"There are men so godlike, so exceptional, that they naturally, by right of their extraordinary gifts, transcend all moral judgment or constitutional control. There is no law which embraces men of that calibre. They are themselves law."

Daredevil History


The Marvel Comics fantasy character Daredevil debuted in April of 1964l. Stan Lee (writer-editor) and artist Bill Everett along with some input from Jack Kirby created this interesting superhero. Attorney by day, Matt Murdock would become Daredevil when help was needed.

Daredevil is unique to superheroes due to the fact that he was blind. This happened when he was young due to an accident that exposed him to radioactivity. It also sharpened his other senses. He even had radar sense that helped him sense things in the environment around him.

Many well-known artists worked on Daredevil but Frank Miller probably is the best known for his contribution. He was the artist for this comic book superhero from the late 1970s to the first part of the 1980s. He set the standard and made the character extremely popular for the Marvel Universe. Among other media adaptations Daredevil was a live action movie in 2003 with Ben Affleck playing the title role.

History of Publication

Volume 1 of Daredevil was published from 1964 to 1998. The first costume for Daredevil used yellow, black, and red. In the #2 and #4 issue the costume got changed a bit by artist Joe Orlando and in issue #7 the costume got more modernized to solid red by artist Wally Wood.

Jack Kirby (for layouts) and John Romita, Sr. started a trek in issue #12. This happened to be a return for Romita to drawing comic superheroes after working on DC Comics romantic type comics. Marvel Comics became known for their characters having personal relationships. This also held true when it came to Daredevil.

There was a love story between Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, and Matt Murdock. Foggy cannot get Karen Page to fall in love with him. Matt on the other hand will not allow himself to think that Karen loved any other person than Daredevil. Karen Page eventually finds out Matt is Daredevil and is overwhelmed and quits the law firm.

In the 1970s, a series was published that featured the girlfriend of Daredevil, Black Widow. The series was written by such writers as Steve Gerber, Gerry Conway, and Chris Claremont. Also artists Don Heck and Bob Brown were also involved in its production.

In enters Frank Miller who set the modern tone of Daredevil. Frank Miller was an artist at this time and moved Daredevil into a heightened visual style, much more dynamic and dramatic than before. The overall tone of the stories became darker and utilized Hell’s Kitchen as a location. In issue 168 Frank Miller turned to organized crime as the basis of the evil in Daredevil.

In later years Daredevil returned to a lighter mood with the help of Kurt Kesel and Joe Kelly. Daredevil became lighter and kind of wise crackish as he was in the early days of the character. In 1998 Volume 2 was published. Joe Quesada did the drawing on this series and it was done under Marvel Knights.

Issue #26 (Dec. 2001) brought back Brian Michael Bendis, working this time with artist Alex Maleev, for a four-year-run that became one of the series' most acclaimed. Maleev's harsh and grainy look is in contrast to Quesada's more cartoony lines.

Developments in this run included the introduction of Milla Donovan, the outing of Murdock's secret identity to the press, the reemergence of the Kingpin, and Daredevil's surrender to the FBI. Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark became the new creative team with Daredevil #82 (Feb. 2006), no longer under the Marvel Knights imprint.