Previous Page   Next Page
#169
#170
#171
#172
#173
#174
#175
#176
#177
#178
#179
#180
#181
#182
#183
#184
#185
#186
#187
#188
#189
#190
#191
#192
Selector

Daredevil (1964 series) #174

on-sale: May 26, 1981
Frank Miller

Daredevil (1964 series) #174 cover

Story Name:

The Assassination of Matt Murdock


Synopsis

Daredevil (1964 series) #174 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 5 stars

In Paris, Elektra stalks a bounty, who is then killed by a ninja. She recognizes the ninja as one of The Hand and follows him back to his base. She overhears that the Hand’s next target is Matt Murdock and his client! Though their lives have taken different paths and she tells herself she’s put all her old feelings behind her, Elektra still finds herself on the next flight to New York. Meanwhile, Matt struggles to defend Melvin Potter in court, which Ben Urich theorizes to be due to his split with Foggy. Several hours later, Matt makes his way home, dwelling over the case and his current separation from Foggy. Matt reaches his apartment, only to find several Hand ninja waiting to ambush him! Matt stylishly defeats the ninja, much to their surprise. Matt questions one of them but discovers that Hand ninja dissolve when they fail or are defeated. He finds yet another dissolving body in an adjoining room, clueing him in that someone must be looking out for him. Unbeknownst to Matt, Elektra keeps watch over him from across the street.

Elsewhere, the Kingpin reveals to one of his men that he commissioned the Hand to target Matt Murdock, through a third party. The Hand had been taking up a lot of his contracts and Daredevil had consistently been getting in his way. So, noticing Daredevil’s interest in Matt Murdock and Melvin Potter, he secretly hired the Hand to eliminate them, planning for Daredevil to intercept the Hand, thereby pitting all of his enemies against each other, while he remains untouched! Some time later, the Hand continue to stalk Matt as he makes his way to the Nelson and Murdock law offices. There, Matt finds Foggy cleaning out his desk and asks once more what’s been going on. Foggy admits that they haven’t had a good paying case in a long time and they don’t have the money to maintain their office. Their grant got cut and Foggy couldn’t find anyone else to sponsor them, feeling like it was all up to him to keep it going and he failed. Matt assures Foggy that he needs him and that he doesn’t blame him for anything as Foggy sobs into Matt’s arms.

All the while, Elektra takes on the Hand ninja watching over Matt. However, she’s unable to prevent one from throwing an explosive that blows up the offices, injuring Matt! Matt awakens in the hospital with Heather there watching over him. Matt overhears on the radio that due to the risk of attack, Melvin is being moved to another facility. He attempts to head out but trips over something he couldn’t detect, which is when it hits him…his radar is gone! Meanwhile, Elektra intercepts the convoy moving Melvin and returns his Gladiator armor to him, just in time for them to defend themselves against the Hand. Elektra fights valiantly against the Hand but Melvin has found that he’s lost his killer edge and quickly gets overwhelmed.

Daredevil arrives shortly after, needing to focus more than ever on his senses to make up for his lost radar. As such, he can only detect the Hand by indistinguishable heartbeats and sword swings and doesn’t even realize Elektra is there. She keeps Daredevil from getting killed and drives the rest of the Hand away while Matt thinks he did it by himself. Daredevil checks on the injured Melvin, who tells him about the woman with the sai, which finally clues him in. Later, three remaining Hand ninja return to their leader to report the incident. They are killed for their failure by the Hand’s most powerful member, Kirigi. Kirigi then receives his next target, none other than Elektra! To be continued!


Characters
Good (or All)
BENURICH
DAREDEVIL
ELEKTRA
FOGGYNELSON
GLADIATOR1
Plus: Heather Glenn.

Enemies
KINGPIN
Plus: Hand (The Hand), Kirigi.

> Daredevil (1964 series) comic book info and issue index



Excelsioring your collection:
statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Frank Miller
Klaus Janson
Glynis Wein
Frank Miller (Cover Penciler)
Klaus Janson (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Joe Rosen.



Review / Commentaries


Daredevil (1964 series) #174 Review by (March 5, 2025)

Review: The classic Miller contributions to the Daredevil mythos continue with the introduction of the Hand, Marvel’s premiere magic ninjas! The Hand are contracted to kill Matt, forcing the returned Elektra to secretly defend him from them. Aw, she does care. Miller brings Elektra back for a welcome return, as she will become a much more frequent presence from now on (for a little while anyway). Turns out Kingpin, in all his suave, cunning glory, hired the Hand to kill Matt through a third party. The Hand had been disrupting his operations and he hoped this would bring them into confrontation with Daredevil, pitting his enemies against each other while he remains completely untouched. It’s very cool, and more proof at how in control Fisk always is. The only thing that bugs me a little is that we learn that the Hand had been disrupting Fisk’s operations in the same scene that he reveals he set everything in motion. We just kind of have to trust that the Hand have been inconveniencing Fisk, even though we hadn’t seen it. Miller usually does a bit more setup than that, but overall it’s a very minor issue.

Matt, and the readers, also finally find out what’s been going on with Foggy. He admits that they don’t have the money to keep the office going and he feels it was his job to keep them afloat, and he failed. Matt and Foggy have a very sweet scene where Matt assures Foggy that he needs him no matter what. This is a Daredevil comic though, so there can’t be too much tenderness and happiness, as the office gets blown up directly after. Matt discovers that the blast also robbed him of his radar sense (for some reason), which certainly won’t be the last time his powers go all wonky. It’s not even the last time it’ll happen during Miller’s (relatively short) run. Daredevil manages to kind of hold his own against the Hand, while unknowingly helped by Elektra, setting up some problems for Matt for the next few issues, as he realizes he relied too much on his radar.  The end sets up the next issue wonderfully, promising a great continuation as the Hand plan to send Kirigi, their super-ninja, after Elektra! Overall, a fantastic issue adding yet more lasting changes to Daredevil and setting up another classic story!

Comments: First appearance of the Hand and Kirigi.





Thor

The Marvel Heroes Library is a fan Marvel Comics site
Version 14.8.61 (Mar 14, 2025 - VS22)

Copyright © 1997-2025 Julio Molina-Muscara (creator, webmaster)
Site content is a collective effort by the MHL team and Marvel aficionados

Characters are copyright © Marvel or their respective owners. All portions of this Marvel fansite that are subject to copyright are licensed under a creative commons attribution 3.0 unported license All rights reserved