DAREDEVIL: MAN WITHOUT FEAR

Frank Miller (Author), John Romita Jr. (Illustrator)

Marvel Comics (Publisher)

> Review by miKE HOFFERT

Superheroes, at their most basic, are paragons of virtue. They stand for things like truth, justice, honor, and a whole slew of other admirable traits. They can serve as role models for the burgeoning 21st century culture, teaching us how to live our lives. And then there’s Daredevil, star of the excellent Netflix Original Series. While one of many morally complex super heroes in the comic book medium in general and the superhero genre in particular, Daredevil is the gold standard. He’s selfish, angry, violent, cocky, and a bit of a slut, and it’s all of these things that make Matt Murdock, blind lawyer by day, vigilante of Hell’s Kitchen by night (although in Marvel Comics, the Kitchen has remained a seedy, crime-ridden neighborhood, rather than the gentrified place it is today in the real world). Frank Miller, the man responsible for reinventing Daredevil in the 1980s, teams up with comic book royalty artist John Romita Jr. to tell a story that shows a young Matt go from a street punk who thinks nothing of stealing a policeman’s club to an acrobatic avenger for the forgotten. Miller brings the rich, moral complexity he’s known for in spades, and it is wonderfully complimented by Romita’s perfect visual storytelling and figure work, with each character looking as if they were carved out of granite. If you binge watched all of Daredevil when it hit Netflix and want more, or if you just want a great, morally complex super hero tale, Daredevil: Man Without Fear should be in your hands.