Writing about Daredevil #49, I said Barry Windsor-Smith wasn’t anywhere near the artist he’d soon become. By a couple of issues later, he’s a lot closer. 
In #50 and #51 he deals with criminal roboticist Starr Saxon and his unstoppable robot killer (as I mentioned at the link, one of several such robots showing up in the MU around that time). In #51, a doctor treats Daredevil for his injuries, unaware the shots he’s giving DD will interact, possibly fatally, with his radioactive body chemistry. In #52 (Windsor-Smith with Roy Thomas writing), Daredevil’s starting to glitch big time — can he still save Karen Page from Saxon? Can the Black Panther find DD in time to save him from his own body? The answer is, of course, yes, but Windsor-Smith makes getting there look good.
Here too.
Roy Thomas’ script isn’t as interesting but being one of the most continuity-minded writers, he remembers Karen thinks she knows Daredevil’s secret.
I’m not sure Stan would have remembered Mike Murdock.
#SFWApro.
Yeah, Smith certainly did evolve – it’s interesting to look at this and then compare it to his stunning work in Monsters (which I recently read and even more recently commented on in Greg B’s review from years ago).
Even so, I like this early, Kirby-and-Steranko-influenced work by him.
I know him mostly from Conan, which I’ll be revisiting before my Silver Age reread wraps up. With his earlier work fresh on my mind, it should be interesting to see what I make of it.
And it turns out the library has Monsters so I put in a hold request.
I read on t’internet that young Smith – he was about 20, right? – was so hard up when he moved from Britain to the USA attempting to make his mark at Marvel that he drew some of these DD or X-Men pages on NYC park benches.
Did BS, not BWS for many years, confirm this in interviews?
And I always assumed he adopted the moniker Windsor, which happens to be the family name of the current Royal Family, as some sort of Brit class snobbery affectation? Or does it have any other significance?
Class is still very much at play over here: just look at how many cabinet members of the recent Conservative – traditionally the establishment political party since the 19th century, although lines have blurred over time – government came from prestigious public school Eton (Americans would call it private school?).
Meanwhile, going to equally prestigious Oxford University seems to be the prerequisite for becoming Prime Minster, among all parties.
It’s still a thing here too, though not as formalized. The senate is entirely composed of millionaires and I’ve read SCOTUS justices come from a relatively narrow slice of the legal/judicial world.
That should be Prime *Minister*, of course!
I just thought the Prime Minster was the one in York …
I was waiting for some wag to mention that! Starter for ten goes to Team Burgas!
I’m way too much of a history nerd not to mention it!