Granted, it's hard to imagine the Beetle being involved in the greatest anything:
...but it looks like the man's moment might have finally come.
In a nutshell: the Beetle has already humbled Daredevil in a brief fight in the city, where DD proved to be no match for the villain. Yes, you read that correctly--the Beetle whupped his opponent in a no-contest fight. You don't see headlines like that very often. Anyway, the Beetle later pulls off a jewel heist on a speeding train and is in the process of making his escape, when who do you think he runs into but:
The Beetle makes a clean getaway, since he's the only one of this pair who can fly--with metal wings, mind you--and thus begins our chase.
And so Daredevil pursues the slow-flying Beetle over rough desert terrain. If you're a fan of Gene Colan's art on this title, then you'll be doing cartwheels, since Colan truly pencils a nice issue here; but if you're hoping to see more than Daredevil spinning his wheels in these twenty pages, you may be disappointed, as we mostly see DD overcome one setback after another in his chase of the Beetle:
Set to music, this might indeed be a thrilling pursuit, even with the story's villain not really in any danger of being caught up with. Colan's work is certainly up to the task, but the story seems to be another matter.
Finally, the chase comes to its close, as Daredevil reaches a small town and gets a big surprise:
I don't know about this being "the greatest chase of all time," if the one you're pursuing has time to kick up his feet at his hideout and has all but written you off. This hasn't been Daredevil's best day--soundly thrashed by the Beetle, and now captured by common gunmen. Can DD turn things around at this point? We'll have to hope so, because we're not chasing this story to its conclusion.
6 comments:
Huge fan of Gene Colan - though more for his work on Doctor Strange and Tomb of Dracula than anything else. However his Dare Devil is one of the better incarnations as well. I must confess to being a budding Beetle fan too, I'd certainly buy an issue purely based on his inclusion in my youth anyway - though admittedly not wearing this particular version of his armour :-) Another top posting and well worth staying up late for.
I was usually willing to give most Marvel characters the benefit of the doubt, but even as a youngster I drew the line at the Beetle....why did he always make a big noise about his wings being made of metal? And since they were, and extremely unaerodynamic, how the (Don) heck did he fly?
And those tentacle things...didn't he claim they worked hydraulically? That would suggest a large reserve of fluid to make them work...which I didn't see! (One suspects just like Stan tended to ascribe everything Iron Man used to "transistors" and had them do everything but cure the common cold, it was much the same with the Beetle and his hydraulics)
B, I think the Beetle made such a fuss out of his metal wings because they served to shield him from attack--glossing over, as you note, the fact that the darn things couldn't possibly lift him into the air as they do without swiping the Wizard's anti-grav power or the Vulture's technology. As for his hydraulics, I suppose in that bulky costume there's room for a water bottle or two somewhere. :)
LOVE Colan DD.., spectacular layouts. Of all the Colan work I've come to enjoy immensely, it's on either DD or Iron Man.
His Doc Strange art is wonderful, but I tend to prefer Ditko, but that's just a style preference, not to detract from Gene.
Will have to buy this issue soon, great cover.
As for DD's Rogue Gallery, I give you Daredevil Annual 1.., it's all apart of MMMS goofiness that all these lame villains can actually give DD a tussle, like Leapfrog.
Too funny.
What's that song called..."Flight of the Bumblebee?" mp
David, that DD annual is one of my favorites--just good, all-around fun to read, with spectacular art by Colan.
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