Daredevil #1
Published in July 1941 — a full five months before the United States entered World War II — Daredevil Comics #1 (titled Daredevil Battles Hitler) stands as one of the most brazenly anti-fascist debut issues in Golden Age publishing, putting Bart Hill alongside the Silver Streak and other Lev Gleason heroes in direct combat against Hitler, Mussolini's war machine, and Imperial Japan at a moment when American isolationism was still mainstream sentiment. The issue's cover, a striking mix of Charles Biro's drawn action and an actual photograph of Hitler's face, gave newsstands a visual provocation that was practically unique in the medium and placed it in a deliberate creative conversation with Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It formally launched the solo Daredevil Comics series that Charles Biro would shepherd for sixteen years, evolving the title from straight superhero fare into one of the most critically noted books of its era. The issue also consolidated Lev Gleason Publications as a major force in Golden Age comics and established the template for a hero whose gritty, trauma-driven origin — a mute orphan scarred by his parents' murderer — prefigured the darker, psychologically complex heroes who would follow decades later.
Daredevil #1 (1941) kicks off with a high-stakes mission as the masked hero crashes into Hitler’s secret meeting at Berchtesgaden, disrupting plans for an invasion of England—only to find himself hunted through the Nazi stronghold. Written and drawn by Charles Biro, with cover art by Biro and Bob Wood, the story unfolds with wartime urgency as Daredevil teams up with the Silver Streak and Churchill to investigate a mysterious cottage on the Downs, leading to a dramatic naval clash.
In "Daredevil Battles Hitler (Chapter 1)," Daredevil crashes into Hitler’s secret meeting at Berchtesgaden, disrupting plans for a Channel invasion, then must outrun Nazi forces across the Bavarian countryside. Meanwhile, Churchill recruits Daredevil and the Silver Streak to guard a mysterious cottage on the Downs, setting the stage for a fierce naval confrontation with enemy forces.
In "The Claw Double Crosses Hitler! (Chapter 2)," Hitler seeks the Claw’s aid in a coordinated assault on Singapore, aiming to crush British forces. Daredevil, posing as a lieutenant in the Claw’s ranks, infiltrates enemy lines to thwart the attack from within.
In "Smash Goebbels' Spy Net (Chapter 4)," Dickie races against time after his revolutionary decoding machine is stolen by Nazi agents in Washington D.C., setting off a high-stakes chase across the city as Dean, Todd, and Daredevil close in. The fate of the device—and the intelligence it holds—hangs in the balance as the clock ticks toward Berlin.
In "Wreck Goering's Sky-Fighters (ch. 5)," Daredevil and the mysterious Cloud join forces with the RAF to thwart a deadly Nazi air assault, culminating in a high-stakes aerial duel between Cloud and the fanatical Reichsmarshall, who agrees to settle their clash in the skies above.
In the shadowed waters of the English Channel, Daredevil and the Pirate Prince stand against a relentless Nazi naval campaign, racing to protect Allied ships from a Grand Admiral's nightly onslaught. With the fate of the sea hanging in the balance, their daring mission tests courage and cunning in the sixth chapter of this wartime thriller.
In this stark, historically grounded biography from Daredevil #1 (1941), the rise of Adolf Hitler is traced from his early days as a struggling artist to his service in World War I and his eventual ascent to Chancellor—driven by ambition and a hunger for global domination. A chilling portrait of a man shaped by war and ideology, this nine-page story captures the grim trajectory of one of history’s most infamous figures.
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The Golden Age Daredevil was created by Jack Binder as an eight-page backup feature in *Silver Streak Comics* #6 (September 1940), where Bart Hill — rendered mute by witnessing his father's murder and branded with a boomerang-shaped scar — debuted as a costumed boomerang marksman. Editor Jack Cole (soon to create Plastic Man) then revamped the character in the following issue, gave him a new red-and-blue costume, and pitted him against the monstrous villain the Claw across a five-issue arc that turned Daredevil into a bankable star. With the character's popularity proven, publisher Lev Gleason handed the nascent solo series to writer-artist Charles Biro and inker Bob Wood, who produced *Daredevil Battles Hitler* #1 together — Biro penciling the cover and writing or co-writing much of the interior content, with Bob Wood inking, the two working under the shared pen name 'Woodro.' Starting with issue #2, the title dropped the subtitle and ran continuously as *Daredevil Comics* through #134 (September 1956).
Trivia · 8 facts
- The issue's formal title is *Daredevil Battles Hitler*; beginning with issue #2 the series title simplified to *Daredevil Comics* and continued under that name through #134 (September 1956).
- Published July 1941 by Lev Gleason Publications (indicia publisher: Your Guide Publications Inc.), on sale date confirmed by the 1941 Catalog of Copyright Entries.
- Daredevil (Bart Hill) was created by Jack Binder and originally debuted in *Silver Streak Comics* #6 (September 1940); the solo series picks up that continuity directly, making this issue a graduation rather than an origin.
- The cover is a composite of Charles Biro's penciled superhero action and an actual photograph of Adolf Hitler's head — an unusual production technique that made the cover immediately confrontational on the newsstand.
- Cover pencils are by Charles Biro, inks by Bob Wood; the two worked together under the combined pen name 'Woodro' on Gleason covers.
- The interior features multiple chapter-length stories in which Daredevil teams with Silver Streak, Lance Hale, Cloud Curtis, Dickie Dean, Pirate Prince, and the Claw — functioning as a crossover showcase for Gleason's entire stable of Silver Streak characters — with several story segments scripted and/or drawn by Charles Biro and Jack Cole.
- The issue anticipates U.S. involvement in World War II by addressing Hitler, the Nazi occupation of Europe, a planned Axis assault on Singapore (depicted via a Claw–Hitler alliance), and the Japanese war effort — all published months before the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941.
- The issue has been reprinted at least three times: in *Flashback* #1 (DynaPubs Enterprises, November 1973), in *The Original Daredevil Archives* Vol. 1 (Dark Horse Comics, June 2013) with an introduction by Michael T. Gilbert, and in *Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War* (Fantagraphics, 2017).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Flashback #1 (1973), Official Golden-Age Hero & Heroine Directory #1 (1997), All Hitler Comics #[nn] (2000), Great American Comic Books #[nn] (2001), Action! Mystery! Thrills! Comic Book Covers of the Golden Age: 1933-45 #[nn] (2011), The Original Daredevil Archives #1 (2013), Étranges Aventures #1 (2013), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017), Étranges Aventures #2 (2017), Tops: The Complete Collection of Charles Biro's Visionary 1949 Comic Book Series #[nn] (2022), L'âge merveilleux des Comics #1
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