Daredevil Visionaries Frank Miller Volume 2 TPB [Paperback]

In his very first outing, Miller slammed a home run when he created Elektra Natchios, ninja assassin and Matt Murdock's (Daredevil's) old college girlfriend. Miller has since admitted the basic plot skeleton was lifted from Will Eisner's famous old Spirit story containing the first appearance of Denny Colt's ex-girlfriend Sand Saref, including the idea of the hero's old flame becoming in the present his criminal enemy, that she was turned evil by her father's violent death, the final kiss on the docks, etc. That doesn't change the fact DD #168 is an incredibly powerful piece of comics storytelling - just not as blindingly original as some people like to believe.

Frank Miller was hardly comic books' first writer/artist. Jack Cole with Plastic Man; Neal Adams with Deadman; Steve Ditko with The Question, Mr. A, The Creeper, E-Man, etc.; Jim Starlin with Warlock; Dave Sim with Cerebus; all predated Miller. But he did weigh-in as an outstanding member of a group that's never been large.

Not to come across like I'm downgrading Miller's accomplishments here - I'm not - but it's worth noting that, for a first time big league comic book writer and neophyte penciller, he had a powerful support team. Marvel Comics' then-Editor-In-Chief, Jim Shooter, one of the greatest writers of comics' Silver Age, and even then penning some of Marvel's best stories (he STILL had it, and in spades), took an early interest in Miller's Daredevil and, as Miller put it, "proceeded to kibitz ferociously." Klaus Janson, a seasoned comics pro, had inked Miller since his start on Daredevil, and (another Miller quote), "had to sand down many a rough edge, and rescue many a panel outright." McKenzie and Miller had spent countless hours discussing the character before Miller ever soloed. So the kid had just a wee little bit of help.

None of which changes the fact that under Miller's tenure as writer/artist, Daredevil began to absolutely kick butt. McKenzie, long before Frank Miller showed up, had already begun the metamorphosis of DD from a second rate Spider-Man, instead casting him as a second rate Batman. Grim 'n' gritty, doncha know. Miller, combining his love of hyper-violent Japanese manga like Lone Wolf and Cub with a penchant for hard-boiled crime writers like Jim Thompson, took that basic idea and ran with it. Under his aegis, Matt Murdock's world became a battleground against street thugs, gangsters, hitmen, secret societies of assassins. Demonstrating an artistic sensibility heavily influenced by Eisner, rooms became chiaroscuro landscapes cut by light and shadow. The Kingpin, a laughable Spider-Man foe, was elevated by Miller to the pantheon of Marvel villains, a grotesque giant ruling New York's underworld with an iron fist inside an iron glove. Bullseye, a minor DD baddie for years, became then and forevermore Daredevil's Joker, his arch-nemesis. In these stories we find love betrayed, murder, revenge, psychosis. Our hero was driven by violence and loss to the very edge of insanity - and maybe just a tiny bit beyond.

All heady stuff, the likes of which comic books had never seen. It was a time, and a comic, where you almost literally couldn't wait 30 days for the next issue. I was there, and I loved it. For those of you who weren't there, or, like me, already own these issues but just want the stories in this square bound, paperback, heavy slick paper format as well - so you can hand the book to Frank Miller Daredevil virgins, showing them how great these stories are without cracking the seal on your mylar encased, backing boarded, mint condition originals - you NEED this book. Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Volume 2 collects some of the greatest super-hero comics ever.