Chapter 10 | Making Sense of the Radar Sense
Chapter Subheadings
The Radar According to Frank Miller • The Self-Sufficient Radar • A World Without a Radar Sense • Sound Waves Versus Radio Waves
Summary
The Silver Age leaves us with a few different themes regarding the nature of the radar sense. Which became prominent, and how? And what did someone like Frank Miller have to say on this topic? Or the Daredevil movie and Netflix show (now on Disney+)? And, if we bring the science back into the picture, which understanding of the radar sense holds up best to scientific scrutiny?
Chapter Excerpt: “What makes Frank Miller’s take on the radar sense interesting enough to deserve its own section doesn’t just come down to the fact that his runs hold such a prominent place in Daredevil history, even though that’s certainly one reason. After all, his time on the book brought the character a brand new set of fans and significantly raised his profile. Even in our own decade, you will find few self-professed Daredevil fans who haven’t read Miller’s work while the earlier issues are not viewed as required reading to the same degree.
Another thing that makes Miller’s take on Daredevil’s senses particularly interesting is that he brought one idea of the radar sense to his early work, and then later changed his mind! In Born Again, Miller doesn’t noticeably reverse course so much as leave the radar sense out of the conversation entirely. However, another even later example of Miller’s work comes to us in the form of the five-issue Daredevil: Man Without Fear mini-series, which featured art by John Romita Jr. and came out in 1993. Set apart from the main book, Man Without Fear provides these creators with the chance to reimagine Daredevil’s origin, including the very nature of the radar sense. Here, there’s no mention of it at all, though Matt is still bestowed with an unnamed ability to sense objects in space.”
Panels
From Daredevil #142 (1964), by Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown
Note the use of both singular and plural “radar sense(s).”
Matt thinks: “All right, hero — you’ve got yourself into this little doom-trap, now think your way out. My radar senses tell me I’m tied to an arrow, and I don’t need anything to inform me I’ve just been shot from the bow.
Fortunately, I’m not exactly helpless even while tied here. Doesn’t take much to bounce my radar off whatever I’m rushing at. That’s the New Jersey Palisades I’m going to splatter against in less than thirty seconds!”
From Daredevil #169 (1964), by Frank Miller
Note: In the comic, the first two panels are at the bottom of one page, and the following three are on the following page.
Caption: “…into a man-made purgatory that brutalizes his hyper-senses. It’s stench rises to meet him, on air displaced by a seventy-foot, steel-and-glass monster. The monster charges deep into the Earth, and charging, it screams — a single, shattering horn-blast that hammers supersensitive eardrums into numbness.
Blind, now deafened — Daredevil can only taste a sickening mixture of blood and dirt — and feel his ribs flex inward as a boot smashes into his chest. Even his radar sense fails him. As ever, the waves flow from his brain, probing the world about him, but the descriptive signals return to a brain that is stunned, confused…”
From Daredevil #178 (1964), by Frank Miller
The (literal?) radar here is affected by the tickertape, causing Matt to rely on his hearing.
Matt thinks: “Tickertape is jamming my radar. Have to listen for… There they are. Scrambling around on something rubbery — maybe twenty feet from the ground.”
Luke Cage or Iron Fist: “That’s not fair! We can’t climb buildings like that!”
Turk: “Shoot him, Grotto! Shoot him!”
Matt’s thoughts continue: “A balloon of some sort. Oh, well. Hope it’s sturdy…”
Young Man (Sheldon): “Falling! I’m gonna die! Uff”
Luke Cage: “‘Bout time I got to do something.”
From Daredevil #195 (1964), by Denny O’Neil and Klaus Janson
Note the desciption of the radar sense which is both actively “sent forth” and para-normal.
Caption: “He stands still as stone then, and concentrates. It is something he does supremely well. For the bizarre childhood accident which deprived him of his sight also greatly increased the powers of his remaining senses. He listens, smells, feels temperature changes. Finally, he sends forth the mysterious para-normal signal he calls his radar and heeds the information it returns to him — And this ultimate gift of his handicap tells him –“
Daredevil thinks: “There are two of them. On the ground floor.”
From Daredevil #207 (1964), by Denny O’Neil and William Johnson
Note Daredevil inspecting the inside of the building across the street. (The panels from Daredevil #195 likewise suggest that he is radar-sensing people in a remote part of the building.)
Daredevil thinks: “Somebody leaving the building by the side exit. A Hydra thug, probably. I won’t bother nailing him now. I’m more interested in freeing the Widow. If anything happened to her… He won’t get far, and there’ll be nowhere on Earth that’ll hide him from me. Radar indicates nothing moving inside.”
From Daredevil: Man Without Fear #1 (1993), by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.
Caption: “…and once he starts talking, he doesn’t stop. He takes Matt to a dusty basement.”
Stick: “I was born blind, kid, on the street. And I made my way, so don’t give with any more bellyaching or I’ll flatten you. You’ll train here. Every spare hour you have. If you’re good enough, I’ll make you a warrior. I’m not saying your chances are good. You’re undisciplined, indulgent, emotional. But I’m taking a chance with you — because I need all the help I can get.”
Matt: “What kind of help?”
Stick: “No questions. Hold out your hand. Concentrate. Feel the air.
Matt: But there’s no wind.
Stick: “Shut up. Concentrate. The air’s filling the room. One wall’s closer than the other. Feel it. Now the other wall. Feel it. Concentrate. Concentrate.”
Matt: “But there’s nothing there!”
From Daredevil #239 (1964), by Ann Nocenti and Louis Williams
Two scenes from different points in the story showing another unusual take on the radar sense. (Note! The latter scene with Karen is described in the book where it was wrongly attributed to Daredevil #240.)
Caption (scene 1): “The voices strike chords, a concerto of tones and chills rush his spine. Their hearts rise and fall… All synchronized with collective excitement, a wondrous symphony in heartbeats. The glowing heat of small bodies moves in fluid masses, a musical dance, choreographed by an unseen hand.
Wings and dove throats paint a calligraphic portrait in flutters and coos, as moving as a passage by Mozart, the brushstroke of Rubens. This is the world and vision of Daredevil. He is blind and the world he ‘sees’ is beautiful.”
Matt thinks (scene 2): “Whoa, there’s a funny one — What a walk! Hahaha. People sure come in a lot of strange and wonderful shapes. How can anyone think there isn’t a designer behind all this? But then I’m the only one who sees this special world, the world of contour and form my radar shows me. Guess I’m just a lucky guy.”
Caption: “Out of the myriad infinite body shapes, one shape stands out. To his ‘eyes’ it is the essence of grace, of beauty. The form is warm and red and glows all over. Colored by love. Their love. The warm shape find him and envelopes him. Lucky guy.”
From Daredevil #236 (1964), by Ann Nocenti and Barry Windsor-Smith
These panels wich show Daredevil and the Black Widow take on the villain Nuke showcase a very unusual instance of the radar being manipulated.
Natasha: “You’re the one who chooses to wear the devil suit.”
Daredevil: “What’s your game? To drive him to suicide? Think that will keep the blood off your hands? I call that murder… Aaaggh!”
Caption: “Daredevil reaches out with his radar… And for the first time in his life — something touches him back.
He feels it tune into his pulse… beat with his beat… feels the beat quicken… And then, like troops marching over a bridge forgetting to break step… the other beat takes over… shattering his own.”
From Daredevil #308 (1964), by D.G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel
For more examples of this particular radar interpretation, see the notes for the next chapter.
Caption: “Radar spreads down and out, combining with other hypersenses to pick them out of the crowd.
Yakuza, diddy-bopping along with an air of cockiness and the stink of overpriced cologne.
The techno-mobster called Silvermane, a disturbing and aptly named wild card I recognize from the click-hum of servo-motors that glide his cyborg body forward.
Ninja of the Hand, carrying themselves in that silent assurity and the fetid essence of what they’ve become instead of human.”
From Daredevil #338 (1964), by D.G. Chichester and Alex Jubran
Note: D.G. Chichester wrote the issue under the Alan Smithee pseudonym.
Caption: “There’s something else mixed in with the hypersenses. A crude internal ‘radar.’ Long on form, short on detail. Just enough to point the blind man in the right direction. And lock him on target. […] Air pushes ahead of the billy club, a sensory warning. The crusader tracks the sensation, twisting his body out of harm’s way.“
From Daredevil #356 (1964), by Karl Kesel and Cary Nord
Misty: “Wait — you need a light down there?“
Daredevil: “You kidding? I’m the Man Without Fear — I’m not scared of a little dark! Go home, Misty — I stub my toe, it’s my own fault!”
Daredevil thinking: “That’s not likely to happen, of course. No light? No problem! Thanks to my hypersenses… and radar sense! From what I hear, it isn’t exactly Myst-level graphics, but it picks out the collapsed tunnel just fine. Karen always liked Asteroids better anyway.”
From Daredevil #90 (1998), by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark
Matt thinks: “According to guidebooks, Sintra was one of the most beautiful spots in Portugal. I wouldn’t know. The only thing that stood out to me were the long cobblestone streets winding endlessly uphill… and the walls of the 8th century Moorish castle that still stood on the mountain high above the village. It almost felt like the past was looking out at us, frozen in those ancient stones. Even my radar felt different bouncing off that much history.“
From Daredevil #28 (1998), by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev
This is from a so-called silent issue where the story is communicated exclusively through the art on the page. However, the scripe which complements the issue has Bendis describe it as “Matt puts his hand up – like he is feeling the air. He is using his radar here.”
From Daredevil #43 (1998), by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev
Luke: “You got that radar of yours?“
Matt: “Yeah.”
Luke: “Flip it on. Anyone in the building selling drugs? Anyone in the entire building doing drugs?”
Matt: “No.”
Luke: “Just take care of your backyard. You’re good at that. Leave the kingpins to the FEDS. Thet all topple eventually.”
From Daredevil #18 (1998), by Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack
Ben Urich: “I know that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. I know the secret identity of one of the most enigmatic people in the city and I will never tell. Not only do I know who he is, I know how he became it.
I know that he was in a horrible accident when he was a boy and that it blinded him forever. And that the same accident that blinded him brought with it incredible sensory perception. Almost superhuman ability to taste, touch, smell and feel what he cannot see.
Can you imagine the headlines? The News? The shock to find out that this icon of our city is blind. That this icon of justice is a lawyer. imagine the wealth and prosperity that would come with the disclosure of such a whopper of a tale?”
From Daredevil #87 (1964), by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan
Matt: “I told you I agreed, ‘Tasha. We both needed to get out of that rat race — more than either of us can ever know. Let’s see now. According to my trusty radar sense — this room’s filled with furniture — and sheets?“
Natasha: “I rented it furnished, Matt.”
Scene from the movie Daredevil (2003)
Book excerpt on the topic of the scene below: “In the scene that introduces the particular visual effect that shows the viewer what Daredevil perceives, we see objects in young Matt’s hospital room that are mixed in with people moving in the hallway outside, and then cars and jackhammers on the street below. They are all rendered with the same bluish special effects filter. Which is why I’m left wondering which of these things he is “seeing-hearing,” as opposed to just hearing? Objects and people far away are not within echo range, by any measure, but are nevertheless portrayed in the same manner as those features of the environment he might be able to locate through real echolocation.
Another confusing aspect of this scene, and others, is that there is as much focus on the incident sound waves as on their reflections. By incident, I mean the sound which is making its first trip from its source to the object against which it is about to be reflected”
From the Daredevil (2015) television show, season 2, episode 2
The scene below shows Matt temporarily lose his hearing.
From the Daredevil (2015) television show, season 1, episode 5
The scene below shows the “world on fire” effect. Look under Further Reading at the bottom of the page for the link to my blog post on the topic.
From Daredevil #125 (1964), by Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown
Daredevil: “Whew! A few more seconds and he would have seen me breathing! DD, ol’ buddy — go home for the night and thank your lucky stars — that your trusty radar sense picked up the Copperhead’s pulling of the trigger — and that your hands are faster than his eyes!”
From Daredevil #141 (1964),
by Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooter, Gil Kane and Bob Brown
Bullseye: “Curse you! My aim is infallible! Only you have ever been able to avoid my shots… As if you were reading my mind!
Daredevil: “Something like that”
Daredevil thinks: “Actually I’m ‘reading’ his movements with my radar sense! I can figure out where he’s aiming almost before he does, and detect the slight movement of his finger on the trigger —! — And with my agility and lots of luck I can get in close enough to disarm him!”
Daredevil: “You’re losing your touch, chucklehead — not to mention your pea-shooter!”
Further reading
At The Other Murdock Papers
Blog post : “Let’s talk about Daredevil’s ‘World On Fire’”