Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli consists of issues 227 through 233 of Daredevil.

Frank Miller had a great run on Daredevil writing issues 165-191 (he co-wrote 165-167). He not only wrote those issues but drew most of them too (he actually starting drawing Daredevil with issue 158). His first solo issue was Daredevil #168 which is a great one, introducing us to Elektra and changing the tone of the book. Miller made the Kingpin into Daredevil's nemesis, while also making Ben Urich a more important character. This run on Daredevil has been very influential since, with Urich, Kingpin and even Turk being important side characters in recent comics. Miller wrote fantastic stories and ended on a high note with a very powerful self-examining last issue.

With all that great work behind on Daredevil, one would be surprised to find that he wrote a much better story for Daredevil a little later when he teamed up with Mazzucchelli with whom he would team up again the following year to write another classic, Batman: Year One.

Daredevil: Born Again is arguably the best comic book story I have ever read. It has a hero defeated and then reborn. It has a great villain who manages to control everything from his tower, a villain that doesn't need to get his hands dirty to hurt you. It has a sad story involving a junkie. It has a love story in the making, with Foggy and Glori. It has moments of great tension, that build up in a way only comics can do. There is a scene where Ben Urich witnesses a murder through a telephone, the art and the story work together perfectly. There are so many things this comic does that make one think about.

I like how the early pages of the first issues always have Murdock sleeping. It is as if we can see that he is on his way down. From a nice bed, to a horrible bed in a cheap hotel, to the streets, to a basement in a church. The destruction of Murdock happens steadily throughout the first issues, not only exemplified in the story itself, but even through a subset of images throughout the story.

I highly recommend this book. It is because of comics like this that I read comics.