Can you name that tune?
Daredevil fights “Death’s Head” for this arc, only to find out in the end it’s Karen Page’s daddy.
He dies by the end of the story.
It’s really just a device to rachet up the drama between Daredevil and Karen, to build to a crescendo, so that, in the final sequence, we can be standing at her dad’s gravesite.
Karen is mourning, and of course it’s raining. Daredevil approaches and tells her to take off his mask. Look at the way Gene Colan draws her eyes–she almost looks blind, they’re so wide and white. But she’s also looking slightly off center. Most panels don’t have characters staring off into the distance. But it makes sense here. She’s dissociating. She’s grieving. And she probably already suspects what she’s about to have confirmed for her….
Karen found out DD was Matt back in the Starr Saxon arc, but then DD “killed” Matt Murdock to throw everyone off the scent–so his loved ones would be safe. Now, he brings him back.
Action-wise, this is the first appearance of Stunt Master, a motorcycling villain-for-hire who will later become a Ghost Rider regular bad guy.
I thought this story was pretty good. It delivered on every level. Stan Lee and Gene Colan never delivered a “D”-level production in their entire careers. I was not a fan of the whole “Mike Murdock” nonsense- Foggy Nelson and Karen Page were legal professionals, after all, not idiots. But this storyarc was good, because it had a distinct “Dark Shadows” flavor to it, with the big mansion-off-to-itself trope, undeniably abetted by Gentleman Gene Colan’s moody, atmospheric penciling. Colan was the ONLY comics professional who could do gothic horror AND straight superhero action with equal facility. Genial Gene Colan’s world was a world of mystery, suspense, and shadows, with strong men and beautiful women facing danger at every turn. I’m glad I don’t live in it. But Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Frank Drake, and Blade the Vampire Slayer all lived in it, and did it well. Come to think of it, I’ve never read a comic drawn by Gene “The Dean” Colan that wasn’t at LEAST worth a “B”, including “…….And Death Came Riding!!” Yeah, definitely a solid “B” comic.