In every installment of Abandoned Love we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer without actively retconnng away the previous story. Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, based on suggestions by Cory T. and Julian L., we look at how Kingpin's sight was restored after briefly losing it.

After Kevin Smith relaunched Daredevil as part of the launch of Marvel Knights in 1998, he left the book and they didn't have a regular writer to take over the title from him. At first, David Mack did an arc, with the art team of Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti remaining on board (with Mack providing certain artwork himself). The story arc was called, "Parts of a Hole," and it introduced a new character named Maya Lopez, a deaf ballet dancer who has the ability to mimic anyone's abilities (like the Taskmaster). She began to have a romantic relationship with Matt Murdock.

However, she also had a relationship with Wilson Fisk, who was a friend of her father's. In Daredevil #10 (by Mack, Quesada and Palmiotti), the Kingpin convinces her that Daredevil was the man who murdered her father (in reality, it was Fisk himself who did it, which is why he has the gun that was used in the murder in his files. He tricks Daredevil into picking it up, which only helps sell the lie to Maya)...

So, she fights Daredevil a lot over the next few issues (over which time, Quesada eventually leaves the book and David Ross and Mark Morales finish out the arc, doing their best Quesada-esque style) but he eventually convinces her that he did not kill her dad. And if HE didn't kill her dad, then that logically means that Kingpin was responsible for her dad's death, and so she shoots Kingpin a number of times with the gun used to kill her dad...

In the end, we see that the Kingpin has survived, but he is now blind...

Eventually, Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev take over the series as the regular creative team (after a Bendis fill-in arc. I believe he had already gotten the ongoing gig before the fill-in arc came out, as the fill-in arc was arranged well in advance of it actually seeing print). In the first issue of their run, one of Kingpin's soldiers, Silke, arranges a mutiny on the blind Kingpin, seemingly killing him...

The Kingpin somehow survives the assault and his estranged wife takes him out of the country and sets out to take apart Fisk's empire, as it is now controlled by those who betrayed her husband. She even kills her own son (with Fisk) as he teamed up with Silke for this mutiny.

That was it for quite a while, until, of course, the Kingpin had to return...

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='He's back! With working eyes!']

In Daredevil #45 (by Bendis and Maleev), Silke (who worked out a deal with the government in exchange for protection from Fisk's wife) is visited by Fisk, who murders him...

In the next issue, Fisk visits Typhoid Mary and breaks her out of the personality she has created for herself (a successful soap opera actress). When the scene begins, he is wearing sunglasses like he is still blind, but by the end of it, he has taken them off and it appears as though he can see again...

He gets revenge on his former consigliere for allowing his wife to take apart the Fisk organization, but while he mentions recuperation, he is vague on his eyesight...

Finally, though, in Daredevil #50, when he meets up again with Daredevil (Daredevil beats him nearly to death and claims that HE, Matt Murdock, is the NEW Kingpin of Crime - Matt was dealing with some issues at the time) and he reveals that he has reconstructive eye surgery...

So there ya go, Cory T. and Julian L.!

If anyone else has a suggestion for an abandoned comic book plot, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!