New monthly segment we are starting here at Geeks Rising. Superhero Sunday is a spotlight on a comic book character (male/female/alien/etc). I (Logan) will provide history of the character, my thoughts and recommendations of where to start reading and following the hero.
The History
Daredevil? You mean that blind guy from the Netflix show ( I see a world on fire)? Yes, I do mean that Daredevil. But he wasn't always popular and a part of the mega successful media machine that is Marvel/Disney Entertainment. No, Daredevil (Matt Murdock) first debuted in Daredevil #1 in 1964 created by Stan Lee himself. This first version of Daredevil wore yellow, black and red, it was inspired by the colors of old acrobat outfits but by issue no.5, he was in the iconic double d red costume. I must also note that it was the talented John Romita Jr. that drew this horned hero.
Over the years Daredevil has fought just about every type of villain, from street crime to ninjas to the comical Stilt Man, Daredevil has punched, kicked and hit with his billy club all of them. But from the time of his creation to the late 80s Daredevil declined in popularity. His personality and art would change with the wind and he had done a lot of fighting but nothing with substances.
Then in 1993 Frank Miller and artist John Romita Jr. return to the origins of Daredevil and retcon'ed his history. Daredevil: The Man without Fear is the 5 issue mini series that reboots Daredevil to the story you know and love. It connects Kingpin to the murder of Battlin' Jack Murdock and introduced the Foggy Nelson connection. This new noir influenced tone would follow through until 2014. This led to more success including Daredevil joining the Avengers/Defenders.
The Character
What is his origin? Matt Murdock is a kid from New York growing up with a boxer for a father in Hell's Kitchen(imagine a smaller Gotham in NY). The young Matt is blinded by a radioactive substance when he saves an old man crossing the road. Matt's father is an alcoholic boxer that wants the best for his now blind kid. Jack Murdock is asked to throw a fight to win some money, but he would rather keep his honor then get money. This act lead to his death by the hand of Kingpin. Blind Matt learns he has hyper sensitivity and learns to become more acrobatic, but we don't see him use this til he grows up. Flash to a grown up Matt Murdock, he becomes a lawyer to protect the innocent. The system is corrupt and he turn find justice in the form of Daredevil. This means fighting all the corruption in New York.
Why this hero?
Once Daredevil was rebooted, the talented Brian Michael Bendis did a four year run on Matt Murdock through the eyes of a reporter and this was continued into a story that would reveal the identity of Daredevil and the weight of that story arc is still being played out in the current series.
The future of "The Man without Fear". With Marvel connecting everything to reach a broader audience it seems we will be seeing a lot more of Daredevil. The character has arguably the best superhero TV show and has had amazing runs in the comic we are going to see him form a team in the show and probably have that reflected in the books. The more blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen, the better.
