Here lately, I’ve been on a trades feeding frenzy. I’ve been reading JLA, Teen Titans, Heroes, Empowered, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Y – The Last Man, a bunch of stuff. While looking for something else to devour, I found my copy of Daredevil – Yellow. Eh, why not? I started reading.
Y’know, it’s funny, but now that I think about it, I don’t actually remember buying the Yellow hardcover, first printing. I’m pretty sure it must have been around the time when it first came out, which, from the copyright date, was apparently in May 2002. I don’t even like Daredevil. Usually.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of Daredevil. I always have. A blind superhero, out there, busting chops and giving it all he’s got, just like his less-handicapped contemporaries. It’s a brilliant, brilliant concept, because no one knows Daredevil is blind. Who would ever suspect? But while I like the central idea behind his “gimmick”, for want of a better word, his actual world never interested me very much. I’d read an occasional Kingpin appearance in Spiderman every once in a while, but the whole crime noir thing never really appealed to me.
Until I read this. This book has actually made me like Daredevil as a whole, warts and all. The story is wonderfully framed by Matt Murdock (Daredevil) writing a letter to his lost love, Karen Page. In it, he looks back on his beginnings, giving us an insight into what drove him to the work he does as a hero. An excellent starting point for a new reader such as myself. I mentioned crime noir, and the whole book does have a very 30s feel to it, with the gorgeous art of Tim Sale lavishly illustrating the story.
In short, I may never be a regular reader of Daredevil, but thanks to this book, I would like to read more stories featuring the character. Though I will be very disappointed in one respect, since I much prefer Daredevil’s original costume over the red one he adopts at the end of the book.
