Daredevil by Mark Waid - Volume 1

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Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man, Irredeemable, Ruse) joins neo-legendary artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin for a new, Eisner Award-winning spin on Daredevil that will leave you gasping for air. With new enemies ( Ikari), new friends ( Kirsten McDuffie) and a "grinnin' in the face of hell" attitude, Mark Waid delivers an Eisner Award-winning DAREDEVIL run like no other! But, as size-changing scientist Hank Pym enters Matt Murdock's head to destroy robots implanted by Doctor Doom, will saving Daredevil's brain cost him his mind? But due to outing himself as Daredevil, Matt is finding it more difficult to hide his secret identity as everyone at his law firm are starting to take advantage of this secret and making Matt give up various cases due to the court not supporting his secret identity as “Daredevil.

Mark Waid takes Daredevil to new territories, pairing him up against unusual adversaries like Spot, mega-criminal organizations AIM and Hydra, and two particular Marvel villains that I won't mention to avoid spoilers.His award-winning work with artist Alex Ross, KINGDOM COME, is one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time. Daredevil might not make my top 10 superheroes, however, it was nice learning more about The Man Without Fear and I look forward to delving into his world again soon.

Coyote uses special collars with his portal abilities to indefinitely separate peoples' bodies from their heads, keeping them on shelves in a room, the disorientation and horror of the situation making them compliant laborers for various illicit operations. Ikari ends the illusion when he suggests that Daredevil grab a red bat to use as a weapon, at which point Daredevil realizes he's screwed. I loved the way that Mark Waid made Matt Murdock into a more fun-loving and witty character as it had been years since we had seen a more laid back Matt Murdock and it really made reading about him more interesting and fun! Which leads, eventually, to Matt changing his focus from trial law to coaching people who will represent themselves in court. His thin line and enticing layouts match Rivera and he somehow evokes a nostalgia without ever being less than modern.

The sewn-binding allows to read the book comfortably with no gutter-loss at all, so you can fully appreciate the wonderful art. Matt deduces Steve's uncharacteristic anger is less about Shadowland and more about Steve projecting his guilt and anger over Bucky's trial (in Ed Brubaker's run) and death onto Daredevil. One of the most vicious, psychotic, and frightening villains in the Marvel Universe is now, in the words of Daredevil, "a living brain in a flesh and bone coffin. But probably the best thing about this volume is the fact that even if you have not read “Shadowland” (and I definitely have not read “Shadowland” yet), this volume makes it easier to jump into the story without having to learn so much about “Shadowland” to completely understand the story. Rather than representing clients in the courtroom, Matt and Foggy begin to counsel those who are unable to pay for a lawyer, instead choosing to represent themselves.

I actually felt that the second half of the volume was much more superior as we had a straight forward story than we did in the first half of the volume. The question of whether Matt's a vigilante or not is tainting their cases and they keep getting hit with repeated mistrials thanks to stunts from prosecutors or opposing attorneys.

It's not very detailed but what makes it great is when he draws Daredevil's radar sense, it's really cool seeing how he perceives things. Looks like Klaw is going to show up pretty soon unless there's a new sound-based villain with the same color scheme.