Hero Blog Approved: Ed Brubaker's Daredevil

The more Ed Brubaker I read, the more I fall in love with the guy. He knows how to get under a hero's skin, destroy his life, then build him back up again. And if you think what he did to Captain America was good, then you owe it to yourself to read his run on Daredevil.

I was sick last week, and the one silver lining to being sick is that I got to spend all day in bed with a stack of comics. I decided, since Shadowland (Marvel's new "Marvel Kights-ish crossover") just started, I should probably get caught up on Daredevil.

I read Brubaker's entire run over 48 hours and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable rides I've been on in a while. Brubaker takes Matt Murdock's life, crushes it, throws it off a cliff, pisses on it, puts it in a blender, then sets it on fire. And he does an excellent job of it. Kingpin, The Hand, The Hood, Mr. Fear...they all work hard to destroy everything that Matt Murdock loves...and without giving too much away, to a large extent, they very much succeed.

Even the story devices that seemed gimmick-y ("Lady Bullseye"? Seriously?) ended up being fleshed out and solid.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the entirely excellent artwork that brings Brubaker's stories to life. Artist Michael Lark sets the tone perfectly with his noir illustrations. As a reader, I'm all about story over art (function over form), but I'll be damned if Lark didn't take Brubaker's 100% and turn it into 125%.

I recommend collecting every issue, but if you're not as OCD as I am, you can probably get away with just buying the collections.

Comments

[blues686]

i have to agree with you 100 percent! DD is totally rockin right now! its about time marvel put him in the forefront! the daredevil comics have been my favorite marvel run since bendis and meleev first started the book.. and it hasnt disappointed me yet! its crazy too because the only reason i picked up daredevil all those years ago was because of watching the horrendous DD movie. Im glad the books were 100 percent better, I hope one day marvel gives DD some movie justice in the future. lol

[Carlos]

I agree - it's been a solid series.

It's funny, I stopped reading it after the Bendis run, thinking, "nothings going to beat that". Little did I know what was right around the corner.