Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 2

Comic Info

Daredevil (3) #7

Reprints Daredevil (3) #7-10.1 and Amazing Spider-Man (2) #677 (February 2012-June 2012).  Matt Murdock has come into possession of the Omegadrive which has all information pertaining to all of the major crime organizations of the world.  Now, Daredevil has made himself a target by everyone from the Black Spectre to A. I. M. who want what the Omegadrive possesses.  Daredevil finds himself teaming with Spider-Man to help prove the Black Cat innocent and battling the Mole Man over the body of his father.  Plus, Matt and a group of blind children fight dropping temperatures after a dangerous country accident.

Written by Mark Waid, Daredevil—Volume 2 collects the second storyline in the critically acclaimed Mark Waid run on the series.  Daredevil (as part of this run) was the winner of Best Continuing series in the 2012 Eisner Awards and Daredevil (3) #7 was recognized as Best Single Issue.

Daredevil has been a downer for years.  Beginning with Kevin Smith’s killing of Karen Page, it seems like the character has been down and out.  With Waid’s first volume, Waid decided to do something different.  Waid made Murdock fun again…and it is working!

Daredevil has always been a tortured character.  He makes bad choices…a lot of bad choices.  Between women (like Elektra and Typhoid Mary) to life directions (like faking his death and being pushed to the breaking point), Daredevil has always been heavy handed.  What is interesting is Waid isn’t forgetting this and instead has Matt fighting against his character.  Foggy even makes references to the “new Matt” and the “old Matt”.

Daredevil (3) #10

The collection has some nice moments.  The stand out of course is Daredevil (3) #7 where Daredevil finds himself out of his element and actually fighting a bigger battle than a super villain as he fights for the lives of a group of children (and then for his own life as the situation gets even more serious.

Daredevil (3) #10.1 actually does what Marvel said their whole “Point One” series was supposed to do.  It provides a basic story that could be used as a jump on point for new readers, but it also didn’t feel like an unnecessary read for regular readers.  I commend Waid for actually writing a story that does this since so many other writers have failed or just ignored this idea when writing their “Point One” issues.

Daredevil’s art is also quite good.  There are a number of different artists working on these issues, but each carries a similar style from issue to issue.  Daredevil has a real retro feel in color, style, and overall look that makes the comic a fun throwback to an almost ’60s Marvel without losing the ’00s writing quality…when combined with strong writing, it comes out as a great package.

A lot has been written praising the new Daredevil series, and for once I agree.  Daredevil is a fun comic and captures the spirit that has been lost by other Marvel titles like Spider-Man.  Daredevil will never be Spider-Man and the fun thing about his character is that he would probably admit it.  Check out Daredevil even if you’ve read other incarnations by writers like Miller, Bendis, or Brubaker…Daredevil continues to evolve and be one of the best written characters on the market.

Related Links:

Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 1

Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 3

Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 4

Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 5

Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 6

Daredevil by Mark Waid—Volume 7