Issue(s): Daredevil #88
Cover Date: Jun 72
Title: "Call him Killgrave!"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Gene Colan - Penciler
Tom Palmer - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue starts with Black Widow in a car chase, trying to catch a man Danny French, but he gets away.

Daredevil has moved to San Francisco. He's got a friendly relationship with some of the local police, but not the police commissioner Robert O'Hara.

Daredevil and the Black Widow's "chauffeur" Ivan Petrovitch try to puzzle out why Natasha is so upset over French. Ivan tells what he knows of the Widow's roots: she was orphaned as a child during the World War II Siege of Stalingrad. Ivan rescued her. She was a perfect student and eventually made a spy.

Natasha interrupts the conversation, telling both men to butt out.

Meanwhile, the Purple Man resurfaces.

He's not been seen since issue #4, which makes sense for a guy with his powers: stay out of the spotlight and live it up.

He's nervous now that Daredevil has moved into his town.

The Widow leaves to go look for French again, and DD follows her but gets sidetracked by a Purple Man heist instead. He's nearly killed but Ivan bursts in at the last minute and rescues him, which leaves Daredevil feeling humiliated.

Ivan went looking for Matt after waiting for him to call all day after Matt went looking for Natasha. When the phone finally rings but it's just a Larry Cranston from a law firm asking for Matt, Ivan finally decides to go looking for DD. Cranston will soon be revealed to be the new Mr. Fear.

Colan's art isn't really suited for the super-hero oriented parts of this story. His Purple Man in particular is disappointing. He's clearly a good artist, just not really cut out for action.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - provides some new info on the Black Widow's origin

Chronological Placement Considerations: Moved up prior to the trial of the Hulk in Hulk #151-153, since Daredevil makes reference to this story there.

References:

• The Purple Man previously appeared in Daredevil #4.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This issue contradicts earlier accounts of Natasha's origin- it was explained that Natasha became the Black Widow because the Soviets tricked her into thinking her husband was dead but this issue has her husband with Ivan as she leaves for her espionage missions in America.

Who is Lucy? IIRC she shows up again #89.
Thanks!

She does appear next issue, where she's named Lucille. I took her to just be a (mind-controlled?) girlfriend of the Purple Man's, but the fact that she wears a super-villain style costume could suggest that she was something more than that. Next issue it's a little less super-villianish, with a flower print shirt, but she still wears gloves and "unstable molecule" style tights. Purple Man doesn't think much of her, though. Next issue when she tries to give an explanation for why his machinations aren't working, he yells at her and she says, "I-I'm sorry, Killy. I just thought..." and he responds, "My dear girl, you must never think. That is the sole province of Killgrave."

Let us know if you have any theories about who she might have been, Darci.

There's a weird narrative gap where the Purple Man explains how he broke prison. In one panel he's describing a gas that suppresses his powers, then in the next we see a lightning bolt hit the prison with a caption that says "Like the one that hit the tower". This isn't a case with a missing or out-of-sequence panel like in several MTIOs; it's like a piece of Conway's script disappeared before Colan got it.

Its funny how DD leaves NY but still meets his old foes: purple man, electro, gladiator, stilt man, etc. Its like they are following each other.