2009 was a tough year for comics, in that sales declined and a number of stores (nearly 50% in some areas) closed their doors. Closings of Waldenbooks and other book outlets also made getting product into customers’ hands difficult. We also saw cover prices rise, even as the recession continued to impact fans ability to spend.

This is part 2 of the podcast. that will feature the year in Daredevil, the Spotlight story and the Takeaway for 2009.

The Year in Daredevil

Appearances: Daredevil #113-119, 500-501, Daredevil Noir #1-4, Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil #1, New Avengers #47, Secret Invasion #8, Secret Invasion: Front Line #5, Age of Sentry #4 and 6, Fantastic Four #562 and 569, Might Avengers #20, What If? Newer Fantastic Four #1, What If? Secret Wars #1, New Warriors #20, Amazing Spider-Man #587 and 600, Marvels: Eye of the Camera #2 and 4, Ultimate Spider-Man #132, Astonishing Tales #3-5, Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #2-3, Deadpool: Suicide Kings #3-5, Exiles #6, Strange Tales #2 and Marvel 70th Anniversary Collection.

Writing: Ed Brubaker (#113-119, 500), Andy Diggle (#501)

Pencils: Michael Lark (#113-114, 117-119), Lark, Tony Zonjic and Gaudiano (#115), David Aja (#116), Lark and Gaudiano (#500), Roberto De La Torre (#501)

Inks: Stefano Gaudiano (#113-114, 116-119), Matt Hollingsworth (#115), Klaus Janson, Chris Samnee and Paul Azaceta (#500), Roberto De La Torre (#501)

• 2009 begins with the final three parts of the Lady Bullseye storyline we talked about to finish up 2008. In that we Daredevil, Black Tarantula and White Tiger along with Master Izo trying to take down the Hand once and for all – but the Hand are trying to recruit Daredevil to be their leader. The story ends with Lord Hirochi, Lady Bullseye, Black Tarantula, and White Tiger board a plane to Spain, where Lady Bullseye says they will pursue Plan B.
• In March, we get the return of another old foe – Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin himself in an aptly titled story called Return of the King. In part one of the story, we see Fisk in Spain where he befriends and falls in love with a woman, Marta, and her kids – only to see Lady Bullseye and the Hand killing them causing him to revert back to his old ways.
• Kingpin returns to New York and announces his return and his plans to deal with Daredevil. That plan turns out to be working with Daredevil to take down the Hand. Meanwhile, Foggy is upset that Matt constant absence from the firm confronts him and ultimately fires him.
• Daredevil tries to locate Master Izo without success and begins to doubt his alliance with Kingpin, suspecting that Fisk is using the Hand and the Owl to wipe out his rivals. Fisk, still haunted by visions of Vanessa, meets with the Owl and gives him Lady Bullseye’s next target – Foggy Nelson.
• The conclusion of this story – is a renumbered issue 500 of Daredevil and the conclusion of Ed Brubaker on Daredevil – will be our spotlight story for this week.
• In Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil #1 we see Bullseye (now operating under the Hawkeye identity) go after Daredevil at the behest of Norman Osborn. Daredevil pursues him but falls into a trap: Bullseye lures him into a building full of protestors and then blows it up. The blast kills 107 people, leaving Matt devastated and furious—determined to take action.
• Following that we get the start of a new story from new creative team - Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre entitled The Devil’s Hand. In it, we see Matt as leader of the Hand. Since most of this story takes place in 2010 – we’ll save talking about it more until our 2010 discussion.

This Week's Spotlight: Daredevil #500 October 2009 “Return of the King, Conclusion”

Recap

Why We Picked This Story

Daredevil Rapid Fire Questions

The Takeaway

It had been a rough decade for the United States, and the Marvel Universe showed the strain as the decade ended.

Questions or comments

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CREATORS AND RESOURCES

Music: Our theme music is by the very talented Lesfm. You can find more about them and their music at https://pixabay.com/users/lesfm-22579021/.

The Grand Comics Database: Dan uses custom queries against a downloadable copy of the GCD to construct his publisher, title and creator charts.

Comichron: Our source for comic book sales data.

Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History

DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_English-language_comics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_superhero_debuts

https://comicbookreadingorders.com/marvel/event-timeline/

https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards/past-recipients/past-recipients-1990s/