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(Part 1 - Getting To Plot a Story) by Kevin Hall
I'm relating this tale to you for two reasons: First off, it's just fun for me to step through it again in my mind. But the main reason I want to get this down on paper (so to speak) is this: if you've ever thought about attending a convention, or if you've ever wanted to meet a writer, artist, or other celebrity, and especially if you've ever dreamed about writing or drawing a comic book, I want you to see that dreams can come true, even for average nobodies like you and me. The first part of that most amazing of years actually started almost three years previously in 1998. I'd been a fan of the comic book Daredevil for about 17 years, and I'd been running the Daredevil Resource website for about two years by that time. I knew that April of 1999 was going to be Daredevil's 35th Anniversary, and I came up with what I thought would be the perfect way to celebrate such an important event! Marvel could publish a double-sized issue with four half-size stories by the following teams: Stan Lee/Gene Colan, Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli, Ann Nocenti/John Romita, Jr., and DG Chichester/Lee Weeks. These teams were representative of the longest running teams, and the teams which had the most impact on Daredevil over the years.
In my mind, I could see it clearly: Not only would Marvel like the idea, but they would tell me that they wished they had thought of it, and they'd be glad to do it! Thanks so much, Kevin! It's such an obvious winner that everyone would enjoy, so there's no way it couldn't happen, right?! At this point, if you're a fan like I was, then you're not only agreeing, but wondering why you never heard of that project. However, any comic professional who's happened to stumble across this page is chuckling, if not falling out of his/her chair laughing. As they only know too well, there are probably 1000 ways it could not happen, and that's just on Monday morning between 9:00 and 10:00 am. Well, I called Marvel on the phone, absolutely sure that they'd see the wisdom of my incredible idea (which I still do think is a great idea, by the way). I got bounced around between three or four people, and somehow I did finally end up on the phone with Chris Claremont, who was the head man at that time. He directed me to send in a written proposal, and very pointedly suggested that it would be better to use Gerry Conway than Stan Lee because "Conway had worked on more issues with Gene than Lee". While this isn't actually the case, I suspect Marvel & Stan were already experiencing some friction by this time. Anyway, I sent in the proposal, and I never heard another word about it.
This is probably the point where any sane fan (is that an oxymoron?) would have thrown in the gloves. In fact, the 35th anniversary had passed, so what reason would there even be for a "special" issue? Well...Daredevil was just 15 short issues away from another milestone: its 400th issue. I'd even sketched out rough plots in my head for all four teams on the special, although I wouldn't have even pretended to have the chutzpah to try and make suggestions to any of those folks. In the words of Wayne and Garth: I wasn't worthy. At the same time, I wasn't ready to completely give up on the idea either. Besides, I still had one more ace up my sleeve. I met Gene and Adrienne Colan two years previously at an appearance at my local comic book shop. I'd put together a website for Gene and had already bartered with him for a couple of neat drawings. I was thinking of bartering with Gene for something really cool in a Daredevil vein, and I decided to go all out and see if he'd consider a short story with the understanding that I might get it published some day. He was open to the idea, so then I had to decide what to send him: script or synopsis. I still had this pipe dream of getting Stan Lee to do the dialog at some point, and I knew that Gene likes working without a lot of restrictions, so I sent off a couple paragraph plot a la the Marvel method and put my trust in the Dean. (My trust was very well placed as you will see.)
Moore was receptive to the idea, but he also wanted to check it out with legal, PR, etc. and find out if he could get the OK on adding that many pages to the book. After my previous experiences, I felt like I was walking a tightrope for about 2 or 3 months -- wanting to prod Moore and Marvel just a little, so the project didn't get forgotten again, but not wanting to prod so much that I became a pain in their collective tushes. Stuart called me back in March just a little before my birthday and told me the project was a GO! What a present, eh?
Was this "special" anniversary story a major turning point in Daredevil's career? Did it change the course of his life in the comics from that day forward? Was it a story people will be talking about for years to come? No. To all of the above. In fact, a lot of fans were confused as to why the "bonus" story was even included. With the "Volume 2" relaunch, it wasn't obvious that this was Daredevil's 400th issue (it was Vol. 2 #20), and somehow Marvel overlooked mentioning to the readers that this was Hornhead's landmark 400th issue!
Note: I've included thumbnails below of the pencilled and inked pages by Colan and Palmer. Please click on them to see larger views and really enjoy the art of these two craftsmen. By the way...in the European printings, I got to be Kevin "007" Hall rather than Kevin "7-11" Hall. I much prefer the European point of view. I'd rather be thought of as a secret agent than a Slurpee™ -- wouldn't you?
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Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the original pencilled pages from the story. |
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Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the original inked pages from the story. |
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