description so that it's searchable, but i think the rating is ok as is. Thanks, Rick.

Between the art and the drama "Crisis!" really communicates very efficiently the troubling of Matt Murdock. I find it so much more complex than any other contemporary stories. Imo the shifting toward adult audience often underlined in Lee's editorials of this period reaches its apotheosis in DD.

Fnord, you describe Paladin as "non-superpowered"- you might want to note that he eventually turns out to have super-strength.

Paladin's super-strength is established right before the flirting sequence when he tells Daredevil that he has "the strength of three men" and prepares to throw some kind of dresser or vanity at DD. It's int he first three panels on page 22 of #150.

I'm about a year late for a timely reply to Ubersicht's comments but, fwiw, "Have Gun, Will Travel" begins airing on TV in the fall of 1957. Heinlein's "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" first appears in serial form in August of 1958. So I think the TV show predates Heinlein, not the other way around.

This seems to have been the last job Gil Kane did for Marvel for a few years. I recently came across this discussion, where it's said Kane was well known to have stolen original artwork by other artists from the Marvel offices. In the discussion they include this comic by Ted McKeever, where a thinly veiled caricature of Archie Goodwin recounts a story of catching Kane red-handed while he was trying to steal original art by Kirby, Ditko, and Romita, after which it was ruled Kane wouldn't get any work from Marvel anymore. I guess at some point this ruling was forgotten, as he did work for them again in the '80s.

Kane drew a newspaper strip, Star Hawks, from 1977-81. So perhaps he was too busy to do much for Marvel in that period.

Whomever the "superstar artist" usually unnamed in stories about this -I've heard Kane, too, but wasn't there- he is alleged to have once been caught on the sidewalk before he got far by a staffer who took the art out of his hands and said "At least don't steal it until we've photostated the job!"