Daredevil #25 – Review

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

The Story: Hm.  “The man with fear!” just doesn’t have the same inspiring ring to it.

The Review: I’ve never really reflected on the tagline attached to this title before, but with this issue, it feels appropriate to think about what Daredevil’s nickname really means.  “The man without fear!”  That’s a challenge if I ever heard one.  It’s a cocky kind of declaration, the kind you’d associate with people who love to cheat death, as if doing so proves their invulnerability.  Essentially, the man who fears nothing is the man who isn’t concerned about loss of any kind.

So what can drive such a man to be afraid?  By neutralizing the things that gave him courage.  For Daredevil, that would be both his fighting skills and prodigious senses.  In his flashbacks to training under Stick, we see him face a sudden freefall with first surprise, then total command of himself, making a perfect landing with the help of his internal radar.  But if he can’t depend on these senses to help him in a pinch, would he have that same conviction and confidence?