Advance Review: Daredevil #1 (Lgy #649)

When you have a super successful run in comics that garners both critical and consumer love, followed by a mature take with a table clearing mini-series, there is only one place to go; that’s right, start over, again!

With both Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock to be believed dead, where can Daredevil go in order to deliver his own brand of justice? It’s time to turn to old friends, so the friendship between Daredevil and Spider-Man gets a viewing. It’s a friendship that endures as the pair have gone through quite a lot over the last year, even if currently Spider-Man has a distinct lack of pals in his own book. But this is a farewell tour as Daredevil has greater plans in mind.

Chip Zdarsky is clearly at the top of game, his success and influence has led to a resurgent Spider-Man with his style of writing carrying over into a new run on Batman. Terseness seems to be the order of the day as Zdarsky wrings out the tension of every character interaction. I am not a big fan of the use of 9 panel pages; surely there is another way to have a one-1o-one conversation by now. With that small plotting point out of the way, Zdarsky mixes up the tone of the book, asking for fantastic locations to be used throughout and an inner monologue that manages to thread the line between educating new readers whilst also entertaining the returning crowd. Moving forward, this book is going to include Elektra or Lady Daredevil in action with Matt; this time around she is well served by a back up strip that adds weight to Matt’s overall plan, also written by Zdaraky which also leads to a consistent approach to both characters.

For many people, when they think of Daredevil, they see the nori style of Frank Miller’s early clean pencils, for others it is the dark and gritty heavier lines of John Romita Jr. More recently Marco Checchetto has been cutting up a rug at times with his writing partner. Here, Checchetto’s lines seem heavier, with poses and facial elements that have a sort of ersatz Romita JR. feel that I don’t think I have noticed before. For the poses to work, Checchetto drops in a gorgeous cityscape that wraps itself around Daredevil. It is going to be interesting to see the Man Without Fear outside of his natural steel canyons. Mathew Wilson supplies the colors in a kind of scratchy manner, the hues are darker than you would expect when compared to other books, but fits the tone of Zdarsky’s writing and Checcheto’s pencils. Wilson’s work on the back-up feature reminds me of Cam Kennedy’s Star Wars work for Dark Horse Comics. VC’s Clayton Cowles is on hand to deliver his usual high standards across both aspects of the even if continues to be ignored on cover credits! Whilst we are talking about the back-up feature, Elektra’s story is pencilled by Rafael De Latorre who was on hand (no pun intended), for Elektra’s recent mini-series Woman Without Fear. Truth be told, I probably prefer Latorre over Checchetto especially as I can get my fix of Romita JR. on Amazing Spider-Man.

Marvel are in a rich vein of quality at the moment, when you consider the aforementioned Amazing Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and regardless whether you love or hate the plethora of X-books, their production quality is of a high standard. Now, they can continue to add Daredevil to that list. No if only they could fix the Avengers!

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 4.5 Stars

Written by; Chip Zdarsky
Art by; Marco Checchetto & Rafael De Latorre
Colors by; Matthew Wilson
Letters by; VC’s Clayton Cowles
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network