Daredevil, Vol. 3: The Daredevil You Know

Daredevil by Mark Waid #10

by Mark Waid (Writer), Chris Samnee (Illustrator)

Daredevil's recent traumas have left him coping in an unexpected way! A mystery that's been building since issue one starts to pay off big! San Francisco now has two men without fear -- and only one will be left standing!

Collecting: Daredevil 11-15

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2015

About the author

Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that Matt Murdock is in a place where everybody knows his name (that would be San Francisco), he doesn’t have to worry about pulling off this stuff…



…but he can’t get away with this anymore. (heh)



…yet that doesn’t excuse his new choice of duds.



This is the penultimate volume of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s award winning run on Daredevil and the cat that was once Matt Murdock’s secret identity is now out of the bag for reals and by choice.

So what’s the first thing Matt does? He starts writing a tell-all autobiography ghosted by his pretend dead pal, Foggy Nelson. And things are slightly altered…to punch up the book a little.



Things start to unravel, because Daredevil fails to take his own cocksure advice.



Next: The enemy (and possible future frenemy) of my former ally turned enemy is my friend. (Huh?)

Bottom line: Waid’s run on his title is one of his all-time best and stacks up well overall with the amazing writers who’ve penned “The Man Without Fear”. The tone is a little more buoyant than Bendis, Brubaker or Miller and if you start here: Daredevil, Volume 1 - it’s a nice gateway for readers interested in the character. Waid and Samnee do a terrific job of explaining Murdock’s abilities to the barely initiated.

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since Matt Murdock is blind it doesn’t seem fair to criticize his fashion sense, but he has made some stunningly bad choices with his superhero costumes in the past. Sure his red tights are now an all-time classic, but his original yellow and black outfit? Ugh. That all black ensemble with a sock pulled over his head left him looking like a low rent ninja? Boring. And we’re all pretending that faux armor abomination back in the ‘90s never happened, right?

So it seems a little risky for Daredevil to change up his look again, but now that everyone knows his secret identity Matt doesn’t feel the need to hide behind a mask anymore. It takes a bold guy to pull off a red business suit with a DD belt buckle, but they don’t call him The Man Without Fear for nothing, folks.

Matt has other things going on besides his makeover. He’s still adapting to his new role as celebrity superhero in his new home of San Francisco, and he’s balancing that with his law practice as well as his writing his autobiography for an $8 million dollar payday. Hey, those red business suits ain't cheap, people!

More great stuff from writer Mark Waid who manages to deliver satisfying close-ended superhero stories while also always having something cooking as on-going tales in Matt’s life. It’s immensely satisfying stuff that really breathed new life into an old character.

Too bad it’s all gonna end soon in the interest of rebooting the entire Marvel universe.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

11 - There's a new Stunt Master and the old one wants to sue him for using his name. Meanwhile, Matt and Foggy are working on Matt's autobiography.

The new Stunt Master is a douche nozzle and I can't wait for Daredevil to settle his hash. I'm really enjoying how Waid and Samnee are dusting off and using villains that aren't The Kingpin.

12 - Daredevil finally gets his hands on the Stunt Master.

Now that was some crazy shit. There were twists and some awesome action, such as Daredevil driving a car using his billy club and cane while chasing the Stunt Master. Turns out both of them are douche nozzles.

13 - Kirsten's dad has bodyguards secretly following her. Good thing, since she's in danger...

Is one of Daredevil's foes striking at him through Kirsten? Also, the Shroud shows up and things look to be heating up between San Francisco's top two blind crime fighters.

14 - Matt ditches his Daredevil outfit in favor of a red and black suit. Meanwhile, the Owl's daughter is looking for her old man.

You have to admit, Mark Waid has balls, having Matt ditch the mask and tights for a red and black suit but it works. I also liked where things are going with The Shroud, the Owl, Owlette, or whatever her name is, and Daredevil in the next issue.

15 - The Shroud is using The Owl to look for his missing girlfriend and launches a campaign to ruin Daredevil in San Francisco.

Yeah, Daredevil's up to his neck in sewage in this one. Every cell phone conversation and meeting he's ever had is broadcast and Foggy's been outed. And Matt has to make a deal with his worst enemy to settle things.

Closing Thoughts: Mark Waid's had one hell of a run on Daredevil, making him one of my top Marvel characters of all time. It's a shame someone will probably hit the status quo button as soon as he leaves. Four out of five stars.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved every page of Mark Waid's run on Daredevil.

There seems to be two schools of thought when it comes to DD fans (just talking about genuine fans here, not the haters). One school, which seems to be in the minority these days, thinks DD should always be the wisecracking swashbuckler he was in the early days and that Frank Miller ruined the character forever. The other, more prominent, school is the folks who think DD should always be the grim, gritty, tortured soul introduced by Miller and expanded upon by Brian Michael Bendis.

Not to be THAT guy... but I'm not in either of these camps. I actually think both these aspects of Daredevil are necessary to make the character come to life while being true to its history... and Mark Waid's run has been SO good for me because he manages to balance both sides of the character PERFECTLY. Not only that but he's also managed to take Matt to places he's never been before.

DAMN, but I'm going to miss Waid when he goes...

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book in Mark Waid's great run on Daredevil. And I've never been a big fan of Chris Samnee but he's changed my mind with his Daredevil run. Marvel should keep Waid and Samnee on this book for as long as they can. They've struck gold.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

So it's official, Waid's second half of his run is great stuff (unlike that first half, so jumbled of good, meh, and shit)

In this volume we get plenty of Daredevil in shitty positions. The first arc was okay. Stunt master is back and it's a kind of screwed up ending, but it's a fun little story none the less.

The next arcs are better. I freaking love Kristien. I hope she never leaves. Which this is Matt's life, so it could only mean terrible things. I hope I'm wrong. She's badass, funny, and looks cool. It would be a shame but this is Matt's tragic life.

Matt ditching his suit for just a regular black and red suit is interesting...like he don't give a shit no more. I thought it was clever (though obviously I'm partial to his real suit) but it's none the less a cool change.

And ending on a nice big cliffhanger with you know who returning brings a lot of excitement for the final volume. I'm ready, bring it on!

[Sud666 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked Mark Waid's work on the "re-do" of Daredevil. That being said this Volume was awful. WTF happened?

Matt Murdock has been outted as Daredevil. He has moved to San Francisco to save his friends. Which is really stupid since if the enemies KNOW who DD is..then they know who he used to work/be friends with. So even if he moves to San Francisco or Zurich, Switzerland I can find no reason why the incredibly ruthless array of people who hate DD wouldn't find Foggy and anyone else they damn well pleased and turn them into dog food. Just for shits and giggles. Because they are evil. But ok..anyways he's in San Fran and has become a d-bag. Cool...so where we going with DDD (Douchebag DareDevil)?

Well Waid has him fight an ex stunt man who wants to do stunts and be top dog. Yep. You read that right. DD who used to fight people like Bullseye, the Kingpin, the Hand is now chasing some has been who wants to be the Man with No fear. So uh..yeah...pretty exciting.

But wait for it..it's about to get worse. DDD really puts an emphasis on the first "D" (Douchebag, remember?) by changing into this bizarre red suit that looks like it was designed by a possessed Gianni Versace on LSD. It is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Then he helps out the Owl's Daughter. *sigh* So uh I was incredibly disappointed by the poor quality of this volume. I don't know if he was just bored and thinking up stupid stories to write- because if he was then bravo! Mission accomplished. The artwork is junk-trying far to hard to be trendy and stylish but mirroring the plot in its mediocrity. If this is what DD has come to-I'll pass..I'm going to go back and read the good stuff I missed. This is putrid.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still diggin' Waid's wowy-zowy technicolour Daredevil run. This time around there is legal chicanery, actual Evel Knevel-seque motorcycle daredevilry, and an old adversary blows the lid on just a few of Matt's (remaining) secrets from his life and loves in and out of crimefighting persona.

And, oh yeah, a new costume that needs to be seen to be believed.

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Cos the constant changing must have meant constant chafing, right?

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY INSANE ………..

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wade has a thing about characters tied to machines.

World: Brilliant art, full of emotion. The world building is quite good. The status quo continues to change and it keeps the book fresh. The anchor of the characters makes this a slice of the MU worth visiting.

Story: Solidly grounded on characters and emotions making for a fun and interesting read. The pacing is done well and the banter is absolutely top shelf. The Shroud story is still unappealing to me but this is Wade's story and he loves to keep going back there with Owl so yeah...

Characters: Matt is complex and layered and so different from the Bendis, Smith, Brubaker and Miller versions. I like it. McDuffie is still amazing and her chemistry is just sizzling with Matt. Shroud still not a fan, find him boring. The rest of the cast are also solid.

Good solid fun read.

Onward to the next book!

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was kind of a mixed-bag but the plot feels like its beginning to pick up.

[Kirsten Bedford]

Matt Murdock gets with a character named Kirsten… ummm yeah automatically 5 stars.

[Britton]

Admittedly, I was skeptical of Waid at first. I thought that he was another one of those 'nerds who pretend to be writers' (ala Dan Slott), and certainly he can fall into those cliches at times. Yet I was surprised to see that he was capable of spinning a good yarn, offering a more optimistic bent to superheroes in Alan Moore's shadow without seeming contrived or silly with his seminal work Kingdom Come. But sadly, there comes an age where a creative mind reaches his peak, and Waid has clearly passed his.

I understand that Waid was attempting to bring a lighter tone to the Daredevil world, but so was Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale with Daredevil: Yellow, and I found that story was more heartfelt, while not losing the tragedy that defines Daredevil's world. Waid certainly attempts to achieve a similar effect, but he seems to have no understanding on what makes Daredevil so compelling, instead making him into a snarky, wisecracking jackass no different than Austin Powers. I found awkward jokes, cringey moments, and the contrived, hokey storytelling that he had spent his career quietly subverting.

Now one might think of me as one of those angsty fanboys who can't accept change to an established character that I like. But I found that Andy Diggle's run and Shadowland, which is quite the opposite of Waid's take on the character, to also become unintentionally silly and ridiculous with how dark and intense that it got, with none of the mastery of tone that Bendis and Brubaker would take with the character, and one that Zdarsky would also take when approaching the character. But Waid proves that going in the complete other direction doesn't do much to help things either, and it only becomes more disheartening once you begin to see

Certainly, there were the good moments, there are times that Waid attempts to give more depth to Matt and the other characters and attempt to explain his reasoning as Matt attempting to hide the constant pain that he struggles with with humor and laughter, and admittedly that would be an interesting direction for the Man Without Fear to go, but I find that it falls flat for two major reasons. For starters, I found that there wasn't enough emotional investment to really grab me, most moments where it attempted to make a connection either became a cheap punchline or they went right back to snarky obliviousness. Secondly, there hasn't ever been a time in Daredevil's history where he's attempted to use humor to cover up emotional pain (that I know of, to be fair). Now, I'm not one who harps too much on continuity, but it has its importance where it allows the stories and runs on characters to come together cohesively, and I don't find that Waid stuck to it or even cared to get a grasp on the character. One could make an argument for Stan Lee's original run with the character or Daredevil or Loeb and Sale's Yellow, but I found that they were fun while also keeping the tragedy of the character intact.

Chris Samnee's art was a continual source of enjoyment throughout this series, he brings a nostalgic, cartoon like flare to the series that was reminiscent of the great Darwyn Cooke, though a bit more upbeat and 'safe' unlike Cooke, who brought an evocative and moody tone to his art work with his work on Batman: Ego and his adaptations of Stark's Parker. But I still quite enjoyed Samnee's artwork throughout Waid's run, even as my interest began to wane.

In the end, I found that what truly went wrong with this series is that they got the wrong team to do it. I find that they would have been better on an Avengers book rather than a Daredevil one. The style, tone, and themes that are usually befitted to Daredevil are not found here, and I didn't find that Waid went in a very interesting direction with his take on Daredevil. Then again, it's always sad to see a once great creator begin to lose his touch, and Waid makes the list as he goes along.

Note: I won't be discussing any of the controversies that have befallen Waid over the last several years, I am only judging the quality of the storytelling in this run alone, any other drama that he's involved with has to do with him and the other parties involved in the situation.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, okay, if I averaged out how much I liked the issues in this collection, I would probably rate this as a three-star book. I wasn't that into the stuntman storyline, but ::squeal:: KINGPIN IS BACK! (Obviously I somehow didn't come into contact with spoilers.)

I'm really excited to see where the series goes, and I'm once again impressed by how Waid manages to keep the main themes of Daredevil, while treading new ground. Somehow he manages to make his run of Daredevil successfully "the same but different" in a good way. Although Daredevil's identity is now public knowledge, it appears that Daredevil/Matt's enemies are once again able to mess with his life by disclosing his secrets and the secrets of those closest to him, undermining the public's faith in him, and forcing a shady deal with the Kingpin.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't particularly enjoy either of the stories in this trade which ultimately let me down. Matt also came across as a major jerk in some of the issues which I felt was slightly out of character.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still enjoying this series, but I have to admit I did like things better when Daredevil had a secret identity and the world didn't know he was Matt Murdock. That being said, Waid is really making the best of the current storyline without losing the essence of the character.

[Nadja · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5* This volume was fun. There was a lot going on but mostly it was interesting to see Matt coping with everyone knowing who he is and how this might affect the people close to him while he is also totally embracing it with a new „costume“.

[FortressOfBookitude · Rating 2 out of 5]

Argh... who are these characters I used to like? Although I think some of the off-characterness show-cased in this is intentional (and intentionally cringey), it didn't work out for me at all. Maybe this volume is even worse than the one before. At least it's mostly fast-paced, light entertainment.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Waid and Chris Samnee do it again. With only a few issues left after this volume, the walls are beginning to close around Daredevil as the inevitable massive finale gets ever closer.

We open with a two part story featuring the Stunt Master which has a few good twists and turns, and once again uses Matt's enhanced senses in new and innovative ways - Waid and Samnee have always managed to make sure every story they tell is a Daredevil story; too easy is it to write street level characters and have it be a story that could feature any of said heroes, but that's never the case with this run of Daredevil.

Then comes a three part story that introduces a new Owl, as well as reintroducing The Shroud and the original Owl in time for a superb cliffhanger and some plot developments that threaten to bring everything DD has worked for crashing down around his ears.

Of course, Samnee's art is still top notch, what do you expect at this point? Daredevil's awesome, nuff' said.

[Anchorpete · Rating 5 out of 5]

MILD SPOILER--

You know the point in a TV show, comic or film series, when the main character is dealt such a surprising and damning blow, you can't believe they could be hit so hard?

well, that happened to Daredevil probably about fifteen times before Mark Waid took over writing duties.

Not to be outdone, Waid gives us that "Oh no, how could they?" moment in this trade, and it is spectacular.

It is no wonder Matt Murdock has to make a deal with another Devil, in the next trade, to try and save himself. As always- Wonderful.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good fun and built on the prior run. Matt's new costume has to be seen to be believed. I couldn't stop laughing though it does make twisted sense. The Stunt Master story was fun but the second story has a big impact and completely throws Matt's life in the wringer. Again. No, for real this time.

Waid is doing a fine of balancing pathos with humour and it works really well. Good job.

[Ryan Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars, but I'm rounding up to 5 for this one.
So. SO. Good. It helps to have Chris Samnee as artist on EVERY issue in this volume. Every panel of his blows me away.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geez, wouldn't it be horrible if someone could totally view or hear anything that ever happened within range of a phone, webcam, computer, or whatever? What a dystopia...

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've realized what my problem has been with Waid's sometimes fantastic, sometimes poorly conceived run on Daredevil. Kevin Smith wrote a pretty good but brief run of comics that told a tight story, accompanied by some solid art. Brian Michael Bendis wrote a wonderful piece of fiction about Matt Murdock, and did so through the lense of comics with excellent art by Alex Maleev and others. Ed Brubaker continued that story with the same earnestness and attention to character, dialogue, pacing, and trope aversion that Bendis did. He was slightly less successful but it was definitely the same world. The streak of great storytelling fell apart because Andy Diggle turned it into comic book tropes, and wasn't yet good enough at his craft to write excellent comics. Going from phenomenal storytelling using comics as a medium to a mediocrely told comic book sucked all the air out of the story.

Mark Waid is, generally, a fantastic writer who often writes via the medium of comics. But Daredevil is a comic book. Often, a good one, but it doesn't really aspire to be anything more than a comic book. He doesn't really subvert any tropes during his run. He moves the character to a new location, and then fills it with all the characters from his previous location. He does a special issue with a flash forward that introduces a character who will show up later in the run but who is attached to one of Daredevil's rogues with the longest tenure. He does the "pretend the secondary character is dead but really put him in witness protection" trope that we also saw during the Bendis run.

While Bendis and Brubaker wrote a story, through the medium of comics, that was dependent on Frank Miller's great but very comic booky tenure on Daredevil, Waid has done an inconsistent but good run of a very comic booky story based on Bendis and Brubaker's story. It's mostly enjoyable but it's a completely different style of writing, and that's why it's a bit frustrating to read so close to the Bendis and Brubaker runs.

There is nothing bad about writing something in a comic booky fashion. Obviously, I like comic books. Robert Kirkman's Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 is one of my favorite superhero stories, and it's about as comic booky as books can comic.

There's also nothing inherently wonderful about telling a non-comic booky story using legacy comic book characters and the medium of comics to tell your story. It just so happens that Bendis did such a good job with it during his Daredevil run that it put me in a different mode of reading, and Brubaker was able to mostly keep that energy going. I also know, because I was reading it a couple of years ago, that Zdarsky's run at least starts with that same energy, so having those as baselines makes any modern use of the character that merely acts out tropes instead of subverting them, and as less a feel of an honest story, and more of an "Ah, ha, on this page must be a reveal because it is comics, LOOK I BROUGHT BACK A PREVIOUS CHARACTER, mwahahaha" aura, just feel lackluster. It's not Waid's fault. He did mostly solid comic bookery, it's just bookended (apart from Diggle's run, which I believe is bad, even for comic bookery) by people doing something different, and doing it really well.

If you like Mark Waid's writing, this is still a solid book. You should read it. But it doesn't feel as great as his run on The Flash by Mark Waid, Book One because Waid was taking a comic book title that had been dull for years, and injecting life into it by making it even more ridiculously comic booky. If you want to see what Waid does when he decides to forego the comic bookery and tell a cool superhero story using comics as a medium rather than a genre, check out his Irredeemable, Vol. 1. The man can do both. It's entirely probable that editorial asked him specifically to write Daredevil in this fashion to make the book seem fresh after so many years of an admittedly gloomy book.

For my money, I'd rather have seen Waid start comic booky and then take it into a surprising direction. Which is not what happened.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't BAD- it was still good but I just didn't particularly like some things.

The first 2 issues deal with a Stunt Master coming to Matt for help. Someone has stolen his brand and are ruining his life but things are much more complicated than they appear. Those issues were fine, loved the reveals, love Matt got humbled.

Then it just... idk goes into other shit I wasn't a fan of. Matt and Kiersten's romance has finally come to play and well, they are sure a thing!!! I never felt any chemistry between them like they are honestly so boring and I don't like seeing any of them together lol. They just felt like a couple of besties and that was it??

Meanwhile Matt is making an autobiography about his life and then he decides to change his costume and I HATED it. I understand getting rid of the mask because everyone knows who he is anyway but he gets rid of the entire outfit and starts wearing a fucking lame ass red 3 piece suit and then gets his hair buzzed. Then because oh California everyone loves celebrities he acts like Spongebob when he thought he was famous, just signing autographs and loudly asking a street full of people in cars who wants to give him a ride.

I did not vibe with any of that and I was so annoyed. I don't like being annoyed with a character I love so it soured half of this volume for me.

It's so funny to me though because we get introduced to the Owl's daughter and I loved her!! She had more chemistry and bond with Daredevil in 2 panels than Kiersten had this entire damn time. We don't even really see her face and I would already die for that ship, sorry not sorry.

The plot went fast and this really felt like it was building for a big finale which I guess it is.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waid kontynuuje swoją przygodę z marką Daredevil i nadal mu to wychodzi więcej niż dobrze. Wszyscy już wiedzą, że Matt to niewidomy bohater, który za dnia jest zawziętym prawnikiem, po to aby wolnym czasie działać jako zamaskowany heros. Pierwsza historia poniekąd jest z tym powiązana, bo zgłasza się ktoś z przeszłości Murdocka, a kto zajmował się wyczynowymi popisami na motorze. Tzw. Stunt Master.

Szkopuł w tym, że bezlitosna firma, z jaką był mężczyzna związany, wykorzystuje jego wizerunek i ksywkę, aby reklamować całkiem nowego kaskadera. Bohater nieco bagatelizuje sprawę, do czasu aż znajomy ginie. Wtedy wszystko przybiera formę osobistej sprawy. Matt będzie musiał poszukać kilku odpowiedzi, bo jak to zwykle bywa, nie wszystko jest takie na jakie wygląda.

Nieco dalej odkryje, że na jego nową dziewczynę ktoś dybie i trzeba będzie sobie z tym problemem poradzić. Jest to chyba mój ulubiony kawałek tego niestety dosyć krótkiego albumu (liczy nieco ponad sto stron), który ma na dodatek całkiem fajne zakończenie.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The low-point of Waid's Daredevil run has a mish-mash of storylines.


Stunt Master (#11-12). This is pretty much the episode where the Fonz jumps the shark on waterskies. Except it's Matt riding a motorcycle up the cable of the Golden Gate Bridge. There's actually some neat plotting here, but it's hard to get past the horrible premise [2/5].

Kirsten (#13). A great story about how Kirsten is more than just Daredevil's girlfriend [4+/5].

Pride (#14-15). This story has some definite pluses, including: the continuation of the Owl and Shroud plots (finally!), the introduction of Jubula Pride (finally!), and Daredevil's new costume (hilarious!). Unfortunately, it really drags other than that, leans on the tired false-accusation trope, and has a non-ending. Fortunately, it's a great non-ending, hopefully setting us up for a terrific finale [3/5].

[Nate]

Stunt Master comes to Matt and Kirsten wanting to sue a new guy dubbing himself Stunt Master (and later, the Man Without Fear). An inevitable confrontation follows, with double-crossing and a motorcycle chase. Eh, not the best storyline.

Then we get focus on Matt and Kirsten’s relationship, and it’s great. I really like them together. Kirsten’s dad also convinces Matt to ditch the mask and be more of a celebrity, which yields amusing results.

The book ends with a continuation of the Shroud and Owl plots. This gets pretty intense, with outings that create a real test for Matt, Kirsten, and Foggy. I was glued to the page during the last issue. I did not expect that ending.

I’m confident Waid can wrap up everything well in the next book. This has been a solid and refreshingly buoyant Daredevil run.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate the layers inside of layers that Waid does building up to the big climax of his run. There's a lot of great foreshadowing and parallelism in threads that almost seem like one-offs that were forgotten, but it all ties together in a way that leaves a lot of conflict for the reader in a who-can-I-trust/who-is the-good-guy kind of way. Samnee's art is great too - the simplicity of the characters and the radar sense (especially when it is getting confused and overloaded) is always spot on).

[Scott Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daredevil is such a creature of his element--Hell's Kitchen--that the fact Waid and Samsee make this Daredevil-leaves-New-York reboot work is an impressive achievement in itself. That it is as strong as this volume is even more impressive.

Returning to Waid's initial promise at the very beginning of his run that this would not be the typical brooding, depressive Daredevil, Matt is actually happy through most of this volume. Personally I think Waid addresses the idea of the superhero with the public identity more effectively and more honestly than I've ever seen in dealing with Matt's choices over this and the preceding two volumes of this reboot. This is great character driven comics.