It was a pretty monumental year in comics, in the opinion of your humble co-host.  2013 is probably the best year for new comics of the 21st century to date, with a ton of variety and quality.  And people noticed! 

This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 2013.

The Year in Daredevil 

Appearances: Daredevil v3 #20-32, Daredevil: End of Days #2-8, Daredevil: Dark Knights #1-5, Avengers #34, New Avengers #33-34, Secret Avengers #34-35, Uncanny Avengers #2, Dark Avengers #187-188, Winter Soldier #13, Deadpool #11, Indestructible Hulk #9-10, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #1, What if? AVX #1-4 

Writer: Mark Waid (#20-31) Waid and Samnee (#32) 

Pencils: Chris Samnee (#20-27 and #30-32), Javier Rodriguez (#28-29) 

Inks: Chris Samnee (#20-27 and #31-32), Alvaro Lopez (#28), Javier Rodriguez (#29-30) 

• The year kicks off right where 2012 left off — Daredevil’s been captured by a villain called Coyote, who has similar powers to the Spot and has literally separated Matt’s head from his body. Still alive, Matt learns Coyote’s been using his portals to smuggle weapons, drugs, and even people for cartels, with his main operation being human trafficking. Daredevil eventually escapes, shuts down Coyote’s control machine, and discovers that the real Spot is another victim of all this. The story ends with both villains vanishing before Matt can find out who’s behind it. 

• Next, Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius in Peter Parker’s body) shows up at Kirsten McDuffie’s request, worried Matt’s losing his grip. The two heroes clash briefly before teaming up to stop an upgraded (with Doc Ock tech) Stilt-Man. Afterward, Spider-Man tells Matt about Kirsten’s concerns, leading Matt to reconnect with Foggy, who reveals he may have cancer. 

• As Foggy’s diagnosis — Ewing’s Sarcoma — is confirmed, Matt continues investigating the group hunting him. Nelson & Murdock gets attacked, Kirsten breaks things off, and Matt’s approached by a mysterious man in an orange jumpsuit offering to take him to his enemies. 

• Turns out those enemies are led by Bullseye, who’s still alive but kept on life support. He’s been trying to recreate the accident that gave Daredevil his powers, creating a single enhanced warrior — Ikari — who nearly kills Matt in battle. The final showdown with Ikari and Lady Bullseye on Bullseye’s behalf ends with a building collapsing and Bullseye drowning in radioactive material that leaves him blinded and badly burned. 

• Next, Matt reconnects with his childhood bully Nate Hackett, now wrongfully accused due to former ties with the Sons of the Serpent. Matt helps him fight back in court, uncovering a Serpent plot and stopping a courthouse bombing in the process. 

• Late in the year we also get a fun one-shot where Daredevil teams up with the Silver Surfer to stop an alien named Ru’ach, who pretends to seek asylum on Earth but is really out to destroy it. During the story, Daredevil does get to ride the surfboard. 

• The year closes with The Jester inciting riots by doxxing jurors after a high-profile trial. Daredevil intervenes, only to discover the Sons of the Serpent are pulling the strings. With Foggy’s help Matt traces their roots to the Darkhold, an ancient spell book, and travels to Kentucky to meet Darkhold expert Jack Russell — a.k.a. Werewolf by Night when Dr. Strange isn’t able to provide much assistance. But before he can get answers, he’s shot while trying to save two so-called “monsters” from an angry mob. Not complete, this story will continue as we move into 2014.  

• The other big story that ran the first half of the year was called Daredevil End of Days. This 8-part limited series by some of my favorite Daredevil creators is absolutely amazing and deserves full attention from this week’s spotlight.    

This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil End of Days #1 December 2012 “Part 1” through Daredevil End of Days #8 August 2013 “Part 8”

Recap

Why We Picked This Story

Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions

The Takeaway

Sometimes comics are pretty awesome.

Questions or comments

We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES 

Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm.  You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/. 

The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts. 

Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data. 

Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History 

DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_superhero_debuts 

https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/ 

https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards/past-recipients/past-recipients-1990s/