Reviews

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson Vol. 1 by Frank Miller

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literarygoblin's review against another edition

3.25

“I know what you’re thinking, Daredevil. You’re planning some desperate, futile attack -- you seek to bring me in, as well. You are a very passionate man. But it is not your passion that I now address. It is your intellect…”

Daredevil is one of those characters that many are familiar with, whether they read comics or not, and so he has something of a reputation in pop culture. I’m one of those that has watched the Daredevil series multiple times and, unfortunately, seen the 2003 film adaptation, but I’d never read any comic featuring the character. Given how highly this TPB comes recommended as a starting point online, I thought it would be a good place to get my first comic book introduction to the character. And admittedly, I’m left incredibly unsure about the character.

This book specifically credits Frank Miller and Klaus Janson on the cover, as they are the consistent creative duo during Daredevil’s run in the late 70s and 80s, however, this book also features three other writers. There is Bill Mantlo, who was the writer on Spectacular Spider-Man, Roger McKenzie, who was the lead writer on Daredevil before being replaced by Miller, and David Michelinie, who filled in for one issue between McKenzie and Miller. Each of these writers brought something different to Daredevil, so I’m going to break down this review by writers to show the distinctions between stories.

Spectacular Spider-Man #27 and #28

These two issues from Spider-Man comics feature Daredevil in a strong supporting role. In a previous issue, Spider-Man is temporarily blinded, and now the web-slinger is struggling to cope with his lack of sight. It’s up to Daredevil to not only teach Spider-Man how to “see,” but to also help take down the Masked Marauder and his organization. Bill Mantlo seems to have a pretty strong understanding of Daredevil -- he is written as intelligent and level-headed, and while Spider-Man dramatically grapples with his newfound blindness, Daredevil is there to aid him. Mantlo also presents us with an engaging plot that makes readers feel just as stressed as the characters, however, the most interesting parts always seem to get cut short. It reads as if Mantlo didn’t know what he wanted to focus on, and so there are too many elements in this story arc.

On the artistic side, Frank Miller shows a strong sense of design, as the way he depicts Daredevil in fights is incredibly dynamic and interesting. The panels in which Daredevil is fighting are exciting and they really stand out, which work to set a particular tone for the character. It makes one wish that every page of the book was just as interesting as the pages on which Daredevil is fighting.

My biggest criticism of the Spectacular Spider-Man issues is that it feels like a terrible place to start a book. I understand that this was done because the book is meant to highlight Frank Miller’s work on the character, however, I think for the sake of storytelling and context they should have featured the issues prior to #27 and #28 in order to help readers better understand the whole picture. Being thrown in like this was just jarring enough that I went through the rest of this TPB with hesitation about each story presented to me.

Daredevil #158 - #166

Now, we jump into the largest portion of the book -- Roger McKenzie’s run of Daredevil. This is where things get interesting, because every other issue seems to present different strengths and weaknesses of the creative team. According to various websites, Frank Miller hated McKenzie’s scripts for Daredevil, and on some occasions I found myself in agreement. From my perspective, McKenzie didn’t always know how to best utilize characters, and so sometimes his stories were incredibly weak. I think his storytelling, as well, is a bit generic, and therefore, he gets a little lost amongst other comic book writers.

This isn’t to say everything was bad in these issues. In fact, there were some points that surprised me, and certain storytelling elements that stood out. Miller is often credited with making Daredevil more dark and gritty, however, McKenzie shows a desire to do these same things. In many of his issues, McKenzie writers grounded stories that aren’t some kind of superhero epic -- he didn’t simply write flashy fight scenes that do nothing to develop stories. #160 and #161 is a nice little arc that shows how threatening Bullseye is capable of being, and they also show Matt’s intelligence as a vigilante. Sure, these two issues did leave something to be desired as far as characterization goes (Black Widow -- a superhero in her own right -- is made out to be a damsel, and Bullseye goes from being threatening to pathetic far too quickly), however, they also highlight McKenzie’s grasp on storytelling.

But for each good issue, there are just as many bad ones. Where McKenzie’s good stories focus more on plot and using characters to support that, his bad stories seem to be more character-driven, and, to put it plainly, characters aren’t McKenzie’s strong suit. Supporting casts are incredibly basic to the point of being unnecessary, and sometimes -- like the case of Black Widow that I mentioned above -- there are glaring mischaracterizations. Sometimes, like in issue #163, the story gives too much attention to other characters that it no longer feels as if I’m reading a Daredevil book. You can see that McKenzie has strong ideas, yet his execution just isn’t right.

Returning to Miller and his artistic work on Daredevil, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I love the way he draws Matt and I love the way he draws character expressions. But sometimes you can see in his work how little he cares about stories. Daredevil #158, for example, was jarring after coming off of Spectacular Spider-Man because somehow the art looked so different despite both being done by Miller. In some issues, the artwork is incredibly plain, but in others it’s beautiful and does a lot to push forward the story.

And I can’t discuss the art without also talking about the coloring of these issues, most of which is done by Glynis Oliver (who, at the time, was credited as Glynis Wein) -- for the most part, her choice of colors is absolutely beautiful and does a lot to create the amazing atmosphere that is in Miller’s work. Oliver’s eye for color is strong, and she does wonders on panels that showcase Daredevil’s radar sense. I’m positive that these comics wouldn’t be half as interesting if it weren’t for the combination of Miller’s art with Oliver’s coloring.

Daredevil #167

For one issue, David Michelinie stepped in as the writer for Daredevil, and with him he brought a tone that was distinctly different from McKenzie’s. In this story, a character referred to as the Mauler is out to get Edwin Cord, his former employer. You can see in this issue Michelinie’s desire to tell a real and interesting story, and in that regard it’s a shame that 1) the story was cut short prematurely, and 2) Michelinie didn’t get a few more issues to explore his ideas. He developed a “villain” with strong motivations, one that I found myself invested in, and he also created something of a plot twist villain that presented something that could have been incredibly interesting for Daredevil. Up until the end, this was one of my favorite issues in the book, however, the resolution (or lack thereof) was absolutely pathetic, and this plot left so much to be desired that I was actually mad when I reached the end of it.

Daredevil #168 - #172

Finally, we get into Frank Miller’s run in which he’s both the writer and the penciller for Daredevil. You can see from the start of issue #168 that Miller had a vision for the comic series, and in order to execute that vision he began setting up new elements right away. This is the issue in which we’re introduced to Elektra Natchios who, in this book, is the only interesting and well-developed love interest that Matt has. In a single issue, I became invested in her story and her relationship with Matt more than I did with Natasha Romanoff or Matt’s other love interest (who is too irrelevant for me to even remember her name). This story takes on a serious note that is carried over into the issues that follow, and it sets up the Daredevil comics to become something different.

It is in Miller’s hands that we finally get the Kingpin as a great foe to Daredevil. As a fan of the Netflix series, I was incredibly excited and nervous to see how Wilson Fisk would be characterized in these comics. And he didn’t disappoint. Issue #170 shows Kingpin’s wife, Vanessa, returning to New York and subsequently getting kidnapped by the mob that used to work under the Kingpin. This forces Fisk to return to New York in order to save her, and in doing so he becomes a threat to both the mob and to Daredevil.

This is the point at which I finally became invested in this book. The depiction of Kingpin was so perfect and engaging, and the story created high stakes for Daredevil that actually made me wonder how the character would resolve these problems. Issues 170-172 also finally showed a real story arc for Daredevil -- in nearly all the issues prior to this, the stories were one-offs that didn’t continue, and even when story arcs were attempted (issues 159-160), they weren’t executed in as strong a fashion as this. These three issues honestly put the rest of the book to shame.