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Daredevil:
A Character Study
by: Ken Johnson
Comics
have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.
I had the usual faves, Batman, Spidey, Superman. Many a day
was spent waging war on crime with a towel as my cape and
my army of Mego action figures. I loved these books even before
I could read, often making up my own stories by just looking
at the pictures. i never really paid attention as to why I
liked comic books and superheroes. I just did. That was enough
for me.
By the
time I got to college I had dropped comics all together in
a vain attempt to be "cooler." I was on my own now, I had
to think about getting a career. I had to find the right girl
and settle down in the suburbs with proverbial 2 kids and
a dog. But every once in a while I'd have the urge to catch
up on those old grade school friends and would find myself
at the local comic shop.
It was
on one of these occasions that I picked up an issue of Daredevil.
I was really getting into martial art flicks, film noir, and
detective stories and was getting bored with the usual mega-powered
and often mega-mindless fare and thought I'd give this one
a try. I've been hooked ever since.
DD has
been around since 1964, when he was created by Stan Lee and
Bill Everett. A lot of talent has walked thru that title including
such greats as Gene Colan, Joe Orlando, Wally Wood (who created
the long standing red outfit), Harlan Ellison and most notably
Frank Miller. Mr. Miller has gone on to great critical success
with his book Sin City and is a huge proponent for creator
rights and is well known for his stance on censorship and
his work for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. It's he that's
recognized for making Daredevil as popular as he is today.
It's no wonder then that it is he who defines the character
the best when he says in the mini-series "Daredevil, The Man
Without Fear"
It's a
wonder he isn't a villain. He's got every excuse. Born to
poverty. A broken family. A childhood spent in a squalid slum.
Hounded and taunted and beaten by schoolyard bullies. To top
it all off he gets struck in the eyes by toxic waste and blinded
for life.
Blinded,
bullied, impoverished. Surrounded by calamity. Role models?
His mother: an enigma. Long gone by the time he could walk.
His father: a well-meaning loser who paid for his greatest
moment of courage when a bullet splattered his brains across
a grimy alley wall. His teacher. A gruff, foul-mouthed warrior
who showed him the beauty in his dark world, then dismissed
him as a wretched failure. His love life? Nothing short of
disastrous. He's got all the makings of a villain. He's a
natural born rascal. A mischief-maker, a scrapper. He's a
liar, who wears a mask to betray the solemn oath he made to
his father a thousand times. He's a dangerous adept, gifted
with a nearly superhuman talent for violence. He's a loner,
a sinner, a lawyer who breaks the law. And the there's that
wicked temper of his.
He's got
every excuse in the world. And within him are the makings.
But Matt Murdock is no villain. And no victim. There's something
strong inside him, passed from unknown mother and doomed father
to son. Something tested by tragedy. Tempered by conscience.
Honed by discipline. Something that holds back the bloodthirsty
beast within and forces it to serve the cause of justice.
Most of the time, anyway. Of course his quest is a tortured
one, fraught with failure and guilt and pain. It has to ne
that way. Nothing ever comes easy for Matt Murdock. But every
ordeal is another step in his crooked path from naughty little
street kid to improbably champion. A tortured quest. One that
leaves him far from perfect. He may never join the holy order
his teacher hinted at. But he will do the best he can, this
hero.
He'll
fight the bullies till the day he dies.
Life doesn't
always go like you planned it. I've got a pretty good job,
still single with no kids (to my knowledge) and my apartment
doesn't allow pets but I still strive to be the best me I
can be. Just like Matt Murdock. And if that's the only lesson
I've learned from reading comics then that's fine by me.
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