Issue(s): Daredevil #214
Cover Date: Jan 85
Title: "The crumbling"
Credits:
Denny O'Neil - Writer
David Mazzucchelli - Penciler
David Mazzucchelli - Inker
Bob Harras - Assistant Editor
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
The Micah Synn storyline ends not with a bang, but with a literal whimper. Daredevil and the Kingpin have systematically taken out Synn's operation and defeated his tribe, and Synn is now on the run. He's hungry and weak, enough that he can get beaten up by a random tough guy that he tried to cut in line at the hot dog stand.

When Daredevil finally catches up with him, instead of fighting him, he winds up defending him from the Kingpin's assassins and random hobos. It ends with Synn begging for help.

The narration says:

Later, Daredevil will realize what happened. He will realize that the change from the harshest poverty of Micah Synn's African home to the abundance of New York City was too much. Different food, different air, different lifestyle -- and an excess of everything. A lot of it was bad. All of it was too much.

For a story that's been contrasting man's primal nature with life in civilization, it's an interesting ending. It almost sounds like there's a reversal here, like O'Neil is suggesting that the lures of civilization are what turned Synn bad, not that man is selfish by nature unless restricted and coddled by civilization as was previously implied. Or it's just suggesting that Synn's adaptability had its limits and the modern world did in fact present a set of challenges that were at least as difficult as Synn's former "savage" life.

Any way you interpret it, it's nice to encounter a story that actually makes you think.
It's a great end to a great story.

This was actually the first issue of the Synn story i had ever read, and despite not having read any of the previous story it was clear what was happening here and it was pretty heavy stuff. I can say that i felt a lot more sympathy for Synn when i read this issue in exclusion; i didn't realize how bad a guy he was at at the time. Even now, this issue does a great job of turning things around so that, after the hot dog stand scene, and the vagrant attack, you really do start feeling sorry for the guy, despite his past actions.

Foggy confesses to the press that he was lying earlier in the storyline when at his wife's demand he denied the fact that Becky was attacked by Synn's group.

And, as foreshadowed, the Kingpin reverts to form, ordering Dardevil eliminated when Synn is taken care of. DD is, of course, prepared for it and that's actually him in the hat and trenchcoat.

I'll also note that David Mazzucchelli's art looks a lot nicer in the actual issue than in these scanned images. The lines come out too hard in the scans and it loses some of its subtlety.

Quality Rating: A

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - defeat of Micah Synn

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• There's no footnote, but Foggy lied about the attack on Becky in Daredevil #212.
  
• The dialogue by the homeless guys almost suggests that they're people we should recognize, but there's no footnote. It's not Tarkington Brown's former crew from Daredevil #195, is it?
  

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

It's fun to revisit the Micah Synn storyline - my first exposure to DD back when I was just little - because it's a really great arc, but especially for David Mazzuchelli's growth. He starts off being stylistically the same as William Johnson, who was good in his own right, if not ground-breaking, and then you slowly see Mazzuchelli's improvement over the following issues until BAM, this issue where he inks himself. Between the scenes set among normal people doing normal things, the superhero action, and dramatic settings like rainstorms and housefires, it's just incredible. I've heard he turned down an offer to draw "X-Men" in order to pursue his own work.

And the point isn't that civilization turned Micah Synn evil, it's that it made him soft and weak. When every day is a struggle to get as much food as possible and look out for your tribe, you're going to be completely unbalanced when you come to a world of 'all you can eat' buffets, with media and socialites (Debbie) hanging on your every word.

The Kingpin has to make plans for the future, for the spice industry he studies so carefully (and whatever else he's into.) He worked his way to that point. Micah is a savage. He has no thought for the future. Mow will provide, assuming the sacrifices are kept up.

And considering how easy it is to sneak into the Kingpin's organization - just put on a hat and trenchcoat and no one will notice that you're wearing red tights - if Daredevil had brought along a tape recorder, he'd have conclusive evidence that Wilson Fisk is a leader of thugs and killers. "As soon as you isolate Synn, kill him" is about as unambiguous a statement as a prosecutor could need.

When are we getting our epic maxiseries about "Walt, Sarge and the Loot"?