Favorite Comic Book Pages: Daredevil #232, Page 22
I’m not going to get into how amazing Frank Miller’s “Born Again” saga in his Daredevil run was. By now, it’s become one of those facts of life. Nor am I going to go into detail explaining the shadow of Miller which looms so heavily over the character and the book itself. Writers appear to work with two modes when taking on the character: 1) scrambling to get out of Miller’s shadow, or 2) enjoying the shade.
I think it’s a shame that Miller’s influence has equated to dumping as much tragedy and despair onto the character that you possibly can (seriously, when is the last time this guy has had a good day?). That said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the stories of seeing our hero falling from grace again and again.
What’s worth talking about is the enormous sense of relief and pure glee on turning the page and seeing the final splash page for issue #232 of Daredevil, the penultimate issue to the “Born Again” story. Up until this point of the story, Daredevil’s life had been completely dismantled and it had been months since he even put the costume on, months since he was half the hero we knew he could be. So, to see this page was like a religious experience:
I can’t possibly imagine this story without David Mazzucchelli’s stunning artwork. I know the idea of widescreen, cinematic sequences in comic books came into being (at least in terms of our ability to be aware of it) around the turn of the century, but Mazzucchelli’s art was as epic and widescreen as you could possibly get at the time. Just thinking about his work in this book makes me smile.
Yeah, it’s time I got this collection out again and gave it another read.
I was never a DD fan, so it’s interesting to see this familiar artistic style applied to this character. The Miller DD was a legend even in its own time, but I was busy with CONAN THE BARBARIAN, X-MEN, and DC’s horror comics, and never got to know the character. Mazzucchelli is himself here. I really loved his work on BATMAN: YEAR ONE, but having just re-read it (I bought a copy for my son to show him that old school is the only school), I can see the shameless editorial pressures put on the artist to be both Miller AND Jansen on the page. Somehow, he manages to do this while still maintaining his own identity, like the guy at the Hallowe’en party who keeps pulling his mask down to show you it’s really him.
Plus, when I see that yellowed newsprint, I get all itchy to skip work and just nerd out with my Silvers and Bronzes.
Well, this is one of the greatest Daredevil stories ever told. And it’s a shame Mazzucchelli’s art is often eclipsed by Miller’s writing in BORN AGAIN. It’s stunning.
This has been Mazzucchelli’s year though. His graphic novel ASTERIOS POLYP is absolutely breathtaking. And I hope he finally becomes a name we namedrop more often when we list off the greats.
Also worth mentioning, it appears you had my brother’s taste in comic books back in the day. You’ve listed off everything he collected, while I was masturbating to ROM and WEST COAST AVENGERS.
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