Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson - Volume 1

Obviously, if you're reading this, you know who Frank Miller is and why his run is so iconic. Volume 1 includes his first DD art, which was actually in the mediocre Peter Parker the Spec Spider-Man. It's staggering, though, to see the art instantly change when he jumps into the main Daredevil title and has his pencils inked by Klaus Janson. Really makes you appreciate Janson's contribution. Storywise, most of the comics here are not written by Miller. They're also not as good as the stories in volumes 2 and 3. However, this is worth getting for the first appearance of Elektra and a terrific story against Gladiator, who becomes a lot more important during Bendis' run. So, this volume is great, but it's not really "essential" to understanding Miller's run on the series.

This collection highlights the change in style for Daredevil. Going from camp to noir all within the confines of 20-some issues. The artwork is strong all the way through, and halfway through, Miller takes over writing, and the stories really draw you in. Fantastic read, I'd recommend to any comic fan. (My only "complaint" is that I didn't need to be reminded in every single issue that Daredevil was blinded at a young age and all his other senses supremely heightened.)

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.

Frank Miller is simply a terrific writer who happens to write comic books. This classic series brought both Miller and Daredevil great acclaim and a broad following. I'm rereading this series now in the three nicely-done and affordable trade paperbacks. If you like your comics a little edgy, a little dark and a lot exciting, then this is for you. It's just super; I highly recommend it.

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"