In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.
Reader Madeleine S. wrote in to ask:
I've always wondered where Matt Murdock wearing circular red lenses was popularized. I've a lot of earlier appearances and he just wore regular glasses and even while Miller was writing him he wore mostly green aviators. So my question is when/where were Matt Murdock's iconic red round lenses originated?
She's right that early on, Matt just wore generic glasses, like in Daredevil #1...
Fast forward to Gene Colan's run and the same thing was going on in Daredevil #62....
The rims were still pretty thick years later when Matt moved to San Francisco, like in Daredevil #111...
The lenses were more fashionable when Frank Miller and Klaus Janson were drawing the book, but they weren't round in Daredevil #175...
David Mazzucchelli went THICKER with the lenses during his run, as seen in Daredevil #216...
John Romita Jr. went way over the top in Daredevil #250...
Scott McDaniel went fashion-forward, but not round, in Daredevil #319...
Finally, in the Karl Kesel/Cary Nord brief run, the round frames debuted in Daredevil #354...
But the RED round lenses did not show up until the series relaunched with Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti in Daredevil (Volume 2) #1...
So there you go, Madeleine, give Quesada the credit!
If anyone else has a suggestion for a notable comic book first that you would like to see featured, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!