DAREDEVIL #4 (1964)
by Stan Lee & Joe Orlando
cover by Jack Kirby
Continuing the parallel between Daredevil’s rogues gallery and Spider-Man’s continues to be a disappointment. In his fourth story Spider-Man fought Doctor Octopus, but Daredevil is stuck with the Purple Man.
Who has to be the most chill supervillain ever.
Once Purple Man leaves the bank, the clerk snaps out of it and calls the police, leading to the Purple Man’s arrest.
Now, in case you don’t know, Purple Man’s power is that everyone does whatever he says. So the only thing he needs to do to avoid jail is asking to be let go but… he doesn’t?
Also, if he says he doesn’t need a lawyer, shouldn’t the judge immediately agree? I guess he’s not giving an explicit command, but still, that’s weird.
Obviously Matt Murdock is the appointed layer, and he brings with him his secretary slash love interest Karen for the ride.
Notice that people don’t find it THAT strange that there’s a guy with purple skin.
Little known fact, Daredevil can sense it if you’re evil and horny.
I’m still not sure why the heck Purple Man allowed the cops to put him in jail. Why didn’t he do this earlier?
It’s not because he has the hots for Karen, since he couldn’t possibly know he’d meet her.
But she proceeds her career as a kidnap victim, albeit a willing one this time!
Matt changes into Daredevil and goes after Purple Man; it’s interesting that he makes several references to feeling the effects of his powers but being able to resist through willpower.
Modern stories make an overt connection to the fact that he’s able to do this because he already has to suppress lots of superfluous information from his super-senses, but it’s there from the start.
Purple Man asks the bystanders to attack Daredevil and leaves. Remember how last issue Daredevil went into the details of his latest costume accessory? It’s already discarded after this scene.
The fact that Foggy is upset their secretary was kidnapped is a clear indication that he loves her, because naturally there can’t be any reason to be upset about a friend or colleague being kidnapped. (WTF, Matt!?)
Okay, here’s the Purple Man plan. We already saw Phase 1: get a hot secretary.
Phase 2: get some musclebound bodyguards.
Phase 3: get yourself a fancy hotel.
And that’s how you conquer the world! SOMEHOW.
This is actually the most fascinating point of the story, which sadly is left behind: how do you prove that someone is being mind controlled?
Thinking about his very first case gives Daredevil an idea: he’ll defeat Purple Man by integrating a bunch of weird stuff into his cane. Wait, WHAT!?
Yes, Daredevil, the hood was clearly the ONLY problem with your original costume.
He eventually finds Purple Man, easily defeating his goons because the lack of a background doesn’t bother a blind man.
There’s still a problem of Karen being a hostage.
Purple Man is ready to shoot Daredevil with his gun, but the hero convinces him to monologue his origin story: he was a spy for a foreign nation and was doused in nerve gas in a botched operation.
And that’s where the tape recorder turns out to be useful!
That was kind of believable. The fact that Daredevil’s cane also has a chemically treated plastic sheet that SOMEHOW blocks Purple Man’s power… not so much.
And that’s the ending of like 99% of the first fifty issues of Daredevil.
Historical significance: 7/10
As far as Daredevil goes, Purple Man is barely a footnote for years… he has a couple more fights with him, but nothing spectacular. He will become more important much later.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Even on the Marvel scale, surprisingly restrained.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Most of the early Daredevil stories suck, but this one is enjoyable thanks to how different Purple Man feels from the typical supervillains. Still, there are some things that don’t make any sense… seriously, why did he allow the cops to arrest him!? And he’s so shocked by the revelation of the tape recorder that he doesn’t shoot Daredevil when he has him at POINT BLANK!?
Ridiculous Daredevil gadget of the day
Note that this is AFTER he’s already installed the tape recorder AND the plastic sheets AND the grappling hook.
How close is this to the modern character? 6/10
Purple Man is a unique case of a Silver Age character that lurked around for years without anyone really knowing what to do with him, only to be revitalized after the 2000s.
Most of his stories before that sucked. His most prominent role was in Emperor Doom where Doctor Doom demonstrated his willpower was too great for his powers, but he’s not the only bad guy putting Purple Man in his place.
Other than that, I found Purple Man to be quite boring. I’ve always been a fan of his daughter though, the Alpha Flight member Persuasion (previously Purple Girl).
She inherited the same powers of her father, and it was quite a novel idea to have someone with the powerset of a clear villain trying to be a hero! Sadly she went into villainy for a while, but lately she’s joined the Thunderbolts. I’m glad she’s still around!
Purple Man has more supervillain children running around with his power set than Green Arrow has superhero kids running around with arrows. Just saying.
As for Purple Man himself… I hate to give Brian Michael Bendis credit, but he DID completely revitalize the character and turned him into a legitimate psychological threat.
He was seriously overused for a while, but I like this new Purple Man better. The old one used to be set on classic supervillain ideas of getting rich and powerful, but the new one is a hedonistic psycho with a sadistic streak.
I have some issues with most of the Bendis on Alias and the Avengers books… okay A LOT, actually… but the rehabilitation of Purple Man is just great.
Plus he got one of the best portrayals of a supervillain in a TV show!
