SuperHeroBooks - Essential Daredevil, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)
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List Price: $16.99
Our Price: $4.76
Your Save: $ 12.23 ( 72% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780785118619
ISBN: 0785118616
Label: Marvel Comics
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 544
Publication Date: 2005-08-03
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Studio: Marvel Comics
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Awesomest Thing Ever
Comment: Do you like fancy New York locales? Melodramatic villians who defy the laws of physics? Secretaries with sweet beehive hairdos and unrequited romantic attractions? Blind crimefighters who struggle to design the most perfect costume?
Then you will love this book! Daredevil is the devil I pray to! :)
Customer Rating:
Summary: So So Stories
Comment: After reading this collection I find it unremarkable and possibly forgettable. Yet, there were a couple of memorable stories--mainly memorable because of some humorous angle, not due to great plots or character development. I will easily remember the "super"-villain with springs on his shoes--The Leap Frog; simply goofy, but taken quite seriously by DD. And then there's Stilt Man--an interesting image, but still not an interesting character.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hints of things to come
Comment: As a young comics reader, Daredevil never had the same appeal to me as other Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four or Spiderman. That would change, however, when Frank Miller took over the book and brought new life to a superhero who previously seemed a little boring. Now, over two decades later, my tastes have changed and I felt it was worth giving the pre-Miller Daredevil another chance. After reading Essential Daredevil Volume 1, I found that my feelings haven't changed that much.
For those unfamiliar with Daredevil, he is actually Matt Murdock, a well-respected lawyer. The twist is that Murdock is blind, the result of an accident involving radioactive material. That same material, however, enhanced all his other senses, to the extent that he can hear the faintest sound, read regular print by feeling the ink patterns on paper, and most importantly, he can sense people and objects around him with a radar sense (akin to bats).
The twenty-five issues in this volume introduce Daredevil and provide his origin, showing how he developed his fighting skills and became a hero to avenge his father's death. Though he is in top shape, he is only human, so most of his foes have relatively minor powers; when he goes up against someone like the Sub-Mariner (who can hold his own against the Avengers), Daredevil is clearly out of his league. Against foes like the Owl, Gladiator or Stilt-Man, however, the fights get more interesting.
While Stan Lee does a decent job writing this book, he is obviously not giving it the same effort as his bigger books like FF or Spiderman. We see this in two ways: first, the villains are not all that wonderful, and Daredevil never really gets a real archenemy the way the Fantastic Four has Dr. Doom or Spiderman has Dr. Octopus and the Green Goblin (Daredevil's biggest enemies, Bullseye and the Kingpin are far in the future). Also, the supporting cast is pretty weak. One of Spiderman's strengths is its strong cast of characters from the start: Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, etc.; Daredevil only has Murdock's partner and secretary, Foggy Nelson and Karen Page respectively. Foggy is bland (with little of the oafish humor he would later get) and Karen is the typical comic book female in this era, always pining away for Matt and getting into danger.
Overall, these are okay issues but far from spectacular; while they will be interesting to Daredevil fans who want to read his early history, they will pale when compared to the other comics I've mentioned. Not bad, not really good, this volume is three star material.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Look for entertainment---not inspiration
Comment: It's a given that the early FF and Spiderman hold up well, but I was surprised to see that Daredevil fares well. Having only read one of these early issues(number 8 with Stiltman), I didn't have the highest expectations. Maybe it was just because I've been so comic deprived these past couple months in college, but it didn't take long for me to see things through Matt Murdock's...eyes.
The early issues with Joe Orlando hold their own, but when Wally Wood comes around with Sub-mariner it gets even better. John Romita's first appearance in issue 12 with Ka-zar also improves upon his predecessor. There is nothing here that is going to take your breath away, but if villains such as the Owl, Gladiator, Electro, and the Fixer give you a warm fuzzy feeling, or at least some sort of memory, you need to have this. If you haven't really experienced the silver age of comics yet, you're probably better off starting with ol' Spidey and the FF first.
The major problem I have with these early issues is not so much the lack of originality or redundancy, it's the cliche love triangle and occasional inconsistencies. The first 3 issues show promise, with Matt aloof and uninterested in Karen's feelings towards him. But in the next issue, Stan Lee decides to make him into an old softie, something that really clashes with DD and Matt. The inconsistencies are more forgivable, sloppy mistakes, such as when Foggy later mentions his proposal to Karen that was turned down, when in fact he never went through with asking her in the first place. Ah well, the meat of what's here is still great, and will go great between Captain America and Defenders Essentials on your shelf.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What is it with superheroes and their secretaries?
Comment: I was born too late to buy the original, old-school comics, But I think this is suitable. Although I would have enjoyed the collection in color, reading them in black and white is OK as well. Also I liked Wallace Wood's Daredevil, because his style was smooth and not as sketchy as the eariler artists. Theirs were very good also, but Mr.Wood's was my favorite. I guess what I found particularly amusing was that unlike in the new comics (which I admit I have not read a lot of) Daredevil is a little more...how do I put this delicately...goofy? Not quite Spiderman goofy, (I swear he has ADD,) but he does chatter during battle. D.D also admits to himself once that sometimes he sounds corny.
I also see a kind of theme with these heroes. The guys with medical/health problems, Matt Murdock and Tony Stark, fall in love with their seceritaries! And then they come up with a reason why they can't be with the aforementioned beautiful secretary like 'I'm blind and my best friend loves her anyway' or '...I've got a heart condition...'Spiderman's probably the only one with an actual girlfriend!
Matt's friend Foggy isn't really anyone to complain about. A normal, superhero's best buddy guy. Karen isn't much different than Foggy, except she's not male. Even so, they're interesting enough characters.
The reason I gave Vol.1 4 stars is the assortment of 'villans'. To be honest, probably half of them are just plain stupid. Stiltman? Leap Frog? PURPLE MAN?!? Don't get me stated on him. Get the Purple Man together with some other Marvel villians like Mr.Doll (Iron Man), The Unicorn (X-Men), and Mysterio (Spiderman), and you've got the Effeminant Four! Anyhow, ignoring my rant, thre are some villians that are all right and some anti-heroes (The Sub Mariner& Ka-Zar, namely) that were definately appreciated after the Purple Man. If you miss the good old days when comics didn't take themselves that seriously I'd recommend this as a good read.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Introducing Daredevil, his memorable supporting cast, and his many famous foes: the Owl, Mr. Fear, and the deadly Eel.
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