Daredevil

[Shane]

I saw a new picture of Daredevil hugging Foggy's grave.

so what's the deal?

I haven't picked up the last few issues what have I missed?

and has anyone seen some art from the new creative team?

[Iconoclastica]

I didn't get to read the last couple of issues because I've been studying like mad . . . but issue 78 was something of a decent climactic point in this whole mess . . . I don't know how much you know about the current story line, but essentially (reeally really abridged version of the last 20 issues or so) about a year ago, Matt was outted as Daredevil by one of the nyc tabloids, but Matt managed to convince the courts that he's not Daredevil . . . in the meantime, Matt also beat Wilson Fisk and declared himself the Kingpin. Fisk disappeared for a while. Matt got married to a blind chick, but then she left him because she realized that he was in a psycho phase when they got married, and that none of their relationship was necessarily as genuine as it should have been. Fisk recently resurfaced is now in the custody of the FBI . . . he just offered to make a plea bargain with them to give them proof that Matt is, in fact, Daredevil . . . and there's a mad rush of Daredevil, Elektra (!!), and the new White Tiger (the original's daughter, who took over post-mortem, and actually happened to be the FBI agent originally investigating Matt's case) . . . after that I didn't read . . . I think there's something about a big twist where Kingpin had no proof, but figured some way to squirm around things . . . sorry.

Regardless, the art is gorgeous - it's almost an impressionistic version of comic-art in many points, and I'm a fan . . . my favorite was a while back where Wolverine was in the picture, just because the style really brought out his most brutal elements. Regardless, I personally recommend the trade, though not many will.

[bluebottle]

i've read some really good stuff about the latest run of daredevil... like it's the best story out there right now.

i went and picked up a bunch of stuff today at the comic shop, i should have picked that up.

btw, marvel zombies is so ridiculous, it kicks ass.

[Shane]

I've read up to the first issue after the A.A. meeting abut daredevil in the basement, it was the one Ben went into prison to interview Wilson

[Shane]

so is Foggy Dead and is Matt in Jail?

[Ribbons]

Spoiler Warning?

[thomasgaffney]

Soiler Warning?

Do you want to be warned when you're going to soil your pants?

[Ribbons]

Dammit, I thought I had edited that one quickly enough! Well played, sir.

[thomasgaffney]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

By the time I quoted you, typed my post, and hit submit, I saw that yours was fixed. But not fast enough!

[Chairman Kaga]

I wish there were soiler warnings in life...

[Shane]

so what is it?

[Colin]

Brubaker kills Foggy off when he starts his run next month.

[Shane]

and matt? what's up with him and prison?

[Colin]

He's in prison for being Daredevil.

[DennisMM]

And you just know he's working on ruling the joint once he manages to stay alive.

[Shane]

So he is or is not a fugitive?

[burlivesleftnut]

I don't think you qualify as a fugitive until you actually escape. He just got in, and now you know all that we know.

[Shane]

I don't think you qualify as a fugitive until you actually escape. He just got in, and now you know all that we know.

That's what I'm asking they said something about him being a fugitive on the main site.

[Adam Balm]

[Shane]

It's all been done, now it's a question of who tells the story better isn't it?

[Adam Balm]

Pretty much, honestly..

[Iconoclastica]

**SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS**

Here's the deal with Bendis's last issue - it starts with Matt in court being prosecuted (for the usual crime of being a vigilante, etc) . . . the judge asks him if he's pleading not-guilty or guilty. Matt pauses to think about it, and suddenly he breaks out of his cuffs and makes a run for it. You see him meet up with Milla and Natasha - he disappears with Milla to Paris. Then one night, you see an Ace of Spades playing card slice through Milla's throat while she's asleep - Bullseye. Matt proceeds to beat him to death. Witnesses begin to call for authorities, and we flash to Matt having changed locations to Japan, his last option. He is talking with Elektra about why they never worked out in college, and how he really has no where else to go.

Back to the courtroom. Matt's still contemplating things . . . and he finally decides, "not guilty." The judge says Matt's being sent to Ryker's Island. We see Fisk walking out of the courthouse smiling among all of the journalists asking questions . . . when suddenly he is arrested by the FBI for the murder of Jonathan Roche - a loophole in the plea bargain that would have set him free - the solid physical evidence came after the bargain was made. The we come to the jail cell - The Owl is mocking Kingpin from adjacent cells, and getting threats (considering his stupidity) from various other underground villains from Daredevil's past. Then we see Matt being escorted through the prison in complete prisoner garb. The last page is a conversation between the FBI director and the prison warden:

-Just sign there, Mr. Warden
-They're going to kill each other.
-Mr. Warden, they are completely separate from the rest of the prisoners. They are locked away on a floating prison island removed from society
-That's not what I'm talking about, Mr. Director. I can't believe a man of your experience thinks locking them up all together like this is a good idea.
-After all the hell and heart-break they have each cost this city . . . considering the hell and money and heartbreak their trials will cost this city . . . after all the late nights of paperwork, dead agents, and running around chasing the devil's tail that I've had to contend with . . . you're saying that they might kill each other? Sounds like a fantastic idea.

[Shane]

thanks Iconoclastica that's what I wanted to hear.

[Iconoclastica]

thanks Iconoclastica that's what I wanted to hear.

I aim to misbehave . . .


no, wait . . . I aim to please. Yeah, that's it

[Leckomaniac]

So I just read Dardevil #82, and I must say that
*SPOILER* While at first I was upset that they were going to kill off Foggy, I must say that it this issue was handled perfectly. It really shows the urgency of the situation. I really loved it.

[Shane]

I am going to empty my 5 month full file in a few weeks, and |I'll catch up, |I can't wait for the new DD. how is the new creative team?

[Colin]

Fucking great. They're keeping the same tone as Bendis and Maleev, but doing it better.

[Leckomaniac]

I must agree Colin this was a great issue. It was such a flawless transition. This storyline is great, it will go down as a monumental moment in the histroy of DD.

[Shane]

I don't see how they will keep Matt in jail, but it would be good to see, and It would be good to keep this other Daredevil running around, and keep his identity a secret from the readers for quite a while. But you know that the fact that daredevil is still operating will be the Jury's shadow of a doubt.

[TheButcher]

From IGN:
Daredevil #501 Preview

Daredevil #501 Review - Diggle and De La Torre introduce another bold new direction for Daredevil.

Daredevil #502 Preview

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
Antony Johnston Deals with the Daredevil

[TheButcher]

From ComiXology:
Daredevil/Echo: Parts of A Hole HC Premiere Hardcover

[TheButcher]

IGN Preview: Daredevil #506

[TheButcher]

Marvel First Look - DAREDEVIL #512

CBR ADVANCE PREVIEW: "Daredevil" #512

[TheButcher]

Diggle Dares Matt Murdock to be Reborn

You know that expression about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? Nobody in the Marvel Universe understands it better than Matt Murdock. In the recently completed "Shadowland" event, Murdock - in his guise as the costumed crime-fighter Daredevil - used the ninja assassin cult known as the Hand to implement an aggressive campaign to fight crime in Hell's Kitchen. It turned out, however, that the Hand had ensnared Murdock in a trap designed to turn him into a monster.

Thanks to the efforts of Murdock's super-powered friends, the Hand's scheme failed - but Murdock has been left a broken and guilt-ridden man. This January, writer Andy Diggle is joined by artist Davide Gianfelice ("Northlanders") to kick off "Daredevil: Reborn," a four issue miniseries showing how Murdock might recover from the traumatic events of "Shadowland." CBR News spoke with Diggle about "Reborn" and the dramatic finales of both "Shadowland" and "Daredevil."

"When Ed Brubaker left 'Daredevil,' Matt had just become leader of the Hand, which very much changed the tenor of the 'Daredevil' comic. There's a big difference between a one-man, lone-wolf vigilante and the leader of an ancient, internationally powerful, criminal ninja empire. Intrinsically tied up with that was the question of, why would they turn to him in the first place," Diggle told CBR News. "He's their arch-enemy, and he never kills. They're assassins. So why would they choose him? Answering that question became the spine of the story. They must have known he'd never let them kill, so they must have had some ulterior motive. Then I remembered that the Hand had always worshiped the Beast, as we saw in Frank Miller stories like 'Elektra: Assassin' and 'Elektra Lives Again.' So I thought, 'Ah-ha! They're trying to trick Matt Murdock into damning himself!' It also occurred to me that everyone had forgotten about the Beast. So when I finally revealed him as the Big Bad, the readers would hopefully think, 'Of course! We should have realized that all along!'

"So the idea that they were trying to trick Matt into becoming a vessel for the Beast was one of the first things I came up with. It never occurred to me that it would be a big separate crossover event," Diggle continued "'Shadowland' was really just going to be an arc of my regular run on the title. And what has become 'Daredevil Reborn' is simply the way I always intended to end my run. Again, it's become a separate miniseries, but really, as far as I'm concerned, it's all one big story. I don't worry too much about what title they slap on the front cover."

While he was possessed by the Beast, Matt Murdock performed a number of heinous acts, but it was in "Shadowland" #5 when the demon finally pushed him too far, attempting to get him to kill his best friend, Foggy Nelson. This allowed Matt to temporarily break free from the Beast's hold, presenting the hero Iron Fist with the opportunity to hit Murdock with a Chi-empowered blow. This temporarily energized Matt and, with Elektra's help, allowed him to free himself from the demon's thrall.

"Foggy is very much the human point-of-view in this big, super-powered story. We kind of lose sight of Matt when he gets subsumed by this evil persona," Diggle explained. "So we needed somebody else to be our point-of-view character; to kind of ground things for the reader. Foggy has a lot of heart, and because it's heart that Matt loses, it needed to be Foggy that brought him back. In a way, Foggy was Matt's lifeline back to a normal life."

Once being freed of the Beast's influence, Daredevil then had to come to grips with all the violence he committed while the demon's thrall, including the cold-blooded murder of his old foe Bullseye, which occurred in "Shadowland" #1. "At the end of ‘Daredevil' #512, we had Matt take responsibility for it," Diggle said. "We had the opportunity to give Matt a sort of moral get out of jail free card by blaming the Beast, but we chose not to. We could have just said, 'Oh he was possessed. It's not his fault. It doesn't count.' I thought that was a little too easy, and it was a bit too much of a cop-out. It would make it inconsequential, and stories should have consequence. Otherwise it's just filler."

When it came to the decision to kill off Daredevil's most dangerous foe, Diggle told CBR News he simply felt it was time the psychopathic assassin experienced some consequences for his past actions. "One of my first jobs at Marvel was writing 'Thunderbolts,' with Bullseye as major player. And while he's a fun character to write, he's deeply unpleasant. I don't consider him an anti-hero, or somebody you love to hate; I consider him to be the worst kind of monster. Then I wrote him again in 'Dark Reign: Hawkeye,' where Bullseye is pretending to be Hawkeye. And again, he's just this horrible monstrous character. After a while he showed up in 'Daredevil' again, and I was like, 'Why hasn't somebody killed this son of bitch?' Because the stuff he does is just horrendous," the writer remarked. "In the real world he probably would have been executed by now, but in comics they don't let you execute the super villains because they need to be back next month. So I thought it was ballsy of Marvel to allow me to kill him off. They said, 'If you want to kill Bullesye, go ahead and kill Bullseye.' So respect to Marvel for that. We'll see how long he stays dead! I'm not naive. This is comics. But at the same time, let's write with conviction."

Bullseye may have been a despicable human being, but that doesn't mean Matt Murdock isn't feeling any guilt over killing his longtime nemesis. "Recently, Matt has been rather petulant and selfish, and frankly, hasn't really been guilty enough. There's a difference between guilt and self-pity. I think he's indulged in too much self-pity without really being self-aware. I find that hard to respect in a person," Diggle said. "I thought, 'Let's give him something to feel guilty about!' But it's not black and white. It's like the old question of whether Batman should kill the Joker. Could that ever be justified? It's not an easy yes or no answer. It's interesting. There's a moral gray area, and that's where the drama happens. So let's see him deal with the consequences.

"Frank Miller did it in 'Born Again,' when the Kingpin beat on Matt Murdock 'til he snapped," Diggle continued. "Then, to see Matt build himself back up from that is fantastic drama. But once that's been done, you don't want to see it done again and again. You can only keep playing that card so many times. I wanted to take that to the point of no return, to take Matt to a place where he couldn't really get any worse. He really hits bottom. So now we're going to see if he can climb all the way back up again. 'Daredevil: Reborn' is sort of an epilogue to 'Shadowland.' I'm trying to clear the decks a little and prepare for whatever comes next. Whoever decides to tackle the Daredevil legacy next will have a clean slate, so they can bring their own thing to the character instead of having to continue my story."

The final page of "Daredevil" #512 revealed Matt Murdock's guilt had caused him to flee New York and begin a trek across the country, and "Daredevil: Reborn" #1 opens with him strolling into a small town in New Mexico. "I wanted to tell a Matt Murdock story rather than a Daredevil story. Right now, he's kind of turned his back on Daredevil. Matt feels that he doesn't deserve to be Daredevil any more because of all the pain and suffering he caused during 'Shadowland,'" Diggle said. "He's in such a low place, he just wants to run away from it all and lose himself in the wilderness. So there's no New York City. There's no costume. There's none of that. It just starts with a lone guy walking out of the badlands and dealing with the ramifications of his guilt."

The opening of "Daredevil: Reborn" unfolds like a classic Spaghetti Western, with a loner drifting into a small town with big troubles. "Matt is the lone gunslinger who walks into town. And it's a town with problems. I guess it's not spoiling things too much to say that the police department of this small New Mexican town is not completely on the straight and narrow, and Matt kind of stumbles into the middle of something big that's about to go down," Diggle said. "His first reaction is to say, 'It's not my problem. I don't do this anymore.' That's a big change for the character, and it may be fairly shocking to some readers. But he's not the same guy he used to be.

"This story is about how he's dealing with stuff now. Is he going to turn the other cheek? Partly, I wanted to send Matt back to the church, as a man who prays and takes confession. I think that works for the character, I think it's interesting. And frankly, he's got some stuff to confess now," Diggle continued, laughing. "I'm not a religious person myself, but the ideals of Christianity - charity, forgiveness, turning the other cheek, non-violence - are very strong ideals to live up to. The idea of being a non-violent, forgiving character when you're a Marvel superhero [Laughs] is kind of interesting actually. Because superheroes traditionally solve all their problems through violence. So I thought I'd play with that and see how far I can take it. What happens when a superhero refuses to fight? Does it just make him a coward? Or does it make him stronger?"

In the beginning, "Daredevil: Reborn" is a fairly grounded story with the only fantastic elements being Matt Murdock's super powered senses. "When I was writing 'Daredevil,' I tried to make sure we only saw Matt's inner monologue when he was dreaming. There would be an occasional dream sequence where Elektra and others would try to warn him about something inside him, which we now know was the Beast. The idea was that there was something inside Matt's mind that's kind of blanking him; blanking out his own will," Diggle explained. "Once he's no longer possessed, we get the real Matt back and that's why we get to see inside his head again. Now I'm writing 'Daredevil: Reborn' and it's all interior monologue all the time. You'll experience things from his point of view. You get more sensory input than we did before."

Since "Daredevil: Reborn" takes place in a small New Mexican town, the supporting cast will be composed of entirely new characters. Chief among the cast are two different kids of villains. "The best bit of advice I ever got on writing superheroes was from Mark Millar. He said, 'Always create your own villains.' That way you can tailor them to the story you want to tell and you don't have to worry about endless continuity," Diggle said. "The main adversary Matt has to deal with is Cole, a corrupt small town sheriff. We've also created a new super villain called Calavera, and he's been a lot of fun to write."

Diggle has been a fan of Davide Gianfelice ever since he first came across the artist's work in the first volume of Brian Wood's "Northlanders" series from Vertigo. He's been wanting to work with the Italian artist since then and felt Gianfelice's style would be perfect for this project in particular "Part of the reason I wanted to work with him was because 'Reborn' isn't your traditional superhero story. It hasn't got the usual visual iconography. It's not about muscles, and energy, and costumes. It's more about atmosphere and the look in a guy's eye when he's not saying anything. It almost has a Sergio Leone vibe to it," Diggle revealed. "That's the way I'm approaching it. There are lots of silent sequences. It's about mood and visual storytelling without dialogue. Davide is absolutely nailing those aspects. I couldn't be more excited to be working with him. I'd love for him to do my next book, too, if we can get it up and running."

"Daredevil: Reborn" is Diggle's final story featuring the Man Without Fear and the writer is very excited that he gets to end his run by telling this particular tale. "On the whole, I'm pretty pleased with how 'Shadowland' came out, but it's the most divisive thing I've ever written. Some readers loved it, some hated it. I've never had such a mixed reaction to anything I've done," Diggle said. "But I am very proud of 'Daredevil: Reborn.' It's very much me doing my own thing, telling the story my way and ending it the way I always wanted to end it."

[TheButcher]

Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera & Marcos Maritn to Relaunch 'Daredevil' [C2E2]

Marvel Comics confirmed at Saturday's "Cup O' Joe" panel at C2E2 the relaunching of its Daredevil title with a new issue #1 from the new creative team of writer Mark Waid and artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin. The series debuts in July of this year and will truly begin a new era for the Man Without Fear, following more than a decade of exclusively gritty, heavily noir-influenced stories that have utterly dismantled the life of poor Matt Murdock.

In contrast to the work of creators Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark, and Andy Diggle & Antony Johnston, who depicted Daredevil as a particularly tortured figure in an especially dark setting, Mark Waid is known for his more reverent approach to classic superhero characters and their worlds. Indeed, the preview artwork by Marcos Martin and Paolo Rivera seems to suggest a brighter and more classically "comic-booky" interpretation of Daedevil, which many longtime readers will no doubt welcome after more than ten years of superlative grimness. However, Waid is a writer unafraid of exploring the dark sides of his characters, as demonstrated by his work with Irredeemable and Potter's Field, and he is likely to surprise us with his work on the title.

An all-new era for Matt Murdock begins here, as he returns to New York to reclaim his life and the mantle of Daredevil! But for a man who's suspected of being Daredevil-and of the actions in Shadowland-how can he possibly become a lawyer again? Will the super heroes of New York accept that Matt is a hero they can once again trust? One thing's for sure- Murdock is back to protect the city he loves and he's jumping head first into danger, because there's nowhere else he'd rather be!

A new direction for Daredevil begins here as legendary writer Mark Waid, joined by the rotating art team of superstars Paolo Rivera & Marcos Martin, bring Daredevil back to his roots and then take him in directions you never imagined!

Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera & Marcos Martin's Daredevil is one of three major relaunches under Marvel's "Big Shots" initiative, by which major creative teams take over relatively B-list characters. The other Big Shots titles are Moon Knight by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev and Punisher by Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto.

[TheButcher]

Mark Waid Takes 'Daredevil' Uptown Starting In July

[TheButcher]

From Bleeding Cool:
Staring Into The World Of Paolo Rivera’s Daredevil #1 Cover

[Leckomaniac]

From Bleeding Cool:
Staring Into The World Of Paolo Rivera’s Daredevil #1 Cover

That is one INCREDIBLE cover. I'm a fan.

[Chilli]

Of every comic-book character not named Black Panther, Matthew Murdock needs to die for five years and then have a giant reboot.

[TheButcher]

Waid, Rivera & Martin Give the "Daredevil" His Due

In July, Marvel's Man Without Fear returns in "Daredevil" #1 by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin. Marvel has provided CBR News with an exclusive preview of the issue and we spoke with Waid and Rivera about it.

[TheButcher]

DAREDEVIL Artist Paolo Rivera Talks Going 'Back to Basics'

The past year and a half has not been kind to Daredevil. He was possessed by a demon and manipulated by the Hand during Shadowland, alienating his friends in the process.

Leaving Hell's Kitchen in the hands of the Black Panther, he embarked on a mission to find himself again — as a man and as a hero — as told in the recently wrapped miniseries Daredevil Reborn. Back in March, it was announced that series would be followed up by a new Daredevil ongoing starting this July with a new #1. Little has been announced with what direction the title will take, other than Matt Murdock getting back to his roots.

Joining writer and contemporary legend Mark Waid on the book is artist Paolo Rivera, who's built quite the name for himself in the past few years. He's worked on numerous Marvel projects in the recent past, including interior art on the Mythos series of one-shots and Amazing Spider-Man, plus covers for The Twelve. Newsarama sat down with Rivera to talk about what lies ahead for Matt Murdock, and what it's like working on such a classic character.

[TheButcher]

Daredevil's Triumphant Return

We go in-depth with the Daredevil team about the new series.

[TheButcher]

The Future of DAREDEVIL - Waid, Allred and More, LIVE!

[Leckomaniac]

Too bad to hear about Paolo Rivera leaving the book, but his reasons were absolutely understandable. He underlies the pitfalls of the WFH system.

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
Pipeline: Mazzuchelli's "Daredevil" Reigns Supreme
DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN ARTIST'S EDITION

When the "Daredevil: Born Again Artist's Edition" (IDW, $125) arrived at my doorstep, my three year old daughter wanted to open it right away. She was impressed that a book could be that large and that heavy. I opened up the box for her and she hefted the thing up as high as she could. It's literally half her size. This is not a book you're reading on the airplane en route to San Diego, though you will be able to pick it up at the IDW booth. The airline will probably charge you $50 if you classify it as carry-on, so be careful.

Like any "Absolute" edition, you need to sit at a table and open this puppy up like you're examining a classic manuscript that someone at the city library you're visiting had to dig out of a back room using white gloves.

Perhaps I'm overselling it, but these books are just that impressive. And large. "Born Again" is 200 pages measuring 12 by 17 inches.

I think I said this in my last review of an Artist's Edition (let's go with "AE," for brevity's sake), but it bears repeating: If you're looking for a fast read, this is not the format you want. Any AE will slow you up. It's not possible to just flip through the pages, scan the caption boxes and word balloons, and keep moving. There's not a page in this collection that you won't stop to stare and marvel at.

It starts on the inside front cover, with an image spread across the two pages of Daredevil stepping on some snowy wires, his weight bending them out towards the reader. As a small panel inside the story, it's a nifty little image, but seen at full size and in black and white, your eye starts picking out the details to see how it's done and to find things you just never noticed before. Specifically, Mazzucchelli uses either White-Out or some kind of white paint/correction fluid across the tops of those wire lines to mimic the snow. It's a trick that shouldn't make any sense, yet it does, even in (relatively speaking) black and white. It's not just negative space for its own sake. It adds width or depth to the place where Daredevil is running by blocking out a thin line of the background to show how there's more there in the foreground. Mazzucchelli doesn't draw the snow. He just blanks out the space it occupies and let's the surrounding art and the reader's imagination do the rest. The effect is even stronger where streaks of white paint simulate the driving snow fall.

You also get a better sense of the third dimension in Mazzucchelli's art. Shown this big, the way Daredevil's body twists a little bit and his limbs poke out and recede back are much more apparent. The ink line width differences help that, too. Seen at regular page size, it's almost cartoonish how the ink lines vary in size. But at this size, you get a better idea of the more subtle aspects of those lines. Maybe it's the better printing or the larger size or just the lack of color, but you see so much more here.

In some places, it's definitely the bigger size. Mazzucchelli uses lots of background screen patterns in the book. In the final comic, it makes for a fuzzy gray area, with some occasional moire patterns. Seen at full size, it's a more elaborate shading pattern. You noticed where it's cut out and how it interfaces with the artwork to help the foregrounds pop out better. In that way, an AE is a great class for wannabe artists.

The surprise bonus in this book is the half dozen vellum inserts. If you've never seen them before, they're the clear extra layer of art that goes on top of a page in the days before compositing in Photoshop was easier to do. Letterers would sometimes work on vellum overlays to help speed up production. They could letter while the inker did his or her job. A colorist could use that extra layer to determine which colors to hold (i.e. which black lines to draw in with color). It's a fun bit of production work to see today, and a nice bonus that adds to the value of the book. At the end of the book, there's a note that Mazzucchelli used the overlays throughout the book, but they didn't survive. Judging by the notes in the margins of the art, it looks like just under half the pages in the miniseries had these overlays, though that number drops in the middle.

And that's the rub. It's the one part of this book I'm most interested to see the reaction to once the book gets in more hands. Some people are bound to be disappointed that those vellums are lost to the ages, because it means there are moments of missing art in the book. There are panels, for example, where the background drawings of New York City skyscrapers are missing. Sometimes, they're off behind closer buildings. Sometimes, they're seen through windows. In the original printings of the book, they were solid blues or reds. Those were obviously done on these missing vellums. In this AE, they're just gone, white spaces on the page.

Their loss didn't bother me as I read it. It's a trade-off. I prefer the final look of this book in black and white to the full color original comics and their subsequent reprintings, as a rule. The explosion at the end of the first issue, for example, looks more impressive when you've dropped the coloring work. Maybe a modern coloring style would improve the readability and drama of the art, but I'm happy with the black and white. I think a lot of the coloring in the issues in the primary reds and blues don't do the book any favors. I understand why they're there and how they're working to tell the story and the printing limitations of the time, but I never felt lost reading this book for the first time in just black and white. It was only looking at my unread copy of the Marvel trade paperback for the story that I see the differences now.

It's obviously more than just missing color in this case. It's technically missing pieces of the art. In some cases, they would be nice to have. There's a very noir shadow cast past Matt Murdock at his desk in one early scene that's missing in the AE. It's just a blank white area where the art doesn't exist anymore. It's negative space. If you didn't know it was missing, you'd never notice it wasn't there. It's more obvious when characters walk in front of windows that are large blank white squares, but even then I took it as a compromise of the format and looked past it. Some purists might disagree.

In other words, original art fiends are having a second computer lettering moment here, where a bit of production work means a less complete page of original art. Most Marvel/DC art hasn't had hand lettering drawn on it for a decade or more now. Any AE that might come out of a more recent work would need to re-composite the digital files on top of the pristine black and white artboard work to create a readable story. Heck, I wonder if any other previous AE had similar issues? Did John Workman ever provide overlays of his lettering on "Thor"? Or did they just cut and paste word balloons onto the art? With "Born Again," the missing vellums represent missing art. Will that bother the serious collectors?

I hope not, but this is the internet. There's a complaint for everyone.

Mazzucchelli's art is beautiful at any size, though I doubt you'd be surprised to hear I think it looks best here. He has a way of drawing New York City of that era that feels authentic. I could pull out panel of his cityscapes and fill this column with how natural they feel, and how of the period they are. From the random strangers in the streets to the taxi-filled streets and the grimy and decrepit buildings, Mazzucchelli shows a real feel for the city. And I love all the extra work he put into the pages with various tone effects. They have to be seen at this original size to truly appreciate them.

His art style, in general, shifts a lot in the course of the book. Some pages look ripped out of the Miller era of the title, while others hew pretty closely to Gene Colan's line. Then things change again, and characters suddenly look like completely different people. Photo reference starts popping up in the book, to the point where the final page slips into the Uncanny Valley where Greg Land dwells. There's also a quality to his ink line that reminds me a lot of Miller and Klaus Janson's. I'm not sure I can put a finger on the technique being used to describe it, but it appears most frequently with the nurse character that Kingpin sends after Urich. She looks like someone stepping out of "Sin City".

Next to Matt, Ben Urich undergoes the biggest change, morphing into a caricature of himself as he finds himself deeper in trouble. I'm not sure whether to believe that this is Mazzucchelli attempting to mirror Urich's internal conflict with an external art change, or whether it's a simplification of the art in an attempt to hit his deadlines. I tend to think it's the latter, as Urich isn't alone in this, and Glorianna O'Breen (ya think she's Irish?) has some major changes along the way, like Mazzucchelli's model moved on to a better paying gig halfway through his run here.

Mazzucchelli's storytelling is beyond reproach. I was never lost in the story at all. The layouts are fairly straightforward grids of varying sizes, which Mazzucchelli mixes up as he goes along. Whether it's a pair of bold action panels filling up a page or a series of quick looking smaller panels to expand out a small movement of some kind, the sequential storytelling stuff is never a problem, even on a larger page size which can sometimes illuminate or put the spotlight on any larger storytelling problem. Your eyes are confidently led along the way.

The book has some nice bonuses, including a two page introduction from Mazzucchelli himself, to help set the stage for how the book came together and how he and Miller worked on it, plus a few of the original pages in color form to show you how the overlays worked, albeit shown in thumbnail size (relatively-speaking). Mazzucchelli's art was a key piece of my understanding for the book, though. In reading the issue, I saw a lot of Miller's influence on Mazzuchelli's storytelling and art. I wasn't sure if Miller did layouts or not. He didn't. The two worked extremely close together, though, so there's some bleedthrough in either direction. (And I love the part about how Miller helped Mazzucchelli out of a deadline crunch with his script in a way that worked for the story.)

Some more recent (2007) Mazzucchelli Daredevil drawings appear between chapters in the book. They're done in a completely different style from the rest of the book, so they're a bit off note. They're nice to see, but they feel more like Mark Waid's "Daredevil" than "Born Again."

I suspect those pin-ups are there to help pagination, which is something the trade paperback didn't bother considering. There are no double page splashes in the book, so you might argue that it doesn't matter. I have to think, though, that the left side page reveals were often carefully considered by Miller and Mazzucchelli. Those kinds of details aren't left to chance. In that way, this AE is a better representation of the material. (I don't know how the ad pages spaces out in the original comics, but I know that Page One of any comic of the era is always a right side page. The trade paperback misses that, and the AE works to nail that detail down.)

The overall book design is great, too. The chapter listing page is superimposed perfectly on a map of Manhattan. The front cover's logo is spot varnished. The chosen art for the title pages and the insider cover spreads all look great. Pages are stitched in tight. It's not that I've been trying to rip them out, but that I've done a lot of flipping through this book while preparing this review and never felt anything give.

There's more to talk about with this volume, but I'll save it for next week. I have some thoughts on Frank Miller's writing style for this story and how it has evolved over time. There's also lots to point out about the lettering in this issue and some of the production miscellany we can see from the original art for the first time.

It is asking a lot for $125 for a seven issue comic book collection, but the format and the scope of this project is impressive enough to warrant the price. This book won't be for everyone. For original art fans, for process junkies, for Mazzucchelli adherents, and for fans of exceptional comic book packaging, it's a worthy addition to their collections. If you just want to read Frank Miller's follow-up to his legendary "Daredevil" run, feel free to pick up Marvel's trade and enjoy. This book is something different from that, and something wonderful.

And if that's not all impressive enough for you, the next "Artist's Edition" is a "Groo" collection. Picture a double-page spread from that series drawn by Sergio Aragones. Remember all those little people cramped into the backgrounds? I can't wait to see what they look like at full size. It will definitely be an interesting take on the "Artist's Edition" format. Not that previous artists haven't shown remarkable detail, but that Aragones' art is so cram packed, I'll be curious to see if the lack of color hurts the composition of the panels, or if Aragones is so good that he's always taken that into account when he designs his pages and we just never realized it.

[TheButcher]

From IGN:
Daredevil Faces the End of Days
The final chapter in Daredevil's saga will debut this October.

Remember Daredevil: End of Days? This mini-series was announced way back at the second New York Comic-Con in February 2007. It promised to chronicle Matt Murdock's last adventure and feature an all-star cast of Daredevil creators, including writers Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack, penciller Klaus Janson, and inker Bill Sienkiewicz. Unfortunately, the project has seen numerous delays over the years as the creators worked to balance their various commitments with this demanding assignment.

Luckily, there's a light at the end of the tunnel for Daredevil fans. Today Marvel held a Next Big Thing press call to announce that End of Days #1 will be shipping in October 2012. Bendis, Mack, Janson, Sienkiewicz, and editor Tom Brennan were all present on the call to shed more light on this elusive book.

[TheButcher]

Interview with Chris Samnee! – The Other Murdock Papers Podcast #4

This time around, we have a very special guest on the podcast! Yes, I got none other than Daredevil artist Chris Samnee to talk to me for an hour about his work on Daredevil. We discuss how he became a fan of the character, what it’s like working with Mark Waid, the mechanics of feeding a pile of detached heads and much more. Thank you so much, Chris, for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to talk to me!

[TheButcher]

CR Holiday Interview #22 -- Mark Waid

Mark Waid is one of comics' leading writers, known mostly for his North American mainstream material including current, lauded runs with Marvel's Daredevil and Hulk characters. He's created a lot more of his own work in recent years, for places such as BOOM! Studios and now his own, on-line Thrillbent. Waid has worked for a range of publishers in writing, editorial and consultancy roles. He is as outspoken as professionals come these days. I also think Waid is an under-appreciated figure in terms of his creative influence on his peers, something we discuss below.

I was sitting about two tables behind Waid when he won three Eisner Awards at this year's ceremony. It's that recognition and his general higher profile right now on a variety of fronts that put him in my mind for one of these holiday interviews. I was happy when he said yes. -- Tom Spurgeon