Denny O’Neil’s Daredevil run was dominated by an ongoing story about a savage named Micah Synn.
He’s clearly an analog for Tarzan: British explorers get lost in the wild, and their decedents are discovered generations later as “white savages.” A group of geologists find them and bring them to New York, where Foggy is asked to be their lawyer.
Synn’s wives ridicule and beat up on the handicapped, Synn himself betrays brutish, animal behavior at high society dinner parties…But the really interesting this about this story arc is how he becomes Daredevil’s enemy.
Foggy Nelson’s wife, a social climber, finds herself attracted to the savage and begins a close orbit. Tony Stark appears (drunk) at her dinner party. Synn, who is accustomed to taking what he wants, takes her. So, he’s becoming a threat to the Matt Murdock side of the persona.
Meanwhile, an assassin is hired to take Synn out, Daredevil protects him, but Synn gets the notice of Kingpin. The assassin is a new character, Crossbow.
Wilson Fisk goes about “civilizing” Synn by teaching him that it’s wrong to take another man’s wife….
Even Kingpin has a moral code.
William Johnson’s art is not derivative of Frank Miller, but he does have the same kind of well-choreographed blow-by-blows. Good stuff.
Issue #203 is a fill-in by Steven Grant and Geof Isherwood. It’s just OK. But the villain is worth mentioning….
Trump!
The issues right after this post (#207-209) are also fill-ins, but issue #208 is one of the best Daredevil comics ever. And then, we will get back to the Micah storyline.
Also, issue #202 was an “Assistant Editors Month” issue. On the cover Foggy Nelson got the cornerbox and there was a cheeky reference to the time Marvel changed its name in the 1960s to get in on the whole Andy Warhol thing. Then there’s a backup story about Dirk McGirk, who was a character in Marvel’s “Crazy” magazine (the rough equivalent of Mad Magazine). He meets Daredevil. And also, Turk appears and gets punched around.
Unlike most assistant editor issues, this one might be canon.
And the credits get an adjustment.
Savages is one of the best stories Denny O’Neil wrote for Marvel.