Daredevil Noir

Daredevil Noir #1-4

by Alexander C. Irvine, Tomm Coker (Contributor)

The latest addition to Marvel's red-hot Noir line offers a unique spin on the Man Without Fear! Prohibition-era Hell's Kitchen is Kingpin territory, and until now, his only problem has been the masked vigilante known as Daredevil. When gangster Orville Halloran arrives on the scene, fresh from a stretch in Sing Sing and eager to stretch his wings, Hell's about to get hotter. For P.I. Foggy Nelson and his loyal assistant Matt Murdock, it all starts when a desperate woman comes to their office with an irresistible story about her and Halloran. To Foggy, she's a client - to Murdock, she's enough to make Halloran Daredevil's next target. But Murdock is about to find out that half-truths are poison truths, and that the Kitchen is full of history that will put him on a collision course with both the old Kingpin and the man who wants to replace him. Collects Daredevil Noir #1-4.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Crime, Superheroes, Comic Book, Noir

112 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2009

About the author

Alexander C. Irvine is an American fantasist and science fiction writer. He also writes under the pseudonym Alex Irvine. He first gained attention with his novel A Scattering of Jades and the stories that would form the collection Unintended Consequences. He has also published the Grail quest novel One King, One Soldier, and the World War II-era historical fantasy The Narrows.

In addition to his original works, Irvine has published Have Robot, Will Travel, a novel set in Isaac Asimov's positronic robot milieu; and Batman: Inferno, about the DC Comics superhero.

His academic background includes an M.A. in English from the University of Maine and a PhD from the University of Denver. He is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maine. He also worked for a time as a reporter at the Portland Phoenix.

Reviews

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't far enough off from Daredevil's initial origin to make this interesting for me.

It does have more of a classic Noir feel compared to Iron Man Noir, but I enjoyed that book a lot more. I don't know if it's just that I find Matt Murdock to be a bland character (doubtful considering I love him on the show) or if it's just this book but I couldn't really find anything to latch onto. There's a "romance" that progresses out of one meeting somehow. The narrative wasn't moving enough that I got invested in it at all.

The art is absolutely gorgeous. It's exactly what you want for a story like this. I did enjoy the Bullseye aspect of this. Also, I found Kingpin to be likable enough.

Ultimately, I just didn't love the story and I wasn't invested.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of the Marvel Noir series (excluding X-Men that I haven't read).
Both Irvine and Coker grasped the concept of noir and delivered a good, dark, gritty, very much hopeless story with an open ending just as I like them.

Of course, 4 issues is not nearly enough to really develop the characters and Murdock is particularly aloof in this story. But I think that is a good use from Irvine of what you're supposed to know about him. If you've never read Daredevil in your life you can appreciate the story, no problem. You'll find the main character not so genial but not to the point to give away the book. But if you ever did (and if, like me, you have a special fondness for him), you just connect the dots between what drives this Murdock and the one you know, and so the story flows.

Irvine also makes a nice use of other characters (Foggy as a wise P.I. giving advices to reckless Murdock) even if you don't see them (Some chinese guy once told me...).

Bullseye and Kingpin are perfect cogs in the story and Coker draws them with what's needed of appeal/menace to impose them as more than mere antagonists of the hero.

The arty default would be DD's horrible chinese demon-like mask which looks a wee bit more ridiculous than scary. Since it's half in the dark most of the time anyway, that's no big deal.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Take away his lawerly conflicts, take away his Catholicism, whats left behind isn't rightly Daredevil.

[Amanja · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually my second time reading Daredevil Noir. I read it previously before I had started this blog. Since I have read Punisher Noir and Luke Cage Noir I figured I should also have a review for this one. I honestly didn't even remember reading it before and that pretty much sums up the review of the comic book. It's forgettable.

Find the full review at https://amanjareads.com/2022/08/30/da...

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly straightforward. Reimagine Daredevil in the thirties in New York, populate with gangsters and molls and guys and dolls and tell a four-chapter dark gritty two-fisted noir tale.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you know anything about Daredevil, particularly the Bendis/Maleev version, you know that it is a fairly noir style. This has made some skeptical about why Daredevil could benefit from a noir adaptation of his origin story. While I will admit that it doesn't radically change who Daredevil is, the resulting story does lead to some nice surprises, a very cool environment/time period, and rich character interactions, particularly with Daredevil and Kingpin. I don't want to ruin any of the surprises, but I will say that while the book starts off as a seemingly by the numbers noir adaptation, the book slowly goes in its own direction. The noir framing of the story works really well and you know Matt isn't going to end up walking away happy because nobody ever does in these kinds of stories. I loved the art here. It reminds me most of Maleev, but it looks very much like Prohibition era art and the dark colors and shading look very authentic. Kingpin looks younger, fitter, and more wry here and I really liked that change in his appearance. If you like noir stories and can set your doubts aside about a Daredevil noir story, I think most readers will find this really enjoyable.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't get over how much I love the suit with the more prominent horns.

Daredevil Noir is a tight mystery. Bullseye is killing people left and right. The man who killed Jack Murdock is out of prison and on the streets. Matt, the young courier for Foggy Nelson, has to consider just what he wants to do. He wants to be a lawyer, and is the most trusted adviser for Foggy. Yet there's something strange about the woman who hires them, not the smallest fact of which is how hard Matt falls for her. Then again, he never was one for good decisions.

The art in this volume is beautiful, a fair bit of it looks like it was done in watercolors in fact. The suit design, as seen above, is great. I liked the relationship between Matt and Foggy, although I wish more time had been given to it. Daredevil's origins were a little bit shaky, but the scenes between him and Fisk more than made up for it. Likewise, Bullseye was great.

Daredevil, already a noir character, lends himself well to this format. I would read more in this style, and in fact am greatly looking forward to Luke Cage Noir. This time period fits so well for the characters, and the art has been uniformly great in the two issues I've read. Shame this all didn't last longer.

[Matěj Komiksumec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Další super alternativní Daredevil, byť si myslím, že měl trochu na víc. Matt Murdock je tady spíš takovej nijakej panák bez duše kolem nějž plyne příběh (něco jako Batman v Dlouhém Halloweenu). Ostatní aspekty DD světa jsou super, Foggy jako P.I. je super idea, Bullseye mě tady hrozně moc bavil a Kingpin je pořád skvělý mizera. Art je nádherný, líbí se mi důraz na krev.
A konec to má úplně fantastický. Škoda toho Murdocka 3,5*.

[Eva B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Daredevil and I love noir/noir spoofs, so I should have loved this, right? Well, I did not love the way that so much of this focused on Matt's obsession with Eliza after meeting her once when there could have instead been so much more noir detective work going on.

[Rick Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Marvel's "Noir" alternate universe, this 1930s-era version of Daredevil has most of the classic elements readers will expect: Wilson Fisk, Foggy Nelson, Hell's Kitchen, and even a "Bullseye Killer".

This was a very well crafted story that stands on its own, and retains the heart of Daredevil's mythos. The action sequences were excellent, and the characters were spot-on. Foggy Nelson and the Kingpin were especially good.

Really, in many ways, this story could have been done in the standard continuity as easily as in this alternate world, and some readers may find that it is not enough of a departure. The changes made from the standard Marvel continuity didn't feel like much of a leap: Matt Murdock is an assistant to Foggy, a private investigator. Other than that, the biggest change is a new interpretation of Bullseye, and the addition of gangster Orville Halloran, and up-and-coming mobster who serves as an effective new villain.

The pacing of the story was a nice build to an effective conclusion, and I thought the climactic twists and action were effective, along with a really fun open ending in the final pages.

This is a good story that hits Daredevil's classic thematic elements through just enough of a different lens to make it feel fresh.

[Jason]

One of the reasons I adored Spider-man Noir was that it felt like a product of its time and place. I believe the phrase I used was that it was if John Steinbeck wrote a Spider-man comic. This feels like a Next Generation episode where Picard plays detective in the holodeck; there are elements of Noir and they often get close to the point of parody and occasionally do so. The art, as on all the Noir titles, is gorgeous.

[Rosaria Battiloro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually my second reading of this series, the first one being back in 2010 I think? I didn't remember anything about the story, lol, but sure I do remembered the art! Tomm Coker is an amazing artist, and his style is the perfect match with Irvine's writing. A really classic noir story, with the hero/detective duelling with his dark past, a nemesis on the rise, and a femme fatale, ofc.
I will go on checking again the other titles for this marvel AU!

[Jorge Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved Daredevil, he might even be my favourite Marvel character. This is great, a very well written short Daredevil one off. The art is fantastic also and there is a twist in the middle that I did not see coming. This is the first marvel 'noir' story I have tried, I will checking out some of the others.

[Logan Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10:
While this isn’t a perfect story, this new character serves as a very interesting counterpart to Marvel Comics’ main Daredevil from Earth-616. I was thoroughly intrigued with the story told throughout these four issues, I felt the most important tropes for a Daredevil, and I felt the noir tone established through the artwork, setting, and writing.

Daredevil Noir is certainly a character I’d love to see make a transition to live-action some day!

[Matthew J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good twist on the classic character. And unlike several other titles in the Marvel Noir series, this actually felt mostly genre appropriate. Though Murdoch's abilities are still more Pulp Hero than Noir/Hard Boiled, pretty much everything else about the book felt right.
It's maybe a little weird to say that I think Tomm Coker's art was quite good and captured the vibes very well. But, I didn't like it much. I didn't enjoy looking at it. And that certainly brought down my enjoyment of the whole.
Anyway, it's pretty good if you're in the mood for some glum, Hard Boiled crime.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dd Noir review

Oh come on - really? We're going to trot out DD's nearly word-for-word origin story (Battling' Jack, blinded as kid, developed super-senses, lawyer, gymnastics)? I've enjoyed the Noir series precisely because they take the *concept* of the central hero and put them into a 30's setting with powers and villains that fit a pre-golden age era.

This is more like what Hollywood did with the Flintstones movie - instead of re-imagining what our modern gadgets would look like in the stone age (fax machine? Internet?) they brought out the same tired gimmicks as were "funny" in the 60's - or to a ten-year-old version of me.

This story has all the classic DD elements: quietly menacing Kingpin, killing Bullseye, an ineffectual Foggy, and a woman in danger for Matt to obsess over. The only *noir* elements here are so much black ink ("shadows") that I can't even tell if DD is kicking or dancing, and (b) enough rainfall to wash away the stank of movies like Barb Wire.

By chapter 3 it starts to read like a *good* DD story. Not anything particularly *noir* (or even old-timey) about it mind you, but maybe this imprint was the only way Irvine was able to ever write a DD tale.

It ends up like a primer of every iconic DD story ever written - all the high points are summarised here, like an illustrated Cliff's Notes guide. Which is to say it's decent enough, but hardly stretches any boundaries.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matt Murdock has been looking for the man who killed his father for decades and then one day a woman steps into his office to tell him she knows the man. With vengeance finally within his grasp, the man who at night becomes a masked vigilante called Daredevil, must decide if taking a life to avenge a life is right. But what part does this mysterious woman play, and with the Kingpin lurking in the shadows, the seemingly straightforward story suddenly becomes a lot murkier...

Alexander Irvine does a decent job of writing this book, it's clear he's a novelist as he's got a stronger grasp of syntax than most comics writers and hammers home the themes and imagery of the book throughout very effectively. I thought the way Daredevil took down Bullseye in the end was ingenious and yet inevitable given the book's foreshadowing techniques. Tomm Coker's artwork is so-so, it suits the story though I thought Daredevil's mask was a bit too Hallowe'en-y.

I thought the story was decent and had the right amount of surprise in it, I liked how they twisted Bulleye's identity, but I felt Murdock was a bit distant as a character and the book a bit shallow, despite its plot being the classic vengeance storyline. The book is a decent effort but not the best in the Noir series.

[Navya]

Nobody get on my case for using goodreads to log comics fuck you

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terrible, but the whole time I was reading this I kept thinking "Why?" Daredevil, particularly at the time this was written, is already a noir. The runs written by Bendis and Brubaker are some of the best Daredevil stuff around, and lean heavily into the tropes and dialogue styles of the genre. This story (which is mostly "noir" because it's set in the 50s, I guess?), doesn't really nail any of those. It's just Matt Murdock beating a lot of people up to find the guy that killed his father. There's no real twists or turns or mystery or intrigue. There's one minor twist that you will see coming from a thousand miles away, but it doesn't lead to any sort of satisfying conclusion or new action. This feels very much paint by numbers, and while some of the art is gritty and appealing, it's overall just not really doing anything all that new with the characters.

[Hális Alves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Demolidor Noir honra a proposta da coleção Marvel Noir e constrói a figura de Matt Murdock como alguém que trilha uma linha muito tênue entre a arrogância e a fragilidade. Os traços e cores de Tomm Coker são tenebrosas e hostis, contribuindo muito bem para a atmosfera geral da narrativa e demarcando os espaços do Demolidor e do Rei do Crime de modo a envolvê-los na antiquíssima dualidade interdependente em que ambos se encontram no mythos da Marvel. O encadernado da Panini tem boa qualidade e traz alguns extras.

[C. Varn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daredevil Noir is almost redundant

While post-Frank Miller Daredevil is almost already noir, some of the twists here are classic. That said, this just doesn't do enough with the set up despite some very interesting twists. The art is properly atmospheric.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

review later

[Crossbreaker96 · Rating 5 out of 5]

B R U T A L!

[Matty · Rating 4 out of 5]

i actually rather liked this. it was a bit hard to follow but i'm always if not a fan then at least open minded to historical AUs like this.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Daredevil Noir #1-4 (June 2009-September 2009). Matt Murdock realizes his dreams of being a lawyer aren’t realistic as a blind man but continues to fight the fight as an associate of Foggy Nelson. Using his enhanced abilities as Daredevil, Matt prowls the streets, but the appearance of a woman named Eliza harkens the danger of a turf war between the mob bosses Halloran and Fisk…and Matt could learn the truth about his father’s death.

Written by Alexander Irvine, Daredevil Noir was part of Marvel’s limited series Noir line. The issues feature art by Alexander Irvine and were also collected as part of Marvel Noir: Daredevil/Cage/Iron Man.

Marvel and DC Comics always try gimmicky things with their characters. Be it manga versions, English superheroes, or in this case 1930s crime versions, comics have always tried to expand and market their characters in different way. In some ways Daredevil Noir works, but in many ways it just feels like a What If? story that ran long.

The funny thing about Daredevil Noir is that it essentially reads like a Brian Michael Bendis Daredevil storyline. This means that its setting is almost pointless and if you didn’t know you were reading a Noir story, you might just think you are reading a highly stylized telling of a regular DD story. This isn’t necessarily a criticism, but it also makes the novelty of the Noir setting rather pointless.

The story also runs long while being extremely short. Not much happens in it. Matt Murdock makes the wrong decision about a woman (like he does in every Daredevil story) and he squares off against the Kingpin (like most Daredevil stories). It doesn’t feel original, and it is also is stretched out.

Tomm Coker’s art for the series does work and fits the Noir style that Marvel is seeking with the line…but once again, this is negated by the actual Daredevil comic which features similar art in a similar setting. It might be the Great Depression, but Bendis and Brubaker’s stories look and feel like this story already.

Daredevil Noir is an ok entry in an ok experiment. It isn’t revolutionary and it isn’t that innovative. The character feels like it should be more extreme and the story feels like it needs tightening up some points while expanding other points to be a better, rounded, and more importantly original Daredevil story instead of a regular Daredevil story that just happens to be set in the ’30s.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea behind the Marvel Noir books is that instead of coming to being in the early 1960s, the Marvel Universe explodes in the 1930s or 40s. My first experience with the Noir universe was Nicolas Cage's voice over of the gumshoe Spider-Man from Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Thanks to that occurrence, I know that the Marvel Noir books are supposed to be more edgy, sexier and deadlier than what you'd expect from an Earth-616 based comic.

Daredevil Noir was given an Parental Advisory rating. While it wasn't as tawdry as a Vertigo Comic, there was definitely an edge to this story. Probably because there was such a huge body count.

Instead of being doused with radioactive chemicals, the Noir Matt Murdock was born blind but always imbued with his radar-like abilities. Known for being fearless and a bit of a daredevil as a child, Murdock works for attorney Foggy Nelson as his private detective. Nobody suspects a blind guy as being a snitch.

Nelson and Murdock are hired by the girlfriend of an up-and-coming gangster. She's been abused by this thug and seeks revenge by having the guy brought down a peg or two. The fact that the crime boss is also the man who killed Matt's father in cold blood is just the icing on the cake to take the assignment.

This is one of those series that I have to blame my qualms on the inker or the colorist. Or both. The story by Alexander Irvine (Iron Man: Rapture) was pretty good. And the artwork by Tomm Coker (Black Monday Murders) was absolutely brilliant. But the coloring of this story is so dark that I had trouble making out characters. I'd know who were the main characters. But you throw in some smaller roles and with that constant addition of rain and shadow, this made it impossible for me to figure things out from time to time.

Being published in a slightly larger format than that of a digest didn't help the visuals either.

Don't get me wrong. The ending was great. Open-ended but tremendously well choreographed. The big reveal towards the end was jaw-dropping. However, I wasn't such a big fan of including characters that had zero parallel to a modern Marvel counterpart. But I guess if you did that, then that major twist would've been ruined.

When you add everything up, I think the pluses and minuses equal each other out. I was entertained. But it's not something I will consider keeping in my collection.

[I_ty_toje · Rating 4 out of 5]

Интересно, это главное слово, нам представляют кажется знакомого героя, но на самом деле чуть иного. Вот кажется начинается мотив справедливости, но нет - мотив мести. Причина для комиксов довольно банальна, самые известные истории комиксного становления вышли оттуда же. История для одной арки вполне сносная, жесткая и увлекающая. Присутствие Ф��мм Фаталь тоже порадовало - для нуара самое то. Не понравилась несколько "ведомая" роль Мэтта. Он все время позади, все время обманут.
Рисунок мне очень нравится, я люблю такие мрачные дождливые истории, удалось создать впечатление дождя за окном и драмы в большом городе.
Прочитать можно, но ожидания стоит немного приструнить, всеми любимый герой здесь не так хорош.

[Chandler Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, but it was just another retelling of Daredevil’s origin story. The underlying themes of this story are hope, doubt, and who you can trust. I did think there was a cool twist with Bullseye. However, I was not a fan of the art style of this comic book and felt like it tried to force the noir/gritty tone through the artwork a little too much. I did think it was cool that the story reimagines Daredevil’s early career during the Prohibition period. All around a bit of a mixed bag for me. At least it was well paced. I’d probably recommend other Daredevil graphic novels before this one.

[Pedro Espada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que es lo que no puede existir si no hay dudas? La esperanza.
Ésta y mil citas más se dan en este tomo, el mejor del universo Noir y fundamental si t gusta Daredevil o el comic en general.
No me extraña que digan en el prólogo que Alex Irvine es fan de DD, xk este tomo es amor por el personaje. Un guión redondo con sorpresas un tanto previsibles, pero potentes, y un dibujo también soberbio de Coker que me recuerda mucho a Maleev, y con guiños a la película de 2003 y hasta de Batman del 89! Imprescindible.

[Emanuele Malpezzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'atmosfera hard-boiled si addice benissimo a un personaggio che fa della voce fuori campo il suo tratto distintivo. Peccato che però non esista un vero enigma da risolvere.
Alcuni dialoghi sono molto buoni (soprattutto sul finale), ma la sceneggiatura ogni tanto non è chiarissima. Anche la disposizione delle tavole ogni tanto lascia a desiderare.