This month sees the 40th anniversary of the short-lived but fondly-remembered Marvel UK title The Daredevils, a monthly anthology title launched in January 1983.

A rival to Warrior on newsagents shelves, it was edited by Bernie Jaye with much input from Alan Moore, offering new Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis, as well as new Night Raven text stories, and reprints of Frank Miller‘s Daredevil stories.

It’s also the first Marvel title to identify the “Earth-616” universe, in The Daredevils #7 Captain Britain story “Rough Justice,” written by Alan Moore, although it is widely accepted that fellow writer Dave Thorpe coined the term.

For me, I recall the title having the same kind of impact finding MUK’s first weekly, Mighty World of Marvel on shelves just over a decade earlier. Ironically, The Daredevils would merge with a title of the same name after eleven issues, but along the way it thrilled us with fantastic stories, a touch of humour from Lew Stringer, Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett, and some terrific art, not just within the stories published, but with eye-catching centrefold posters, too, by Alan Davis, Garry Leach, Paul Neary and others, that I imagine adorned many a wall back at the time.

Features included Alan Moore’s Fanzine Reviews column, an aspect of MUK’s encouragement of young talent that continued in Mighty World of Marvel, where an episode of my first professionally published comic strip would later appear thanks to John Tomlinson.

The Daredevils also included some Spider-Man stories, occasional one-off comic stories, and a variety of text articles.

While it didn’t last long, The Daredevils was, like Warrior, a title that influenced my comics career, and I’d like to thank all those involved in it back then for bringing us such an enjoyable publication.

• The Daredevils: Marvel Fandom Guide

• Blimey! The Daredevils by Lew Stringer

• Blimey! The Daredevils – The Posters by Lew Stringer

• Comics Publisher Russell Willis remembers The Daredevils

• Marvel.com: David Thorpe details the history of the Marvel multiverse from its beginnings in a 1983 Captain Britain story

Writer David Thorpe was writing for Marvel UK in the early 1980s when he came up with the concept of Earth-616. The first mention of the term “Earth-616” in The Daredevils #7 story “Rough Justice”, written by Alan Moore. This concept revealed that there was not one but many Marvel Universes

• “Invisible Girls and Phantom Ladies”

An article by and copyright Alan Moore, from The Daredevils #4 – #6, April – June 1983

• “The Devils Have Taken Over – Miller, Moore & the Daredevils” by Peter Gouldson was published in print in ComicScene Volume 2 Issue 4 in July 2019. ComicScene is online at comicscene.org

This item was updated to note Alan Moore’s credit as writer of “Rough Justice” (with thanks to Stuart Vandal)

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events

Tags: Alan Davis, Alan Moore, Anniversary, Bernie Jaye, Captain Britain, David Thorpe, Garry Leach, Lew Stringer, Marvel UK, Paul Neary, The Daredevils