Customer Reviews

Essential Daredevil, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials) (v. 1)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another excellent item from Essential Series. Even if it is in black and white only, it is wonderful to read again these first issues of Daredevil. What a difference with stories of the present day ! In a Stan Lee story, we find action, caracter's personnality development, intelligent and super-powered vilain. It is not the case in the news stories, developped in more trouble situation, dark and where the hero is not the hero sometimes, with a lot of violence not justified.
Drawings are simple, but dynamic, in the first part. But with Gene Colan as penciler, what a pleasure! Daredevil is really born with Gene.

Marvel Comics certainly hit a gold mine with their "Essentials" collection. Especially among comic collectors. Where else could you get the original first 25 issues of Daredevil for under $20? The only drawback, if you will, is that it is in black and white. The bottom line is: if you're a fan of Daredevil, especially in his early days (60s thru the early 70s) this book is a must-have for your collection.

Daredevil is a character that I never read. Not that I hated him or anything I just wasn't really interested in his stories until I picked up Daredevil: Born Again and I knew I had to read more of this character. Daredevil is a strong book even from its early issues. The costume at first was lame even if Daredevil only wore it for 7 issues before it went away and we got the sleek red one.

The book is very good in avoiding lame villains for Daredevil to fight. I think the worst the book ever got here was The Matador.

Anyway the book is great for new and old fans of Daredevil.

It is truly a treat to read these Marvel Essentials. Daredevil is a blind crime fighter who fights using every sense but eye sight. His wits mixed with strength create quite the enjoyable read, also Matt Murdock's lawyer life is interesting too.

I'll admit that there is no use in denying that this review will be permeated with complete bias; though what can I say it was Daredevil that brought me into the wonderful world of comic books. Daredevil (though not so much in the early days) mixed some pretty gripping court room bouts with all the wild action of a superhero. How freaking sweet is that? The Essential itself is pretty much the establishment of Daredevil and the series trying to find it's footing but overall it's filled with some fun stories. Buy it!

As a young comics reader, Daredevil never had the same appeal to me as other Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four or Spiderman. That would change, however, when Frank Miller took over the book and brought new life to a superhero who previously seemed a little boring. Now, over two decades later, my tastes have changed and I felt it was worth giving the pre-Miller Daredevil another chance. After reading Essential Daredevil Volume 1, I found that my feelings haven't changed that much.

For those unfamiliar with Daredevil, he is actually Matt Murdock, a well-respected lawyer. The twist is that Murdock is blind, the result of an accident involving radioactive material. That same material, however, enhanced all his other senses, to the extent that he can hear the faintest sound, read regular print by feeling the ink patterns on paper, and most importantly, he can sense people and objects around him with a radar sense (akin to bats).

The twenty-five issues in this volume introduce Daredevil and provide his origin, showing how he developed his fighting skills and became a hero to avenge his father's death. Though he is in top shape, he is only human, so most of his foes have relatively minor powers; when he goes up against someone like the Sub-Mariner (who can hold his own against the Avengers), Daredevil is clearly out of his league. Against foes like the Owl, Gladiator or Stilt-Man, however, the fights get more interesting.

While Stan Lee does a decent job writing this book, he is obviously not giving it the same effort as his bigger books like FF or Spiderman. We see this in two ways: first, the villains are not all that wonderful, and Daredevil never really gets a real archenemy the way the Fantastic Four has Dr. Doom or Spiderman has Dr. Octopus and the Green Goblin (Daredevil's biggest enemies, Bullseye and the Kingpin are far in the future). Also, the supporting cast is pretty weak. One of Spiderman's strengths is its strong cast of characters from the start: Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, etc.; Daredevil only has Murdock's partner and secretary, Foggy Nelson and Karen Page respectively. Foggy is bland (with little of the oafish humor he would later get) and Karen is the typical comic book female in this era, always pining away for Matt and getting into danger.

Overall, these are okay issues but far from spectacular; while they will be interesting to Daredevil fans who want to read his early history, they will pale when compared to the other comics I've mentioned. Not bad, not really good, this volume is three star material.

It's a given that the early FF and Spiderman hold up well, but I was surprised to see that Daredevil fares well. Having only read one of these early issues(number 8 with Stiltman), I didn't have the highest expectations. Maybe it was just because I've been so comic deprived these past couple months in college, but it didn't take long for me to see things through Matt Murdock's...eyes.

The early issues with Joe Orlando hold their own, but when Wally Wood comes around with Sub-mariner it gets even better. John Romita's first appearance in issue 12 with Ka-zar also improves upon his predecessor. There is nothing here that is going to take your breath away, but if villains such as the Owl, Gladiator, Electro, and the Fixer give you a warm fuzzy feeling, or at least some sort of memory, you need to have this. If you haven't really experienced the silver age of comics yet, you're probably better off starting with ol' Spidey and the FF first.

The major problem I have with these early issues is not so much the lack of originality or redundancy, it's the cliche love triangle and occasional inconsistencies. The first 3 issues show promise, with Matt aloof and uninterested in Karen's feelings towards him. But in the next issue, Stan Lee decides to make him into an old softie, something that really clashes with DD and Matt. The inconsistencies are more forgivable, sloppy mistakes, such as when Foggy later mentions his proposal to Karen that was turned down, when in fact he never went through with asking her in the first place. Ah well, the meat of what's here is still great, and will go great between Captain America and Defenders Essentials on your shelf.

I was born too late to buy the original, old-school comics, But I think this is suitable. Although I would have enjoyed the collection in color, reading them in black and white is OK as well. Also I liked Wallace Wood's Daredevil, because his style was smooth and not as sketchy as the eariler artists. Theirs were very good also, but Mr.Wood's was my favorite. I guess what I found particularly amusing was that unlike in the new comics (which I admit I have not read a lot of) Daredevil is a little more...how do I put this delicately...goofy? Not quite Spiderman goofy, (I swear he has ADD,) but he does chatter during battle. D.D also admits to himself once that sometimes he sounds corny.
I also see a kind of theme with these heroes. The guys with medical/health problems, Matt Murdock and Tony Stark, fall in love with their seceritaries! And then they come up with a reason why they can't be with the aforementioned beautiful secretary like 'I'm blind and my best friend loves her anyway' or '...I've got a heart condition...'Spiderman's probably the only one with an actual girlfriend!
Matt's friend Foggy isn't really anyone to complain about. A normal, superhero's best buddy guy. Karen isn't much different than Foggy, except she's not male. Even so, they're interesting enough characters.
The reason I gave Vol.1 4 stars is the assortment of 'villans'. To be honest, probably half of them are just plain stupid. Stiltman? Leap Frog? PURPLE MAN?!? Don't get me stated on him. Get the Purple Man together with some other Marvel villians like Mr.Doll (Iron Man), The Unicorn (X-Men), and Mysterio (Spiderman), and you've got the Effeminant Four! Anyhow, ignoring my rant, thre are some villians that are all right and some anti-heroes (The Sub Mariner& Ka-Zar, namely) that were definately appreciated after the Purple Man. If you miss the good old days when comics didn't take themselves that seriously I'd recommend this as a good read.

This is a good book. It has great art, and the characters in it are pretty cool, especially people like Owl, Stilt-Man, Mister Fear, Electro, and Gladiator. Plus, it shows Daredevil's origin and his earliest and most surprising appearences and fights, including a fight with the one and only Spider-Man. It is a good collection, and it is a must have for any Daredevil lover. However, I can't give it 5 stars because it didn't have any of my top 3 favorite DD villains of all time in it-Mr. Hyde, my # 3 favorite, Kingpin, my # 2 favorite, and of course Bullseye, my # 1 favorite-none of those top and classic baddies were in this book. Otherwise, though, it is a nice piece of work and I like it quite a bit. It's one of the best Daredevil comics I'll ever own.

Do you like fancy New York locales? Melodramatic villians who defy the laws of physics? Secretaries with sweet beehive hairdos and unrequited romantic attractions? Blind crimefighters who struggle to design the most perfect costume?

Then you will love this book! Daredevil is the devil I pray to! :)