Issue(s): Daredevil #97, Daredevil #98
Cover Date: Mar-Apr 73
Title: "He who saves" / "Let there be -- death!"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Plot
Steve Gerber - Script
Gene Colan - Penciler
Ernie Chan - Inker

Review/plot:
Daredevil is too late to help a street acrobat who is injured by a dog, but he gets him to the hospital.

Then he helps break up a raid on a university research center. He finds that the attackers are just teenagers. Why teenagers would be raiding a research center is an unsolved mystery for now.

The Black Widow is still injured from the fight with Man-Bull last arc...

...and it's said to have been "two days" since Ivan's been unconscious. On the couch. Two days unconscious? Need a doctor? "Don't be absurd."

Next, Daredevil is attacked by a crazy character called the Dark Messiah, who is actually the acrobat from earlier, now with godlike powers.

He's also got some Disciples of Doom.

I know Gerber only scripted this issue, but the Dark Messiah is very Gerber-esque to me, in the sense that i feel like there's something about him that i'm not getting.

The Messiah takes over a park near the Golden Gate bridge. Daredevil fights him but doesn't have much luck, considering this guy can alter reality. He can even cast illusions that affect Daredevil's radar sense (which seems odd).

In a rematch, Daredevil brings the Widow along...

...but he really only wins when he's able to remind the Dark Messiah of his past life. At which point he explodes.

I mean, i really don't know what to make of this. It's messy, that's for sure.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This story is very likely Gerber's satirical take on the then-popular Godspell/Jesus Christ Superstar media craze.

An interesting and enjoyable DD era: http://daredevil.omegacen.com/DaredevilSF.html

According to Wikipedia, possible meanings for Mordecai include 'little boy', 'bruising', 'servant of God' and 'warrior'. It's a pretty good choice of name!

If Im ever unconcious for two days, I hope I have better friends than Matt and Natasha.

The takeover of the park may also be a reference to the People's Park, perhaps specifically to the May 1972 protest against Nixon's Vietnam policies. Those protestors, unlike earlier ones who had helped establish the park (by basically taking it from UC Berkeley and making it a community park) trashed the place, and the community had to rebuild it.

It's perhaps notable that Kerwin Broderick is referred to as "The Man" by Matt's colleague, Jason Sloan, and that "the Man" requires the teens who attacked the research center to plead guilty. We'll find out later that Broderick is behind the creation of the Dark Messiah. Perhaps Gerber was obliquely referring to Ronald Reagan's acknowledged desire to provoke a confrontation at the park. (In 1970, Reagan infamously stated, with reference tot he 1969 violence in the park, "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement.")

Basically, Gerber seems to be condemning the violent protestors, but also suggesting that the "Establishment" is escalating things for its own benefit.

What a cool group of born again cult characters. This book needed Steranko art direction and a storyline with a much more introperspective view into the minds of these strange religious sociopaths. New characters are always a bold moment for creators and this book deserves a tad more significance. IMHO

It's okay for Conway or Gerber to talk like Stan Lee, but the Black Widow shouldn't talk like Stan. I try not to be too critical of writers but sometimes it's like some of these guys aren't even trying. Like they've reached a certain minimum level, and now they're just cranking out product at that same minimum standard. Conway and Thomas in particular. It's probably partly because they repeatedly take on more assignments than they can handle. So goes the 70s with issue after issue of mediocrity. It's like wading through molasses.