Issue(s): Daredevil #80, Daredevil #81
Cover Date: Sep-Nov 71
Title: "In the eyes ... of the Owl!" / "And death is a woman called Widow"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Tom Palmer / Jack Abel - Inker

Review/plot:
Mr. Kline has recruited the Owl.

The Owl has a henchman with a bit of a sarcastic streak in him...

...but it's only fair because the Owl himself is rather flippant when talking to Kline.

It turns out that Kline is actually provoking the Owl into disobeying him because he wants the Owl thinking that he's acting independently.. It's all part of a scheme of his boss', but he's getting tired of the manipulations and wonders "how much longer will I obey the will --- of the master?". It seems no one can get good help these days.

But maybe the Owl actually does have a decent group of goons. He's at least able to get them to dress up in Owl-henchmen costumes.

Daredevil runs into the Owl when he uses his special powers of being blind to notice the "markings of the Owl" on his helicopter.

Karen Page is watching the whole thing on television with her agent/boyfriend Phil. She's aware that Matt is Daredevil, and she's of course panicked when the Owl's helicopter crashes. The Owl escapes but Daredevil goes down with the chopper.

Daredevil's last thoughts are of Karen, but it's the Black Widow who rescues him.

She's very hung up on the Widow's Curse concept, which is baggage introduced in her series in Amazing Adventures; the idea being that the people she gets close to die. Very annoying.

Daredevil isn't aware that Natasha rescued him. Later they meet again, stopping the Owl from pulling off a robbery.

The Owl continues to get manipulated by Mr. Kline, rebelling because Kline won't allow the Owl to be the super-villain his soul wants him to be.

But we know that this is actually part of Kline's plan. So is the re-emergence of the Black Widow; apparently the thought was that Daredevil would get into a romantic entanglement with the Widow, which would somehow neutralize him.

Foggy Nelson, currently District Attorney, is being blackmailed by Kline as well, and we learn that Kline and his boss think that he'll soon become governor, which is why they want to control him. Or that's my interpretation. Later we'll learn that Kline and his boss are actually trying to prevent Foggy from being governor. Here's the text:

Boss: And now, what of Franklin Nelson -- the district attorney we've chosen?

Kline: He's breaking, sir. The blackmail procedure has worked -- excellently. Soon -- his control will dissolve -- soon -- the man destined to be this state's next governor -- will be our pawn!

"Chosen", "destined", and "pawn" are all words that to me indicate that their goal is to manipulate Foggy after he becomes governor, not that they intend to prevent him from running for office. But your mileage may vary.

The big reveal is that Mr. Kline, aka MK-9, is a robot, reporting to an off-screen demonic voice.

His boss awards him with the name "Assassin" which is a much more generic name than either Mr. Kline or MK-9, so it's not much of a gift, in my opinion.

Despite the fact that earlier in the story we heard that Kline wanted the Owl to disobey him, at the end he's upset about it and vowing to find new henchmen that will follow orders.

Conway's confused script is not helped by Colan's artwork, which is nice to look at in its moody and dark sort of way, but can't carry a story on its own.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - the Black Widow joins the cast of Daredevil's book. She will guest star for about a year and then the book will be re-titled Daredevil & the Black Widow, starting in issue #92

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: Mr. Kline

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Milestones: Ghost Rider, Black Widow, & Iceman (issue #80 is an original)

you know, buried in the mess that is the mr Kline storyline, is a generally nice idea about a multipart, multi-title plotline.