Hello o/ I'm doing research for what may or may not become the next chapter of a Blindspot-centric fanfic, and realized that my knowledge of Stick is extremely limited (read: barebones introduction via show, which I am these days suspicous of for characterization, and a couple Elektra comics). Are there any comics you would recommend, especially around Matt and Stick's relationship? Does he.. abandon him, like in the show?
Oooh, a Blindspot fanfic! No pressure at all, but if you’d like, feel free to let me know when it’s finished so that I can spread the word.
I am a huge Stick fan, he’s one of my all-time favorite Daredevil characters, and I actually thought they did an excellent job with him in the Netflix shows; Scott Glenn and the writers managed to evoke that essential Stick-ness to a degree that made me very, very happy, while also finding new and interesting things to do with him. But his dynamic with Matt in the MCU was a bit different than it is in the comics, due to key backstory alterations. In the show, they chose to kill Jack off when Matt was still very young. This meant that when Stick eventually came along, little Matt latched onto him as a replacement parental figure, thus making their separation very messy and psychologically damaging.
However, in the comics, Jack was alive and well all throughout Matt’s time training with Stick. While Matt eagerly embraced this training and the freedom and empowerment that it provided, and while he was able to share parts of himself with Stick that he never felt comfortable revealing to Jack (his powers, his love of risk and adventure, etc.), his relationship with Stick never moved beyond the closeness of a mentor/mentee dynamic. This is not to downplay the importance of Stick’s role in Matt’s life in those early days of learning to negotiate his painful new powers. But Matt already had a loving father, and so having Stick around as another (if prickly) guiding presence in his life was just a bonus.
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Man Without Fear (1993) #1 by Frank Miller, John Romita Jr., Christie Scheele, Al Williamson, and Joe Rosen
The questions surrounding the nature of their separation digs into one of my absolute biggest continuity frustrations: the Man Without Fear Problem. The Man Without Fear mini-series, published in 1993, presented a new, alternate take the Daredevil origin story, drawing on previously established elements but also making key changes to the nature and order of events. And that was all well and good, but rather than being allowed to exist as its own separate, self-contained thing, some (but not all) later Daredevil writers decided to pull some elements of it into the main continuity, creating a scrambled mess of canonical vagueness surrounding what Matt’s current, “real” backstory is that has never been properly clarified. For the period surrounding Matt’s childhood, this isn’t too much of an issue, as the events of Man Without Fear don’t deviate much from the standard 616 continuity. But Jack’s death is where it starts to get complicated.
Now: the only source of information we have for Matt and Stick’s separation is Man Without Fear, which tells us that their training ended following Matt’s vengeful attacks on the men who murdered his father, with Stick deciding that Matt was too emotionally volatile to become a member of the Chaste. In MWF, Matt goes on a brutal rampage following Jack’s death that ends with him accidentally killing an innocent bystander, and this is what leads Stick to decide that he is too emotional and reckless to continue his training. In the original, standard 616 version of events, Matt did also accidentally get someone killed on his first 616 outing as Daredevil, though it was the person he was gunning for anyway, and also (arguably) less directly his fault. (He even kills the same guy the very same way in MWF; there is no version of continuity in which this death upsets Matt. Which I find interesting in itself). The Man Without Fear novelization by Paul Crilley puts forth the suggestion that it was not the violence inherent in Matt’s revenge outing, but simply his decision to seek vigilante justice at all, that was Stick’s main issue–which is great, because that can apply to all versions of the continuity, so let’s go with that. Besides, Matt is unquestionably an emotionally volatile person who would have made a terrible member of the Chaste, so regardless of Stick’s exact reasons for making that judgment…he was correct.
However, it is the other, MWF-specific death of an innocent bystander that affects Matt’s reaction to Stick’s leaving. Brutally disappointed by Matt’s failure to live up to his hopes and expectations, Stick cuts off contact entirely. He doesn’t explain anything to Matt. He just vanishes. And Matt, after having just accidentally murdered someone, goes running for Stick to seek his mentor’s support and comfort but cannot find him.
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Man Without Fear (1993) #2 by Frank Miller, John Romita Jr., Christie Scheele, Al Williamson, and Joe Rosen
The question is: did this death happen in the regular 616 continuity as well? And the answer is: maybe? Some writers have made the effort of dragging that plot point over into the main series and trying to make it fit (DeMatteis built a whole story arc around it), while others have stuck to the earlier version of the origin story. There is another factor worth mentioning in the difference between these two versions of events: in MWF, Matt was just a teenager when Jack died and all of this happened, while in 616, Matt was nearly out of college (or law school; don’t get me started on that continuity mess). The fact of the matter is that we have never seen a 616 version of the scene above, so the exact details really do come down to personal preference.
In any case, Matt’s attitude ultimately was “fine then, bye” and he moved on with his life (Elektra, in contrast, was very seriously wounded by Stick/the Chaste’s rejection of her, which drove her down the path toward becoming an assassin). When Matt and Stick reunited later in life, they weren’t exactly best pals, but their interactions contained an undercurrent of mutual respect. Matt appreciates everything Stick did for him and still calls upon his lessons in times of crisis, and Stick is proud of Matt, even if neither of them is emotionally healthy enough to openly admit these things to each other.
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Daredevil: Ninja #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Rob Haynes, David Self, and Richard Starkings
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Daredevil vol. 1 #296 by D.G. Chichester, Ron Garney, Christie “Max” Scheele, Al Williamson, and Jack Morelli
There’s a great line toward the end of Man Without Fear, right before Matt and Foggy embark on the adventure of opening their first law firm, where Matt describes Stick as “a presence long-missed and never forgotten,” and there are several occasions in the main series where he refers to Stick as his friend.
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Daredevil vol. 1 #189 by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
Stick ended up giving his life to save Matt, a loss which moved Matt deeply (he later kept Stick’s staff in a place of honor in his home gym). For many years afterward, Stick stuck around as a kind of ghost, haunting both Matt and Elektra and offering them advice or insults, depending on the situation.
Here’s another post I wrote about this years ago, which goes into slightly more detail on the differences between the comics and the MCU. As for reading recommendations, here are the key issues that cover Matt and Stick’s 616/MWF relationship, in (somewhat) in-universe chronological order:
Young Matt and Stick:
Daredevil volume 2 #500: This issue doesn’t actually cover Matt’s time with Stick, but it provides some wonderful backstory for Stick and his teacher, Master Izo (who is a Brubaker invention and a goddamn delight. I could do another reading guide just for him, but it would basically just be “read the Brubaker/Lark run”), including how Stick found Matt in the first place.
Daredevil: Ninja: Stick isn’t technically in this series, but it is, in essence, all about Matt’s relationship to Stick’s memory and legacy.
Daredevil volume 7 #13: Matt rescues Stick from Hell (why is Stick in Hell? Unclear). I’m including this mostly just for completeness, and for anyone who wants to see Stick naked (no judgement).
Anonymous said: hi! i was wondering if you could kindly recommend me a few issues that include foggy/matt friendship moments? It's just that, coming from the netflix show, particularly after this last season, im intrigued to know if their friendship is handled similarly in the comics, and if so, how do they overcome their many differences?
Yes, definitely! Thank you for asking this. We’ve been spending way too much time lately talking about Matt and Foggy’s bad times, and we all need a reminder of just what makes their friendship so special. It’s a bit difficult to pick out individual issues, since most of their relationship take place in hundreds of little interactions scattered throughout the comics, but here are a few issues that include some of our favorite moments of friendship and reconciliation, in roughly chronological order.
A trope that gets to me: ‘guard dog’ character and their partner who are both fully aware of it and honestly don’t care/kind of like it. Someone says “call your guard dog off” and their partner does call them off. That person, their 'guard dog’, is someone who is unreservedly, irrefutably loyal to them. Someone undoubtedly dangerous who is willing to kill, to maim, to obey, simply because of their love for one another. There’s no manipulation involved— it is loyalty, brutal, dogged loyalty. And it goes both ways.
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