Stiltman Returns!

I have a real fondness for the second- and third-tier supervillains that populate the Marvel Universe. These are guys who will work their way up to arch-enemy status, but whose occasional appearances can give us a lot of four-color fun.

Stilt-Man is one of these lower-tier villains and he really is a lot of fun. The concept of using extendable hydralic legs to pull off crimes may be inherently silly in real life, but it adds a nice touch of whimsy and visual fun to a Comic Book Universe.

His first appearance was in an early issue of Daredevil, which ended with the villain getting hit by his own shrink ray and vanishing. But the shrink effect eventually wears off and he's ready for another appearance in Daredevil #26 (March 1967). This issue is written by Stan Lee and drawn by Gene Colan.

This issue has a slow and somewhat annoying start, with a few too many pages showing us Matt Murdock play-acting the part of his "twin brother" Mike--a loud, hammy persona that gets on the nerves of both Foggy Nelson and the reader. Matt has a legitimate purpose for creating his make-believe twin--he can claim that Mike is actually Daredevil if he ever needs to do so to protect his own secret identity. But we simply don't need eight pages of the guy before the story gets rolling.

Daredevil had fought another lower-tier villian--Leap-Frog--in the previous issue and now that bad guy is on trial. Foggy is defending him, but the trial is cut short when it turns out that District Attorneys in the Marvel Universe are just as incompetent as the prison wardens in the DC Universe who keep giving Lex Luthor access to the machine shop. Leap-Frog is literally handed one of his spring-loaded shoes while being questioned. He promptly puts it on and springs out a window to freedom.

Well, actually, he doesn't quite make it to freedom. He's no smarter than the D.A. and--since he's only wearing one shoe--breaks a leg on the sidewalk.

There's actually an art mistake by Colan in a couple of panels when he shows L-F wearing springs on both shoes. Oh, well. Even the Masters of the genre aren't perfect. And it's a half-century too late for me to try to claim a No-Prize anyways.

Leap-Frog not only has a broken leg, but he soon finds himself being lectured by Stilt-Man, who was just arriving to rescue him and form a super-villain partnership. In the meantime, Matt has changed into Daredevil and also arrives.

Though this issue is flawed in terms of story construction with its slow start, the ensuing fight scene is a more fun than a barrell full of spring-loaded shoes. Gene Colan effectively uses shifting perspective from one frame to the next to highlight Stilt-Man's changing height and Daredevil's agility as the two go at it. This includes are really fantastic full-page panel about half-way through the fight.

Eventually, Daredevil uses his billy club cable to trip up Stilt-Man and knock the villain unconscious.

I'm not sure if the geography of the next few moments are logical, but apparently Stilt-Man falls into an alley out of sight of Daredevil long enough for yet another villain (the Masked Marauder) to stuff Stilt-Man in a car trunk and make a getaway. The Maraurder has it in for Daredevil, so has plans of his own for a villain partnership.

So there you have it. The first third of the book has pacing issues. "Mike Murdock" was probably supposed to be a fun character, but really just grates on my nerves. But the return of Stilt-Man and a great fight scene manages to save the issue and give us a fun read despite these flaws.

We'll follow up with Stilt-Man in the next issue of Daredevil in two weeks. Next week, we'll open the New Year with a visit with the Space Family Robinson.