DAREDEVIL #172

"GANG WAR!"
Writer/Penciler: Frank Miller | Inker : Klaus Janson
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Denny O’Neil | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Daredevil awakens in a water main and escapes into a community of underground vagrants. He returns to Josie’s to question Turk. Meanwhile, from his underground lair, the Kingpin supervises a gang war against his treacherous ex-lieutenants. Bullseye sets out to track the Kingpin down and learns the location of his stronghold. Meanwhile, Daredevil raids that very place and recovers what he believes to be the Kingpin’s files, but which turn out to be newspapers.

Bullseye and some men attack the Kingpin’s lair but find it booby-trapped. Later, as Bullseye berates his employers for their incompetence, the Kingpin arrives and hires him away from them. He forces his former men to sign confessions holding them responsible for the gang war, then he turns his attention to Lynch, his right-hand man who he has deduced killed his wife, Vanessa. The Kingpin kills Lynch in a fit of vengeance.

Later, Daredevil learns from a neighborhood hooker that there's a gangland meeting going down. He heads for the Kingpin’s office tower and shuts down its generator, which lures Bullseye into the basement for a fight. Daredevil bests Bullseye but is surrounded by the Kingpin and his men. Kingpin offers DD the files on the men who signed his confessions, as well as Bullseye, to get him to leave. Daredevil does so, departing with an implied promise that their feud is not yet over.

Elsewhere, beneath the city streets, the Kingpin’s wife, Vanessa, awakens and wanders off, amnesiac and hungry.

FANTASTIC FOUR #232

"BACK TO THE BASICS!"
Words & Pictures: John Byrne | Inks: Bjorn Heyn*
Letters: Jim Novak | Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The evil alchemist, Diablo, sends four elementals to take out the Fantastic Four separately. The Invisible Girl (Sue Richards), the Thing (Ben Grimm), and the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) are defeated, but Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic, escapes his assailant and rescues the Torch, who flies off in pursuit of the fire elemental which had attacked Reed. Reed is then plagued by the air elemental which had gone at the Torch, but he makes it to Sue and Ben and together the trio defeats the air, earth, and water elementals. Above Manhattan, Johnny takes out the fire elemental as well.

Reed realizes the elementals were Diablo’s work and enlists Doctor Strange, master of the mystic arts, to help track the villain down. The FF arrest Diablo and depart, leaving Strange to watch their exit.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: At the issue’s start, Sue is at a salon getting a new hairdo. She reveals two new uses for her powers, as well: keeping her uniform invisible under her street clothes and traveling on her invisible force fields, which she compares with Iceman’s ice slides in X-MEN.

PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #56

"THE PERIL... AND THE PUMPKIN?"
Words: Roger Stern | Layouts: Jim Shooter | Finished Art: Jim Mooney
Letters: Janice Chiang | Colors: Bob Sharen & George Roussos
Editing: Dennis O'Neil | Again: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Spider-Man sees the terrorist called Jack O'Lantern carried into Bellevue Hospital and snaps some pictures, then heads for the Daily Bugle. The next day, Jack O'Lantern's men attempt to spring their boss from the hospital's prison ward, but the terrorist instead decides to hold the hospital hostage. Informed of the situation by Aunt May, whose fiance Nathan is at the hospital for physical therapy, Peter Parker changes into Spider-Man and infiltrates Bellevue. He takes out Jack O'Lantern's men, saving the hostages, then defeats Jack O'Lantern himself.

The Sub-Plots: The Marcy Kane plotline finally comes to an end as Steve Hopkins positions himself over the door to the chemistry department offices and snatches her scarf when she enters, discovering that she has a wig on as well. Marcy runs away but Peter follows, and Marcy tells him that her hair used to be blonde when she was young, but that it went dark so she began to dye it instead -- until her doctor told her the dye was harming her hair and she needed to stop. When Peter tries to cheer her up, Marcy realizes that perhaps he's not as bad a person as she had previously believed.

IRON MAN #148

"SIEGE!"
Plot/Writer: David Michelinie | Co-Plot-Finished Art: Bob Layton
Pencil Art: John Romita, Jr. | Letters: Joe Rosen | Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: In the Central American country of Costa Diablo, a Stark International office is invaded by revolutionaries, and the installation's staff are taken prisoner. Iron Man travels to Costa Diablo on a rescue mission, and after getting most of the staff out with Rhodey's aid, he invades the presidential palace to spring the Costa Diablo division head, Ricardo Pruz. But when he finally reaches the building's head office, he learns that Pruz was the true leader of the revolution, having embezzled funds and resources from Stark to arm his people.

Iron Man departs in defeat, cautioning Pruz to watch his back, lest he be betrayed just as he betrayed Tony Stark. And just a few days later, Mr. Pithins shows Stark an article reporting that Pruz was executed as a traitor by his own right hand man, General Caligerra.