Daredevil was the jewel in the Crown of the Marvel Knights launch line-up, arguably the title they’d put the most behind. The had a celebrity writer, Kevin Smith, before his name was tainted with the three crimes, The last few issues of Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil Men Do, the never to be finished Daredevil: Bullseye, which kept Bullseye out of use for anyone else for years and finally Jersey Girl. But no, this was the late 90s and we all still liked Kevin Smith. Art was by Joe Quesada who was head of the Marvel Knights line. This was to re-launch the man without fear, this was guardian Devil. To an extent it worked, but not straight away. Issue 1 treaded an uncomfortable line with decompressed storytelling and action, not really committing to either. However the story developed with Daredevil acting erratically and his life falling to pieces, we had guest appearances from Black Widow and Dr Strange, in short it was a pretty big story. Ultimately Mysterio would prove to be the villain (Although there was a definite supernatural feel for a while) in a story that had a terminal end for both Mysterio and Karen Page. Overall it was a good first arc, followed up by some pretty strong storylines such as the introduction of Echo. Later Matt was “outed” and this story ran through Matt’s breakdown and eventual arrest. The breakdown story, where he briefly tried becoming the Kingpin to keep crime out of Hells kitchen, was part of a storming run by Brian Michael Bendis, closely followed by the equally good work of Ed Burbaker. I had to drop the title for financial reasons at the end of Devil in Cell block 9 story but overall, while it may have had dips in quality Daredevil has been strong ever since its Marvel Knights re-launch, perhaps one of the only titles to manage this. It has weathered the big events like Secret Invasion, Civil War and Dark Reign by keeping as much as possible to its own stories. This is perhaps its strength.
It is worth noting for Marvel Knights fans, that the two greatest sources for imagery in the Daredevil movie were Frank Miller’s legendary run and Guardian Devil. Daredevil’s continuing success is undoubtedly due to the time it was knighted.
I really loved Guardian Devil. Of course, I had the advantage of being able to read it all in one go. Its the first series I can remember being interested in and finding it blighted by delays. The final reveal of Mysterio was well done, and a nice curve-ball to use a Spider-Man villain like that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do get the argument that having Mysterio die outwith the Spider-titles was a bit of a strange decision. A great story though.
Ever since, Daredevil's always been one of those series I've never really picked up, but keep wanting to. I've read bits of some of the later arcs, and its always struck me as one of those series that should really have a higher profile than it does. At somepoint I really should go back and buy some of the trades as the bits I read (I think the storyline where Matt basically has a nervous breakdown) were excellent.
If I ever get round to organising my comics I'll lend you what I've got.
ReplyDeleteI think Daredevil's medium to low profile has been a blessing. It doesn't want for sales but isn't big enough to attract hangers on wnating tehir finger in teh pie. To a large extent it even misses out on the big crossovers mainly by Matt keeping himself as more of a local hero to hell's kitchen.
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