Issue(s): Daredevil #77
Cover Date: Jun 71
Title: "...And so enters the Amazing Spider-Man"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Tom Palmer - Inker

Review/plot:
If nothing else, this issue is the King of all Misunderstanding Fights. I had hoped it would be more than that, namely an explanation for the mind blowing madness of Sub-Mariner #40 which this story leads into, but that's not the case. It's surprisingly content-light issue, with giant honking panels; often just 3-4 to a page. And aside from some weirdness from a Mary Jane Watson imposter, the issue is just an excuse to have Daredevil, Spider-Man, and the Sub-Mariner fight each other.

Daredevil is returning home from being stood up on a date with "Christine" (a footnote assures us that we haven't missed an issue: "things happen between issues too, you know!") and moping about the fact that Karen Page left him. Spider-Man, however, is moping about the fact that Gwen Stacy is mad at him, and when he sees Daredevil he gets jealous, assuming that he doesn't have a care in the world.

Spider-Man then goes home and gets a knock on his door. It's... well, Peter guesses that's it's Mary Jane, and that turns out to be a good guess. *I* never would have guessed it, even if her hair hadn't been miscolored.

Recognizing that MJ's attempts to look like Gwen to attract Peter's attention have gone too far, he ushers her back out the door without finding out what she wanted. (I do kind of wonder if this was originally intended to be Gwen until they realized that based on the current status quo that wouldn't make sense. Not that it really looks like Gwen either.)

Then, a giant talking teardrop appears in a park.

It attracts the attention of Namor...

...and then Daredevil shows up and dumbly assumes that Namor is behind it.

While they fight, DD has a weird internal monologue about how super-heroes are people too.

Then Spider-Man shows up and adds to the confusion.

Spidey is acting like he has something to prove after his earlier misguided thoughts about Daredevil.

The whole thing is a mess and Daredevil, at least, knows it; at the start of the fight he thinks to himself, "What's wrong with me? Why did I yell at him like that?". But it doesn't stop him from continuing the fight.

Luckily, to end matters, the teardrop explodes (a weird phrase that gave name to a pretty good post-punk band, by the way).

Then this happens, whatever it is.

Daredevil isn't invited to the insanity party, though. No power within him. So he swings off alone.

Some subplot stuff. Foggy is awoken by some thugs.

This begins a subplot where he's forced to pay blackmail to a mysterious criminal. In other words, this is the start of the Mr. Kline plot, so brace yourselves.

And Karen Page returns to New York to participate in a movie shoot. I am hoping that she is rehearsing the lines for a new soap opera in her head and those aren't her actual thoughts.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: For Spider-Man and Namor, this continues directly in Sub-Mariner #40. The MCP places Spider-Man here between ASM #94-95.

References:

• Spider-Man mentions that Gwen Stacy blames him for the death of her father, from Amazing Spider-Man #90.
  
• Namor is also not in a good mood thanks to the events of Sub-Mariner #39.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Sadly now he has all the Conway Daredevil issues, apparantly we didn't miss any of the Mr. Kline saga; merely blind leopard people from mirror dimensions and a city of blind people. That insanity alone should have gotten us ready for Mr. Kline...and the Clone Saga...

Mary Jane? What a surprise! Since it's DD's mag, at first glance, I assumed Karen Page had dropped by to visit Petey, whose own hair had, of course, been dyed... blue! I mean, black!

What a terrible coloring job... but of course, one can never have too much... purple! The walls, and even the bricks in Petey's "pad" had also been painted purple. And Petey's plaid housecoat... more purple! I'm dazzled! Maybe Matt did the coloring.