DAREDEVIL #165

"ARMS OF THE OCTOPUS"
Script/Co-Plotters/Pencils: Roger McKenzie & Frank Miller | Inks: Klaus Janson
Lettering: Joe Rosen | Coloring: Bob Sharen
Editor: Denny O’Neil | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Having gotten wind of the impending theft of a shipment of adamantium, Daredevil visits Josie’s Bar & Grill to shake down some informants. Learning that the unbreakable metal is due to be delivered to Glenn Industries, DD pays a visit to their offices, where he bursts into a board meeting and informs Heather Glenn that something is going on within the company behind her back.

The next night, Matt Murdock learns that Heather never showed up for a date. He heads for the wharf, where the adamantium is in the process of being stolen, and is clobbered by Doctor Octopus.

Later, at Glenn Industries, Doc Ock brags to his prisoner, Heather, that he plans to use the adamantium to construct a set of new, unbreakable arms. But Daredevil arrives and attacks, defeating Ock.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: It's revealed that since her father’s death, Heather has had tenuous control over his company. We also learn how he died: enthralled by the Purple Man, he was jailed for embezzlement. Later he killed himself after Daredevil failed to prove his innocence.

Foggy Nelson is getting married next week, and has purchased a tasteful tuxedo for the occasion.

Black Widow appears to have been shacking up with Matt lately, but she suspects he still harbors feelings for Heather. By issue’s end she has confirmed this suspicion and leaves New York, heartbroken.

Doctor Octopus explains how he survived his last encounter with Spider-Man, though no footnote is present to let readers know in which comic the fight took place.

My Thoughts: Frank Miller’s run as the writer of DAREDEVIL is just around the corner, but first he slides into a “Co-Plotter” role alongside Roger McKenzie — though one gets the feeling from prior installments that perhaps Miller was already plotting in some capacity, as his sensibilities are all over some recent characters and situations.

Miller states in the introduction to his DAREDEVIL OMNIBUS (which is actually a repurposed intro from his DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES collection) that he and McKenzie “conspired to steal as many Spider-Man villains as [they] could” -- yet somehow this story appears to be their only success on that front. But at least they stole a good one! I'm a sucker for stories where heroes “borrow” other heroes’ enemies, and this tale is no exception. Daredevil versus Doctor Octopus is a terrific idea, and it's executed naturally here as Ock uses Heather’s manufacturing plant in a bid to construct new admantium arms (which in itself is also a fantastic plot and one wonders why it had never previously occurred in an issue of SPIDER-MAN). The soap opera stuff with Matt, Heather, and the Black Widow is great too, making this possibly the best McKenzie/Miller issue to date.

That said, I'm not quite sure I understand part of the plot. Daredevil spies on a bunch of bad guys and overhears them talking about stealing the admantium shipment “…before it reaches Glenn Industries.” This immediately makes DD suspicious of Heather’s company. My issues are twofold: One, why is DD so freaked out over Glenn Industries receiving an admantium shipment that he goes immediately to confront the board of directors? Mind you, I don't know what the company does (though they do have a manufacturing facility in New Jersey), so it's entirely possible this is indeed suspicious — but nothing in the script explains why. We just have to take it for granted that there's something fishy about this, which seems like really careless writing.

But number two is even stranger: these crooks work for Doctor Octopus. They want to steal the adamantium before it reaches Glenn Industries. So what do they do after they've stolen it? Why, they take it to Glenn Industries so Ock can build his new arms there. Huh?? What was the point of stealing it first when they could've simply waited for the stuff to arrive at the facility to which they apparently already planned to take it? Again, this is really sloppy on McKenzie’s part. It's like he scripted this issue a page at a time without referring back to the stuff he'd already written — which I suppose is fine; plot holes happen now and then under deadline pressure. But how this slipped past every editorial level is mystifying.