Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil Born Again: Artist's Edition by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli

4 reviews

natnurdock's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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supeskenobi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Daredevil: Born Again was released at quiet possibly the most seminal times in comic book history. Released during the same time as Batman: Year One, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (both by Frank Miller), Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Swamp Thing, Batman: The Killing Joke (Alan Moore), Born Again marries well into its family of contemporaries that ushered in the Modern Age of Comics; famously a more darker and grittier era (especially in the 80's and 90's).

Delving deeper into the psyche of Matt Murdock than that of his vigilante alter ego: Daredevil, Born Again deftly tells the story of a man driven to breaking point and beyond, and his fight back out from the dark. In Matt Murdock we see the indomitable human spirit, fighting against the pure evil that is Wilson Fisk. 

Because some of it was plundered for inspiration for the third season of 'Netflix's Daredevil' I must say it was hard not to hear the actors voices in my head when reading. But what TV Series isn't afforded is the insights into Matt's mind as he tries he best to untangle this web of conspiracy and lies that he has found himself mercilessly caught up in. This to me is where Miller's writing is at it's strongest. At it's weakest is with Karen Page, having turned her into a heroin addled, former porn star who sells Matt's secret for one more fix.

Whilst there are plenty of fantastic moments, action scenes and character beats in this story, it must be said that Frank Miller is not a writer that one should find oneself reading not without breaks between works, due to his somewhat needlessly pessimistic outlook on life and human society. Yet, that being said however, despite everything that Matt is put through in this story; he never once truly loses hope and sight of his goal. Vindication, rehabilitation and the downfall of the 'Kingpin' of New York.

Does this book deserve the praise it has been given over the past nearly forty years since publication? I believe it does. A great story of man overcoming the darkness within himself and the world.

4.75/5 
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jesselee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had high hopes for this one since it's one of if not the most harolded arc of daredevil comic, but I was honestly a bit disappointed. Part of it might not be the books fault; from the get go we start off in a very different place than daredevil vol 3 left off at, to the point where I assumed there were more issues in between but if there were I couldn't find them anywhere. It's possible I just missed them though. But then, while Matt's life falling to pieces is portrayed very well and makes a lot of sense, him putting it back together, the "born again" part, feels very rushed, and there is even what seems to be a time skip in ht middle that glosses over a lot of it. I assume it's a time skip anyway, they don't really do anything to indicate that there is a skip or how long it was, there is just suddenly a very different status quo than in the issue prior. This happens in the last few issues so it makes the whole ending feel kinda weirdly jumbled and out of step with the rest of the story. There are so other oddities that I found off putting as well, for example Foggy's level of concern for Matt and his disappears fluctuates quite a bit for no discernable reason. In the first few issues he was really worried but by the middle he was acting like it wasn't a big deal at all. 
There is still a lot to like. As I said, it starts very strong with kingpins dismantling of Matt's life. It is perfectly believable in both how it happens and how the characters react to it. Karens subplot is very compelling and is the most development and narrative attention any of the love interests have gotten so far (during millers run anyway). Ben Urich's subplot is also more evenly paced than the main plot, ends up feeling more coherent. 
Ultimately, I did enjoy it overall. Just not nearly as good as I was led to believe it was.
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squidd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Very well written, but each chapter is worse than the previous and I did not care much for the Captain America/Nuke stuff. The art is brilliant and there is some great characterization of both Matt and Fisk. 
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