A few days ago the second trailer for the upcoming Daredevil TV series premiered. On April 10th, Netflix will give us the entire season all at once, which means I will not will be reachable for about two days. With that in mind, I've started re-reading older Daredevil titles to prepare myself. Of course the Frank Miller story lines are the foundation of the Man Without Fear, but I've also been continuing the current series being written by Mark Waid.
In a new continuity for the Guardian of Hell's Kitchen, Waid has taken Matt Murdock out of New York and placed him in San Francisco for a fresh start. Having all of the Big Apple know he's Daredevil puts his friends in danger, but that's why Matt doesn't have anyone he cares about except his law partner and semi-girlfriend, Kirsten, and his former law partner, Foggy, who is as good as dead to the rest of the world. In the City By The Bay, Matt is working with the local police to help fight crime during the day as the blind lawyer and at night as Daredevil. But another vigilante in San Francisco is looking to clean up the streets; the Shroud. Matt teams up with this D-rated hero,who is borderline psychotic, in order to take down one of Daredevil's oldest enemies; the Owl. But when they face-off against the villain Matt isn't sure whose side the Shroud will come down on.
Waid has been one of my favorite writers ever since he wrote the phenomenal Kingdom Come. His first Daredevil series started out good, but wained my attention has it went on. Daredevil started fighting more supernatural villains than street crime. I loved the beginning of this series as Matt is using his super senses to help the SFPD hunt down a kidnapped child, and they know about his alter ego. I also enjoyed the Shroud being a mirror image to what Matt could be if he wallowed in his self-pity all the time. But I don't think he's a character that has enough depth to stick around of the long haul.
Chris Samnee is back drawing for Waid on this series. His style seems a little less edgy compared to those of previous Daredevil artists like Joe Quesada and Alex Maleev. However, given Waid's more lighthearted writing of the character, I think Samnee's cartoonish style compliments Waid's words well.
Given my declining enthusiasm for Waid and Samnee's previous Daredevil series I'm still not ready to put Waid in the league of great DD writers like Miller, Brubaker, or Bendis. But I'm willing to give him time to see how he ends his journey with Matt Murdock. Eventually, Daredevil will return to Hell's Kitchen. Any blind man could see that.
Worth A Read? YES
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