TITLE: Daredevil The Man Without Fear! vol. 1, issue #12
YEAR: January 1966
COMPANY: Marvel Comics
STORY: Stan Lee
LAYOUTS: Jack Kirby
ILLUSTRATOR: John Romita
LETTERING: Sam Rosen
It was a love triangle as Karen Page liked both Matt Murdock and Foggy, but with Matt not knowing how Karen really cared about him, he decided to end the triangle and leave Karen and Foggy together and deciding to leave the city and move off somewhere. Not wanting to interfere with their relationship, Matt Murdock decides to go on an ocean cruise to the other side of the world.
While on the cruise, people are worried about “The Plunderer?”. And the Captain tells him that there is no way a small-time pirate would attack their ship.
And of course, you know what happens when the cruise ship goes out to sea. They are attacked by the Plunderer.
But these pirates are not aware that Daredevil is aboard.
Meanwhile, in a land not far from the ship is Ka-Zar who is saddened that the X-Men have left, but now he must prepare as the Swamp Men are heading to Skull Island, breaking jungle law as no one is to set foot on that island while Ka-Zar, the Jungle Lord still lives.
On the ship, the Plunderer’s men are getting beat by Daredevil but when the Plunderer is about to throw the cruise captured crew overseas in shark infested waters, Daredevil has no choice but to surrender himself.
To save these men, the Plunderer has Daredevil as his captive and wants him to work for him and attack Skull Island.
Of course, waiting for him is Ka-Zar, which leads to a battle between Daredevil vs. Ka-Zar.
But when the Plunderer tries to shoot Ka-Zar, he ends up missing and the ricochet sets of the Plunderer’s cache of explosives and Daredevil getting shot.
Feeling that perhaps Daredevil who is in a suit, might be like his X-Men friends, he decides to save his life, but he needs an ingredient from the Killer Plant. Can Ka-Zar save Daredevil’s life?
While a fascinating storyline, I have to admit that a pirate as an antagonist controlling high technology is kind of lame in today’s standards but I suppose back in 1966, pirates were seen a bit differently. I don’t want to say audience saw them as “cool” because while the pirate looks like Douglas Fairbanks, it seemed a bit weird. But I’m open to seeing an antagonist pirate I suppose. Much better than some of the lame antagonists in early Daredevil issues.