Welcome to the Devil in Detail, where I’m going to trace our way through 40 years of Daredevil and the seminal runs that began each era, Frank Miller in the 1980s, Brain Michael Bendis in the 2000s and Chip Zdarsky in the 2020s.
This week we have Miller and Klaus Janson’s debut in Daredevil Vol. 1 #158-161, Bendis and Mack’s story ‘Wake Up,’ and Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto’s first arc, ‘Know Fear.’
Daredevil Vol. 1 #158-161 ‘Marked for Murder’ and other stories
These four issues mark the start of Frank Miller and Klaus Jason’s time on “Daredevil” as artist and inker respectively. It’s a blast from the past that I enjoyed a fair bit, so let’s dive right into the adventures of Lanky Frank and Kinky Klaus (I’m going to call him that literally every chance I get).
So I’d say the dynamic duo had a pretty shaky first impression on me, for one Matt’s blonde in this, which is a big no-no, and Miller’s art feels pretty standard-issue in the early scenes of #158. But the moment Murdock dons the suit, I realised why Miller got the job. It’s a really cool debut, you can really see Miller flourishing in his fight scenes as he leans into the physicality and anatomy of Daredevil, which becomes the focal point of his art in works like “Dark Knight Returns.” We get some fun character designs too, Black Widow has winning 80s hair and at one point we see Matt attempting to go incognito by dressing in bright red leather, it sure as fuck doesn’t work but it’s a sick outfit that leads to a great bar fight at Josie’s.
#158 is a fun enough entrypoint, Death-Stalker might not be the most Daredevil-y villain ever but I’m a big fan of the insane backstory of a time travelling cyborg using stolen AIM tech who decides the name Exterminator isn’t hardcore enough so he becomes Death-Stalker. It’s like a precursor to every 90s comic ever. He also looks a little like Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V which is cool. The fight between them is pretty great, it’s kind of over-commentated, which comes at the art’s detriment, but Daredevil is one of the few superheroes where that level of articulation almost makes sense because he can’t see the visuals we’re seeing. Also, it might not make sense that Death-Stalker can evade Matt’s radar sense through time distortion but it’s cool anyway. #159-161 was a pretty good arc, using a whole issue to set up Bullseye as a mysterious benefactor was a really great way to keep him interesting, plus the way Daredevil beats him here reminds me of Foolkiller in “Man Without Fear” last week. It does feel like the story’s just going through the motions by #161 though, as writer Roger McKenzie doesn’t bring much new to the story. We get some great bits along the way though, like how Black Widow is a spy but she literally has her arrival into and exit from New York on the front page of the Daily Bugle, very low-profile.
If you ever wanted a ‘Welcome to comics in the 80s’ then this a great introduction, we get one villain who seems like he’s trying to bring back the gorilla age of comics plus everything is drenched in Stan Lee branding. Probably as prominent as the time period here is how clearly you can tell where this is being written from, this truly is a unique New York. Water towers everywhere! Daredevil soaring past the Flatiron! Pete and MJ wandering the streets! they’ve got it all!
We get some A+ character moments throughout too, Ben Urich drops by with his big fishbowl eyes and loose tie, starting to go down the rabbit hole that leads to his characterisation in “Wake Up.” Professional screw-up Turk Barrett pops up here as well (just thought you guys should know, his first appearance was in Daredevil #69, the sexy minx) I’m a big fan of him making threats through his broken jaw, so much commitment. Black Widow gets the roughest bill of anyone though. Her getting strangled with a hairdryer might be the most demeaning comic book cover ever, but it’s also got some bible symbols, so who knows, maybe it’s a secret masterpiece.There’s just so much weird misogynistic stuff, throughout, like Bullseye throwing hairbrushes and flowers at her while Daredevil gets knives and playing cards, it’s such a weird double standard, plus she literally has Daredevil on a pedestal in her house, fucking hell.
Continued belowAnyway, this was a fun introduction with some really amazing art, if you have any interest in retro comics it’s a good read.
Daredevil Vol. 2 #16-19 Wake Up
I’ve been pretty religiously keeping up with Daredevil for 5ish years now, meaning I’ve read all of the Charles Soule/Chip Zdarsky stuff cover to cover and have dotted around some other stories in the meantime (I’ve also watched all of the show, not exactly relevant here but very fun nonetheless). I tell you all that to give you some perspective when I say that ‘Daredevil: Wake Up’ is my favourite Daredevil story I’ve read to this day. It ticks all of my boxes, it’s a story with very personal stakes, an inventive art style, a vulnerable point of view character and a perfect mix of standalone storytelling and riffs on continuity. Honestly, if you haven’t read it, just trust me now, go get your hands on it however you can and come back to this later, this is a can’t miss.
The most striking feature of this whole story is David Mack’s art. I’ve seen him on covers for ages but this was my first comic I’ve seen his interiors on (since then I managed to get my hands on a copy of “Kabuki” don’t worry) and it blew me away. The most staggering part is the sheer variety of styles he can slot in at any given moment, right out of the gate he pulls out some classic house-style superhero action, then shifts gears into watercolor paints, then to cartoonist pencils, then surrealist art, then life-drawings; where have Marvel been hiding this man?! The whole thing feels like Dave McKean’s “Arkham Asylum” except I can read it without wanting to slam my head against a wall.
On top of that sheer talent, Mack has a knack (ha) for really creative storytelling. There’s some great full page portraits that give space for some longer prose sections by Bendis, as well as little tidbits that kept me trawling each page, for example there’s some of the best psychoanalysis of Daredevil just tucked in the corner of a page at one point, madness! His illustrations for Kingpin and Daredevil are both great and really menacing in their own ways, with Kingpin being full of gravity and shadows while Matt looks a little more vulnerable in his body shape and his mouth (basically everywhere around the cowl) but carries this certain authority through his costume. The only gripe I have with this is the mixed lettering, sometimes David Mack hand-letters as part of his art, which works great for the stream of consciousness fluid art. But there are also some bits of house-style lettering mixed in that aren’t bad, but they’re just kind of flat compared to everything else. Anyway, other than that tiniest of quibbles, I’m so happy that a comic like this exists.
It blows my mind that Bendis could write something as vapid as “Ninja” and then bounce back one title later with something as heart wrenching as this. There’s such a shift in how he approaches dialogue and exposition here, everything’s a little more subtle, a little more loose, it might just be the bigger page count he’s working with (and the pace of the actual stories) but it’s so much nicer and so much more fluid. But most importantly, he 100% confirms that Matt has red hair and I love him for it, my loose grip on reality has returned. There are a couple moments where he exposits on Daredevil’s backstory one too many times and some of the actual dialogue doesn’t really jive with Urich’s voice but overall the whole thing reads really well and presents a genuinely emotional story. I think the more casual, larrikin Daredevil voice he used in “Ninja” works a lot better here too, seeing as Matt isn’t the POV character anymore.
I think that leads us to the meat of this story, the story of Timmy Lange, the son of the Leap-Frog. We’re basically following Ben Urich as he investigates the trauma inflicted on this kid by his father, aspiring super-criminal Buford Lange, it’s all very ‘The Girl who Drew Spider-Man’ meaning you’re probably going to be needing tissues. I think the most impressive thing about how the story’s being told is how well it encapsulates those weird ways you perceive the world as a child. All his intrusive thoughts are crammed into the margins of the page, making way for the dominating thoughts of the adults around him, his panels have soft borders compared to the heavy gutters of Urich’s, and there’s just this overwhelming feeling of arbitrary powerlessness that makes me almost uncomfortable to remember. Along with some great motifs of repressed trauma (broken action figures, monstrous portraits of adults, all the fun stuff) Bendis and Mack present this really raw and heartfelt reconstruction of living in a world that tears everything away from you even when you’re just a child.
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Honestly, Ben Urich doesn’t get the appreciation he deserves. He’s like Daredevil’s Jim Gordon and we all know that Jim Gordon is way cooler than Batman could ever dream of being. If you haven’t already you nned to read his appearances in Dennis Hallum’s “Doctor Strange” and “Spider-Woman” stuff. The whole story basically puts Urich’s journalistic integrity under a microscope as he looks into how he’s haunted by his own moral code and the stories he can’t make himself write. It’s done in this great mix of writing and art, like how he’s constantly getting chewed up by J Jonah Jameson (who’s surprisingly sympathetic in this) for avoiding the Wilson Fisk story, as well as in Mack’s art where whenever he contemplates outing Matt it’s lettered in news-print, rrrgh, this is such a smart comic. Also we get the absolutely ideal Peter Parker cameo at one point, you could read it just for that and come out happy. Please just read ‘Wake Up’ however and whenever you can, it’s such a goldmine.
Daredevil Vol. 6 #1-5 ‘Know Fear’
In early 2019 the odd-couple creative team of Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto took up the mantle on “Daredevil.” Zdarsky as famous for his comedies, sci-fis and decidedly un-Daredevil-y stories, and Checchetto who had been cutting his teeth on “Punisher” and “Daredevil” for upwards of 8 years, it was the perfect kind of mix to get me excited before I’d even seen a cover (and there will never be a day where I’m not in love with Julian Totino Tedesco’s covers, if anyone can find where I can buy prints of them I’ll love you forever). This is the story of Daredevil after his rehab, how a man who only just learnt how to be afraid steps back into a life he isn’t sure he can keep up with anymore, this is “Know Fear.”
Matt Murdock looks amazing under the hand’s of Checchetto and colorist Sunny Gho, it’s a really grounded look that uses high fidelity pencils and a rich palette to create a wealth of emotion in each expression and levels of freedom in its landscapes that feel quintessential to the Hornhead. But I swear, Marco Checcetto is incapable of making Matt ugly, he only gets hotter the more beat up he gets, even smiling through bloodied teeth he looks amazing. He’s so good at placing a man under the cowl too, using Matt’s layers of emotional obscurity (both the mask he wears as a hero and the heavy glasses in his civilian identity) to portray emotion, it means in the scenes that are unobscured are potent with empathy and expression. I’m completely smitten with the new costume too. It’s a little less skin tight, with an obvious belt and chunky cargo pants, but there’s still some really muscular and anatomical elements to it, also the hand wraps are iconic. Aside from the character stuff Gho and Checchetto obviously have a knack for composition, blocking and populating their scenes with emptiness and cluttered space.
I think my only problem with the illustration was that, while Checchetto draws really great figures, there’s not much motion to them sometimes. When you compare this to Miller’s pencils from earlier there’s a pretty heavy contrast (though there was definitely a heavier emphasis on paired-down, linear motion in the 60s to 80s). A lot of the panels in action sequences just feel muddled or empty, without a huge degree of sequencing to them. That being said, there are some great action beats, both of Daredevil’s one on one fights with Detective Cole and the Punisher are great and read really well.
Writer Chip Zdarsky kills it in this arc. I’ll get into his themes and characterisation in a bit, but I really enjoyed his minute to minute dialogue and grasp on character relationships. For example, there’s one conversation between Matt and his hook-up in #1 about how Matt being blind changes her perception of her body and her sexuality. It’s a nice beat even if I don’t know what it’s trying to say in the wider text. It’s just great seeing Chip bring the empathy and insight he and Matt Fraction do so well in “Sex Criminals” to this, but Daredevil has a long way to in the art of post-sex spooning. I enjoyed Zdarsky’s short story at the end of #1 as well, it really emphasises how much more paired back his pencils are compared to the layered and detailed art of Checchetto. I loved how lettering becomes a part of the illustration, it’s so geometric and shaped in a way that strengthens this largely silent story. It was a perfectly sensory accompaniment.
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There’s a great scene right at the start of the series where a young Matt talks to his priest about the contrast between the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Caesar, which is a great encapsulation of the series’ theme as a whole, the divide between the greater good we decide for ourselves and the more objective laws of the society we inhabit. It’s the contention for the whole series, how Matt finds the balance between the two. This all comes to a head after the first issue’s amazing reveal. Daredevil killed a man. A random burglar on the street in a complete accident brought on by his lack of control, lack of confidence and lack of ability from his lifetime of combat. It’s so fucking smart and intense and perfect to push Matt down an avenue he never has been before, there’s been times where he’s killed consciously (although I’m gonna pretend that part of “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear” didn’t happen), but you never really see a hero killing on accident (that was one of my favorite parts of “Injustice” too). This spurs on the five stages of grief in Daredevil that he’s only a smidgen of the way through by the arc’s end. He begins in denial as he looks for somewhere to shift the blame, shaking down doctors and spying on the Kingpin, insisting that he has to remain in the public eye. He can’t seem guilty so he never has to admit guilt. It takes his encounter with The Punisher to finally get him to admit what he’s done and move from anger to denial. In this tage he dons The Punisher’s emblem and starts lashing out more violently, using knives and chains and car doors to pulp The Owl’s gang. At the end of it all there’s finally this moment when Daredevil admits what he’s done and breaks down in front of his peers. The mesh of art and writing makes it hit really hard as we stare into Matt’s piercing blue eyes.
This arc is full of great foils, seeing as we’re dealing with a version of Daredevil who’s so unsure of himself that he kind of has to be surrounded by others to forge a new identity. As I said before, Punisher was a great point of comparison in the wake of Matt’s revelation. He brings this really utilitarian perspective to their debate while Daredevil brings an emotive one, again leaning into his grief. Plus it’s great to see Marco drawing him again, I love Punisher’s gross den, it really makes him feel like a superhero without a double life. On the other end of the spectrum we have Matt’s confrontations with the superego-driven Cole North who works as this perfect moral axiom, even if he feels like a really canned personality. He’s just so far from taking anyone’s bullshit. There are some fun moments between Matt and the Defenders as well where we see their shame and pity towards this version of Matt, but I think the best moments come from his meeting with Spider-Man. It’s just a great contrast between the bruised and disillusioned Matt and Spider-Man who’s always represented a cleaner, younger, more optimistic kind of hero, the kind of person who can stare Matt in the eyes and say “You’re done,” maybe the only hero who could make Matt toss away the mask.
There’s so many more moments in here I wish I had time to talk about, Matt’s interactions with catholicism, his relationship with Foggy, how motifs are used throughout, the portrayal of Fisk and more. I’m already way over time though so I’ll leave you on the same amazing image Zdarsky and Checchetto do. Daredevil bleeding and unravelled, his mask gone, and the panes of his window enveloping him like a cage, with a light he’s blind to beaming down on him.
Murdock’s Musings:
-“The Black Widow Still destroys everything… and everyone… she touches” -Narration by Roger McKenzie (“Daredevil” vol. 1 #158)
-“Timmy was born into this world just like the rest of us … and, like many of us, he has spent every conscious moment of it trying, as best he can, to tune it all out. Because just like the rest of us, no one asked Timmy what kind of environment he would like to live in. Certainly, no one told Timmy that sometimes life just isn’t fair. That sometimes people can be mean for no good reason. That people who say they love you, can treat you badly. But most importantly, no one bothered to tell Timmy that these things are not his fault.” -Ben Urich by Brian Michael Bendis (“Daredevil” vol. 2 #19)
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-“I’ve patched up guys who crossed you. All of us here have. If anyone knows how… how precise you are, how surgical you are with inflicting violence it’s me. Every one of those people you send to the hospital gets better. I don’t know how you manage to know bodies that… intimately… but trust me when I say this… you’ve screwed up. Somebody’s dead, and you need to stop with the violence. There are other ways to help, I mean, with your abilities… you should have been a doctor” -Dr. Moffat by Chip Zdarsky (“Daredevil” vol. 6 #2)
-“I’m a good enough Catholic to always repent… but a good enough raised catholic to feel like it’ll never apply to me” -Matt Murdock by Chip Zdarsky (“Daredevil” vol. 6 #2)
-“It’s no contest, Frank. You’re amateur hour. You’re a demon sure… But I’m the Devil.” -Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky (“Daredevil” vol. 6 #4)
-“You’re done. All of us know that we can’t do this job forever. That there’s going to come a day when we make too many missteps, when our bodies fail, when too many people get hurt and not enough get saved. I’d hope somebody would step up and let me know when it’s my day. Right now? It’s your day. It’s over.” -Spider-Man by Chip Zdarsky (“Daredevil” vol. 6 #5)
Next time we march on with Miller’s last issues before becoming series writer, the beginning Bendis and Maleev’s run in ‘Underboss,’ and a recap of Zdarsky’s second arc, ‘No Devils, Only God.’
