Before Marvels blind crock Daredevil, there was another and at the time he was just as famous.
Silver Streak Comics, an anthology of obscure parentage, had a problem when it launched in 1939. It had a very good super villain, the Claw, but no superhero to face him.
This was partially solved by a contribution from the Jack Binder studio, who provided Daredevil. Like the Marvel creation theird was also had a handicap; he was struck dumb by a horrific crime that left him an orphan (though this limitation disappeared when he donned his costume) and a deep vee shaped scar on his chest (which became his motif). Just to give him an edge, they made him an expert in the use of that wayward weapon the boomerang.
After his first outing, Daredevil recieved a make over. The blue and yellow costume was replaced with blue and red in a harlequin style and a spiked 'dog collar' belt, all going to prove Superhero's have no concept of style. The handicap was also lost. A few years later he was given a new origin as well, now having been brought up in the Outback by Aborigines.
The big fight with The Claw was a tough act to follow, but the next villain was a real winner — Daredevil Battles Hitler, in which he teamed up with all the other heroes of Silver Streak Comics against the biggest villain in the world, was dated July, 1941, five months before the U.S. entered World War II. From then on, Daredevil was the star of his own title (a good thing for him, as it turned out, because Silver Streak Comics ended in 1942).
Daredevil Comics #13 (October, 1942) introduced The Little Wise Guys, a kid gang along the lines of Gene Byrnes's Reg'lar Fellers or DC Comics' Newsboy Legion. Reader interest in these new supporting characters was kicked up a notch two issues later when one of them, Meatball, was killed off. After that, The Little Wise Guys consisted of Scarecrow, Peewee, Jocko and Curly.
The series continued that way for years, Daredevil and his four quasi-sidekicks. But toward the late '40s, when superheroes fell out of fashion, Daredevil was de-emphasized. As the decade closed, he was generally there just to introduce stories in which The Little Wise Guys were the stars. After the 69th issue (December, 1950), he didn't even do that. Daredevil Comics continued years longer, but Daredevil was no longer a member of the cast. The series ended in 1956, when the publisher left the comic book business.
For more on Marvels Daredevil go here http://www.ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16407
Silver Streak Comics, an anthology of obscure parentage, had a problem when it launched in 1939. It had a very good super villain, the Claw, but no superhero to face him.
This was partially solved by a contribution from the Jack Binder studio, who provided Daredevil. Like the Marvel creation theird was also had a handicap; he was struck dumb by a horrific crime that left him an orphan (though this limitation disappeared when he donned his costume) and a deep vee shaped scar on his chest (which became his motif). Just to give him an edge, they made him an expert in the use of that wayward weapon the boomerang.
After his first outing, Daredevil recieved a make over. The blue and yellow costume was replaced with blue and red in a harlequin style and a spiked 'dog collar' belt, all going to prove Superhero's have no concept of style. The handicap was also lost. A few years later he was given a new origin as well, now having been brought up in the Outback by Aborigines.
The big fight with The Claw was a tough act to follow, but the next villain was a real winner — Daredevil Battles Hitler, in which he teamed up with all the other heroes of Silver Streak Comics against the biggest villain in the world, was dated July, 1941, five months before the U.S. entered World War II. From then on, Daredevil was the star of his own title (a good thing for him, as it turned out, because Silver Streak Comics ended in 1942).
Daredevil Comics #13 (October, 1942) introduced The Little Wise Guys, a kid gang along the lines of Gene Byrnes's Reg'lar Fellers or DC Comics' Newsboy Legion. Reader interest in these new supporting characters was kicked up a notch two issues later when one of them, Meatball, was killed off. After that, The Little Wise Guys consisted of Scarecrow, Peewee, Jocko and Curly.
The series continued that way for years, Daredevil and his four quasi-sidekicks. But toward the late '40s, when superheroes fell out of fashion, Daredevil was de-emphasized. As the decade closed, he was generally there just to introduce stories in which The Little Wise Guys were the stars. After the 69th issue (December, 1950), he didn't even do that. Daredevil Comics continued years longer, but Daredevil was no longer a member of the cast. The series ended in 1956, when the publisher left the comic book business.
For more on Marvels Daredevil go here http://www.ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16407
