The Magic of Frank Miller's Daredevil

Before Frank Miller, Daredevil was a B-grade character in the pantheon of Marvel superheroes. Sure writers like Marv Wolfman amped up the pulp action on their runs but it was still just a standard superhero comic—pretty average stuff.

Roger McKenzie can be credited with introducing the noir themes to the series. His interesting and dramatic plots really took advantage of the mystery aspects of Daredevil. Frank Miller began drawing McKenzie’s plots with issue #158 of the Daredevil title. By issue #165, roughly half a year later, the legendary Daredevil run began. Frank Miller, influenced by old black and white film noir and crime comics, as well as Japanese manga and an eastern influence, crafted a run that would turn Matt Murdock from a swashbuckling urban adventurer into an antihero.

Miller drew the layouts almost entirely during his run but was aided by the incomparable Klaus Janson on finishes and inking. The Miller/Janson team is one of the first instances in mainstream superhero comics that pushed the medium to its artistic edge. The plotting was terse and intense and the art was breathtaking yet provocative. Janson is one of the best artists/inkers in the field.

Three major accomplishments came out of this run: The Kingpin was turned from a rarely used Spider-man villain into Matt Murdock’s arch-nemesis.  He became a genuine threat and was developed into one of the major baddies in the Marvel universe. Secondly, ninjas were introduced, bringing a martial arts aspect to the title that had never been explored before. Out of this came The Hand, a ninja clan that would plague Daredevil for years to come and Elektra, Matt’s college girlfriend turned assassin. Stick, leader of a rival ninja clan the Chaste, was also introduced. He was Matt's sensei after he was blinded and taught the young blind boy to hone his other senses. Thirdly, Bullseye, a creation of Marv Wolfman, was firmly defined as one of Daredevil’s prominent adversaries. The landmark issue (#181) where Bullseye murders Elektra with her own sai is one of the greatest comics Marvel has ever published. Its aftermath still influences the Daredevil/Bullseye relationship.

Miller’s final issue, #191, “Roulette,” cemented Daredevil as a lone, obsessed vigilante who always puts justice first. The story sees Daredevil break into Bullseye’s hospital room with a gun, playing a game of Russian roulette. The hero tells the villain of a young boy who idolizes Daredevil, only to find out that the boy’s father is corrupt. This sends the boy over the edge when he shoots another boy. The story ends with Matt remembering that he was beaten as a child by his father, effectively rewriting the character of “Battlin’ Jack” Murdock and revising Matt’s reasons for becoming a lawyer.

The run ended well and the Miller/Janson team was replaced with a short, yet  underrated run by Denny O’neil and a number of artists. One of those artists was David Mazzuchelli, who would aid Miller in his return.

Frank returned to the character with, what I consider to be the best Daredevil story ever, the acclaimed Daredevil: Born Again. Running through Daredevil #227–233, this tale reintroduced Karen Page as a heroin junkie and pornographic actress. She sells Matt’s secret identity. The Kingpin gets wind of this secret and proceeds to ruin Matt’s life, costing him his attorney’s license and destroying his home. By the end, however, Matt has reunited with Karen Page and meets his long lost mother, a nun named Maggie, previously thought to be dead.

Miller’s other Daredevil stories include: Love and War, a wonderful painted graphic novel from 1986, with Bill Sienkiewicz, and the definitive origin story, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear. Written as a five-issue miniseries in 1993, Man Without Fear expands upon the death of “Battlin’ Jack” and Matt’s early years and delves deeper into the role of characters like Stick and Elektra in the Daredevil mythos.

Overall, Frank Miller’s work on Daredevil defines the character. These are some of the best superhero comics anyone can read. The amazing thing is that they are nearly 40 years old at this point. Taken in pieces, the reader is treated to small bits of brilliant superhero storytelling. As a whole, Matt Murdock’s motivations and character become clear. The entirety of Miller’s work represents the best of Daredevil. It is only rivaled by the runs of Ann Nocenti and, later, Brian Michael Bendis. Do yourself a favor: read Daredevil comics.