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DAREDEVIL: Man Without Fear or Man Without Hope?

For nearly 50 years, Matt Murdock has donned a horned cowl and prowled the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, a man caught between his heavenly upbringing and adherence to the legal system and his desire to see justice meted out in a violent fashion. He has seen legends such as Bill Everett, Wally Wood, John Romita Sr., Gene Colan and of course, Frank Miller document his adventures. He has had many loves and several costumes. He has inspired ninja turtles and countless comic book professionals. He has been a Marvel Knight and a Guardian Devil. He has been named as one of the top comic characters of all time on several different lists. He has been broken down in ways that no other comic book character could handle, whether it be emotional or physical; yet he has always persevered and continued to fight the good fight. He has been a hero and a villain, born again and will soon be reborn, but our question is… can’t the guy ever catch a break?

The Marvel Age

In April of 1964, the first issue of Daredevil hit the stands. Clad in a yellow and brown outfit that would’ve looked right at home in a wrestling ring, Daredevil was a character like no other. Continuing the mighty Marvel tradition (which wasn’t even old enough to be called a tradition back then), Matt Murdock was a hero with a crutch of some sort. He didn’t carry the burden of a dead uncle and he wasn’t shunned by society or forced to live in a walking iron lung. No, Matt Murdock was blind, something that set him apart from every other hero and made him truly unique. Well, okay, Dr. Midnite was blind too, but nobody really cares about Dr. Midnite so he doesn’t count.

Like any costumed hero, Daredevil had his own gallery of rogues including the Owl, Stilt-Man and the Gladiators. He had a love interest in the form of Karen Page but upon revealing his identity to her, she fled, unable to cope with the revelation. Daredevil briefly moved to San Francisco but like any Marvel hero, just couldn’t stay away from New York. He forged a friendship with Spider-Man and lived a pretty standard superhero life. Nothing too amazing, outside of the fact that he was blind – but even then, his radar senses more than made up for this fact. All-in-all, Daredevil had an interesting hook, but he was pretty damn bland.

Enter: Frank Miller

Of course, this all changed when Frank Miller came on the scene in the 1980s. Eliminating most of the typical superhero elements from the book and introducing a noir style, Miller redefined Daredevil and took him from a third tier character to one of the most compelling comics in history. The Kingpin became a major player and Bullseye became something of a counterpart for Ol’ Hornhead. An old flame was introduced in the form of Elektra and of course, she wasn’t long for this world. Ninjas were introduced and organized crime was the focus. Hell’s Kitchen became a character unto itself and Daredevil was no longer a fairly standard cookie cutter character in a cookie cutter comic: in many ways, he defined a generation.

We’ll try to wrap this history lesson up in a fairly quick nutshell so we can get to the point. Here’s the CliffsNotes version of the story: Everything that has happened in Daredevil since Frank Miller wrote it has pretty much just been an extension of what Miller did with the character. Daredevil saw his former girlfriend-turned porn star/heroin addict Karen Page sell his secret identity for a hit of smack. The Kingpin returned and destroyed Matt’s life piece by piece, causing him to have a nervous breakdown. The book tackled a variety of social issues, Daredevil has seen his identity exposed on two separate occasions, he’s seen Karen Page die, found love in the form of Milla Donovan only to see her driven insane and in general, has led a pretty crappy life.

It’s easy to say that most Marvel heroes (as well as some DC ones) are defined by tragedy, but Daredevil where Spider-Man and Captain America live fairly normal lives punctuated by tragic events, Daredevil swims upstream in a toilet bowl in every issue. And that’s a good day. He is a man sworn to non-violence who lives as a lawyer by day and a violent vigilante by night. He was raised Catholic and is continually bogged down by the guilt he feels over his lifestyle. It’s kind of become a joke these days: nobody has it worse than Daredevil… not even Batman.

We’d like to see that change.

A Bold New Direction?

Shadowland has wrapped up and Black Panther is operating as the protector of Hell’s Kitchen. A Daredevil: Reborn mini-series has been announced and it’s time to rebuild the character from the ground up. Marvel is fond of announcing bold new directions for their characters and occasionally following through with it (before eventually bowing to pressure from very vocal readers who refuse to accept change and returning everything to the old status quo). So here’s what we’d like to see for Daredevil… here’s our version of a truly bold new direction for Daredevil: two to three years of positivity. Two to three years of not being $#!T on month in and month out. Two to three years worth of storylines in which Daredevil is still defined by the tragic events that have shaped his life, but isn’t continually bogged down by them to the point that he continues to be little more than a walking cliché.

Don’t misconstrue our meaning. We aren’t saying we haven’t enjoyed the way Daredevil has been treated over the years and we aren’t saying that we don’t love the vast majority of stories from the past 30 or so years. But superheroes are continually being redefined and reinvented. Batman went from being a dark avenger to a smiling agent of the law to a dark detective to a guy so dark and moody nobody liked him and now he’s the head of a worldwide corporation franchising out his logo. Characters change and evolve and after years of being known as the guy who can’t catch a break, we’d like to see Daredevil reinvented… at least for a little while.

We’d like to see a girlfriend who doesn’t die but simply breaks up with him, only to be replaced by another girlfriend. Sure, there will be some heartbreak, but she won’t get tortured, driven batty and skinned alive by a villain who’s discovered Matt’s secret identity. We’d like to see Foggy Nelson find love and Daredevil solve a case without having to deal with some soul-crushing decision that no mortal man should ever be forced to make. We’d like a lighter tone and a softer approach. We’d like to see Daredevil return to the jokey, wisecracking hero that he was in the olden days. In short, we’d like to see Daredevil happy for a few years.

And of course, once this probationary period is over, we’d like to see the Kingpin return to tear him apart once again, piece by piece, breaking his spirit and destroying everything he’s ever loved in a hideous fashion that is almost unbearable to read. This is Daredevil we’re talking about, after all - it can’t stay positive forever. But think about it: no one expects good things for Daredevil. What’s the one direction you can take the character in that might actually be surprising to comic fans? A positive one! Daredevil’s been crapped on so much, it doesn’t even mean anything anymore; establishing a happier status quo and letting fans love it for an extended period of time will not only reinvigorate the character, it will make it that much more tragic when it all falls apart. Hell, we wouldn’t even mind if the guy got his sight back for a while!

Come on, Marvel, you’re the House of Ideas. You’re always promising something new and shocking… how about delivering it? What could be more shocking than a happy Daredevil?