Marvel's Purple Dialog I

Thus spake Hercules

The contrast between how easily we suspend disbelief as children, then as adults, is interesting.

Marvel exploded in popularity during the Silver Age, surpassing DC as the marquis comic publisher. This is unanimously attributed to Marvel’s approach to storytelling facilitated by Stan Lee. He wanted his superheroes to live in the real world (“real world” meaning New York City), have distinct personalities, real world problems, families, and romances—all within a cohesive continuity.

The missing corner of the cover on this one suggests I found this issue at a garage sale or flea market. I’ve always preferred the original color scheme of DD’s costume.

Readers loved this new “mature” storytelling Though the GI and Silent generations had aged out of the comic market, the first cohorts of the Boom Generation were becoming adults, yet still reading what Marvel was publishing. Like every other institution, Marvel (and later, DC) would court and cater to the Boomers, to the detriment of following generations, and catalyzing the decline of the Big Two.

Despite Marvel’s reputation as the more “mature” comics publisher, much of the dialog was arch and grandiose. Last time, I mentioned how the discovery of an artist’s depiction of the Red Baron reminded me of the dialog written by Stan Lee and his Bullpen Brigade. For your amusement, I decided to show some examples.

Why am I starting off with Daredevil? Simple: a few years ago, a flood destroyed a huge part of my comic book collection. Pretty much all my Spiderman titles, which I had kept since the age of seven (and were quite valuable) were destroyed. Only a handful of Marvel titles survived, including a few Daredevils I had collected off-and-on over the years.

This one is from Jim Shooter’s tenure as editor-in-chief. These credits are reproduced verbatim from Page 1:

“An epic adventure in the Mighty Marvel Tradition—proudly presented by Ramblin’ Roger McKenzie & Gene (the Dean) Colan.

Kinky Klaus Jansen - Inking

Elaine Heinl - Lettering

Francoise M. - Coloring

Broadway Bob Hall - Lettering”

A villain is messing with Daredevil’s mind. Daredevil, in a maniacal rage, breaks into Avengers’ HQ and attacks Black Widow, who apparently was his romantic interest at some point in the past. After smacking her around, he collapses.

He did sustain a hit from Natasha’s “Widow’s Bite” during his violent spree, so maybe that’s what caused the concussion?

Anyway, the other Avengers on duty are Beast, Captain America, and Hercules (who I mentioned in the last post).

The Avengers, realizing DD is not himself but Matt Murdock is still a good Joe deep down, decide to take him to the emergency room.

Hercules is over-the-top to a cringe degree. I don’t mean just the Shakespearian vernacular, though that was silly enough. I’m guessing Stan Lee and his successors had too much fun with that dialect to stop and reevaluate. Why would Thor (Scandinavian) and Hercules (Greco-Roman), if both were capable of communication in English, choose to speak in an arcane dialect of it? Maybe both of them were Baptists?

BTW, in Panel 1, Beast does something that is so common in this vintage of Marvel comics, you have to wonder if glass was so cheap in New York City back then that somebody would pay you to replace it. Daredevil crashes through windows to surprise bad guys, of course. That’s fine, but the creative teams were so stuck on those dramatic entrances that in one adjacent issue, DD swings in and crashes through a window just to visit Foggy Nelson’s girlfriend.

Earlier right here in Issue 156, when the Avengers decide to get DD medical attention, Hercules says, “But enow! If the Daredevil doth truly require our aid—”

Next, in a splash page, Hercules, with horn-head in a fireman’s carry and Cap and Black Widow in tow, smashes through a door, shouting, “—THEN, BY THE ALL-FATHER, HE SHALL HAVE IT!”

How much longer would it have taken him to simply open the door normally? I mean, the very purpose of doors is to allow people to come and go without breaking anything. Maybe folks got a big tax write-off for destroying doors in NYC, too.

Anyways, in the page reproduced above, the doctor says DD is in a coma, so Black Widow can’t visit him and disturb his rest. Herc hoists him up by the scruff of his lab coat and retorts, “Wait? Who art thou to say us nay whilst a comrade lies grievously stricken? Dost thou know to whom thou speak?”

This tells you that the Current Year peddlers of clickbait and contrived drama on Youtube and TikTok simply follow in the footsteps of Bronze Age comic creatives. Stan probably told his staff that you had to contrive ridiculous drama like this to keep readers turning pages.