I love Daredevil. Have done for years, when buzzylittleb threw a copy at my head (I get introduced to the best stuff like that).

Okay, Matt Murdock was blinded as a child by some freaky chemicals that enhanced all his other senses. Now he's a lawyer who fights crime!

It started with Stan Lee, of course. The art in the first four issues was done by Joe Orlando, who got a mention in Watchmen. Basically it's really cute and funny. In 2001 Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale did their own version of this origin story in Daredevil:Yellow. If the art looks familiar, that's because it is.



Volume 1 of Daredevil is... well it's just not as interesting as volume 2. He hangs out with the Black Widow a bunch, which is cool, and at one point he teams up with Deadpool. Frank Miller happens. We don't like to talk about that. WHORESWHORESWHORES

Volume two is way better, especially the Bendis/Maleev run, which starts properly with Underboss. The thing about Daredevil is that he doesn't just fight supervillains in costumes, his biggest problem is the mob. Underboss is a really good gangster story, where a bunch of nobodies decide they're going to take out the Kingpin. Again, if Alex Maleev's art seems familiar, that's because it is.


God I love his art.



Those aren't even the covers. This is a cover.



Next, the inevitable happens. So many people know Daredevil's real identity that it had to come out eventually. Matt, being a lawyer, decides that the best thing to do is sue the hell out of everyone. If he admits to being Daredevil he's guilty of obstruction of Justice in almost every case he's ever been involved in.

In Hardcore, Daredevil snaps and declares himself Kingpin of Hell's kitchen.

King of Hell's Kitchen takes place a year later. Basically, everyone realises Matt has gone crazy. Yes, it took them a year. Then he fights a hundred Yakuza. At once. Can you tell I love this one?

The Universe catches up on the year where Matt was Kingpin. He manages to piss off Spiderman, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Reed Richards (all at once), Captain America, the Punisher and Nick Fury.

Decalogue starts out as a bunch of strangers telling each other stories about Daredevil. But then the stories all seem to be connected and it gets more and more tense and claustrophobic and it eventually becomes pretty much a straight horror. It's seriously the most awesome thing ever.

The Bendis run ends with the Murdock Papers, in which the Kingpin cuts a deal with the FBI by offering up proof of Daredevil's identity.