This is the final issue of Denny O’Neil’s underappreciated run, and it is fittingly called, “And then you die!” It’s a done-in-one, with Vulture attacking Daredevil while he is visiting Heather Glenn’s gravesite.
Great fight.
It’s symbolically apt to have a vulture attack a devil in a cemetery, especially when the devil is, himself, staring over the remains of his own kill (Heather commit suicide as a result, perhaps indirectly, of Matt Murdock’s destruction of her company and life).
This is one of the best issues of Denny’s run. First of all, there’s the art: David Mazzucchelli does both the pencils and inks, and they’re gorgeous. But also, it is a brilliant take on The Vulture, who is usually little more than a very strong old dude. In this issue, he’s used as a foil for Daredevil. Murdock’s business and his fiance are all dying, carrion, and he’s just sticking around for the parts that benefit him….Plus, everyone around him dies.
Daredevil can’t see it, but Vulture can. But the real power in this issue comes from these four panels….
Foggy’s line there is vicious when you know that FOGGY is the one who had the idea to forge a break up letter from Matt to Heather, and yet Foggy is willing to blame Matt for Heather’s suicide. He’s at least half-responsible, if not more so.
Later in the issue, Foggy Nelson is upset about his law office folding (again, largely due to Matt Murdock being a selfish and unreliable bastard), and he thinks about killing himself—but doesn’t do it. Vulture tries to convince him to, but he doesn’t physically push him off the roof.
Denny put a lot of thought into his Daredevil scripts. I wish other writers had taken up this mantle with Vulture, and developed him as hanging on the fringes of death—it’s a very interesting idea.
And adding to the death motif, Black Crow appears on the last page and says Daredevil is “worthy,” but we don’t know of what exactly.