Daredevil: The Man Without Fear was a five issue series written by Frank Miller and drawn by John Romita Jr. and for my tastes may be the best retelling of the origin of Daredevil. The books begin with the young life of Matt Murdock and his relationship with his father and the eventual accident that blinded the young boy.
Battlin’ Jack Murdock was a down on his luck prize fighter. A single father and a drunk. Forced to become an enforcer and collector for the mob, Jack’s only dream was for his son Matt to become a better man than he could ever be. But fate has a way of crushing dreams no matter how hard you work for them. A chemical spill on the road blinds young Matt and to get his son the care he thinks he needs, Jack is pressured to throw a fight. When he refuses, he is beaten to death.
Young Matt Murdock grieves for his father and is taught by a strange figure, a man known as Stick. Matt is taught to heighten his other senses until he can hear and feel to such an extent that they more than make up for his loss of sight. He is taught to fight and soon takes vengeance on the Mob that killed his father. But Matt turns from what Stick has taught him and seeks to pursue the life his father wanted for him.
Matt goes to college to study law where he meets his best friend Foggy Nelson and a strange and alluring young woman, Elecktra. Matt’s courtship with Electra leads him back into the life he had before. A life of fighting crime and saving innocents and becoming something his father never could envision. But there is someone standing in his way. Someone immense whose name is only whispered in the dark.
The Kingpin.
To defeat the Kingpin, Matt must become something even more than what he is. He must become the thing that the children of Hell’s Kitchen would taught him with as a child. The thing they called Daredevil.
Miller’s story takes place over a five issue arc and is as gritty as any Frank Miller tale can be. This is not an alternate origin of the Man Without Fear. It is the definitive origin of the Daredevil. The ominous figure of the Kingpin fills the pages and the mad and beautiful Elecktra do as well. But central to it all is Matt Murdock. Not Daredevil but Murdock. The boy, the young man and the final product that dons the horns.
I would be remiss not to praise Romita Jr.s artwork as well. It captures this character and story so well. This is a powerhouse team and together they have put together one of the better origin stories to be found in the comic book world.
One of my all time favorites.
This series was first published in 1993 as five issues and was reprinted in 2010 as a graphic novel. Pick it up in either version.
Comic Books - Literature For the Masses 