Issue(s): Daredevil annual #4 (aka Daredevil annual #5) (Atlantis Attacks stories only)
Cover Date: 1989
Title: "A friend in need..."
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Mark Bagley - Penciler
Sam DeLaRosa - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
First, a housekeeping note. By both the cover and indicia, this is Daredevil annual #4. But of course we already had a Daredevil annual #4 back in 1976 (the last time Daredevil had an annual). Pedants have therefore called this a "mistake", and in various price guides and websites you will see this issue labeled as #4A, #4B, and #5. I, however, am writing from a more enlightened age when we've realized that issue numbers are meaningless things. It's not uncommon to see the same issue number on comics of the same series less than a year apart, let alone 13 years, and we've also discovered such abstract numbers as -1, 4.1, and even 4.AU. So the idea that it would be a "mistake" for this to be a second Daredevil annual #4 is obviously laughable. That said, for our more primitive readers, i've also tagged this Daredevil annual #5 so that it will come up if people search for it that way. Further complicating matters due to the nature of this website, there are three back-up stories in this annual that must take place before Daredevil burns down his clinic and goes wandering the countryside, whereas the main story must take place afterwards. I have therefore covered those three stories in a separate entry. This entry will cover the Atlantis Attacks material.

This is more or less a direct continuation of Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9, which ended with Spider-Man getting captured by Tyrannus. Daredevil, still walking the Earth, happens upon the town in upstate New York where Spidey has been taken.

But, considering this is part seven of Atlantis Attacks, you may be wondering what happened to Dr. Strange after he got the warning from the Silver Surfer about Ghaur back in part one (if you were wondering what happened to Talisman, you can just forget it). So we see that Strange's attention has been drawn to this location as well; he's watching Daredevil through the Eye of Agamotto.

Daredevil very unwillingly gets involved in the story because he happens to be in a store where a man is complaining that his friend was taken to the new addict treatment facility. Since he's asking too many questions, the man is subsequently attacked by Snake People, and Daredevil reluctantly helps out.

And even after that, he doesn't want to get involved further.

So Doctor Strange has to show up in person and convince him to help.

The first panel above is in response to Daredevil saying that he thought Strange was dead.

Meanwhile, Madame Viper shows up at Tyrannus' facility to inform him that her operation got shut down by Moon Knight and Punisher. Tyrannus is unaware and mostly uninterested, and he soon reveals it's because he's planning to go his own way from Ghaur, using the Book of Kell to raise Set by himself.

I am enjoying seeing the development of Mark Bagley's art; his signature faces can be seen here much more than i've noticed for his previous work so far.

When it's reported that there are intruders on the grounds, Tyrannus sends a brainwashed Spider-Man out to supplement his Snake People.

Daredevil's depression contributes to him not putting up a good fight against Spider-Man...

...and while that's happening, Strange flies in to stop Tyrannus' ritual. It turns out that the Book of Kell's spell was not for summoning Set but for some other beast (it only claimed to summon "The Snake God". That's why you have to be careful with these things. Don't accept no-name brand substitutes).

It's actually something from Dormammu's dimension.

Tyrannus tries to take control of it, but doing so causes him to lose control of Viper, and she tosses him into the pentagram.

Not good for him. Strange manages to seal both of them back into the Dark Dimension.

In the aftermath, Spider-Man also gets to see that Dr. Strange isn't dead, and then Strange is able to restore the Serpent People to their human form.

Man, the Punisher was killing those guys left and right in his annual; too bad Strange didn't show up then to tell him he could restore them. But Strange still seems to be toying with the idea of keeping himself dead to the world. He even wipes poor Spider-Man's mind of his participation. But not Daredevil, because he respects Daredevil's pain (!?).

The final twist to this story is that the guy that Daredevil ran into in the beginning finds his friend and it turns out that he doesn't even like the guy very much.

The entire Save Our Society portion of Atlantis Attacks, and even the revival of Tyrannus, turns out to be a bit of a tangent to the main story that allows the street level heroes to participate. The issues are actually not that bad, but it contributes to the sense that the overall event could have been trimmed considerably to make a much stronger story.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part seven of Atlantis Attacks; part eight takes place in Avengers annual #18. The MCP places Daredevil here between Daredevil #270-271; what's most important is placing it after Daredevil #267 since the loss of Karen and the law clinic are mentioned. I said in the first part of this crossover that we're ignoring Dr. Strange's eyepatch for the purposes of placement; the reasons for wearing an eyepatch are numerous and we shouldn't judge. As mentioned above, three of the back up stories in this annual are covered in a separate entry.

References:

• Doctor Strange was thought dead after casting a spell to deceive the world in Strange Tales #3 (no footnote).
  
• Viper's operation was shut down in Punisher annual #2.
  
• Spider-Man was captured in Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 and that's also when Tyrannus acquired the Book of Kell.
  
• While getting drowned by Spider-Man, the narration mentions Daredevil's loss of Karen Page from Daredevil #263 and the loss of his clinic, which he burned down in Daredevil #267.
  
• The Saga of the Serpent Crown for this issue is a major expansion of the backstory of Naga and his time with the Serpent Crown, from Sub-Mariner #10, and the period that followed after rebels stole the crown, encased it in its "power helmet" form, and formed a society in Antartica before a cataclysm (which we learn here was deliberately caused by one of the rebels resisting the temptation of the crown) caused it to get buried in rubble.

Crossover: Atlantis Attacks

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The fact that they couldn't even remember which issue number was supposed to be on the Daredevil Annual reflects the editorial quality of this crossover.
Annoyingly. Tyrannus still had the Flame when the snake monster ate him but he inexplicably shows up alive in two years without the Flame.
I thought this Annual was the best of the Atlantis Attacks Annuals- it had pre-New Warriors art by Bagley and a nice self-deception theme, which was also present in Conway's handling of Attuma in the Web of Spider-Man Annual.

Man, 13 years between annuals? That kind of stretches the definition of the word "annual"!

Stephen's comment about respecting Matt's pain is interesting. I did not expect Gerry Conway to be this good at characterization.

Granted, it is not a particularly clear comment. But Conway is not writing the regular book and he must work within the parameters of Matt being in a purposeless walk for the time being. So he has Stephen conclude (right or wrong) that meddling with his emotional state and/or his memories would be dangerous for his painful contemplation and put the hard-earned healing at risk.

Actually very clever and insightful... although it does not explain why Stephen can't at least try to actually help in less invasive ways. Respect does not rule out keeping in touch.

"Daredevil's depression contributes to him not putting up a good fight against Spider-Man..."

Wouldn't he also be holding back because of the clichéd "I don't want to hurt him because he's not in his right mind" attitude?

Plus, these two have a history together. So, he would see that Spider-Man isn't acting like he normally would. Plus, with Daredevil's ability to detect heartbeats, he should have noticed that something was wrong.

The Atlantis Attacks Omnibus list this as Annual 5 and even fix the digit on the reprinted cover.

Interestingly, the last page of the main story in Spect. Spider-man Annual 9 (Spidey getting captured) said it's continued in Daredevil Annual 9! That one's not fixed in the Omnibus...