History is littered with Marvel tie-in projects that never got done. As far back as 1974, Stan Lee was going on in his soapbox about how a Spider-Man movie would hit theaters the following year—he was only off by twenty-seven years that time. Of late, since taking command of our own destiny and establishing Marvel Studios as a viable production entity, this hasn’t happened so often. But let me take you back to a time when that wasn’t so.
In the early 1980s, Marvel sent Stan to the West Coast to help establish Marvel Films, an animation studio, in an attempt to create the very situation that we’ve got today. However, in those Neolithic days, Marvel’s name didn’t carry the same kind of pedigree and clout it does today, and so most of what the studio worked on was altered dramatically from the source material.
Case in point: around 1983, ABC spent several months trying to develop a Saturday morning series about Daredevil. The illustration at the left was from one of the many presentations to the network. For years, rumor had it that was eventually killed this deal was somebody at ABC getting cold feet after the Frank Miller DD cover with him holding a .357 Magnum at the camera ran, but in all likelihood the truth was that there was a regime-change at the network, and all of the previous team’s projects were scrapped—that’s typically how it goes in television.
Apparently, the Daredevil pitch went through numerous rewrites and numerous iterations. Here’s the one I hear about:
As in the comics, Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer who is secretly Daredevil. (Unlike the comics, he has dark black hair, at least if the presentation drawing is anything to go by.) By day, he pals around with his teenaged niece and his seeing-eye-dog. But when evil strikes, he becomes Daredevil, his dog becomes Lightning, the Super Dog ( I love teh way, in teh production drawing, Lightning affects a pose of mild-manneredness in his civilian guise as Matt's seeing-eye dog...), and the three of them take to the streets in Daredevil’s specially-equipped van.
Now, stop and think about this for a minute: who’s driving the van? Is it the blind guy, the underage girl, or the seeing-eye dog?
Anyway, once they find a crime in progress among the rooftops—which is where most of the crime in New York City typically takes place—Matt moves to the back of the van to the giant cannon, which unfolds from the top. And then, his niece launches him skyward…like a Daredevil…
More later.
Tom B
Interesting... I never knew Daredevil had a dog that would also fight crime. :?
Though that concept sounds kinda Cheesy.
Posted by Aziroth on 2008-08-11 18:34:31
BAHAHAHA! His niece launches him from a cannon. GENIUS!
Posted by Dr. Fancy on 2008-08-11 21:12:26
I suppose his niece would be the driver. I think Penny use to sometimes illegally drive vehicles too in the Inspector Gadget cartoon, no? Different times. Well it had to be for kids, right? I mean even nowadays, some cartoons SEEM better and cooler to us adults but really, having babysat various kids between ages 8 to 12, they really find shows like JLA and the Animated Batman series relatively boring. Shows like Scooby -Doo and Teen Titans seem to capture their attention better. You always have to keep the target demographic in mind. Oh but I forgot, DC and Marvel still don't know how to do that--hyuck, hyuck.
Posted by underscore on 2008-08-12 14:04:34
I'm not sure "mild-manneredness" is the proper description for what that dog looks like. More of a "deathbed" look, if you ask me. Really glad this never saw the light of day. This is even dumber than the Thing show where the kid had a Thing ring. "Thing ring, do your thing!"
Posted by KentL on 2008-08-12 14:34:38
I wonder if the show could have succes in this days?
Posted by Redy1 on 2008-08-12 19:19:39
Dramatically altered from source material You know what else is a pretty dramatic alteration from source material...a Spider-man that makes deals with demon/devil-like characters.
Make mine marvel, again someday.
Posted by coolhanddave on 2008-08-12 23:59:41
coolhanddave, don't ruin this for others. coolhanddave,
Can you please keep your One More Day Spider-Man rants to threads where they're appropriate? You're being very disrespectful to the editor who's taking his time to put out this blog. And you're being very inconsiderate to the posters who enjoy coming here and staying on topic.
Posted by harveytherabbit on 2008-08-13 12:09:10
Coolhanddave, fer crissake! You know what else is a pretty dramatic alteration from source material--- you giving it a d**n rest. We heard you. We get it. No one cares.
Posted by Gentleman Jack on 2008-08-14 11:41:08
Daredevil What a great character. A story about a handicapped person. One who is a superhero. One who is a successful businessman. Wow, Stan, you were always a visionary. Marvel, kudos again.
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