Rumble On The Rooftops

A comic book reader's delight about seeing two heroes slug it out with each other must say something about the human race--some message in there that we ought to be paying more attention to. Something like, "We don't care who's fighting--we just want to see a good fight!" I'm shamed to admit I'm one of those bloodthirsty people--at least where comic books are concerned. The "who's stronger?" argument can come later--I just want to see the battle. And when it comes to a superhero battle, I want to see both contestants be in peak condition and give it all they've got.

One of the earliest such battles in Marvel comics was actually a pretty good one--the matchup between Spider-Man and Daredevil. Spider-sense against radar sense. Billy club against web shooters. Spider-strength against--well, regular gym workouts. These two in battle, despite only one of them being able to pick up a car and hurl it, obviously made for good sales for the Daredevil title--and it made far more sense to hold the fight in Daredevil's mag, since he was the underdog.

Though the proper venue was chosen only after their first fight was held in Amazing Spider-Man #16:

Despite their meeting being so strongly billed on the cover, the issue simply had Spider-Man being hypnotized by the Ringmaster and commanded to battle Daredevil, who was trying to stop the Ringmaster's Circus of Crime during a heist. So the fight wasn't really no-holds-barred; it was also fairly brief, because Daredevil soon found a way to break the hypnosis and the two then joined forces to take down the Ringmaster. "The Tussle Under The Big Top," I suppose you could call it. Pfah.

Well, get ready to rumble, kids, because in Daredevil #16 we get the real thing: