Remember when Mark Waid’s Daredevil used to be Marvel’s best kept secret? A stylish, smart and unique comic with a dash of silver age finish to it? It used to be hidden in the nooks and crannies at your local comic book store, wedged between the countless, rigid and stubborn copies of X-Men and Avengers titles? These flattering adjectives have remained constant throughout the series’ run but the titles place and perception on the shelves has changed. Daredevil is a three time Eisner award winner and no superhero comic at the moment is more deserving.

Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Ed Brubaker are just a few of the names Mark Waid joins in that elite club of “Best Writer” at the Eisner’s. Along with “Best Continuing Series” and “Best Single Issue (#7)”, Daredevil was easily the big winner at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, richly rewarding Waid for his high risk direction with the character.

Following seminal Daredevil runs from superstar writers such as Miller, Bendis and Brubaker, Matt Murdock’s life has been one of misery and depression. He’s been through hell, literally, and experienced heartache more than any one man should. This dejection almost defines the character and makes what Mark Waid has done so impressive. He’s managed to make the character fun and a prime example was the wild conclusion of last month’s issue when Daredevil fell haplessly at the feet of his pursuers.

Matt is currently a science experiment, locked up in Dr. Doom’s medieval castle in Latveria, comatose, and stripped of all his five senses. It doesn’t get much worse for the man without fear and the issue does a great job of capturing this hopelessness as he fights deep within himself to retrieve his indispensable senses. One of the real successes of this series has been Waid’s abundant storytelling ability and it shines again here. He perfectly captures Matt’s voice with a fresh and believable narrative despite being stagnant for most of the issue. Little nuances such as blank speech bubbles to portray his deafness add so much to the overall reading experience and are ultimately the slices of the story we remember.

Unfortunately, Eisner nominee, Paolo Rivera announced his departure from art duties not too long ago. Although we are still being treated to his stunning covers, it’s a big loss to the title. Rivera gave Daredevil a very distinct style with his old school, silver age homage, bringing the renovation of this character full circle. However, keeping with the Eisner theme of the book, they’ve enlisted fellow nominee, Chris Samnee, full time, to take the reins. Samnee is a terrific artist and his work in this issue is very good but I have no doubt he will truly find his feet in future issues. The muddled artwork and muted colours in the issue really help to expose Matt’s confusion. Heavy thunderstorms reflecting on the neutral, grey stone of the castle give it that medieval feel which really puts Daredevil out of place.

People who aren’t reading Daredevil are running out of excuses to not give it a try. Throughout Marvel’s history, the title has always been one to produce high quality stories and this current run has no intention of bucking the trend. Awards never truly define a piece of art and an experienced writer like Mark Waid will be the first to adhere to this but it shows he’s definitely going in the right direction!