Mark Waid states that he grew up a DC fan and it shows in his approach to the man without fear. A much nicer version of Batman mixed with the wit of Flash and bravado of Hal Jordan. In fact, his history of working on Flash definitely shows. Daredevil the boy scout has been broken but not completely. He's still fighting for the little guy and getting deeper into trouble with Hydra, AIM and possibly Doom. Not too much action in this comic but like DC, the quest for this hero is in finding his own sense of self and honor. Back in the dark ages of the early '80s, Frank Miller's legendary run on Daredevil was one of the first superhero comics I really got into reading. Even at that young age, most comic book writing had always seemed pretty sophomoric to me, so I was in for a shock. In this post-Miller age, words can't really do justice to what it was like to open a mainstream superhero comic and be absorbed, amused, startled and shocked on a regular basis by a writer/artist working at the top of his game and trying to bring a new grown up sensibility to a character who'd been a third-stringer since the '60s. And when it came to the storytelling, it wasn't just the words but often the lack of them, the author's decision to trust us to follow chunks of narrative spelled out purely in images without all that intrusive handholding omniscient narration. More often than not, he told the stories first person, usually from Matt Murdock's POV, and sometimes shifting to a supporting character like his long-suffering law partner Foggy Nelson (possibly the first out-and-out comedy noir comic issue I ever came across). This really paid off in the fight scenes, which were rarely if ever filled with all that ridiculous hero/villain cross-talk or thought balloons explaining the reason for every move the hero made.No doubt Miller changed how the best writers could, and would, approach mainstream comics writing forever, putting himself, and Daredevil, on the map in the process. Like another reviewer said, Daredevil was Marvel's Batman to my mind, only with the more interesting edge of being the handi-capable hero who overcame not only his orphaned background but blindness to become the hero of Hell's Kitchen. I even tried to write a never-finished (and utterly unworthy) DD/Batman crossover in high school. Sometime around my middle teens I discovered girls and lost interest in comics (and back in the day, there weren't so many girls who shared the interest as have come out of the woodwork in the age of the ubergeek) and it would be years before I would pick up and follow the Daredevil thread again. Sure, whenever Miller made a foray into this world, with Born Again or Elektra Assassin or Man Without Fear, I'd borrow a friend's copy and dig in, but I had no interest in what other writer's and artists were doing with him until that same friend swore up and down that Brian Michael Bendis was doing great things with the character. And he was, following Miller's lead into the dark noirish underbelly of NYC, throwing the Kingpin and Bullseye and all the best of his gritty rogues' gallery back in the mix and tearing Matt Murdock's life apart in the process. It was great stuff, dark and edgy as the Daredevil I'd always known and loved. It was only a few years ago, when the work of Ed Brubaker single-handedly ushered me back into rabid comics fandom, that I learned he'd picked up the baton from Bendis and I devoured his take as well, which continued mashing Murdock's face into the hard cement of Hell's Kitchen and grinding away. I loved it as much or more than Bendis' stuff.Which is all to say that Daredevil holds a special place in my heart, particularly the dark and gritty Daredevil of these writers, the one that seems to exist in his own pocket of the Marvel Universe, a street-level crimefighter who can seem very out of place in giant crossover event comics with the Avengers. Team him up with Spider-Man, I'm all on board. Put him next to Thor, and something doesn't quite look right. So when I heard that Mark Waid--a writer I like very much--was planning to return DD to his way-back-before-my-time roots as a wisecracking happy-go-lucky vigilante in the Peter Parker vein, I was resistant. I want my Matt Murdock with his teeth clenched, strong, silent and eternally, righteously angry. I didn't need to see him facing off with patently absurd Silver Age baddies from other dimensions and whatnot, did I? Turns out I did. I finally relented and bought all 36 issues on a whim when Comixology put them on ridiculous sale and I couldn't be happier with the result. Waid manages to have his cake and eat it, too, making Murdock's turn toward lightness a firm decision on his part, and as someone who's dabbled in cognitive therapy, I know that there's actually a lot to be said for the power of positive thinking, retraining your brain and reframing your perception. Matt hasn't gone crazy, and he isn't denying or ignoring what's come before, nobody's hit the reboot button, it's just that he's decided while he's alive, he might as well live. The real beauty of it all comes when, after a number of very fun and yes, very Silver Age-inspired issues fighting increasingly out there villains, you realize that Waid hasn't really moved DD very far from his roots at all. Matt Murdock's still having his life torn apart, still living with the fallout of nearly everyone in his life and his city recognizing that he is in fact the hero he's long denied being, and there's still plenty of darkness and harsh reality at the edges of his life, be it long-forgotten bad guys making moves against him, or his dearest friend Foggy battling life-threatening cancer. And the ending of the initial 36-issue run changes the game for Murdock as dramatically and effectively as anything Miller, Bendis or Brubaker ever did. The artwork is terrific throughout, from the early issues by Paolo Rivera to the terrific Chris Samnee, with a brighter more primary-colored palette than DD at his darkest, but frequently gorgeous and very fitting for the tone. If anything, this book really feels of a piece with Matt Fraction's work on Hawkeye, a mainstream book that manages to be as entertaining, fun, thrilling and moving as the best of genre TV. And like those Miller books I first picked up from the Walgreen's spinner rack, what it's really all about is the storytelling, and it's amazing.
What do You think about Demolidor, Vol. 1 (2013)?
Critics of Marvel complain their comics have lost fun and nuance amid fight scenes and cleavage (and I would agree). For something different, I would encourage readers old and new to pick up Kieron Gillen's Young Avengers, Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, and this title, Mark Waid's Daredevil.For far too long, Matt Murdock has been a brooding, depressed figure swinging in the shadows (perhaps he and Batman saw the same therapist). Waid brings Daredevil into the daylight and provides a supporting cast that offer more than just exposition. Finally, the dialogue and witty banter support the story and add actual characterization to the characters.End of rant... pick it up at the library!
—edawts
Certainly a great improvement over Diggle's work. Waid wasn't left with much to start with and he did a passable job getting DD quickly back into a setting that would make decent stories. Unfortunately, he made some plot choices that were pretty unrealistic. Nearly everyone knows Murdock is Daredevil yet the only result is fawning fans and quick jokes. If nothing else, the feds should be all over him after the Shadowland events. All in all it's a decent read, though not Waid's best work.
—emonlouis
Really, really like the new team and reboot on Daredevil. The writing is great and grounded.
—Sarah
