"Cry...Beetle!" Daredevil 108 (March 1974)
"Dying for Dollar$!" Daredevil 108 (March 1974)
"Code of Honor: Guns" Code of Honor 1 (January 1997)
"Inside Black Spectre!" Marvel Two-In-One 3 (May 1974)
"Birthright!" Daredevil 108 (March 1974)
"Sword of the Samurai!" Daredevil 108 (March 1974)
"Death of a Nation?" Daredevil 108 (March 1974)
(1974/04/01)

Reader Rating: Average; Thunderbolts Interest: Medium

Summary: Daredevil sets out to foil the theft of government printing plates by a mysterious organization known as Black Spectre. First he runs afoul of The Beetle, who is also after the plates. Then he joins with the Black Widow, the Thing, and Shanna the She-Devil to stop the hypnotic megalomaniac who leads Black Spectre's bizarre plot.

With appearances from the Mandrill, Moondragon, Nekra and the Silver Samurai.

Continuity: It appears that, by now, the Beetle armor has been thoroughly studied and documented, because DD knows an awful lot about its schematics. Following "Cry Beetle", Abe goes into hiding. He may have an undocumented adventure which results in his landing in a Florida prison, where he meets the Gladiator.

In "Guns," Chapter 1 of the Code of Honor mini-series, police officer Jeff Piper and his girlfriend catch a glimpse of the airborne battle from "Cry...Beetle!"

Comments: This one’s all over the map. Steve Gerber demonstrates, beyond doubt, that he cannot write normal super-heroes -- Daredevil and the Black Widow talk and act like fools. Steve is much more comfortable, and much more effective, with the macabre villains. Three different artists are at work, and Bob Brown comes off the worst; Natasha has never looked uglier. Gene Colan, who I generally dislike, shines by comparison. The Beetle’s battles with DD are the drawing cards for Thunderbolts fans, but are irrelevant to the Swiss cheese plot, the climax of which is poorly-arrived at and abruptly ended. I wish there were some way to highlight Abe’s appearances out of context, but you really need the remaining four non-Beetle chapters to get any sense out of it.

For thoughts on Code of Honor, see 1984/04/01.

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This page was revised on March 4, 2002