Daredevil! #3 – PizzaRat dot Net

The cover of the third issue in this story. In someone else’s POV, Daredevil is surrounded by flames in an otherwise non-specific location, and he is approached by claws covered in even brighter flames. The text, “A toy comic by Phil Wrede,” is visible in the bottom-right corner of the image.

Daredevil fumes, a war between sorrow and rage waging inside him as he kneels next to the dead body of Father Miller (“played” here by an action figure of Peter Cushing from the film ‘Horror of Dracula’). Hellverine, the Weapon of Vengeance, stands above him, reveling in the horror Daredevil suffers.

Daredevil stands and strides towards Hellverine, their battle clearly about to commence.

Daredevil whips out his batons, and wonders - in voiceover-style caption boxes - whether this genuine monster or the man who unleashed it (Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime) is actually more monstrous.

As they each pose dramatically before the fight, we flash back to a time before (in black and white). A snowy time, in New York City, where Daredevil encountered Father Miller out in his civilian life as Matt Murdock.

Still in the past, still in black and white, they talk around Matt’s secret life as Daredevil, neither one willing to admit what the other one knows.

Back in the present, Daredevil and Hellverine have their fight. Nobody really lands a decisive blow, and Daredevil eventually launches himself into the air, when he realizes that he doesn’t want to have this fight in the decaying corpse of the Clinton Church.

Across town, back in the Kingpin’s secret catacombs, the Kingpin himself idly scrolls through his phone, while The Hood takes delivery of another book of magic - the Book of Vision - from a second Hand ninja. The Hood claims that with this book’s power, the Kingpin will be able to observe Hellverine’s hunt of Daredevil, no matter where it takes them through the city.

The Hood is barely able to begin casting the spell before the book takes the process over, a bright green bolt of mystic energy shooting from the oversized eyeball on its cover.

A magical portal opens. Kingpin and The Hood gaze into it to see Daredevil and Hellverine’s fight continuing, and the church on fire around them.

Kingpin is incensed to see Daredevil escaping from the burning building.

The Hood misspeaks, and Kingpin hits him powerfully across his face, then takes the Book of Vision out of his hands.

Enraged, Kingpin turns to the Hand ninja, ordering him and his comrades in the mysterious martial order to also hunt and kill Daredevil. Kingpin is in the process of turning this orderly mission into a John-Wick-style free-for-all, but he doesn’t seem to be worried.

Holding the Book of Vision, Kingpin looks down at the corpse of his late assistant (whom The Hood killed in the first issue), and observes that these two magical books may all for some unspecified mistakes to be redeemed. The Hood makes some threats against the Hand; he’s clearly invested in Hellverine finishing Daredevil off.

On a rooftop high above the city, Daredevil tries to take a minute to catch his breath, after escaping the burning church and Hellverine. He doesn’t even get that much time; his radar sense tells him that Hellverine is hot on his trail.

Daredevil looks down the side of the building as a thunderstorm starts to move in. Hellverine prepares for round two of their fight.

As Hellverine runs straight up the side of the building, Kingpin (still watching through the magical portal) eagerly anticipates the carnage he is sure is about to come.

Face to face on the roof, the thunderstorm builds and more lightning flashes in the background as Daredevil and Hellverine advance on one another.

Hellverine rushes forward and brings its flaming claws down on Daredevil, but the strike is interrupted by the blade of a sword. Both Daredevil and Hellverine are taken aback by what they see: Daredevil’s old mentor Stick (“played” here by an action figure of Donnie Yen from ‘John Wick 4’), who somehow arrived at the perfect moment to join the battle.

As Stick and Daredevil briefly converse, Hellverine and Kingpin look on in mild confusion. Atop another roof nearby, the Hand ninja prepares himself to enter the fray at the opportune time.

The credits for the comic strip, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art, the use of fonts by Blambot, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, the creation of Marvel characters by actual human beings, the use of stock visual effects by Action VFX, and that the figure photography/script/lettering were by me, Phil Wrede.

Probably not surprising: this month’s comic has far fewer parallels to my own life experience than the previous installments. Daredevil’s story and mine were bound to diverge eventually; it’s a little surprising it didn’t happen before he fights a literal demon from hell on top of a skyscraper in a thunderstorm.

Believe it or not, I didn’t actually bring the storm in so that I could directly reference another of Frank Miller’s iconic illustrations, but now that I’ve seen what I accidentally promised… I guess I have to deliver in issue #4.

I ordered this Donnie Yen action figure in March of 2024, knowing exactly the role I wanted him to play in a future toy comic, and he kept getting delayed, and delayed, and delayed again… But, I think he was worth the wait. He has more to show off – all his accessories haven’t even been unleashed yet!

One of my favorite things about Vincent D’Onofrio’s version of the Kingpin is the hair-trigger that his temper is on. Not that Wilson Fisk isn’t notorious for immediately annihilating anyone who ticks him off/disappoints him (Michael Clarke Duncan did a heck of a job at that in the Affleck Daredevil), but D’Onofrio’s Fisk rides the razor’s edge (or at least makes you think he’s riding it) between rational and irrational in a way that makes him especially dangerous. I’ve tried to honor that in my portrayal of him here; hopefully, it’s as clear to you as it is to me!

If this is your first time reading one of my Daredevil toy comics, welcome! I hope you stay a little while and click around to read some other comics you might be interested in (I’ve made a few). If you need a convenient place to catch up on the story so far, here you go:

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