Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, daredevil, entertainment, Marvel Comics, scripting, stan lee, steve ditko, Wallace Wood

From Strip To Script – Stan Lee And Wally Wood On Daredevil

Published Tue, 12 May 2015 17:00:00 -0500

by Hannah Means Shannon

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By Josh Hechinger

Welcome to From Strip to Script, where I take a page of finished comic art and try to derive a script from it, to see what I can learn from the exercise.

One of my favorite things about the older Marvel stuff, the real early 60s material, is the unexpectedly great fight scenes. I know I've covered Jack Kirby doing Cap vs Batroc (ze leapair) before in this series, but that's, y'know, Jack Kirby, it's sort of a given that he could draw the heck out of a fight scene.

Steve Ditko? Wallace Wood? These aren't guys I'd say are noted for their action; Ditko's more known for his panel layouts and character/setting designs, whereas Wood's generally associated with his skill at depicting the accoutrements of space travel.

But at the same time, that Ditko/Lee issue of Spider-Man where Spidey fights The Enforcers and a gang of goons in a mechanic's garage is maybe my favorite fight scene of the Silver Age, y'know? The tight focus of a nine-pic grid, the just-this-side-of-superhuman nature of Spidey, and the innovative brawling of the fight lend it almost a Jackie-Chan-esque energy.

And speaking of the Enforcers, I picked up this issue of Daredevil based on the strength of the fight scene Wood draws here, with Daredevil in a handicap match (er, no joke intended) against the random-yet-oddly-complimentary pairing of The Ox (of Enforcers fame) and The Eel (of no fame whatsoever).

The following fantastic fight is brought to you by Stan Lee (all the words, good lord), Sam Rosen (lettering), and Wallace Wood (art).

PAGE THREE (EIGHT PANELS)

P1. OX doesn't budge as DAREDEVIL bounces off his chest. Throw a sign for the M.M.M.S. in the background, too.

– OX Surprised, little fella? It'll take more than you to tackle the Ox!

– SFX WHUMP!

– DD (thought) It was like hitting a stone wall! He's the real Ox…one of the notorious Enforcers!

– DD (thought) He must have been paroled before the others!*

– CAPTION *Last seen in Spider-Man #14 – Stan

P2. DD ducks under an OX haymaker, and the big man's fist imbeds itself in the brick wall behind DD.

– SFX WHOOM!

– DD (thought) Lucky for me he's so bulky and slow-moving!

P3. As OX tries to pull his hand free from the wall, DD dives at the EEL, who stands arms akimbo, not trying to dodge.

– OX You won't escape us, you flea! Once I get my hand free…!

– DD (thought) That reminds me! There's another one! I hear his heartbeat! But, he's not moving! Why?

– EEL Do you think your clumsy leap can harm The Eel?

P4. THE EEL flies straight up out of a startled DD'S bearhug. Meanwhile, OX is free and coming in to clock DD from behind.

– EEL Hah! The tighter you grab me, the easier I can slide from your grip!

– DD (thought) He's coated with some sort of unique grease! I can't hold him!

– SFX WHISSS!

– DD (thought) The Ox…rushing up behind me! I've got to duck!

P5. The OX swings and misses DD, while the EEL backflips gracefully overhead.

– DD Nice try, big man!

– OX Hold still, blast you!

– DD Sorry Ox…I'm more the nervous type!

P6. The EEL lands behind DD as he lands a ferocious (if completely ineffectual) uppercut on OX'S jaw.

– CAPTION But suddenly, Daredevil turns and strikes out, with all the force of his superb fighting skill! But, so intent is he upon his huge foe that…

– EEL (thought) He doesn't know I'm behind him! Now we'll get him!

– OX Try again, little man!

P7. EEL grabs DD from behind as OX winds up a punch.

– EEL I've got 'im, Ox! Hurry! One blow is all it'll take!

– OX You're not kiddin', Eel!

– DD (thought) I'll wait till I hear his fist moving towards me, and then…!

P8. DD slips out of EEL'S arms as OX'S punch whistles past his head and almost takes the EEL'S head off before hitting a light pole so hard it bends.

– DD There! You forgot, Eel…the very grease-like coating which makes it hard to hold you, also makes it hard for you to hold anyone else!

– OX Eel! Look out!

– SFX WOC!

So, What'd We Learn?

– I was trying to remember what the "Stan Lee rule" was for dialogue…I mis-remembered it as "no more than 27 words per panel", when in fact it's "no more than 35 words per balloon", which is something else entirely.

Still, the first panel is a bit loaded, even by Stan's…er, standards. Panel one has 42 words, not counting the SFX and the sign in the background. Only the first two lines are really needed for the actual story; basically all the other text in the panel is advertising, which…well, there's Stan Lee in a nutshell, really. Can't really say it worked out badly for him, though.

– Something I love about this fight is that unlike Spider-Man, Daredevil doesn't have the proportionate strength of a man-sized spider, so his punches basically do jack all to Ox, whereas Spider-Man is able to manhandle him a bit over in his title. It's bizarre to think of Ox as any kind of threat (and I say that as someone who's fond of the Enforcers), but the way he no-sells DD's punches, he might as well be the Juggernaut.

– Beyond Ox's no-selling, Wood using the wear and tear even Ox's missed punches put on the environment is a great way to establish the stakes of that side of the fight. I mean, look, we know that DD isn't going to get pulped by those hamhocks on the end of Ox's wrists, but establishing what'll happen should Ox land even one punch on DD is vital to putting the reader in the moment.

– I do wonder how much of DD's ducking is down to the practical considerations of keeping him in the panel, and how much Wood was thinking of him as having a boxing background, and exaggerating a boxer's dodging and weaving.

– So, we've got DD versus against a guy he can't hurt and a guy he can't hold. Fights are always more fun when there's more in the mix than just who can hit hardest; a precarious location, or fighting styles that inherently cancel each other out, that sort of thing.

– This is one of those things where I want to use the term "realism", but that's not quiiiiite right: anyway, it's important Eel's grease-or-grease-like-coating (ew ew ew) works both ways. Even when it comes to fantastic or unrealistic abilities, it's important to play fair with the physics of the world as you've established them; otherwise, you're breaking the suspension of disbelief that lets the reader buy into the idea that a blind acrobatic lawyer is having trouble with a greased-up rudo and a palette-swapped Frankenstein in the first place.

– Eel turning his weird greasy-human-rocket act into a moonsault is pretty great. I don't have any kind of teachable moment there, unless "moonsaults are sweet" is a teachable moment.

Philly-based comic writer Josh Hechinger [joshhechinger.tumblr.com] is a Cancer, and his blood type is A+. You can find him being a loquacious dope on Twitter, and read his comic collaborations on Comixology.

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