Daredevil #237 by Steve Englehart

Written by Steve Englehart under the pseudonym John Harknes with pencils by Louis Williams, this was infinitely better than I expected it to be. See, I bought this as I want to read through the Ann Nocenti run, which started with the previous issue, #236, and continues on after this, so assumed that this would just be filler…especially as the villain of the month is Klaw…who is…kinda…rubbish. But, in fact, this is a Klaw dealing with the aftermath of Secret Wars, out to defeat a super hero to reclaim some kind of notoriety after the Beyonder humiliated him.

We also have a Daredevil dealing with the ramifications of things he’s just been through too…not that I’ve read any of that, but still, it’s handled well. As is his rejection of Black Widow when she tries to recruit him for an anti-drug campaign, which would involve super heroes getting themselves tested to prove that they’re drug free. Daredevil, quite rightly in my opinion, points out that the legal system works under the presumption of innocence. Therefore guilt musty be proven, not innocence. Therefore expecting people to prove their innocence would set a dangerous precedent. Complicating things more is the fact that Karen Page has recently kicked her addiction to drugs…so, maybe not the best time for Black Widow to suggest this. There’s a subplot with the woman Black Widow is working with, who’s the wife of a senator who clearly has her own agenda…and it’ll be interesting to see if that actually goes anywhere as Nocenti properly takes over the book.

Overall this is excellent work and I have no idea why Englehart chose to work under the pseudonym that he typically used when he was unhappy with his work. The art, from Williams, is appropriately moody, and the brilliant character work is handled better than the super hero fisticuffs, but that’s not really a complaint.

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