Many of us have spent an afternoon playing as our favourite superhero at one point or another, running around with a pillowcase strapped to our back and defeating imaginary bad guys or super villains to the sounds of “BIFF!”, “POW!”, “KA-BLOOEY!” and other noises of a violent nature.  It’s a fascinating trend that more and more kids are being exposed at an earlier age to the superhero genre as Comic Books and Graphic Novels are becoming more mainstream and popular amongst all levels of society.  What once was the domain of the “nerd” or “geek” is now almost as cool and popular amongst the other social strata as sports, television programs and fashion shows.  Okay, I know very little about fashion shows, but let’s assume for the purpose of the article that Fashion Shows and blockbuster films about superheroes are equally popular in society, okay?  Allow me my liberties.

To that end I want to explore some of the comics I am reading and talk about what makes them such good reads currently.  This week I want to begin with a title that is getting some attention for the mainstream accolades it is earning and the quiet greatness it is achieving.  That, and the main character sports a lovely set of double-D’s…

I have to admit that I have a special affinity for the more “mortal” heroes out there, the ones who are pretty average Joes with an exceptional workout routine and low to no powers whatsoever that drum up the willpower to go out there and risk life and limb to defend people in the violent worlds they inhabit.  Characters like Batman, Punisher, Blue Beetle, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, etc who are basically well-trained people or who have slight advantages or powers that help them overcome the obstacles they face in the pages of their respective books.  These characters have a special place in my heart because they are the ones I can most often relate to, the ones who get the tar pounded out of them from time to time by the baddies but usually find the way to overcome the challenges they face through physical or mental advantages that aren’t that far off from my own abilities.

Fine, so maybe they are pretty far off from my own abilities, but under the same circumstances and happenstances as theirs background-wise, I like to think I could have turned out similarly, if not maybe a little less clothed ( #nopants movement champion, don’t you know!).

Now when I tell you about a character who is at the peak of physical ability, trained by ninja to be super-athletic and martially adept, who lurks about the rooftops at night dispensing his own brand of two fisted judgment and fighting super-villains when they encroach on his turf, that he has a cool radar sense* that allows him to be hyper-aware of his surroundings you might think of another superhero in a cape with pointy ears.  It would be hard to disagree with you, as there is a part of me that wonders if Daredevil wasn’t perhaps an attempt to come up with a different take on Batman but with Marvel touches added.  For one thing, most Marvel characters have some sort of drawback or flaw to balance against the amazing abilities or gifts they possess.  Whether hated and hunted by Homo Sapiens, torn between the troubled life of a teenager and the heroics of an alter ego, or just plain addicted to a substance or drug the Marvel brand of character is much more human, and flawed, than the DC ones in my experience.

To that end we have Matt Murdock, a kid who jumped in front of a moving truck to save a blind old man who was crossing the street.  The truck swerves, vats of toxic chemicals the truck was carrying spill out and douse the young kid, blinding him.  Tragic, heroic, and now imparts a flaw in the character, he’s blind!  However the toxic sludge not only took away his eyesight but set the rest of his 5 senses into a hyper state, giving young Matt superhuman levels of Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch and granting an additional “radar” sense that allows him to basically “see” 360 degrees around him at all times.  Sure he couldn’t tell you what colour your shirt is, but he could smell you coming from 4 blocks away and can hear the beats of your heart to tell if you are anxious, lying, calm, or what have you.  Not a bad trade really, and one Matt uses for the rest of his life as the costumed hero Daredevil.

So Daredevil has had an interesting few years, with the character going very dark during the “Shadowland” story line where he usurped the Kingpin of Crime’s business and declared himself the Kingpin in a misguided attempt to halt crime and injustice in Hell’s Kitchen.  It was later revealed that Daredevil had been possessed by a demon that was influencing him and making him darker, more violent to the point of being evil, almost as bad as the villains he faced.  Ultimately this behaviour led to a clash with some of the Marvel Universe’s “street level” heroes in the form of Nick Cage, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, Punisher and others.  At the end of the story, and in fact what ended that Daredevil comic series was Matt seemingly being “killed” by his friends as they realized it was the only way to stop this new evil version of Daredevil.

Now if Demon possession and a dark anti-hero aren’t really your cup of tea, well then I have good news, everyone

 

 

Since Marvel and DC were in a big rush to reboot many of their franchise characters and shake up some team rosters in an attempt to make their stories and characters fresh for a younger audience, we the readers were blessed that writer Mark Waid had expressed interest in writing Hornhead again in a monthly book.  Mr. Waid is a well recognized writer in the comics field, having worked on such projects as Kingdom Come, JLA, The Flash, Irredeemable, Captain America, Fantastic Four and various others.  Mr. Waid and artist Paolo Rivera started their run on Daredevil by taking the character back to his roots as a troubled man masquerading as a carefree Daredevil, the literal “Man Without Fear”.  While in the costume, we see the character smile, make jokes, and behave like a man completely devoid of any fear.  As serious as the character has been in recent years, it was really refreshing to see him once again as the hero who carelessly leaps and jumps through the skyline of New York City while fighting crime.  Not only does the character seemingly go back to his roots as a bit of a fun-loving daredevil, but he also returns to the life of Defense Attorney Matthew Murdock, accepting cases where he knows the defendant is innocent based on his ability to be a living lie-detector and then following up on leads after hours as the crime-fighter Daredevil.  Mr. Waid never shies away from the fact that the character has had a rough few years in the pages of his book, and even makes a point of having Matt explain to his best friend and partner, Foggy Nelson, that he knows how close to being crazy he is, but that Matt just doesn’t care and will deal with it as best he can.

The first few issues of the series address Matt’s return to New York and crimefghting, how the rest of the superhero community, and public, see the character, and has DD face off against a couple of Marvel villains that are new to the character but work in a Daredevil book because of their unique characteristics.  A Spider-Man villain and a Black Panther/Fantastic Four villain in the first 6 issues is not bad, as well as laying the groundwork for what has become one of my favourite story lines in many years.  A truce has been formed by some of the biggest criminal organizations in the Marvel Universe, and Daredevil comes to possess a hard drive full of all of their collected information which had been held in trust by a financial organization.  How the criminal organizations deal with DD having access to their info, and the ways Daredevil plays them against each other is some of the finest comics writing I have read.

It’s no surprise to anyone reading the current Daredevil series that the book started strong and shows no signs of slowing down or stopping in the near future.  In 2012 the Daredevil team won several industry awards for “Best Writer”, “Best new series”, “Best continuing or limited series” and “Best single issue or One Shot” for Daredevil issue #7.  Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera are going strong on the series, and if the writing and art continue as they have since this series debut then I would think there’s no reason they won’t continue to win awards and the hearts of fans for the long term.

If any of this has served to pique your interest and maybe get you thinking about reading a Daredevil comic, then I will consider it a success and an honour to share my love for this character with you.  I hope that you take my advice and either track down copies of the issues from #1 to current or grab the trade paperback versions to get caught up on Daredevil.  To do that, as well as go back and read some of what are, in my opinion, the best Daredevil stories from all of the runs of the character, I will provide some recommended reading below:

• Daredevil by Mark Waid, Volume 1 through 4
• Daredevil by Frank Miller, Volume 1 & 2
• Daredevil: Yellow by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
• Daredevil by Kevin Smith, Jimmy Palmlotti and Joe Quesada
• Daredevil, The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr

 

Daredevil has had a long and storied history with Marvel Comics since his debut all the way back in April of 1964, so I find it fitting that we pay tribute to this great character today on Hobby Hysteria.  Though the character has often been portrayed as a depressed and continually assaulted street-level hero, Mark Waid’s current series has brought life, laughter and adventure back to a character that has seen some hard times.  With new stories and encountering some of the great villains of the Marvel Universe in only the first 24 issues, Mr. Waid is well on his way to defining a new era for the Man Without Fear.  I sincerely hope you will invest a little faith in my word, and this character, and pick up a few issues or a trade paperback in order to see what all the hype is about, as I expect this series will be on many must-read lists for the foreseeable future.

I’d love to get your thoughts on the character, and the current Daredevil run, in the comments below, or be sure to drop me a line at northblade@hobbyhysteria.com with any feedback you may have.

Until next time, Make Mine Marvel!

– Northblade

 

* – Yes I’m fully aware Batman does not have any radar sense, but really, the description alone makes you think of a bat-character rather than a daredevil, doesn’t it?  Heck they even joke about radar in the Chris Nolan film starring that character…