Really interesting stuff. ( )

I know Bendis has his detractors out there. Yes, he's the king of the multiple babbling word balloons.

But he's also a masterful plotter, and while his characters are a little more verbose than most, what they're saying is funny, real, and vital to the understanding of the characters.

I read this massive collection in mostly one setting, and when I finished it and thought about it, I realized that I was completely invested in the world of Matt Murdock/Daredevil. By that, I mean these characters had taken on weight and meaning and importance, much like they do in a very good novel.

Most comics tend to set up a story, then have a fight scene—doesn't matter if the two going at it have fought side-by-side many times to save the world previously—then they move on to solve the central problem with more fighting. In between, you get some gigantic plot holes, some guest appearances, and a shitload of wisecracks from the hero.

Not here. Bendis turns the whole thing on its head. You still get the guests, but there's no wisecracking, there's no fights between heroes. There's just very legitimate, very real responses.

And Alex Maleev? All I'll say is, you don't truly appreciate his understated genius until the art abruptly changes to someone else who isn't Maleev and can't hold a candle to his style or storytelling sense.

Just a brilliant team, and an example of everything that comics can be, with the right writers and authors. ( )

Bendis and Maleev have a perfect blend of legal thriller and superhero story here, as Matt Murdock's secret identity makes front page news and Murdock struggles with both the Kingpin's empire beginning to fall apart, and a murder trial with a fellow superhero as a defendant. Maleev's art is top-notch, and I wish that Michael Lark had taken some notes from him on how to do a gritty comic that's still parseable. Bendis is as infamously talky as ever, but Maleev keeps his panel structure tight in such a way that you never really notice. Definitely looking forward to more. ( )

Great dual premise (Daredevil is revealed to be Matt Murdock; simultaneously, someone kills the Kingpin); great Mametian dialogue (Bendis shows some self-respect and doesn't fall down into verbal tickery--he was still hungry here, I suppose); tight plotting with various genre strains (superheroes, courtroom drama, quotidian people-in-the-city weed-grows-through-the-pavement stuff blossoming into our awareness of Matt's total nervous breakdown), interwoven into a kind of meta-pastiche; underpinned by Maleev's obfuscated, think-twice art, with only a couple of stumbles into superhero-book misogyny (though they are twice as annoying since they seem so unmotivated, like they occurred through simple inattention, like when the human bomb guy blows himself up on the steps and we see the people being blasted away from him and Maleev places the woman reporter at upskirt angle. I know they were less woke times, but come on. Why?). Nevertheless, one of the great Marvel stories; the best Daredevil there is, for my two cents. ( )

The son of a prominent mob boss in Chicago muscles his way into Hell’s Kitchen with a plan to unseat The Kingpin. Shortly after taking the reins, the new guy in town outs Matt Murdock to the world as Daredevil. On the heels of dealing with this PR disaster, Matt takes a case defending The White Panther, recently accused of murder.

In the last few years, I’ve become a big fan of the Man without Fear. I’ve made my way through Miller’s groundbreaking run in the 80s, Kevin Smith’s controversial Guardian Devil arc and have been up to date on Mark Waid’s current run. However, as of today, nothing has impressed me as much as the team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev.

The incredible artwork really puts this one on a level above the others. The first quarter in particular where Alex experiments with a free flowing layout coupled with varying styles blew my mind. Eventually the artwork settles down and falls into a consistent style that works well with the darker material presented. Alex paints some beautiful full page shots of Daredevil exploring Hell’s Kitchen at night, soaked to the bone from torrential rain.

The great thing about this collection is that we’re presented with Matt Murdock just as much if not more than scenes with Daredevil taking down baddies. As much as I love getting great action sequences where Daredevil just obliterates his adversaries, the courtroom battles and the drama of Matt’s personal life can often be just as, if not more, interesting. The entire last story takes us into a New York City courtroom where forgotten crime fighter The White Panther is on trial for robbing an electronics store and subsequently murdering an on-scene police officer. Bendis turns the intensity up to eleven to the point where you’re never quite sure where the story is headed. He presents adequate arguments from both Matt and the DA where if you weren’t already aware of Panther’s innocence, you wouldn’t know which party to believe.

There’s so much happening in these pages that even at a staggering 400 pages, I wasn’t ready for it to end. Luckily for me, I’ve got Volume two ready to go. ( )