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Daredevil (1964) #215-217, 219-222, 225-226
Daredevil: Love's Labors Lost
Daredevil and those closest to him are forced to face the bitter sting of heartbreak in all its forms as new relationships blossom, old loves fade away, and tragedy takes its toll amid a globe-spanning super-hero epic stretching from the swamps of New Jersey to the shores of Venice.
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Dennis O'Neil
1,758 books276 followers
Dennis "Denny" O'Neil
was a comic book writer and editor best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 25, 2022
A collection of stories best know for preceding the excellent "Born Again" story arc. This is not that story arc. "Love's Labors Lost" collects Issues # 215-217, 219-222 and 225-226. One of the stories is by Frank Miller and one gives him credit. Mostly it is a Dennis O'Niell run.
This is a collection revolving around the various loves of Daredevil, and even Foggy. I didn't know Foggy used to be married, nor that he sported a 70's porn mustache. But I did know that Matt has terrible taste in women.
That's pretty much the basis for most of these stories as randomly terrible women that both Matt and Foggy love, turn out to be randomly terrible. Daredevil struggles with the burdens of relationships, being DD and even the law practice is suffering.
This bevy of odd and sometimes seemingly unconnected stories does seem to jump all over the map. Some are not good and some are decent. The combination of the two earn this a 2 star rating. The artwork is interesting, thouugh it does show it's age. Still there is something interesting to David Mazzucchelli's art and I think this is where he refines it into the rather good artwork he has in "Born Again"
None of these stories will knock your socks off but the Miller story at the end is rather different. Many of these stories are a bit darker than I imagined they would be. But that is likely due to the overwhelming sense of loss that prevades this volume. Not bad, not great, just a 2 star "ok" DD collection.
This is a collection revolving around the various loves of Daredevil, and even Foggy. I didn't know Foggy used to be married, nor that he sported a 70's porn mustache. But I did know that Matt has terrible taste in women.
That's pretty much the basis for most of these stories as randomly terrible women that both Matt and Foggy love, turn out to be randomly terrible. Daredevil struggles with the burdens of relationships, being DD and even the law practice is suffering.
This bevy of odd and sometimes seemingly unconnected stories does seem to jump all over the map. Some are not good and some are decent. The combination of the two earn this a 2 star rating. The artwork is interesting, thouugh it does show it's age. Still there is something interesting to David Mazzucchelli's art and I think this is where he refines it into the rather good artwork he has in "Born Again"
None of these stories will knock your socks off but the Miller story at the end is rather different. Many of these stories are a bit darker than I imagined they would be. But that is likely due to the overwhelming sense of loss that prevades this volume. Not bad, not great, just a 2 star "ok" DD collection.
November 26, 2014
Daredevil's travels take him to Arizona and Venice, he crosses paths with the Black Widow, and he becomes progressively more self-involved as events turn against him. This begins a downward spiral that is kicked into high gear by the Kingpin in Born Again which immediately follows this volume.
I wasn't sure whether to give this three or four stars, finally settling on four. It was a good volume, especially for setting the stage for Born Again, but it was fairly disjointed and almost every issue featured a different tone and a different level of realism. I found Frank Miller's single-issue story to be interesting and unique in terms of the way it was told but ultimately it felt like Matt was acting out of character a bit. Some reviewers cite Matt acting like a jerk to be a major negative. He does, though not as much as I was expecting, and it seemed at least somewhat natural based on the events he goes through. If anything, I empathized with him more and recognized my own reactions in him. That was probably the factor that bumped it up to a four. I think considering Matt's state of mind around this period, his erratic behavior taken collectively in all of these issues makes a lot of sense.
In the end, it was an interesting collection of stories and a good lead-in to probably the best Daredevil story I've read.
I wasn't sure whether to give this three or four stars, finally settling on four. It was a good volume, especially for setting the stage for Born Again, but it was fairly disjointed and almost every issue featured a different tone and a different level of realism. I found Frank Miller's single-issue story to be interesting and unique in terms of the way it was told but ultimately it felt like Matt was acting out of character a bit. Some reviewers cite Matt acting like a jerk to be a major negative. He does, though not as much as I was expecting, and it seemed at least somewhat natural based on the events he goes through. If anything, I empathized with him more and recognized my own reactions in him. That was probably the factor that bumped it up to a four. I think considering Matt's state of mind around this period, his erratic behavior taken collectively in all of these issues makes a lot of sense.
In the end, it was an interesting collection of stories and a good lead-in to probably the best Daredevil story I've read.
June 17, 2025
The build-up to Born Again. I'd read a few of these before - mostly the ones where Frank Miller is credited with assisting the script, he had some hand in getting things ready for Born Again.
Mazzuchelli is in near top form here, especially the Vulture issue where he inks himself. It's kind of wild to me he kept a monthly comic up for some many issues.
The story jumps around a bit too much, with some very down-to-earth storylines and some cosmic stuff. But it does do a fantastic job of showing how chaotic Matt's life it - it does make Born Again's collapse of Daredevil seem justified. He's already hanging on by a thread here.
Mazzuchelli is in near top form here, especially the Vulture issue where he inks himself. It's kind of wild to me he kept a monthly comic up for some many issues.
The story jumps around a bit too much, with some very down-to-earth storylines and some cosmic stuff. But it does do a fantastic job of showing how chaotic Matt's life it - it does make Born Again's collapse of Daredevil seem justified. He's already hanging on by a thread here.
September 24, 2023
3.5 stars. This book contains some issues that fall in between Frank Miller’s two Daredevil omnibuses. Denny O’Neil told some decent stories in here with some solid art from Maxzucchelli. Opens up with a tale of some people trying to swindle some land from the Native Americans. We see the Two Gun Kid step in back in the past and DD step in within current times. A crazy killer breaks out of jail that DD goes after and we see him investigate the death of one of his old flames which leads him all the way to Venice. We get another team up with Black Widow, a scrap with the Vulture, and a story the forces the Gladiator back in action. Again, pretty decent book.
March 8, 2014
I enjoyed this mid 80s set of Daredevil stories by Denny O'Neil, who's writing here is way darker than I imagined for the era...other than the need to constantly remind us of Daredevil's powers/origins. This DD/MM is kind of a self-absorbed asshole; the law practice is falling apart and he can't be bothered to help Foggy, he ignores people needing help as not his problem, only to come back after and see they're dead because he neglected them; he seems to blame everyone else for his problems, like he's either totally clueless, or having some sort of mental breakdown.
This collection includes the suicide of Heather Glenn, Matt's former girlfriend, and how she reached out to him for help and he left her alone and refused to do anything. When she's found dead, and he sees it, he finally gets hit by the guilt of his inaction.
This volume also includes teamups with Black Widow, another former flame, as well as fighting the Vulture.
In addition to the O'Neil stuff, there's one Frank Miller story; 'Badlands' which focuses on a nasty little town in New Jersey, and a dirty little secret about what goes on there. This doesn't feature Daredevil at all, but is still a very cool story, vintage Miller.
I found myself really enjoying a lot of this mid-80s stuff, the art was cool, the stories were still fairly sophisticated, and when I think about some of the extremely shallow/lazy stories and poor art that makes it into major titles today, I wonder, why did things regress so badly on some books?
This is a solid collection of Daredevil; not essential, but definitely good if you're a DD fan, or a fan of mid-80s Marvel, and based on this, I'm going to be checking out more Marvel of that era...
This collection includes the suicide of Heather Glenn, Matt's former girlfriend, and how she reached out to him for help and he left her alone and refused to do anything. When she's found dead, and he sees it, he finally gets hit by the guilt of his inaction.
This volume also includes teamups with Black Widow, another former flame, as well as fighting the Vulture.
In addition to the O'Neil stuff, there's one Frank Miller story; 'Badlands' which focuses on a nasty little town in New Jersey, and a dirty little secret about what goes on there. This doesn't feature Daredevil at all, but is still a very cool story, vintage Miller.
I found myself really enjoying a lot of this mid-80s stuff, the art was cool, the stories were still fairly sophisticated, and when I think about some of the extremely shallow/lazy stories and poor art that makes it into major titles today, I wonder, why did things regress so badly on some books?
This is a solid collection of Daredevil; not essential, but definitely good if you're a DD fan, or a fan of mid-80s Marvel, and based on this, I'm going to be checking out more Marvel of that era...
August 10, 2025
I want to be kinder to this book but honestly, it's a clumsy gap filler between the Frank Miller trades and Born Again. I suppose my frustration is as a fan who prefers to have a book run continually through a set of issues and not skip a few here and there. I'm just glad that Marvel Unlimited exists so I can go read the missing issues. I do see why they're not included (Secret Wars II happened around here), but at the same time this takes something away from the flow of the book, and again, this bugs me personally.
That said, these are some hard hitting tales. One in particular was a major shock but I can't spoil it here. It's the culmination of a long subplot in Daredevil though, and really, it's something that had to be done for Born Again to work. I can't believe Marvel got it past the CCA though.
That said, these are some hard hitting tales. One in particular was a major shock but I can't spoil it here. It's the culmination of a long subplot in Daredevil though, and really, it's something that had to be done for Born Again to work. I can't believe Marvel got it past the CCA though.
December 1, 2024
RIP Heather Glenn my queen you got done insanely badly by this comic. The storylines are ok in this one, nothing special and Heathers death is shocking and pointless other than to make Matt feel guilty, which is unnecessary after the death of Elektra which Matt seems to think of more.
September 15, 2016
Se volete leggere la mia recensione, cliccate qui! http://ascwblog.blogspot.it/2016/09/d...
December 24, 2021
As a comics trade reader, I lean towards completism, but some trades aren't built like that. Case in point Daredevil - Love's Labors Lost, which reprints a smattering of issues between Frank Miller's main run and Born Again, by writer Denny O'Neil and artist David Mazzucchelli, just not ALL of them. And then a Frank Miller one-off is thrown in at the end, even though it was published in the middle. Why not the Jester story? And I guess we're spared the Secret Wars II issue, even if it's by this creative team. At times, it felt disjointed, but I don't know if I'm missing stories BEFORE this, or stories DURING. While I like O'Neil's writing, the real draw is the art, Mazzucchelli doing great stuff with fog and zip-a-tone, his Daredevil action clear, graceful and dynamic. The title of the collection might refer to all the women in DD's life featured, and all suffering (as do the women in other stories). Another motif is DD having adventures outside New York in several of the stories. One thing I have to acknowledge is that Matt Murdock's life was going off the rails BEFORE Born Again; Frank Miller was essentially completing O'Neil's pass.
September 27, 2025
For the life of me I cannot form any strong opinions on this. It's a bunch of run-of-the-mill plotlines of generally decent quality - for the most part I had a good time. My favorite issues were #216, #225, and #226, and even the "bad" issues at least had something I liked (Mazzucchelli really knows what he's doing with the art, damn he's talented). It's pretty clear though that the comic is treading water and waiting around for an author who actually knows wtf to do with this comic. It definitely doesn't help that Born Again is looming around the corner lmao
Whatever man at least this was better than the Micah Synn arc
Side note: I get cutting issues that didn't adhere to the through line but they cut out #224 and that makes me sad I liked that one :(
Whatever man at least this was better than the Micah Synn arc
Side note: I get cutting issues that didn't adhere to the through line but they cut out #224 and that makes me sad I liked that one :(
May 12, 2025
We're in-between Frank Miller runs of Daredevil comics in this selection from 1984/5 although the great man is involved in the writing of a couple of these issues. It's mostly a very average selection with various terribly dated stereotypes. Oh dear. Then Frank Miller contributes to a story about Heather and we're back on form. David Mazzucchelli's art gets better (very expressive and dramatic) and what he does next is excellent...
January 12, 2014
The early issues (which are generally one-and-done stories involving stupid villains with even stupider plots) aren't very good, but toward the end we start seeing the transition that eventually leads to Frank Miller's
Born Again
, which is awesome.
There are some depressing moments for Daredevil here, and that's a good thing: the whole reason for reading Daredevil is to see him get kicked while he's down. (Not because I dislike Matt Murdock and wish him ill, but because his terrible luck and crippling guilt are just the stuff of good drama.)
Unfortunately, the book's also got plenty of moments where Daredevil fights some stupid villain who's doing a stupid thing for some stupid ransom money, and throughout the entire issue we never get any sense of character at all (either from the hero or the villains). Those are the bad issues. We don't like those issues.
But overall, we sure like Daredevil.
There are some depressing moments for Daredevil here, and that's a good thing: the whole reason for reading Daredevil is to see him get kicked while he's down. (Not because I dislike Matt Murdock and wish him ill, but because his terrible luck and crippling guilt are just the stuff of good drama.)
Unfortunately, the book's also got plenty of moments where Daredevil fights some stupid villain who's doing a stupid thing for some stupid ransom money, and throughout the entire issue we never get any sense of character at all (either from the hero or the villains). Those are the bad issues. We don't like those issues.
But overall, we sure like Daredevil.
February 19, 2012
This book proves once and for all that Dennis O'Neil knows more about writing comics than Frank Miller can ever hope to learn! Read it as a prequel to "Born Again", or as a sequel to Miller's original run. Love it for David Mazzuchelli's gloriously cinematic artwork. But above all, read every panel, every dialogue, every caption O'Neil writes and see a master at the top of his game.
October 3, 2012
Worth reading.
September 29, 2014
Pretty weird mish-mash of stories, and denny o'neill is not a must read writer for me. I think i got it out of respect for comics history and i've paid my respects...
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews