To call Daredevil a troubled soul would be an understatement. A life that has continually been ravaged by personal loss and tragedy, Matt Murdoch has been positively selfish over the years with his wealth of melancholy – potentially enough to service the entire Marvel universe! It appeared that Mark Waid had stemmed the gloomy tide, giving Matt a new lease of life and a reason to smile again. The renowned, dark tone synonymous with Daredevil had been replaced with humour and light heartedness. Who knew a Daredevil title could give you that warm, fuzzy feeling! Well it’s taken just over a year and 18 issues, but it seems Matt’s life is coming down like a house of cards once again and no one should be surprised.

This issue continues to build on the escalating tension between Matt and Foggy and it’s strange to see the latter so deeply angry with his best friend. The severity of Matt’s alleged action’s – robbing his father’s grave – is shown through Foggy. This isn’t some gimmick or trial, Foggy is genuinely disgusted with his friend and the situation appears beyond repair but when Matt calls for some desperate help, the intimate history the two share can’t even keep the furious Foggy from helping his friend.

Mark Waid is building something big and for the first time in this new series, he decides to take a significant piece from previous Daredevil runs. It’s incorporated into the narrative very well and leaves lots of questions about Matt’s mental state and sanity. He’s beginning to look very fragile and this elusive new threat/villain is really pushing the Man Without Fear to the limit. Some of the very best Daredevil runs have been ones where the attack is directed at his mind and this new story has all the makings of a pulsing psychological thriller.

Chris Samnee churns out his best art yet here. While not an action packed issue, Samnee excels at drawing figurative and facial emotion and this will be very important with the direction this title is going in. Whether it’s Foggy’s apathy and anger or Matt’s shock and horror, Samnee expertly captures these emotions and they really spill off the page. With the warm colouring and expressive fight scenes it really is a beautiful book to look at.

At the end of the day this is just another review heaping praise on this Daredevil title but I’ll never tire of telling people how good it is. With a compelling and intricate narrative on the horizon, a host of compelling characters and a terrific artist to boot, it’s hard to find fault with it. Mark Waid never loses sight of what’s really important in storytelling and always does the simple things right. This is how superhero stories should be told. This new storyline is just kicking off, make sure you don’t miss out on something special.