First Appearance: Lynch

Villain: Kingpin, Bullseye, Lynch

Featured Thugs: Turk, Grotto, Hymie, Duke, Quin

Guest Appearance: Heather Glenn, Vanessa, Becky Blake, Foggy Nelson, Josie

Death: Duke

Innovations: DD returns to monthly publication, DD adopts "Shades" persona

Letters Page: Not in supply. Want to donate? Email me!

Daredevil rouses himself from the back of the garbage truck he fell into and heads home, resting and then spending a romantic day in the park with Heather. The Kingpin begins a killing spree to send a clear message to the men who abducted his wife that he's back and ready to deal with the problem himself. Bullseye meets with the syndicate leaders who kidnaped Vanessa. She pleads with them to let her go if they know what's good for them, and their mealymouthed approach to their business leads Bullseye to wonder if he's signed up with the wrong team.

Matt Murdock- in a jacket and tightly drawn cap- visits Josie's Bar to see if he can make a connection to Kingpin. When he utters the crime boss' name, a bunch of toughs come and try to rough him up. A barroom brawl breaks out, with a couple dudes getting thrown out the window (as Josie looks on, another window shattered!) When the fight draws to a close, Murdock is the only one standing. Turk and Grotto step up and offer to take Murdock to see the Kingpin- at gunpoint! They lead him down through a network of underground tunnels to the Kingpin's subterranean hideout. As he senses the Kingpin's massive form, he realizes he's reached his target.

Matt identifies himself as "Shades" and says he wants to work for the Kingpin, and offers his abilities at wiping up Josie's Bar on a Saturday night as evidence. He also takes a writing pen and tosses it behind his back into the barrel of a pistol raised up at him. The Kingpin is impressed, and hires "Shades" on the spot. Then, one of Kingpin's minions named Duke wanders into the room, dying from a poisoning, and passes on information in his last dying breaths- Bullseye wants to meet him at a construction site in midtown if he wants to get Vanessa back, in trade for the secret files. Matt grits his teeth as he realizes this death is due to Bullseye, the man he saved and helped set free.

The Kingpin's right-hand man, Lynch, tries to persuade Kingpin that this is his big shot to show the crime bosses he's back in business. Kingpin takes him by the throat and tells him all he cares about is Vanessa. But as Kingpin walks away, Lynch ruminates on how good life was when Kingpin was his normal self, and not always subservient to a woman.

At the law offices, Becky Blake is shocked to see Foggy wander in like a bum, and without a word shlump down behind his desk.

Meanwhile, "Shades" has decided to try to break into Kingpin's vault to get at the files implicating all the crime bosses he's worked with. The vault is a massive, heavy door, unlocked only because Kingpin is the only person with the strength to open it. But "Shades" uses his strength and concentration to pry the door open. He goes into the pitch black vault and finds the files, but not before Kingpin has arrived, after having baited the trap and seeing it sprung. The Kingpin tells "Shades" he was on to him the whole time, and pans around his flashlight looking for him. But all he finds are the clothes of "Shades" lying on the floor, until Daredevil flashes into his light beam!

DD tosses his billy club and knocks the flashlight out of his hand. Next, he dashes around the massive form of the Kingpin, kicking and punching him and realizing that his target is one huge block of muscle. The beating he is giving seems to be hurting him more than the Kingpin! After several minutes of his wearying assault, Kingpin lands one punch to Daredevil and it's lights out.

Later, the Kingpin has arrived at the construction site. He tells Lynch to stay behind in the car for his own sake. Alone, the Kingpin walks up to the men who greet him with a briefcase that holds the secret files he is to trade for Vanessa, who stands in the distance tied to a piece of construction steel. As the men try to open the briefcase, a high-pitched squeal emits from it, causing everyone in the vicinity, including Bullseye who was hiding above, to crumple to the ground in agony. Kingpin rushes to his wife, telling her he booby-trapped the briefcase, but only to stun them and not kill them. Just as he's about to reach his wife, a man crawls in severe pain to a mortar device and fires, lobbing an explosive up into the steel construction, and blasting in the air, causing the whole construct to come crashing down around them.

In a daze, Kingpin gets up and starts peeling through the mass of steel looking for Vanessa. Lynch comes and grabs him, telling him there's nothing they can do for her now, and it's time to set up the gangs once again to get revenge. He hurries the morose and zombie-like Kingpin into the back of the car, with the crime boss muttering about "making them pay." Back at his underground hideout, Turk and Grotto have stuffed the hogtied body of Daredevil down into a water main that leads into the depths of the sewer system.

(continued in DD #172)

--synopsis by Gormuu

--panel images provided by Avengers Assemble

--letter pages provided by Aussie Stu

Issues Reprinted
Daredevil #168-182

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.