Book of the Week: 'Daredevil' #1

By Don M. Ventura

Daredevil #1

Marvel Comics

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Do you have any prejudices that you’ve carried over into adulthood from your childhood? I do.

Daredevil.

As a young comic book enthusiast in the early 80’s, the brilliance of Frank Miller’s work on the book was lost on me. I was much more interested in the X-Men fighting the Brood or the Masters of Evil attacking Avengers Mansion while She-Hulk washes the car (Avengers #222). But the Man Without Fear just never did it for me because, as I’ve said before, he was always fighting some big fat guy.

While my tastes changed, for whatever reason I completely ignored what Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker had done with the character on their long successful runs. I knew they were supposed to be quality reading, but my aversion to the character prevented me from ever checking the stories out.

So now, after Matt Murdock has spent years being run through the ringer by Bendis, Brubaker and Andy Diggle, Mark Waid takes him and says “Wait, wait, wait—Matt’s been through enough. Let’s let the hero be a hero and see what transpires.”

And what Waid has achieved is quite special. Armed with the glorious pencils of Paolo Rivera in the main story and Marcos Martin in the backup, Waid reintroduces Daredevil in a way that is true to the character while still wiping away the noir that has remained at the core of the book for the past 30 years.

We open with Daredevil crashing the nuptials that will unite two crime families, but a kidnapping has been planned. The silly-looking, yet shockingly formidable, Spot attempts to kidnap a child. The action sequence here is as smartly drawn as it is written. The mobsters think Daredevil is trying to kidnap a child while the Spot attempts to grab the girl from the hero by creating multiple holes in space (trust me, it’s pretty sweet).

Rivera illustrates Daredevil’s “sight” in an amazing way. In one scene with the Hole we see all the sounds bouncing off of the villain but there are these gaps where his body seems to defy space. On the next page Daredevil identifies a turncoat by monitoring the heartbeats of the wedding guests—all of the guests are presented in silhouettes with a jagged line indicating their heartbeats.

Matt Murdock is back to doing what he does best (when not in costume): defending the innocent. Matt has some problems to contend with however—the public is still aware that he was unmasked as Daredevil and he’s being ridden by the local press and by the prosecuting attorney on his case. Waid understands that Matt is a lawyer however and knows how this lawyer should react: deny, deny, deny. After all, where’s the proof?

Waid and team seem to be having a ball with this somewhat chancy take on Daredevil. Tonally, this is not the same book at all. But it works and Waid presents a reality in which Matt’s new disposition fits perfectly.

In the follow up Matt explains to longtime partner, Foggy Nelson, why a cheerier Matt Murdock has arisen in the place of his formerly brooding self. He’s been dealt so many bad hands in the past few years, he has no choice but to stay as positive (even if it seems as though he’s denying his true feelings). Martin’s pages are striking and unique as we get another look into Daredevil’s powers.

After a lifetime of Daredevil-hating, I’ve finally set aside my intolerance and the result has been wondrous.

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