Issue(s): Daredevil #307
Cover Date: Aug 92
Title: "Blind openers"
Credits:
D.G. Chichester - Writer
Scott McDaniel - Penciler
Bud LaRosa - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
I never realized how long this Dead Man's Hand crossover was. I used to come across these issues in bargain bins, and i'd pick some of them up because it seemed like it had a bunch of decent villains in it. But all the covers kind of look the same and after a while i wasn't sure which ones i already had. It turns out that the crossover is nine issues long, which is "only" three months for the three books involved, but that is as long as, say, X-Tinction Agenda. I guess the reason i'm incredulous about it is because a 9-part X-Men crossover is something i've grown accustomed to, but a 9-part story between three street level characters, one of whom is Nomad, just seems like it's really asking a lot of Marvel's readers.

Still, this is a fun crossover with lots of villains. It turns out to have zero impact, though, and there are some misfires along the way. So the best thing to do is enjoy it in the moment but not try to make any sense of it.

Daredevil and Nomad's involvement was established in their own books prior to these issues. Punisher of course wanders in from guest appearance to guest appearance without a care, so we won't see how he gets involved until his first issue. For Daredevil, Foggy Nelson was contacted by people in Las Vegas looking for a lawyer. What he wasn't aware of is that the people were in fact criminals looking to hire Foggy because he used to work for the Kingpin. So Foggy and Matt Murdock have taken the job, and the first we see of Matt in this issue, he's overwhelmed by the gaudy sensations of Vegas.

Before that, we see the Hand, still working for Baron Strucker, transform a random tourist into a resurrected Izanami thanks to the power of fung shui.

I really have to be more careful when i rearrange my furniture.

You would think that having a freak out as soon as you show up wouldn't impress your clients very much, but the mob guys that have hired Foggy don't seem to mind.

And they do get Matt some nice replacement glasses.

Nomad is also in town. As we saw in his own book, it's because the government has offered him a deal wherein he kills the Slug in return for getting all charges against him dropped. But in this story he bumps into Tombstone.

And just as Matt and Foggy are figuring out that their clients aren't exactly legit, Tombstone infiltrates the room and starts assassinating them. Nomad arrives, and Matt knocks out Foggy so that he can change into his Daredevil costume. Poor Foggy! How many concussions has Matt given him over the years?

I see that Nomad hasn't taken my advice about using spent uranium around the baby. Of course, he also hasn't taken anyone's advice to stop fighting villains like Tombstone with a baby on your back.

Not that Daredevil has a problem with it. He recognizes Nomad specifically because of the baby, and then immediately works the baby into the fight.

If you're going to wear a Bucky costume, Julia, we're expecting you to pull your weight.

Working together, Nomad and Daredevil manage to set Tombstone on fire and push him out a window. Tombstone lands in a showcase volcano (it's Vegas!) but survives. We next see Tombstone at the meeting that this storyline is all about.

We knew from the mobsters trying to hire Foggy that the purpose of this meeting is to divide up the Kingpin's former territories. So you'd think that the meeting would be primarily a meeting of mob bosses. And so, while they're more on the super-villain side of things than the kind of mob bosses you'd see in a Punisher comic, it makes sense that Hammerhead and the Slug and the Yakuza are here. A little odder are the Hand and the Secret Empire. This sort of thing seems beneath Justin Hammer as well. And we also have Werner Von Strucker, who claims to have Hydra behind him, and he's also got a mysterious #2 that calls himself Snakeskin. And then there is Fenris. These two Strucker twins have been so haphazardly developed that i completely forget that "Fenris" doesn't just describe them; they actually did have an organization of minions behind them on at least one occasion. Not that that is specifically mentioned in this story; instead they are claiming that they should be the rightful heirs of Hydra. So they seem to be here just representing themselves, and all they really do throughout this storyline is whine about the fact that their brother Werner gets treated better than they do.

Facilitating this meeting is a character called The Word (no relation to the She-Hulk villain), who represents the Red Skull. It's unclear how the Red Skull became the arbiter of who gets control over the Kingpin's former territories. I guess it's just based on rep. I'll also give it away that Snakeskin is really a disguised Baron von Strucker. I bring that up now because i know that the Red Skull and Strucker have a partnership, and the Red Skull is fully aware that Baron Strucker is running Hydra. So i wonder if he is in on the ruse that Baron Strucker is running here.

I think it's for the best that Tombstone managed to kill off the mob guys that wanted to hire Foggy. I mean, can you imagine them showing up with Foggy to negotiate with the cast of super-villains and super-terrorists here? No one else brought a lawyer.

Anyway, we don't see anything of the meeting in this issue because we instead go into the head of Tombstone, who fantasizes about killing everyone here. Tombstone is working for Hammerhead here, but he has a reason to hate the Hand, and he just seems bitter in general.

Also in this issue, Silvermane rolls into town.

We'll learn that he's upset to not have been invited to this meeting.

In all of the Daredevil portions of this crossover (only), we also check in on the Kingpin himself, back in New York. He's not doing so good.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Justin Hammer appears in this story with no reference to his appearances in the Hero Killers annual event or in Iron Man #280-283. I reasoned that Hero Killers should come before the Iron Man story since Hammer was possibly working with the same consortium in both, and he gets kicked out of the consortium in Iron Man. But there don't seem to be any dependencies for Hammer in relation to this storyline. He wasn't arrested after Iron Man #280-283, so there's no reason he can't appear here afterwards. Bushwacker will appear later in this crossover. As i noted in Daredevil annual #8, Daredevil is surprised to see Bushwacker alive in that story, so most likely this takes place after that. This is part one of Dead Man's Hand. Part two is in Nomad #4.

References:

• Tombstone has a grudge against Daredevil because he spoiled his chances "of becoming part of something back east", in Daredevil #292-293. Tombstone also blames the Hand for that, which will be a motivator for him in this crossover.

Crossover: Dead Man's Hand

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A