You've Been Warned: Daredevil #112

I was raised on Frank Miller's Daredevil, so I've also had that version of old Hornhead in my mind as the definitive version. This can make some of these earlier issues a bit difficult to swallow. Don't get me wrong - I'm not obsessed with 'grim & gritty'. In fact, the Mike Murdock Saga is one of my favourite arcs. This issue, however, is not a favourite. I love Steve Gerber's work, but for me he was a bad fit for Daredevil. Gerry Conway was pretty hit and miss (I thought the move to San Francisco was a mistake), and Gerber just sort of kept all of the rudderless lunacy rolling along. Seriously? I know that Gerber is often at his best when he's working outside of the box, but I just don't see the synergies between Daredevil and Shanna the She-Devil. This is a 'taking over the US government' plot that seemed very fashionable at Marvel in the 70s - and we get a handful of nutty villains, a brainwashed Black Widow and some of the worst action sequence I've ever seen Gene Colan draw. It's even a sub-par Gil Kane cover. Reading this, you get the sense that everyone involved was overextended, and they were just trying to meet the deadline. What a mess.