Issue(s): Daredevil #55
Cover Date: Aug 69
Title: "Cry coward!"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Syd Shores - Inker

Review/plot:
I mentioned in the entry for last issue that Daredevil didn't seem to have much of a plan for himself after faking the death of Matt Murdock, and indeed we see him here wandering the streets, in a raincoat i assume he took from a hobo.

What was the plan, dude? Shouldn't you at least have stashed a bunch of cash somewhere before killing off your civilian identity so you didn't have to resort to sink baths at McDonalds?

He's also embarrassed over succumbing to panic while fighting Mr. Fear, which i think is overdoing it. Words like "chickened out" and "coward" are thrown around. But the dude is Mr. Fear. I mean sure, Daredevil would like to have resisted his power, but sometimes you are going to fail your saving throw and get scared. That just comes with the territory.

It's not just Daredevil. Everyone in the book is walking around talking like Daredevil is a coward. But Daredevil, at least, should know better. Dust yourself off and figure out how to avoid his fear power next time.

And that's ultimately what happens. After working up the nerve to show up at his former law office to request that Foggy do a little research, he figures out that Starr Saxon has killed the original Mr. Fear (who was recently let out on parole) and replaced him. He also rigged DD's billy club (which he had access to as Matt Murdock's cane, a point that was made clear in previous issues) to trigger the fear power whenever DD used it.

Normally when a bad guy learns the good guy's secret ID, he's killed in the same issue, or at least given amnesia or driven crazy or something, but Saxon got off scott free until now, when he falls to his death fighting DD.

Saxon i guess technically does die, but he's rebuilt by pre-programmed robots as Machinesmith soon after the end of this issue.

On the one hand i want to say kudos to Roy Thomas for daring to do something quite different with the whole secret ID thing, but it's so out there it makes Matt look like a crazy person. Which i guess is nothing new. Poor Karen, though.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - semi-death of Starr Saxon

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Starr Saxon learned Daredevil's secret ID in Daredevil #51.
  
• Karen and Foggy are under the impression that Daredevil is actually the second person to wear the costume, per Daredevil #41.
  
• The first Mr. Fear nearly killed Foggy in Daredevil #6.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Good bye Saxon! You were pretty darn cool! Even for pre-Miller Daredevil.

So begins the revolving-door identity of Mister Fear.

Does anyone know where the once-common trope of hiding out in a trenchcoat and fedora comes from? Meaning, I think it must precede comics and stem from some old 30s' movie or something? In the Marvel Universe, we've seen everyone from DD here to the Hulk to a de-sized Godzilla walking around in a trenchcoat and fedora and, granted, fedoras were much more common place in the Sixties but I would think such a get-up would make someone MORE noticeable. And, uh, especially with those bright boots sticking out!