“Kevin Smith changed everything.” That’s how Joe Quesada opens his introduction for the “Daredevil: Guardian Devil” trade paperback. He goes on to praise Smith for the leap he took from Hollywood to comic books saying, “He was symbolic of what was to come, and I will love him and sing his praises from now until the cows come home. […] It was a very risky venture on his part, but he did it. And he succeeded.” Kevin Smith, alongside Joe Quesada, launched the Marvel Knights imprint with “Daredevil,” acting as a catalyst for one of the most fondly remembered period of Marvel Comics history, but how does it hold up twenty years later? And was Joe Quesada right to praise Smith as much as he did and continues to do?
Written by Kevin SmithCover by Joe Quesada
Penciled by Joe Quesada
Inked by Jimmy Palmiotti
Colored by Dan Kemp
Lettered by Richard Starkings and Liz AgraphiotisA scared teenager on the run. An infant child some say is humanity’s savior. A former lover whose life is now hobbled by a terrible secret. A law partner accused of a horrible crime. A city being overcome by an inscrutable menace. They need a guardian. Someone to protect them. Someone with faith in them. They need Daredevil. “Guardian Devil” found Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) confidently transitioning from writing acclaimed screenplays to comics that hit the top of the sales charts and critics’ lists. It also found artist Joe Quesada at his peak as the stylist that would usher Marvel Comics into the 21st century – both as an artist and its future editor in chief. Collecting DAREDEVIL #1-8.
A quick history lesson for those who may need a refresher: a recently bankrupt Marvel Comics approached Joe Quesada and asked him and his team at Event Comics to produce a line of comic books to be dubbed Marvel Knights. These books would take then-considered “B-Tier” characters like Daredevil, Punisher, and Black Panther, and create stand-alone stories that weren’t heavily bogged down by continuity and give them new life. This new imprint gave birth to fan-favorite runs like Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira’s “The Black Panther” and Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion’s “The Punisher.”
Quesada chose to draw the one of the first of the books to launch, “Daredevil,” and personally asked filmmaker Kevin Smith to write it. At the time, it was fairly unheard of for writers to make the jump from TV/Film to comics- with the notable exception of Jeph Loeb. The result was an 8-issue arc that sees Daredevil’s life get turned upside down and his faith challenged due to unseen forces acting against him. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that also happens in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s “Daredevil: Born Again.” So yeah, ‘Guardian Devil’ is a ‘Born Again’ sequel that nods enough to the original that a comparison can’t help be drawn but manages to stand on its own legs without being completely derivative.
Kevin Smith has often spoken publicly about his love for the character and Frank Miller’s run, and that love shines through on this book. Smith writes Matt Murdock like he’s known Matt since childhood. Writers seem to have a hard time nailing down Matt’s voice and either lean too far into levity like a less funny Spider-Man or too far into the dark and brooding Batman archetype, but Smith manages a nice balance that creates a charming, modest, and grounded Matt. This solid characterization is found in most of Matt’s supporting cast as well: Foggy is doofy but loveable, Kingpin is terrifying and stoic, and Sister Maggie is both maternal and cold. Also, the brief Spider-Man appearance near the end is a wonderful cameo that shows an understanding of that character and explores how heroes can help each other through traumatic events.
Karen Page, however, is handled with less grace. “Problematic” is maybe too harsh of a description- but not by much. A more diplomatic description of Smith’s characterization of Page might be “ham-fisted,” “underdeveloped,” or “tone-deaf.” She has legitimate character beats, but most of them revolve around her relationship with Matt, her sexual history, or her drug-use. Unfortunately, she functions more as a plot-device to further Matt’s descent into madness instead of a character.
Continued belowThe overall story of ‘Guardian Devil’ is great comic-booking. No spoilers here, but the final reveal of the villain and all of the tools he had deployed is an actual surprise that, while a little corny, feels believable and true to the character. And more importantly, the book is fun. Smith’s scripts are very text heavy, but unlike other books, the script itself is so tight that it doesn’t feel like a slog to get from one page to another, and a lot of that has to do with Quesada’s art.
Let’s talk about Joe Quesada’s art. Quesada is unquestionably one of the most important figures in recent the history of Marvel Comics, probably in all of comics’ recent history, but his art in ‘Guardian Devil’ left me with mixed feelings.
This book basically has two modes: awesome, action oriented semi-realistic comic book gold and awkward, cartooney sequences that left me scratching my head. And it’s either one or the other, there’s not a lot of in-between. Normally, I don’t think switching between styles in a comic is necessarily a bad thing, and I wouldn’t say that it’s so bad here that it renders the book unreadable, but it was cringe-worthy at points. During character beats and dialogue heavy scenes, Quesada’s characters seem to lack definitive models. Their faces, for example, look like melting plastic and often contort or stretch into different shapes from panel to panel. Luckily, most of these character’s are distinguished enough that it would be difficult to confuse who they are, but even Matt’s appearance in the very first panel is drastically different from any other time we see him out of costume. Having said that, the action in this book is on-point and clear. Quesada’s paneling is tight and cinematic from the get go and the double splash pages presenting the title cards of each issue are pin-up worthy. The excessive line he gives Daredevil’s billy club/grappling hook wraps, twists, and turns all around these pages and is a perfect example of how good Quesada’s line work can be.
The quality of Smith’s body of work is often debated these day, but for those would argue for his virtue as a writer, this is sure to be a well of evidence in his favor. And as for it acting as a signal for the (then) future of Marvel, I think there are elements of this book that reflect the modern golden age of the 2000’s for Marvel. So,’Guardian Devil’ is not a perfect book. Smith fumbles a bit with his female characters and Quesada either can’t decide what style the book should have or rushed his pages so he could also help curate the rest of Marvel Knights, but I think it holds its own as a classic Daredevil tale. At the very least, it succeeded in preparing to launch him into the 21st century and in its goal of renewing interest in the character. It certainly renewed mine.
