In 1982, ABC was considering a possible animated series which would've put the Man Without Fear back in a more light-hearted vein similar to his earliest comics stories, which began in 1964. Unfortunately, after Miller drew the cover to the April 1982 issue, released in January of that year, depicting Daredevil pointing a gun at someone, the network backed off the project, which otherwise would've given Marvel Productions their first sale to ABC way sooner than they eventually would.
Miller, who'd revamped Daredevil's origin story, and rebooted Matt Murdock's late father, Jack, a boxer, as an abusive parent, beginning a disturbing trend at Marvel that continues to this day, might not have been on board with the idea of a TV show that would've had Daredevil given a guide dog sidekick.
Years later, veteran TV & comics writer Mark Evanier, whose resume is so diverse, it includes Garfield & Friends and Welcome Back, Kotter, said he'd been brought on board to write the TV show.
Current Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort shared the following presentation pages, which turned up on Twitter....
The above artwork was by longtime Marvel art director John Romita, Sr., whose son, John, Jr., would eventually draw the Daredevil comic, and currently works for DC.
As for who would've voiced Matt/Daredevil? Well, when the hero guest starred on Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, series regular Frank Welker (who voiced Bobby "Iceman" Drake) essayed the part, and likely would've reprised unless his heavy schedule (i.e. Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, etc.) would've prevented it.
Ah, what might've been. The Amazing Friends appearance did mark Daredevil's TV debut, though.
2 comments:
Not being aware of what was going on in Daredevil comics at that time, I'm certain I would have watched this version of the character had it gone to series.
I think ABC backed off after seeing Miller's cover, fearful of a certain media nanny of the period throwing her five cents in.
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