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Daredevil (1964 series) #184

on-sale: Mar 23, 1982
Frank Miller

Daredevil (1964 series) #184 cover

Story Name:

Good Guys Wear Red!


Synopsis

Daredevil (1964 series) #184 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 4.5 stars

Daredevil prevents Punisher from sniping Hogman, and Punisher gets away after a short scuffle. Elsewhere, Heather signs documents at her company and runs across an account she hasn’t heard of. Her board director assures her it’s nothing to concern herself with. Later, Matt defends Hogman in court and claims he’ll soon have evidence of the real killer’s identity! Billy notices that Coach Donahue seems concerned about this news. That night, Foggy and Becky are heading out from the office and Matt explains that he was bluffing in court earlier, claiming he has evidence when all he has is a tip. He’s hoping it’ll scare the real killer, likewise scaring Foggy and Becky when he reaches for the phone just as it starts to ring! Turns out it’s Heather on the other line, wanting to talk about Matt’s proposal last issue. Matt puts her on hold when he gets a call from Coach Donahue and arranges to meet him at the school gymnasium.

An hour later, Matt arrives at the school gym and calls out to Coach Donahue. Matt reveals that he knows the Coach is Hogman’s dealer at the school and theorizes that he killed Flapper and framed Hogman in order to take control of the operation himself. Coach Donahue then lunges out of the darkness at Matt, and Matt quickly realizes that he’s hopped up on Angel Dust! Matt reasons that Coach Donahue wouldn’t have taken the drugs himself when he needs his wits right now, meaning someone else did it to him. Matt subdues the Coach and determines to find out who drugged the Coach and why. Meanwhile, Hogman meets with Markie, a witness who claimed he saw Hogman shoot Flapper. Hogman gives Markie the drugs he’s been looking for on the condition that he rescind his witness statement. It’s all moot, as Markie overdoses and dies, ridding Hogman of the only proof against him.

Due to his only witness now being dead, Hogman is acquitted of Flapper’s murder. Afterwards, he checks with Matt that there’s no chance of being charged again for this crime before admitting that he’s guilty as sin! This stuns Matt and causes Billy to run out. Later, Matt finds Hogman again as Daredevil and discovers that he has a pacemaker, which regulated his breathing and prevented Matt from being able to tell he was lying. Some time later, Hogman gets a call from Billy to meet him at the school, claiming he saw Hogman kill Markie. At the same time, Daredevil stops by Billy’s apartment to find that Billy has stolen his father’s gun again and realizes what he’s planning to do!

At the school, Billy threatens to kill Hogman, before the Punisher arrives and kills Hogman’s bodyguard. He shoots Hogman in the hand and knee when he tries taking Billy as a hostage, before Daredevil arrives on the scene. Daredevil dodges Punisher’s shots, revealing that he knows Punisher is missing him on purpose. He knows Punisher won’t harm someone he deems as innocent and Punisher aims to depart under a truce. That’s not good enough for Daredevil, who points the bodyguard’s gun at Punisher to prevent him leaving, and even shoots Punisher in the shoulder when Punisher pulls his own gun! Billy grabs Punisher’s gun and Daredevil talks him out of killing Hogman, promising he’ll go down for killing Markie and poisoning the Coach. Days later, Hogman is found guilty and Billy questions if it was the right thing to do. Matt says that the system isn’t perfect but the laws are all they have to keep things in check, though Billy seems unconvinced. Meanwhile, at Glenn industries, Heather discovers that her company is manufacturing plastique for unknown purposes!


Characters
Good (or All)
DAREDEVIL
FOGGYNELSON
Plus: Becky Blake (Rebecca Blake), Heather Glenn.

Enemies
PUNISHER

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



Review / Commentaries


Daredevil (1964 series) #184 Review by (May 14, 2025)

Review: The second part to this story is just as intense as the first! After Matt gets Hogman off on the murder charge he admits, in the issue’s hardest-hitting moment, that he’s actually guilty! This stuns Matt and establishes that his lie detector hearing can be fooled by a pacemaker! Everything comes to a head with Daredevil fighting the Punisher and talking Billy out of killing Hogman. It’s played extremely tensely, making you think Billy might actually do it. There are tons of questions about morality, with Matt arguing in favor of the legal system, imperfections and all, and especially against killing. This makes perfect sense for Matt, though it is muddled a bit by the fact that he takes the law into his own hands quite often. He clearly wants to believe in the system but obviously can’t completely. Sure, he doesn’t kill but he goes as far as he needs to when he feels justice needs to be served.

This is especially reflected in his showdown with the Punisher and their conflicting ideologies. He notes that Punisher won’t seriously hurt him due to Punisher seeing Matt as innocent, whereas Matt won’t kill him or anyone but is willing to go so far as to shoot Punisher in the shoulder to stop him! Man Without Fear indeed. It’s interesting that Daredevil ends up being the one to use more force against the other. The title, Good Guys Wear Red, would seem to imply that Matt has the correct moral viewpoint, trust the system as much as you can and pick up the slack when it doesn’t quite work. However, this feels like it may be an intentional misnomer to cloud the fact that things aren’t that simple. Billy’s reaction to Matt’s words imply some ambiguity as to whether thinking that way is worth it. It makes sense for Matt to think that way, and I think makes him a more well-rounded and complex character, but it’s hard to tell if Miller is trying to say that through it, if he’s trying to say anything. Miller’s political viewpoints do often eke through in his writing. Or I could just be overthinking everything, who knows?

Comments: This issue establishes that Matt’s lie detector hearing can be fooled by a pacemaker.





Thor

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