Issue(s): Daredevil #234
Cover Date: Sep 86
Title: "Madcasting"
Credits:
Mark Gruenwald - Writer
Steve Ditko - Penciler
Dennis Jensen - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli are off Daredevil, and we are in a whole different universe here with a Mark Gruenwald/Steve Ditko combination. This has the feel of an inventory story, maybe something that was being held in reserve in case Miller and Mazzucchelli slipped on a deadline. Ditko hadn't been doing much for Marvel since ROM was canceled, but he did do this year's Avengers annual.

For this story, Mark Gruenwald pulls together a disparate number of pieces of the Marvel universe, including his own Madcap, in his first appearance outside of Captain America.

After Madcap breaks up a gun ring...

...he has him encounter Dollar Bill, the filmmaker from the Defenders series.

Bill is now working on public-access cable television, and he decides to film Madcap.

Meanwhile, Madcap's actions have attracted the attention of the Rose, who puts a hit on him.

And Daredevil belatedly arrives at the gun ring scene to find the criminals acting crazy per Madcap's stare power.

It's a zany story that really emphasizes the fact that Madcap is unkillable.

Madcap is also full of pop culture phrases.

In the end, Madcap is thought to be burned to death by the mob, but in fact he comes back even from that.

Before that, Gruenwald gets a nice line in about Madcap's craziness, having him say that he doesn't feel anything, not even gratitude at Daredevil's rescue attempt.

Steve Ditko has a pair of interesting fight sequences. The first looks to be somewhat Frank Miller influenced.

The second, on the opposing page, is a very old school looking set of nine tiny panels.

An interesting hodgepodge of stuff here. I like that Daredevil and the Rose sort of cross paths for once. And sure, why not bring back Dollar Bill? I definitely don't love Madcap; zany ultra-powerful characters like him and Impossible Man take me out of the large Marvel universe story, so to speak. But for a fill-in with Steve Ditko art, again, why not?

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Mr. Hyde's appearance in Daredevil #235 has to take place before his behind-the-scenes escape in Avengers #271, so this issue is pushed back in publication time a bit.

References:

• A police officer compares the crazed criminals to "the crazy epidemic we had up on Broadway a couple months ago" which would have been from Captain America #307.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Ditko actually was starting to do more work for Marvel at this point--Pacific Comics went bankrupt before they could publish his work for them, and Charlton went out of business for good(most of his stuff for those companies wound up being published later by Renegade--I'm guessing Ditko stopped having faith in the independent comic companies' viability).

I actually like Madcap a lot. Being unkillable is extremely powerful, but Madcap is so insane that he'll never be able to exploit it properly. It's sole function is to allow him to survive the incredibly stupid things he does. Furthermore, unlike many comic villains' insanity, his madness is not the serial killer type. Although somewhat malicious, he is not malevolent. In terms of archetypes, he is more like Coyote or Bugs Bunny, the trickster figures.

i don't think he makes a good Captain America villain, but he's perfect with other street level heroes like DD, Spidey, or the old PM&IF. I think he'd even do well in one of those old Herb Trimpe Hulk comics. I think it'd be good if he teamed up with the Jester, and the two made a great team, and then Madcap at the end would betray him or abandon the plot simply because he got bored.

He should be used sparingly and has the potential to be exceedingly annoying, but I like him.

I was surprised how much I like Madcap. I initially avoided comics with him, because he looks really stupid. Of course being absurd is part of the shtick. He has a very interesting character.
I don't find him an annoying character at all. If someone as annoying as Dead pool can become one of Marvel's most popular characters, somehow, then I think there was lots more to be done with Madcap.
I had no problem with him as a Cap villain either, because he plays well off such a serious person. If Cap is all about idealism and believing in something, then an absurdist who sees no point in anything works well as a foil.
Spidey's too flippant for Madcap, for example.

Spidey is flippant because Peter Parker enjoys giving the insults back to bullies he couldn't as "Puny Parker" and it unnerves the villain so he makes mistakes once he becomes furious. Madcap wouldn't be unnerved though. I think he'd be more like Cyrano de Begerac and begin giving Spidey funnier one lines he should have used instead. If written well, I think Madcap's absurd antics would turn Spidey around much like how Cecil Turtle tormented Bugs Bunny. It'd be a nice switch. It requires a good writer though.

Madcap is a character I've always enjoyed. He seems to play well off a variety of characters, from Cap to Quasar, to Wolverine, to Deadpool. He's a character that probably works best in small doses--but he can be a fun change of pace from the other super-menaces out there.

Klaus Janson was the originally announced inker for this.