Daredevil, Vol. 1: Devil at Bay by Mark Waid

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book launches the new series of Daredevil with the Man Without Fear returning to San Francisco (where he briefly lived in the 1970s) and collects Issues 1-5 and .1.

In Issues 1, Waid shows some intelligence with the story. Unlike the 1970s writers who first put Daredevil in San Francisco, Waid imagines the effects of moving to a brad new city on a blind superhero. The action for the rest of the book is set up rather well.

Issues 2-4 focus on Daredevil meeting the Shroud, another blind superhero with an agenda of his own It' a fasinating tale that calls to mind Daredevil's darker days under Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, and Andy Diggle, an era that Waid has rarely addressed.

Issue 5 tells us what became of Foggy Nelson. The exploration of the friendship between Foggy and Matt has been one of the great features of Waid's run. The portrayals of male platonic friendship is somewhat passe. However, Waid has used it and once again, he manages to do this to great effect effect in Issue 5.

Issue .5 was originally released as the Infinite comic Daredevil: Road Warrior series. Seeing it in this book, I feel kind of silly for having paid for the Infinite series, but that's not a mark against the Trade. The book is set at the time that Kirsten McDuffie and Matt are travelling from New York to San Francisco. In Wisconsin, Matt notices that one of the passengers doesn't have a heartbeat. Matt investigates and through a very long ride finds himself against a lesser known (but not less dangerous) Marvel universe villain. I actually liked reading this in one sitting. My only complaint was that this should have been the first comic in the book rather than the last. Overall, I found this an incredible ride and I highly recommend it.



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