Daredevil, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Frank Miller (Author), Bill Mantlo (Author), Marv Wolfman (Author), Roger McKenzie (Author), David Michelinie (Author), Klaus Janson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 2008

A classic Marvel hero defined by one of comics' greatest visionaries! A Marvel Comics mainstay since 1964, Daredevil got a new lease on life in a landmark 1979-1983 run by writer-penciler Frank Miller and inker-penciler Klaus Janson, whose daring reinvention of the character quickly made Miller one of the biggest and most influential stars in the comic-book industry. Miller put his own stamp on established cast members such as reporter Ben Urich, femme fatale Black Widow, mad assassin Bullseye, the saw-fisted Gladiator, and monstrous crime boss Kingpin. Miller also introduced Daredevil's mysterious mentor Stick, deadly ninja foes the Hand, and Matt's long-lost love Elektra, a beautiful assassin who would become one of Marvel's most memorable characters. Mixing traditional super-heroics with mysterious martial artistry, doomed romance, and dark personal drama, Miller's character-defining DD run is collected across three titanic trade paperbacks! Collecting Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #27-28, and Daredevil #158-161 and #163-172.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Marvel; First Edition edition (November 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785134735
• ISBN-13: 978-0785134732
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.6 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank Miller is one of the seminal creative talents who sparked the current gigantic sub-industry of motion pictures featuring comic book- initiated product. A sub-industry which had become a super-industry. This most profitable aspect of this millennium's film production, now producing an annual flow of box office profits in the Billions of dollars, was launched when Frank Miller's graphic novel re-take on the classic comic book hero, Batman, resulted in an entertainment industry-wide reconsideration of the genre in the deeper and darker vision Miller brought to it.

Miller re-defined the presentation of comic book characters and heroic fiction with his grand-daddy of graphic novels, "The Dark Knight." This revolutionary work
not only kicked off the series of Batman films based on his redefinition, but a craze for such material that has thrown dozens of such heroes into multiple film franchise heaven. Certainly chief among these has been Miller's uniquely classical take on superheroic narrative, "300," and his "Sin City" books, each of which entered motion pictures with historic successes, and each now in Miller's creative phase of achieving its highly-anticipated sequel. Miller's co-direction of "Sin City" has made him one of the hottest
directors... as well as a guiding creative force...for the new genre. Or one might say "super genre."

Miller's latest graphic novel, Holy Terror, is his first original graphic novel in ten years. Join The Fixer, a brand new, hard-edged hero as he battles terror in the inaugural release from Legendary Comics.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of a spectacular revamp. March 19, 2009

By Sean Curley

Format:Paperback

Stan Lee and his various Silver Age co-creators produced a raft of classic characters, and did great work with them. To this day, people still look to Lee and co.'s work when talking about the defining periods of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and other characters. However, some of their creations did not flourish in the Silver Age, and owe more to later creators; the two most prominent examples would be the X-Men (virtually remade by Chris Claremont in the 1970s and 1980s) and Daredevil. This, the first of a series of three paperbacks collecting Frank Miller's initial work on the character, allows the reader to see what it was that transformed Daredevil from a B-level Spider-Man into his most popular incarnation.

Despite being labelled "Daredevil by Frank Miller", a majority of this volume isn't written by him, instead collecting his early work as a Daredevil artist in the leadup to taking over writing chores; these issues, mostly written by Roger McKenzie (one by David Michelinie) are an invaluable bridge to Miller's written work, particularly in regard to the character Bullseye (there's a priceless moment where he vows to "break [Daredevil's] woman" before breaking him; the 'woman' in question is Black Widow, and we know that Bullseye will under Miller make good on his pledge (multiple times, in fact), though not with Natasha). There's an early stab at social relevance here that somewhat awkwardly marries superhero action to age discrimination. And there are two Miller-drawn issues of "Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man" (written by Bill Mantlo) that team Daredevil up with a temporarily-blinded Spider-Man; these issues stick out a bit (they begin midway through the story, and end on an unrelated cliffhanger, though few will be in suspense over whether Spidey bites it at the hands of a zombie named Carrion), but you can see why they later hired Miller to draw Daredevil's title after that. His visual style suits the character perfectly.

Miller's assumption of writing duties immediately shifts the title into a different gear, with the first issue introducing Miller's most famous creation, the ninja assassin Elekta Natchios. I don't rate Elektra as highly as some do (there's always seemed to me too huge a gulf between the Elektra Matt knew in college and the woman who turned into an assassin), but she adds a new tension to the title. These issues set up Miller's other big addition to the property: the incorporation of the Spider-Man foe the Kingpin into Daredevil's world, a process now so thoroughly completed that he's generally thought of as a Daredevil villain. Kingpin gave up being the Kingpin for the love of his wife, but, in a theme that multiple writers (most recently Ed Brubaker in his excellent work on the title) have expounded upon, he's always, in the best Corleone fashion, being drawn back in.

Frank Miller's reputation as a creative talent has taken a lot of deserved hits in recent years; for my money, his "Daredevil" was his most impressive work as both a writer and artist. Gradually, his art grew uglier and less coherent (a trend that climaxed in the awful "The Dark Knight Strikes Again") and his writing, freed from the relative creative constraints of this era, became cruder and less mature. The sins of "Sin City", "All-Star Batman and Robin", and "The Spirit" do nothing to diminish what a magnificent piece of work his Daredevil projects were.

High recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch Frank Miller become Frank Miller November 20, 2009

By Stephen Ebrey

Format:Paperback

This collection of Frank Miller's Daredevil run covers everything he touched, which is more historically interesting than entertaining. The first half of this book isn't written by Frank Miller and doesn't look much like his style. The two Spider-Man issues guest starring Daredevil may have been the first time Miller drew the Man Without Fear, but they're not inked by Klaus Janson, and they begin and end in the middle of a story, which doesn't make them much fun to read. An issue featuring a cheesy minor villain called The Gladiator isn't much fun either. The rest of the issues that Miller didn't write are fun as well done 70s superhero comics, similar to Chris Claremont's X-Men at the time, but that doesn't mean they're great.

The book makes a gigantic leap when Frank Miller begins writing the series. In his first issue, he introduces Elektra, he adds fantastic Dark Knight Returns style narration, and his art makes a big leap forward in quality. It's not colored by Miller's favorite colorist (and former wife) Lynn Varley, so it doesn't look as good as Dark Knight Returns, but it's still quite pretty. Miller has written more Daredevil and Elektra stories than any other character (even Batman or any of the Sin City cast), and you can see why they match his tastes. Daredevil is, like Batman, a non-superpowered vigilante starring in down to earth crime stories, while Elektra is basically an Asian martial arts character like Miller's Ronin.

4.0 out of 5 stars Miller's Great April 12, 2011

By Pat

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is very good BUT it gets better when Miller takes over as writer. He is the definitive Daredevil writer.