This being my first Daredevil comic I have ever read other than Frank Miller’s “God” run on the character than many have tried to replicate. I am finally glad to see someone who understands that he cannot replicate what one comic genius has done, and instead, break all the “prerequisites” of making Murdok as miserable as possible. For this, Mark Waid has earned my deepest respect.

Seeing the Daredevil reboot in previews I was by no means even considering of picking it up, especially after the utter mediocre tale of Shadowland. But after seeing that Waid was writing the “unachievable” comic, I could not only picture failure. It was not until hearing interviews of Waid’s vision that I realized this wasn’t going to be a rehash of old attempts of a new Miller run. I didn’t pre-order it and seeing the popularity it was getting, I ran to my LCS to snag a copy and upon reading it, found the what all the buzz was about.

For my longest time reading Daredevil, I have always set it down thinking “Why oh why did I read that cynical piece of work?” But after reading this one issue of 21 paged main tale, I felt excited, a strange feeling for a title that has brought me sorrow for many years. The extra piece in the back seemed a little odd, for I’ve never seen Matt Murdock with a chipper attitude doing things that involved his tragic past. I felt like I was seeing a new Murdock altogether and I was ecstatic to find that Waid achieved the impossible and shed new light on the character. Paolo’s pencils are a fantastic evolution of Miller’s Daredevil for this new age while Joe is able to color the brightest Daredevil comic I have ever read.

All in all, I strongly suggest those who have given up on Daredevil try this book. Waid’s ability to tell a story on such a dark character like Daredevil gave me the feeling that he could now successfully write any character that has seen bad press in the past years. Marvel, if you feel that you want to keep people reading old characters, take this advice and make sure to bring new visionaries to these books like Waid. I am happy to say that I like Daredevil again and can’t wait to continue this journey Waid has set forth.