Daredevil is a fictional superhero created by Jack Binder, who starred in comics from

Lev Gleason Publications Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Stone Gleason (1898–1971), was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including '' Daredevil Comics'', '' Crime Does Not Pay'', and '' Boy Comics''. Backg ...

during the 1930s–1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books before being retroactively established into the

Image Universe The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The independent, cr ...

by Image Comics in the 1990s as its first character. The character is unrelated to

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

' Daredevil. As a child, Bart Hill had been rendered mute by the shock of seeing his father murdered and himself being branded with a hot iron. Orphaned, he grew up to become a

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...

marksman, in homage to the boomerang-shaped scar left on his chest. Like Batman, introduced a year earlier, he took up a costume to wage vigilante vengeance. Editor Jack Cole, who would create the classic

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole (artist), Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the fi ...

a year later, revamped the character in the next issue as Bill Hart, pitting him against ''Silver Streak''s lead character, the villainous

Claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

, for a five-issue battle that made Daredevil a star.

Publication history

Lev Gleason Publications

This original Daredevil was created by Jack Binder for an eight-page backup feature in Lev Gleason Publications' '' Silver Streak Comics'' #6 (Sept. 1940). Upon his partial revamping in the issue following his debut, only Hill's identity, spiked belt, and the boomerang remained; the mute angle was dropped without explanation, and his original symmetrically divided bodysuit of pale yellow and dark blue was redesigned to a dark red and blue. The final installment was written by

Don Rico Donato Francisco Rico II (September 26, 1912 – March 27, 1985) was an American paperback novelist, screenwriter, wood engraver and comic book writer-artist, who co-created the Marvel Comics characters the Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) with plot ...

, who would write the character through ''Silver Streak'' #17 (Dec. 1941). By this time, publisher Lev Gleason had already launched Daredevil's own comic with ''Daredevil Battles Hitler'' #1 (July 1941), in which Daredevil and other '' Silver Streak'' heroes fought the German chancellor. As with '' Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941), in which Hitler also gets an ignominious sock in the jaw, the comic anticipated U.S. involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was written and partially drawn by

Charles Biro Charles Biro (May 12, 1911 – March 4, 1972) was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He is today chiefly known for creating the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and for his work at Lev Gleason Publications on '' Dared ...

, who continued on the book when its title changed to ''Daredevil Comics'' with issue #2, and who in his 16-year run would make the character one of the most acclaimed of the Golden Age. Biro rewrote Daredevil's origin in issue #18 (August 1943), now depicting Daredevil's real identity, Bart Hill, as having been raised by aborigines in the

Australian Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

. According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "his arch-enemy is the Claw, but there are Nazis to be fought, mad scientists, the Deadly Dozen, Wolf Carson (a wolf with a human brain), the Ghoul, Reve Venge (the Phantom of Notre Dame), and Crepto, the imbecile with the strength of fifteen men". Biro introduced popular supporting characters the Little Wise Guys in ''Daredevil'' #13 (Oct. 1942). A "kid gang" similar to

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

' Newsboy Legion and many others, the group consisted of Curly, Jocko, Peewee, Scarecrow, and Meatball – the last of whom, with remarkable daring, was killed two issues later. By the late 1940s, with superheroes going out of fashion, the Little Wise Guys took center stage, edging out Daredevil altogether with issue #70 (Jan. 1950). The series lasted through #134 (Sept. 1956).

Image Comics

Daredevil is one of several

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

Golden Age characters to appear in Image Comics' '' Next Issue Project'', spearheaded by Image's

Erik Larsen Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book artist, writer, and publisher. He currently acts as the chief financial officer of Image Comics. He gained attention in the early 1990s with his art on Spider-Man series for Marvel ...

, returning to ''Silver Streak'', the book which introduced him to the public. Daredevil also appeared in issue #141 of Larsen's '' Savage Dragon'' comic series. That issue served to resurrect a slew of public domain Golden Age characters. ''Savage Dragon'' #148 debuted The Dynamic Daredevil as a regular supporting cast member in the series. That issue also brought back the Little Wise Guys. Daredevil becomes deeply involved in the problems of Dragon's ravaged Chicago; he becomes severely injured battling a murderous version of Dragon. In 2021, the Dynamic Daredevil appeared as supporting character in a new ''Ant'' comic series, which was published in June, written and drawn by Larsen.

Other publishers

Daredevil is now in the

, and as a result many publishers have used him to varying degrees, most opting to make name changes in an effort to have something to own and to get around Marvel's Daredevil trademark.

AC Comics

In the late 1980s, AC Comics revived Daredevil as part of that publisher's superhero universe. Renamed Reddevil, he appeared as a guest character in '' Femforce'' #45 and #50 before starring in the one-shot title ''Reddevil'' #1 (1991).

First Publications

Daredevil was one of the many Golden Age heroes who showed up in Roy Thomas' ''Alter Ego'' mini-series. He is renamed as Doubledare.

Dynamite Entertainment

A variation on Daredevil appeared in the comic-book series '' Project Superpowers'', by writer Jim Krueger and artist Alex Ross. In this series, he is billed and trademarked as The Death-Defying 'Devil. In 2008,

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptations ...

spun off a solo miniseries for the character, written by Joe Casey with art by Edgar Salazar. In this series, someone from 'Devil's past – wearing a green version of 'Devil's costume and calling himself "Dragon" – believes that the returned hero is an impostor, and is determined to expose him. The Dragon turns out to be Curly, who reveals that the actual 'Devil died in 1987. Within the main series itself, the 'Devil is eventually revealed to be Bart Hill's costume, which had in fact always been sentient and was placed in the urn along with a single boomerang as part of a pact between Hill and the Fighting Yank. The costume does not explicitly reveal its nature to its allies, but eventually discards its pretense of being human by handing the Black Terror the dentures it had been using to create the illusion of a mouth. It possesses additional powers, such as the ability to grow new spike-like branches and the knowledge of an ancient language needed to banish the Claw, and is implied to have its own, sinister agenda.

Wild Cat Books

Daredevil also appears in ''Legends of the Golden Age'' (), an anthology featuring prose tales of Daredevil and the

Black Terror The Black Terror is a fictional comic book superhero who originally appeared in ''Exciting Comics'' #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. The character was popular, and on the strength of the Black Terror's sales, Nedor made ''Exciting C ...

. Barry Reese contributed one of the stories in this anthology, which was released in January 2009 by Wild Cat Books.

Golden Age appearances

The Daredevil appeared in: * '' Silver Streak Comics'' #6-17 (Sept 1940 - Dec 1941) * ''Daredevil Comics'' #1-69, 79, 80 (July 1941 - Nov 1950)

Legacy

In homage to the Golden Age Daredevil, Marvel Comics' Daredevil would wear a similar costume in the alternate-reality '' Mutant X'' series in ''Mutant X Annual 2001''. In addition, the 2000 ''Marvels Comics: Daredevil'' special had a group based on the Little Wise Guys. A similar, earlier homage came in

' '' Kingdom Come'' series, when Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt – a character whose regular costume was inspired by Daredevil's, according to creator

Pete Morisi Peter A. Morisi (January 7, 1928 – October 12, 2003),Peter A. Morisi
Social Security Number 076-20-5 ...

– wore a new costume very similar to that of the Golden Age Daredevil.

Film

Bart Hill appears alongside other Golden Age superheroes in the independent film ''Avenging Force: The Scarab'', where he's renamed as Doubledare possibly in order to avoid copyright issues with Marvel's Daredevil.

References

External links

Daredevil
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Daredevil
at International Catalogue of Superheroes

*Cronin, Brian. ttp://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/10/11/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-124/ Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #124 Comic Book Resources. October 11, 2007.
''Daredevil''
at Golden Age Comics UK (non-commercial downloads, public domain issues)
AC ComicsMetahuman PressThe Grand Comics DatabaseDaredevil Comics
the complete series available for free download a
The Digital Comic Museum
{{Image Comics Australian superheroes Dynamite Entertainment characters Golden Age comics titles Golden Age superheroes Image Comics male superheroes Image Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds Image Comics characters with superhuman strength Image Comics superheroes Savage Dragon characters Characters created by Jack Binder Characters created by Jack Cole Public domain comics Comics characters introduced in 1940 1941 comics debuts Fictional Australian people Fictional mute characters