Daredevil Villains #87: Shotgun
DAREDEVIL #272-273 (November 1989)
“Liberation” / “The Billion Dollar Ashtray”
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Penciller: John Romita Jr
Inker: Al Williamson
Colourist: Max Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
There’s still a way to go in the Ann Nocenti run after these issues, but this is where we leave it. While she created a string of new characters in the early part of her run, the later issues feature longer storylines and returning or guest villains, with a couple of one-off stories about everyday bad people along the way.
So, to be specific, issue #274 has Skip Ash as the villain. Issues #275-276 are an Acts of Vengeance tie-in, with guest villain Ultron. Issue #277 is a one-off story about a manipulative psychiatrist. Issues #278-282 feature Mephisto and Blackheart. Issue #283 guest stars Captain America, and the villains are assorted corporations. Issues #284-290 are a Bullseye storyline. And her final issue, issue #291, has Bullet.
Which means that for us, Ann Nocenti’s run draws to a close with the entirely unrepresentative figure of Shotgun. These two issues are part of the Number Nine storyline, which we’ve already looked at in the context of Skip Ash. As you’ll remember, Skip is a factory farmer who’s doing illegal operations for the CIA on the side. But he’s also got a laboratory which is altering women to make them “perfect”, and one of them, Number Nine, has been freed by his semi-estranged daughter Brandy. Since this is still a superhero comic, Skip calls in some favours from his government contacts to try and get Number Nine back. And so they send Shotgun to help out.
Charts – 11 September 2026
At last, turnover!
1. Sienna Spiro – “Great Expectation”
This has taken ten weeks to climb to number 1, which is positively sprightly by 2026 standards. Of course, there’s an asterisk here – if “Rein Me In” wasn’t subject to downweighting, it would be thrashing this track with a margin of more than a third. But you can make a fair case that the aim of that rule isn’t just to speed up the charts, it’s to attach less weight to tracks that are just hanging around on playlists.
The X-Axis – 9 September 2026
WOLVERINE #27. (Annotations here.) Another quiet week, then. Just the two books. It’s been a long time since we were getting this sort of week on a regular basis. It’s quite refreshing, to be honest.
That said, even without much in the way of competition, Wolverine continues to underwhelm. This is a weirdly half-formed story. Saladin Ahmed spent an age setting up the first Adamantine storyline, and presenting the resolution as an epic battle. That story ends with Wolverine somehow losing the adamantium on his right-hand claws. And now, about six issues later, we get the Adamantine coming back for a dashed-off two-parter. There’s no apparent rhyme or reason to this – it really does seem to be Wolverine and some of his counterparts being arbitrarily yanked to another dimension so that they can fight the Adamantine again and summarily dispatch it. There’s nothing apparently at stake, and no real explanation of why we shouldn’t expect him back in another few months.
Inglorious X-Force #9
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #9
“A Force to be Conflicted”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Michael Sta. Maria
Colour artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editors: Mark Basso & Alanna Smith
COVER: The two X-Force teams fight.
X-FORCE:
Cable. The entity that’s been possessing him throughout this series is named Catharsix. Cable remains oblivious to the fact that he’s possessed; his own dictaphone recordings actually show him talking to himself, but he apparently can’t register the other voice.
The previous issue ended with another time slip, in which Cable’s mind appeared to be transported to the Askani timeline, somewhere amongst the flashbacks in Cable vol 1 #1-2. There’s no direct follow-up on that – Cable’s mind appears to have returned to the present day, and he either doesn’t remember or doesn’t mention what happened.
Wolverine #27 annotations
WOLVERINE vol 8 #27
“This Man, This Metal”
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Julius Ohta
Colour artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER: Wolverine holding up his claws, with one of the other three Savage Champions – Wolf With A Gun, Red Hare and Boneclaw – reflected in each claw. It’s a loose homage to the cover of Incredible Hulk #340.
WOLVERINE:
His narration says that “I’ve recently learned that I’m one of the Savage Champions – warriors with the power and duty to defeat the Adamantine”. That’s his pep talk from Athena in issue #19, which is also the source of the material in this story about the Savage Champions embodying man, beast and metal. Broadly, the point of this story seems to be to convince him that he should get his adamantium restored, by reminding him that his status as a Savage Champion, and thus his ability to beat threats like the Adamantine, depends on being a combination of man, beast and metal. He seems ultimately to be won round to the idea that he can only fulfil his role as a protector by embracing his adamantium.
The other three Champions seem to defer to his leadership, despite the fact that he’s got the least experience with the Adamantine of all of them. This may just be because he’s the only one who’s actually voicing any sort of ideas. His approach is to go for the mammoth’s unprotected eyes, which is basically how he beat Romulus in issue #8.
Daredevil Villains #86: Blackheart
DAREDEVIL #270 (September 1989)
“Blackheart!”
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Penciller: John Romita Jr
Inkers: Mike Manley & Al Williamson
Colourists: Max Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
We skipped over quite a few issues last time, so for anyone wondering what was in them: issues #259-263 are the end of the Typhoid Mary storyline, with the last two of those issues doubling as Inferno tie-ins. Issue #264 is a fill-in story with the Owl. (Yes, I know there are some gimmicky street gangs in it too, but it’s an Owl story.) Issue #265 is another Inferno tie-in. Issue #266 was a Christmas story with guest villain Mephisto. And issue #267, which we covered last time, has Bullet and the debut of Skip Ash, with Daredevil leaving New York City to spend some time upstate.
Issue #268 is a small town crime story, and issue #269 has Freedom Force as the guest villains. So that brings us to issue #270. I skipped over Mephisto earlier, but he does show up quite extensive in the next year or so. Nonetheless, he’s still an outside villain, as the storyline acknowledged – it ends with the Silver Surfer showing up to deal with him, and Daredevil leaving the two of them to get on with it. Besides, we get to talk about those issues anyway, thanks to Blackheart, who is a Daredevil original.
Charts – 4 September 2026
Well, the day has finally come. Last week, “Rein Me In” declined (and underperformed the market) for the third successive week. And so this week, it finally goes to ACR, ending its 23 weeks at number one, and relegating it to the gloomy depths of number 7. What exciting new music has this cleared the way for?
1. Ella Langley – “Choosin’ Texas”
Oh. Right. Well, it’s not been number one before, I suppose. But it’s been on the top 40 for 31 weeks now, again without being relegated to ACR. She’s not a one-hit wonder – “Be Her” also charted a few weeks ago, and it’s currently at number 30. This is also the current US number one, though as a country song, international interest is not a given. The ponderous official video above doesn’t do it any favours either – if you’re going to talk over half the song, at least hire some people who can act.
The X-Axis – 2 September 2026
UNCANNY X-MEN #35. (Annotations here.) Just this one, then? Well, Marvel would say no – there’s also an issue of Deadpool and something from X-Men ’97 – but I don’t regard either of those as falling within our remit. And apparently even this issue was released digitally by mistake, and won’t be released physically for another two weeks. So that’s weird.
This isn’t really an ideal book to write about in isolation, either, because it’s a middle chapter of a storyline that still leaves me a little puzzled. The basic story is perfectly straightforward: Rogue and Gambit looking for the help of Marvel Universe exorcists to free Gambit from the influence of the Eye of Agamotto. Quite what demon is involved is left intentionally vague, and instead of the usual Marvel Universe magical trappings, we have more conventional Christian exorcist material. So we’ve got the obscure Devil-Hunter character from the 1970s, who was Marvel’s attempt to cash in on the Exorcist, and a guy called Repent who’s more of a Marvel Universe exorcist, but still very much in the Christian vein. It certainly makes things feel less familiar than they normally do, and there’s something of a problem in Marvel magic with the standard elements being so well established that they no longer even feel particularly odd. This arc is doing a fairly good job of getting around that problem, though I’m not entirely sure the art matches the effect.
Uncanny X-Men #35 annotations
UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #35
“Wild Ride, part 3: Fear and Fight Clubs”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Luciano Vecchio
Colour artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: Basically a pin-up of Repent, with a silhouette of the possessed Gambit behind him. The glowing circle around his neck doesn’t appear in the actual story.
THE X-MEN:
Rogue. She says that she’s scared of churches. In a flashback, she attributes this to her Aunt Carrie taking her to a hellfire-and-brimstone type church as a child. This comes from the 2004 Rogue series, which established that Carrie took Rogue in when her parents died, and establishes Carrie’s puritan attitudes. Carrie is ultimately well intentioned, and the two reconcile in Rogue #6. The flashback of the two of them in church, and Rogue running out in a panic, seems to be original. She claims to be generally uncomfortable with magic, but within the logic of the Marvel Universe, at least part of the issue seems to be that the existence of actual demonic possession shows that the puritan religion of her childhood actually had a point.
She says that she “punched a UFO last week”. That was in issue #32.
She seems remarkably willing to accept at face value the protests of someone who’s in the middle of being exorcised, as opposed to just being unsure.
Daredevil Villains #85: Skip Ash
DAREDEVIL #267 (June 1989)
“Cremains”
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Penciller: John Romita Jr
Inker: Al Williamson
Colourist: Gregory Wright
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Skip Ash isn’t really the main villain in issue #267. In fact, he’s not even an antagonist in the story at all. But it is his debut, and he continues to appear into the #270s, and he has a really weird side project that makes him count as a villain. So he makes the cut.
As issue #267 begins, Daredevil has lost Karen Page thanks to Typhoid, and his Storefront law clinic has been closed. He’s tormented by his urges to seek revenge, but changes his mind after an altercation with Bullet, which leads him to conclude that Bullet himself is just a guy, and not the real problem. Disillusioned with everything, including himself, Matt gets a random train ticket upstate. When the train passes a government plane crashed in a nearby field – don’t ask how anyone identifies it as a “government plane” at that distance – Matt jumps off the moving train to help.
