Matt Murdock: Daredevil Appreciation 2019

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

Frank Miller's run (×2) remains my favourite to this day.

[macjr33]

Just finished reading Born Again for the first time. I can't say anything other than I loved it.

Question about Bendis' run, it's still worth reading if I know a few key events like spoilers:

the identity outing, Matt being kingpin and going to jail,

end of spoilersright? I'm trying to get into the "it's the journey that matters" mindset and to stop worrying so much about spoilers.

While Born Again is my absolute favorite story in all of comic and I do love Frank Miller's original run, I would say that Bendis' run is my favorite DD run. I found most of the stories compelling and he does a really good job of fleshing out Matt's world. Both in terms of Matt's impact on Hell's Kitchen as well as the supporting characters like Foggy, Ben Urlich, Natasha, Luke Cage, Danny Rand and Jessica Jones. Alex Maleev's artwork is also fabulous as he is my favorite artist for Daredevil though I know his artwork isn't for everyone.

I would also second what Raffi said, if you can read Kevin Smith's "Guardian Devil" and David Mack's "Parts of a Hole" prior to Bendis. I am not the biggest fan of "Guardian Devil"; however, what happens in it is important to the Bendis run. I loved "Parts of a Hole" and feel its one of the underrated Daredevil stories. Also once you are done with Bendis you should absolutely read Brubaker's run.

[K7P5V]

Frank Miller's run (×2) remains my favourite to this day.

Mine too. The ending to Miller's run simply can't be beaten:

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

DAREDEVIL by PAUL MARHUE:

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

DAREDEVIL Commission by JORGE COELHO:

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

DAREDEVIL on the cover of 2099 ALPHA #1 by PATRICK GLEASON:

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

Discarded Sketches for DAREDEVIL #16 by J. TOTINO TEDESCO:

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

Panini DAREDEVIL #1 Artist Edition Cover by MARCO CHECCHETTO:

[Crossfist]

The Brubaker omnibuses are definitely on my list, and the Bendis ones when they release next year. I'm gonna get Guardian Devil too. Is there a physical collection of Ann Nocenti's run? I heard good things about that one.

[Jekyll]

The Brubaker omnibuses are definitely on my list, and the Bendis ones when they release next year. I'm gonna get Guardian Devil too. Is there a physical collection of Ann Nocenti's run? I heard good things about that one.

Ann Nocenti's run is very underrated IMO. I do not believe her run is collected in one volume, but you can find chunks of it in the Epic Collections.

[Crossfist]

The Brubaker omnibuses are definitely on my list, and the Bendis ones when they release next year. I'm gonna get Guardian Devil too. Is there a physical collection of Ann Nocenti's run? I heard good things about that one.

[Matt Parker]

So I noticed some of you were talking about Daredevil runs, particularly Kevin Smith, Bendis, and Brubaker, and I figured I'd weigh in.

Kevin Smith's Daredevil: Guardian Devil is a classic IMO. While it is just kind of a riff on Born again and Kraven's Last Hunt, it is a fantastic story that also really reinvigorates an iconic Marvel villain for the new millennium. I think the fact that it has inspired not only the third season of the Netflix series but also a major superhero blockbuster in the past year alone (to say which one would spoil the story) I think speaks to the quality of the story. Smith really brings Daredevil back to his Miller-inspired roots, and it's a great read.

As for the Bendis run, I think it's the best run on any mainstream superhero comic ever published (and I say that as someone who wouldn't even necessarily say that Daredevil is my favorite superhero, so I feel like I am somewhat bias free). It digs into the core of who Matt Murdock is, flaws and all, while also delivering some great stories with his villains (somewhat of a rarity for Bendis, who usually struggles with villains). To say too much would give away some of the great twists and turns, but this is one of the best runs ever written.

Brubaker is good. I like his writing quite a bit, but I felt that his run started to turn into misery porn. Bendis was able to balance Matt having a few genuine victories while also suffering soul crushing failures. Brubaker went too far into the dark angst for my money, although it's still a great run on comics. Plus, his use or Mr. Fear (who is unquestionably the most underrated Daredevil villain) was sublime.

If you read all this, I recommend the Waid run. It's a great breath of fresh air after a decade of darkness and misery, and I think he does some great character work.

[cc008]

The first half of the Waid run, I agree, is fantastic. The latter half is much less enjoyable though.

[Matt Parker]

Yeah I agree. Everything up to his battle with the Sons of Serpent are some of the most enjoyable, well written, and fun superhero comics I've ever read. But after he moves to San Francisco, the book got pretty stale and dropped in quality.

What do you guys and gals think of Soule's run? I feel like I enjoyed the characterization and the art (Ron Garney's black suit is my favorite look for 'ol Hornhead), but I think he had a tendency to build up storylines and then switch over to something else without much of a satisfying resolution.

[Adset]

I really enjoyed Guardian Devil when it was released, but I don't believe it has held up as well. Just my opinion. I'll do a V2 re-read from time to time, and when I last did one I skipped it and started with David Mack.

The Bendis run is great, no question. While I don't really hate his other work -- and I've hardly read everything he's written over the years -- it is sometimes amazing that he's the same guy who wrote less-than-spectacular runs on so many other books. His Daredevil is near-perfect, IMO.

I thought Brubaker achieved a worthwhile follow-up -- there was a time spanning several years across the Bendis/Brubaker era where I think DD was, hands down, the best mainstream book on the market.

I'll agree with the posts above re: Waid. His first volume was such a nice breath of fresh air. I didn't care for Diggle's (brief) run, or much of the Shadowland stuff in general, so Waid jumping aboard and taking the quality of the book back to it's normal lofty standards was great. His second volume isn't as good, I'll concede, but I did really like Kirsten McDuffie so it wasn't like it was a total loss or anything. I mean, other than the suit.

I know Soule's run isn't as universally loved, but I did enjoy it. I thought his Purple Kids arc was fantastic. I really liked Supreme, and the Fisk/Mayor stuff. It was consistently strong, even if it didn't quite reach the heights of some other runs.