Customer Reviews

Daredevil, Vol. 3

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Frank Miller's run on "Daredevil" redefined the character for a generation, leaving the template that most other writers would either follow or consciously attempt to get away from. The defining story of Miller's run was the famous battle between Bullseye and Elektra, and the following confrontation between Bullseye and Daredevil himself, which played out in the second volume of this collection series. Volume Three collects the final issues of Miller's run on the main title (#185-191), as well as #219, which preceded Miller's return for the "Born Again" story arc, an issue of "What If?" written by Miller, and the "Daredevil: Love and War" graphic novel that Miller did with Bill Sienkiewicz. Looking at the contents, one might conclude that it represents merely the tapering off of MIller's time on "Daredevil" (much like "Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence" did for Kevin Smith), but that is not the case. It is the thematic coda of Miller's run.

The final issues of Miller's first run begins with "Guts", the most comedic issue of the period, focussing on Foggy Nelson, Matt's perpetually befuddled partner, and the perpetual buttmonkey of the New York underworld, Turk. We watch as Matt's law partner bumbles his way through the underworld, including a meeting with the Kingpin hiimself, escaping by the skin of his teeth (with some help from Daredevil. Proceeding to the main story, the return of the Hand, the introduction of Stick's rival good martial arts faction, the Chaste, and the battle over Elektra's body. Resurrections are quite common in comics (the demands of both fans and writers being what they are), but Miller's handling of this battle remains uniquely compelling. Miller also brings in the Black Widow, one of those characters who always shows up at some point in any lengthy Daredevil run. She and Foggy take surprising action to deal with Matt's increasingly grief-twisted relationship with Heather Glenn; that whole scenario is remarkable both for how Matt's motives are questioned, and the determined solution.

In my review of the first volume of this Miller collection series, I noted that I had never really gotten the character of Elektra, whose transition from Matt's college love to assassin never made emotional sense. Here, Miller at last gives the reader the full story of what happened to her. The character of Elektra finally makes sense.

The run concludes with #191, where Miller returns to Bullseye, now crippled, and the issue that has dogged Miller's run from the start: Daredevil's refusal to kill him. This is a brilliant issue that ends with Matt's whole situation summed upon in one pithy phrase.

After that, the "What If?" is the only genuinely disposable story in the collection, following an alternate history where Matt joined SHIELD. #219 is a gritty little urban western story, told from an outsider perspective, with no Daredevil costume in sight. "Daredevil: Love and War" follows up on the story of Wilson and Vanessa Fisk. I have never been a huge fan of Bill Sienkiewicz's art as many others have been: his figures are a weird mix of photorealism and exaggerated eccentricity. His Kingpin has a realistic head attacked to a gigantic body that exceeds the wildest cartoony dreams of Ed McGuinness. The tone does suit the surreal delusions of a man hired by the Kingpin to guard a kidnapped woman, who slowly descends into madness while off his meds, but less so in the real-world scenes.

Overall, another strong collection.

this was a great read. i had never read daredevil before and really wasn't that interested in him anyway. i knew frank miller had a good reputation so i thought i would give these volumes a try. i bought volumes 2, 3 and born again of this series. they have all been execellent! i highly recommend these books to anyone who is looking for a good read.

I am reading this again. I read it the first time back when first published. Frank Miller is probably the best comic writer ever. This book is GREAT.

By this point Miller had already hit his stride, and just about everything in this collection is great. After losing Elektra, Daredevil starts to lose his sanity and the everyday stresses of being a superhero start to get to him. Also, there's a one-off issue of Matt Murdock walking into a lawless Jersey town. DD doesn't make an appearance, and Murdock rarely speaks, if at all, but with Miller's writing, an appearance by Daredevil would've only been a formality.

Frank Miller's run on Daredevil is quite famous. Marvel recently reprinted all of it in three volumes. Volume 1 has issues 158-172, but the early issues were drawn by him but not written. The good stuff starts in #168 where he introduces Elektra. Volume 2 takes us from issue 173 to 184. It really makes Kingpin into the main villain for Daredevil, making Kingpin the quintessential Daredevil villain (instead of a Spider-Man villain). Volume 3, this volume contains issues 185 through 191, issue 219 and a graphic novel he did with Bill Sienkiewicz.

The volume is fantastic. One of the best Daredevil issues is the last issue in Frank Miller's run, issue 191. The issue could be read at anytime, it doesn't really depend on previous issues. It is an issue where Daredevil talks to a comatose Bullseye while debating whether he should be fighting crime. I have had doubts about myself all the time and it is nice to see Daredevil be so open about his doubts and give an interesting point of view with respect to violence. A fantastic issue to end a fantastic run by Frank Miller.

The issues before 191 were really good. Since issue 168, Miller has changed the landscape of Daredevil by introducing Elektra and giving depth to The Hand, an organization that is really important in current Daredevil issues. He also introduced Stick, Daredevil's mentor and in this volume we get to see the past of Stick. It was all wonderful.

Issue 219 was a bit strange and I wasn't in love with it, but the graphic novel with Bill Sienkiewicz was great. Sienkiewicz brings a very different style to Daredevil and it worked great in this story.

Overall a great volume. I would suggest reading all of Miller's run, starting with issue 168 all the way up to 191 and then reading Born Again. Born Again is by far the best Daredevil story I've ever read.