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Old 04-21-2005, 10:46 AM   #1
wktf
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Comic Book Reviews 4/20/05 Part II

Continuing from Part I of these reviews, found at http://www.statueforum.com/showthrea...353#post168353

Classic TBP Review

Daredevil: Born Again TPB
Marvel Comics
Written by: Frank Miller
Drawn by: David Mazzucchelli
Karen Page: Crack Ho

Sam Wilson’s Review

Yup, I know, we just did a Miller/Mazzucchelli thing last week with “Batman: Year One” but Miller and Mazzucchelli have only teamed up twice, ever, and it is unlikely they will ever team up again. So, wktf and I thought that “Born Again” deserved its day in the sun too.

Frank Miller is most famous for his first run on Daredevil in the early 80’s. He brought the character from a barely selling bimonthly joke to a top tier title, and a run that is a gold standard today. Miller left DD briefly, and came back a few years later to write one of the most unforgettable DD, no, unforgettable superhero story arcs ever. What makes it unforgettable? Miller did what no other super hero writer has done before, and what everyone is trying to do now to be cool. He was the first who “outed” a superhero.

One of the big questions asked by this story is who is Matt Murdock? Is he Daredevil, or the blind Hell’s kitchen Lawyer, or neither (remember that speech from Kill Bill 2 David Caradine delivered to Uma Thurman about Superman? That’s what I’m talking about…)? Well, when our story starts we find Nelson and Murdock’s former assistant has, well, she’s become a skanky ho. She did a couple of porn flicks and is now a junkie desperate for her next score. Soon she finds herself out of money and desperate, so she sells the only thing she has left besides her body, her secrets. Oh yeah, it happens she knows DD and Murdock are one and the same. So eventually this info makes its way up the food chain to the Kingpin, and he carefully takes steps to verify the legitimacy of it. Once that has been done the Kingpin systematically dismantles Murdock’s life, he freezes his money, ruins his law practice, and as a coup d’ grace, blows up his house.

The rest of this story is Matt Murdock coming to grips with what happened, starting his life over, and getting revenge. Damn if Miller didn’t throw the comic world a curve ball with this one. It had never been done before, and here it is, done well in a compelling, captivating narrative. Mazzuchelli’s art never looked better either, the colors are kind of muted, but that suits the style perfectly. Buy this book. It is readily available in TPB form. It is possibly the most important Daredevil story ever told.

Wktf’s Review

As Sam said, we were so inspired by “Batman: Year One” that we felt compelled to review the only other Miller/ Mazzucchelli collaboration, “Daredevil: Born Again.” Before I even start let me just say that you should buy this book if you don’t own it!

Frank Miller began his historic run on Daredevil in May, 1979. I was 19 years old, a summer camp counselor at a Y-camp in NH and desperate for a comic book fix when I was lucky enough to stumble across and pick up Miller’s very first DD comic in some drug store. And, man, I was hooked! As Sam said, despite the return of classic DD artist Gene Colan to boost this title’s sagging sales, DD had been relegated to bimonthly status and was on its way to being canceled. Frank Miller is comics’ first superstar savior, bringing this book back to premier status and reigniting a slumping industry all at the same time. However, he was not a superstar before he saved Daredevil, it was Daredevil that launched his career and made him a star.

He left the book in 1983 only to return again in 1986 to partner with Mazzucchelli on the single most significant DD story in the title’s history, “Born Again.” This one also makes my top 5 comics stories ever created, along with “Batman: Year One.” Yes, Karen Page has sold Matt Murdock’s secret for a desperate fix and the Kingpin, over a period of months, systematically tortures Murdock to test the validity of this information like a spider does a fly caught in its web. He ruins Matt’s reputation, career, financial status and leaves him desperate and paranoid to the breaking point of madness, all the while observing Daredevil’s progressively more desperate and reckless efforts to get behind his alter ego’s troubles. The Kingpin’s delicious self torture at delaying his desire for a killing blow vs. the prospect of leaving Murdock flailing in the wind is agonizing to the reader. Finally, he does blow up Murdock’s home, tipping off Matt to the creator of his troubles and sending a desperately addled Murdock to the Kingpin for retribution. The Kingpin beats Matt nearly to death and then leaves him for dead in the Hudson River, trapped and bound in a sealed taxicab. Game over, as far as the Kingpin was concerned.

Except for one thing: Murdock escapes! And, thus begins the real tension in this story as Murdock moves down a dark and deadly path to regain his health and sanity, reconcile with Karen Page, discover his mother after all these years (a nun named Maggie…I’d sure love to know her story), and reclaim his status as a hero. The tables completely turn on the Kingpin. He now becomes the desperate, squirming character of this story as he discovers not only that “There is no corpse” but also realizes, “And I - - I have shown him…that a man without hope is a man without fear.” As this book’s cover title suggests, this tale is nearly biblical in its apocalyptic nature, and even carries chapter titles like Apocalypse, Purgatory, Pariah, Saved, Armageddon and, of course, Born Again. The final chapter’s nod to Jack Kirby, and its inclusion of the King’s most famous creation, is a direct reference to Miller’s campaigning at the time (along with other comics legends like Eisner, Neal Adams, and Steranko) to force Marvel to return Kirby’s original art to him. That issue aside, Captain America’s appearance in this book augments the importance of this tale on its own and he, appropriately, acts as a critical but only guiding and helping hand to Daredevil as our hero finally reclaims his life and sends the media and the law after the Kingpin.

A quick word about Mazzucchelli’s art: it’s spectacular. The scene of Daredevil diving and dodging Nuke’s automatic rounds is reminiscent of Gene Colan while still being unmistakably his own. This book’s look and feel is different than in Batman: Year One. Not quite as dark and moody but perfectly ominous and heroic at the same time. It works and is brilliant.

Oh, and one final reference check. The Superman quote in “Kill Bill 2” to which Sam Wilson was referring actually originated with Jules Feiffer in his wonderful book, “The Great Comic Book Heroes,” first published in 1965. Try to get this with the reproduced comic stories in it, as opposed to the essay version (sans comic book pages) that’s in stores and on Amazon today.

Last edited by wktf; 04-21-2005 at 12:16 PM. Reason: Argh! Spelling error...
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Old 04-21-2005, 04:14 PM   #2
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Any other love for this story?
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Old 04-21-2005, 04:26 PM   #3
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This was a great story and if you are looking for a good read, pick it up.

I posted my Mazzuchelli DD sketch on your Batman Year One thread last week.
http://66.98.242.87/~admin11/showthread.php?t=8707
<img src = "http://66.98.242.87/~admin11/attachment.php?attachmentid=6569">

This story got some mentions on the best comic stories of all times thread over here:
http://66.98.242.87/~admin11/showthread.php?t=8754
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Old 04-22-2005, 10:30 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by madjazz
This was a great story and if you are looking for a good read, pick it up.

I posted my Mazzuchelli DD sketch on your Batman Year One thread last week.

Brother, that is a bad a#@ sketch. Mazzuchelli doesn't even do mainstream work anymore, does he?
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Old 04-22-2005, 10:58 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Wilson
Brother, that is a bad a#@ sketch. Mazzuchelli doesn't even do mainstream work anymore, does he?
Not that I am aware of. I think he went on to a career as a commercial artist. Did they put any kind of biography on him in the reprint? The latest thing he has done in comics that I could find was a reference to a Graphic Novel called City of Glass done in 1994: http://www.altx.com/ebr/reviews/rev6/r6shakar/r6sha.htm

By the way, that sketch was done by him for me in 1985 when he was in the middle of doing the Born Again storyline. I was working in a comic store in Providence. David grew up in Providence and if I remember right, graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. Simonson may have also graduated from there. Anyway, he was very nice and it is one of the best sketches I own.

(If there is anyone else out there that remembers the old Starship Excalibur store in Providence, shoot me a PM!)
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Old 04-25-2005, 09:58 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wktf
Oh, and one final reference check. The Superman quote in “Kill Bill 2” to which Sam Wilson was referring actually originated with Jules Feiffer in his wonderful book, “The Great Comic Book Heroes,” first published in 1965. Try to get this with the reproduced comic stories in it, as opposed to the essay version (sans comic book pages) that’s in stores and on Amazon today.
It's funny where your mind wanders when you're walking your two dogs at 5:30 in the morning...

I was thinking about this Jules Feiffer analysis of Superman and, while this definitely is the take on this character pre-1980s, it's really not the case any more. What I mean is, as Feiffer wrote, Clark Kent was the artifice. Superman pretended to be mild mannered, even a bit of a wuss, when he played Clark. It was all an act. He came to earth as Superman and Superman was who he was. Other characters had to put on their suits, weapons, etc., and transform themselves from their civilian identities to their heroic ones. Not Superman. In fact, he did just the opposite.

However, in 1986 John Byrne subtly changed this. While it still was true that Superman's powers were organic, if you will, his true identity (how he was raised, his ethics and morals, and guiding force) is Clark. When he gets too far away from his human psyche is when he gets in trouble. Counter this with the redefining of The Batman, courtesy of Frank Miller in Dark Knight Returns or, most especially, in Batman: Year One both also done in 1986. The core character, born out of pain, grief and rage, is The Batman. Bruce is the artifice.

DC turned their primary hero's paradigms on their heads for the more modern reader vs. the decades long history of their identities.

Interesting. Now it's time for my first cup of coffee....
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Old 04-25-2005, 10:12 AM   #7
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I am very familiar with Batman: Year One. It turned me back on to Batman many moons ago. I am unfamiliar with the Daredevil story, but have never been "into" Daredevil. I liked some of the JR JR Daredevil story lines back in the day, but have not really spent much time with Matt Murdock.
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Old 04-25-2005, 04:18 PM   #8
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Well, I was referencing the Superman quote from Kill Bill 2 that Sam mentioned, and the passage in Feiffer's book where this thought originated. But, then, this thread is about "Born Again."
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Old 04-25-2005, 04:41 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wktf
Counter this with the redefining of The Batman, courtesy of Frank Miller in Dark Knight Returns or, most especially, in Batman: Year One both also done in 1986. The core character, born out of pain, grief and rage, is The Batman. Bruce is the artifice.
Interesting. Now it's time for my first cup of coffee....
Exemplified in "No Man's Land" and "Bruce Wayne: Fugative", overwrought stories but they had their points.

One could say Miller/Mazzuchelli's "Born Again" did the same thing with DD. The Kingpin stripped away the Matt Murdock identity, leaving him only with Daredevil.
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