Daredevil #1 – Review

By: Mark Waid (story), Chris Samnee (art), Javier Rodriguez (colors)

The Story: A tale of two cities and their superhero.

The Review: I won’t say that the last volume of Daredevil really needed a relaunch, but I always felt it, like many critical darlings, deserved far more attention than it got.  In such a case, I can approve of a new #1, even if it’s not strictly necessary.  For good or ill, nothing brings in readers like that big, shiny digit on a cover.  It’s true; I had to go to a completely different store to get this issue because my usual comic book shop had sold out.

Annoying, but encouraging, because I can’t imagine a more deserving series or issue for a sell-out.  An opening is essentially a balancing act between a story’s immediate and long-term needs.  You got to have an immediately arresting plot that also models what the story will look like long-term.  You also need to introduce your audience to your characters without making it feel like a series of introductions.  And somehow, you have to make it all flow together as if this is your fiftieth issue instead of your first.  Writing an opening is an art, and Waid proves that he’s mastered it.

Daredevil #1 – Review

by Mark Waid (writer), Paolo Rivera (pencils), Marcos Martin (art), Joe Rivera (inks), Javier Rodriguez and Muntsa Vicente (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story:  Daredevil crashes a wedding to stop a kidnapping but finds that returning to his job as a lawyer isn’t quite as easy as he’d hoped.

What’s Good:  After Shadowland, Andy Diggle’s run, and Daredevil: Reborn, it’s hard to imagine a Daredevil ongoing that feels fresh.  Yet, that’s exactly what Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Marcos Martin give us here; this is a Daredevil book that is completely revitalized and new, one the manages to both acknowledge previous continuity while offering a ground floor entrance for even the newest reader.

But despite the major tonal shift and the accessibility of the series, make no mistake: this is a book for Daredevil fans, if not an outright love song.  Waid manages to touch the core of everything component that makes Daredevil a compelling comic and Matt  Murdock an equally compelling character.  Most interestingly, he emphasizes the depth and diversity of the character and property through dividing this extra-sized issue into three features, each one focused on a particular aspect of what makes for a good Daredevil comic.  In the first, we have a story that sees Daredevil in dynamic action, fighting a very creepy villain, and it’s all swashbuckling fun and adventure.  There’s a constant sense of old-school daring-do.  It’s uplifting, high-paced action of a sort that’s uniquely Daredevil.

Meanwhile, the second feature sees Matt entirely out of costume, and delivers something of a legal drama.  It’s a major shift from the first feature, and yet inextricably related in tone, despite the difference in subject matter.  Quite frankly, it felt like watching a superhero-related primetime legal show, and it was just as much fun as the first feature, albeit in a completely different way.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: New Avengers #14 – A really close call between this and Journey into Mystery, but given how exemplary this week’s issue of New Avengers was, as compared to Journey into Mystery’s consistent excellence, it’s hard not to recognize New Avenger’s outstanding effort that went above the series norm.  Fantastic character work that made me into a much bigger fan of Mockingbird.

Most Anticipated:Daredevil #1 – Daredevil is one of those characters who will always mean a lot to me.  While being a kid in the late 80s-early 90s pretty much guaranteed that I was an X-fan, Daredevil was my favourite hero, ever since finding a box of Frank Miller Daredevil back issues in a discount store in NYC.  His were the stories that really hit me hard as a kid as they always felt “adult,” epic, and emotional in ways I’d never experienced in comics before.

But it’s been hard times for Matt Murdock.  Shadowland was a catastrophe, Andy Diggle’s run before that never quite managed to hit its full potential, and Daredevil: Reborn was salt in the wound.  It all lend me to believe that after career defining work by Brian Bendis and a run of Ed Brubaker doing what he does best, perhaps the downcast noir well has run dry.

So I look forward to Mark Waid’s dashing and more upbeat direction.  And hey, at the very least, the art is going to be ridiculously, eye-meltingly good.

Other Picks: Avengers #15, Batman: Gates of Gotham #3, Invincible Iron Man #506

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #2 – The excellence of the American Vampire franchise is almost getting to be routine, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be celebrated.  This was a #2 issue and it still managed to toss enough cool Indiana Jones and James Bond themes to make this story more than routine.  It really would have been possible for Snyder to sit back and just advance the story of vampire-hunter secret agents infiltrating Nazi-held Europe before America’s involved in WWII.  But….he didn’t take the easy way out and that made the story better than adequate.  And, I LOVE Sean Murphy’s art.  He has this incredible combination of cartooning and realism that opens up all sorts of possibilities that most artists can’t touch.  Runner-up: Loose Ends #1

Most Anticipated: Elephantmen #33 – There are a lot of interesting looking Big 2 superhero books coming out this week….and….while I’m looking forward to some, none is making my mouth water, so let’s shine a light on a title that has been consistently strong for a very long time: Elephantmen.  This long-running story of a dystopian future where animal-human hybrids who were created as weapons of war and are now trying to assimilate into a society that hates and fears them is always compelling and has always featured excellent art.  You can’t go wrong picking up Elephantmen.

Other Picks: The Walking Dead #87, Hulk #37, Sergio Aragones Funnies #1, Hack/Slash #6, Avengelyn #1, Marineman #6, Daredevil #1