Amazing Comic Book Covers & Pages | Daredevil (Again)
Welcome back to Amazing Comic Book Covers & Pages. This is our most daring edition😄
In Febrauary, Disney+ premiered the MCU’s Daredevil: Born Again, named after Frank Miller and Dave Mazzuchelli‘s own DD storyline from 1986 (Daredevil #227 to #233, volume 1).
Yes, we’ve done a dedicated Frank Miller/Daredevil post years ago (see here), but you can’t talk about Daredevil without mentioning Miller’s work.
The cover for Daredevil #174 is not overly complex or even original. Heroes facing out-of-frame villains, seemingly outnumbered: pretty old hat. However, I was 13 and I thought (and still think) it was awesome. It stood out from all the other comic books on the spinner rack (yes, I’m that old).
Frank Miller story/pencils | Klaus Janson finishes/colours
Glynis Oliver colours | Joe Rosen letters
Miller brought cinematic style to comic books: the characters and the readers perspective moved. In this issue, Elektra returns to New York City after learning a contract had been put out on Matt Murdock’s life.
Miller was still using speed-lines, but in a very minimal way, crreating a super-kinetic pages and action sequences.
Miller ended his first run on DD with #191, but he would return a few years later to demolish Daredevil’s life in #227 to #233, the Born Again storyline. The plot is very different from the Disney+ series. The Kingpin learns DD’s secret identity and uses his power and influence to destroy Murdock’s life professionally and personally before trying to kill him.
Matt Murdock doesn’t give up easily and, in an uncharacteristically desperate move, the Kingpin deploys an unhinged, super-soldier to bring Daredevil out in the open and kill him (along with much of Hell’s Kitchen).
Miller does the writing, but the art is done by Dave Mazzuchelli who had gone unnoticed until #227. Mazzuchelli has a more photo-realistic, but economical style. Christie Scheele gives the line-work texture, with lights and shadows.
A lot of creators have done good work on Daredevil, but (no disrespect) none of them have made their mark on the character the way Frank Miller had, but I believe that is going to change with this year’s Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell.
Charles Soule and Steve McNiven take Daredevil to a brutal future in Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell. Soule and McNiven have put out the best Daredevil I’ve read since 1990. Naturally, I chose the Frank Miller variant, and Soule and McNiven pay him due homage.
🗨️🪦🌨️☢️🗽#Daredevil pic.twitter.com/CcV4QlIL6W— #1 Comic Books Blog (@1ComicBooksBlog) April 10, 2025
No disrespect to Steve McNiven’s outstanding cover.
Soule and McNiven do pay homage to Frank Miller‘s work, especially Elektra Lives Again, but they haven’t made the mistake of trying to ape Miller. McNiven does the pencils, inks, and colours. His clean line-work, and strategic colouring, make it easy to follow his detailed pages with their multi-panel grids.
Spoiler Alert: the ending for Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell is featured.
Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell is set in a hellish MCU of the future. A dilapidated New York City, New Yorkers desperate. Matt Murdock is in his late 60s, running a soup kitchen, and long retired from superheroics.
Terrorists set off a dirty bomb, re-awakening Matt Murdock’s long-dormant powers, and he returns to the rooftops, and resumes his role as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
Epic.
Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #1 was purchased at Myths, Legends, And Heroes. Support your local comic book shops, everyone.
