The Man Without Fear!

I never used to really be a fan of Daredevil - Marvel's street fighting counterpart of DC's Batman. Way back in the 70's I used to buy the odd run of the comic; they were OK but I used to lose interest. I think I always found blind lawyer Matt Murdock and his alter ego Daredevil to be pretty dull. The villains that old hornhead would fight weren't all that exciting either; the likes of The Owl, Stilt-Man and Kingpin. Yawn. For me Batman wasn't any better, his foes were more colourful but laughable.

I reconnected with DD in the mid 80's when writer Frank Miller gave him a shot in the arm, in much the same way he did for Batman: The Dark Knight. Both lead characters became grittier and pushed to their limit. The cities they lived in, New York and Gotham respectively, became darker and more dangerous. Their villains more insane.

By the late 80's the sheer number and cost of the issues required to keep up with the umpteen title crossover stories per month drove me away into comic buying semi-retirement.

In the past 6 months though, I've found my self drawn back to the worlds of Matt Murdock and Bruce Wayne - thanks to self-contained stories being collected and released in Graphic Novel format. I'd read good reports about the writer/artist partnership of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, so I tracked down their critically acclaimed stories of early Batman; The Long Halloween and its sequel Dark Victory. These mysterious detective noir thrillers were great. Enthused, I decided to look for more of Loeb and Sale's work. My god, if these guys could make me like Batman then could they do the same with me for Daredevil?

Daredevil: Yellow is a tremendous book. As with Batman, Loeb tells a story from the early career our masked hero. The kick here is that the past events are narrated by a letter that a heartbroken Matt Murdock is writing in the present day. The letter is to his dead, beloved, Karen Page. He reflects on the death of his father, the revenge he took as Daredevil, how he first met the lovely Ms. Page and how much he loved her.

A beautifully told nostalgic story with great artwork. I've just ordered two other Loeb and Sale books that I'm looking forward to reading - Spider-Man: Blue and Hulk: Grey.

This week, continuing my renewed interest in Daredevil, I've been reading The Devil, Inside and Out (volume 1) by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. Here Matt Murdock is imprisoned in Ryker Island penetentiary, awaiting trail for allegedly being the vigilante Daredevil. If that wasn't bad enough, a lot of his fellow inmates were either put there by his work as a lawyer or by Daredevil or both! Not a fun place to be!

Can Murdock, a blind man, defend himself against gangsters Kingpin and Hammerhead? Oh, and his psychopathic nemesis Bullseye is in there as well! This is another cracking read. Matt is pushed to the edge. To survive he must sink to the level of the scum that want his blood. And whilst he is inside are his friends safe from attack on the outside? I'll have to get volume 2 to find out!