While this week is mostly about getting ready for the release of Captain America: The First Avenger on Friday, today is all about Daredevil #1 by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, Marco Martin, and their amazing friends.
I'm actually surprised how much I loved this book. Like many people, I'm a big fan of the Miller, Bendis, and Brubaker runs on Daredevil, which often matched Matt's personality to Hell's Kitchen itself, doing as much to define grim and gritty, noirish comics as the last 35 years of Batman have. (To be fair, the humor in Miller's Daredevil is too often forgotten.) It was taken too far during Shadowland, which by implication had to be the last straw, a "Born Again" on steroids; I don't know how Matt could have gotten any darker than he did during that period.
Starting today, we truly have a Matt Murdock turning a corner in his life, deciding that he's through with despair. The last page of Daredevil #1 makes this explicit; I don't want to spoil it, so please read it for yourself. All throughout the book we see a confident, charming, and even slightly cocky and lightly sarcastic Matt--and even when he seems to go far with this, he has a reason (such as during the wedding scene familiar from the previews). I don't laugh outloud at comics very often (with the exception of Gail Simone's Secret Six, of course), and I can't remember the last time I laughed while reading a Daredevil comic, but I was chuckling and grinning the entire time I was reading Daredevil #1, which felt fantastic.
It's also that most elusive of comic books, the Holy Grail of the current market: a great jumping-on point for new readers. It doesn't erase complicated continuity or "modernize" any aspects of the characters or visuals; it simply is an approachable and enjoyable story in which all crucial background for the characters and story is sprinkled throughout (plus a one-page origin recap written by Fred Van Lente to start things off). Even Matt's repeated denials of being Daredevil to people who know better are supplemented with just enough detail from Bendis' run to explain the humor.
And while the art on Daredevil has tended toward the realistic and gritty as well, especially with the amazing work of Alex Maleev and David Lark during the Bendis and Brubaker runs, Rivera and Martin could not be more different. Reminding me of Dave Gibbons in its simplicity and clarity, but with innovative layouts all their own, these two incredible artists make Matt and his perception of the world around him jump of the page. And while it's obvious to focus on the way Rivera depicts Matt's radar sense or the way Martin highlights the sounds and smells of New York City that capture Matt's attention, they also do a wonderful job on the rest of the book. Along with colorists Javier Rodriguez and Muntsa Vicente, they give the cast, surroundings, and situations a refreshing burst of life, color, and--dare I say it--joy.
Just as Matt starts to rediscover joy, so do the readers of Daredevil. Waid, Rivera, and Martin are off to a fantastic start--if any of DC's New 52 relaunches are carried off half this well, I'll be very happy indeed.