The Daredevil comic book will always have a special place in my geeky heart. It was one of the first American comics that I bought and read monthly. This is going back to the late 1980s when Ann Nocenti was writing it after Frank Miller’s famous run on the title. I was fascinated by the character of Matt Murdock, blind lawyer by day, devil-horned crime fighter by night. Despite losing his sight as a child, he developed incredibly heightened senses of hearing, touch, smell and taste. The fact that he kind of resembled a red ninja was another reason I got interested in the character.
After a long time away from the comic, I started reading Daredevil again in 2019 when Chip Zdarsky began his run. He was joined by Italian artist Marco Checchetto who brought a gritty yet eye-catching style to the book. His art is spectacular at times with both realistic character renderings as well as dynamic and fluid action scenes. Checchetto’s run as artist on Daredevil has garnered a lot of deserved praise. I highly recommend you check out his work on the title.
So I was disappointed to hear Zdarsky & Checchetto’s run on Daredevil was coming to an end after 36 issues. I’d heard they were going to be working on the Devil’s Reign miniseries, but I didn’t know that Marvel would be relaunching Daredevil for Volume 7 in July 2022. Thus we have a new Daredevil issue #1 for the seventh time! Well, it’s a nice opportunity for Marvel to bring out a slew of variant covers, something they seem to thrive on these days.
Is Daredevil #1 (2022) Any Good?
Yes, I’m happy to say this is another excellent issue of Daredevil. It’s also a bumper issue comprising of 36 pages instead of the regular 20. We get two connected stories in this opening issue, one focussing on Matt Murdock as Daredevil and the other featuring Elektra Nachios as Daredevil, too. Confused? I won’t elaborate as I want to avoid spoilers for the previous 36 issues. The question is can you read this new issue without reading what has come before?
Well, you can but you will probably be scratching your head at times as there are references to events in earlier Zdarsky Daredevil issues as well as the Devil’s Reign miniseries. These concern Matt Murdock, Elektra and “Kingpin” Wilson Fisk. I was very happy to see Spider-Man make an appearance. We briefly see Daredevil and Spidey working together fighting some of the New York underworld. I have to say that artist Marco Checchetto draws a great Spider-Man! It would be awesome to see him on the main Spidey comic. But saying that, I don’t want to see him leave Daredevil.
The second story featuring Elektra shows her travelling to a remote island where she meets up with her old sensei Stick. He accuses Elektra of losing her edge and they end up sparring, with both of them fighting well. Rafael De Latorre takes over on art duties here and I enjoyed his style, especially the way he depicts the fight scenes. Here are a couple of pages showcasing his art:
As always, thank you so much for reading! Below is a link to the video review I did if you’d like to see more of the story and art.
-Wakizashi, *feeling excited by two excellent comics both written by Chip Zdarsky: Daredevil #1 and Batman #125. I recommend them both.*
Wakizashi's Reviews 
Do you think this “reboot at the drop of a hat” is going to be the new regular thing? And any idea on why it is even happening?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Money and sales figures. When these publishers release a “new” Number 1, they usually bring out 10, 15, 20 or more Variant Covers which are limited and appeal to collectors and investors. They have deals like this: buy 200 copies of the regular cover and you can get a rare cover by a “famous artist.” That’s my opinion, anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That makes sense to me for everything I remember about the comics industry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil, as well as Devil’s Reign, so I hope this new run keeps the story going in a good direction. That being said, it is a tad irritating that they seem to relaunch titles every year or two nowadays. Just because a new writer or artist comes on board doesn’t mean you need to relaunch the series, especially when they’re continuing with an existing storyline.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it’s all about money and boosting sales numbers. Daredevil has the same creative team for the main story, so I really don’t understand this decision. Maybe it was an excuse to raise the price of the comic from 3.99 to 4.99?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right. If they’re continuing on with the same creative team, this relaunch makes absolutely no sense.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed Zdarsky initial run on Daredevil, but I didn’t bother with Devils Reign as the direction the story was going didn’t appeal to me much. I did check out this new Daredevil #1 though. I thought it was ok, I love the art, but I was kind of hoping for a new direction for the storyline though. I’ll give it a few issues and see how it goes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed it and I’m curious to see where the story goes, too. By the way, why do you think they relaunched it? For a sales boost? So they could raise the price?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nail on the head there, a sales boost for sure. It seems to be a trend now unfortunately. to inflate prices with a relaunch and adding back-up stories to justify the price hike.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was very much a late-comer to Daredevil. I was far too focused on mutants when younger and heavily reading comics. But at some point I branched out and discovered Daredevil. I loved that he wasn’t a mutant or alien but instead, as you said, a blind lawyer with heightened senses who’d trained like crazy and decided to wear a red costume and traipze around the city doing good. I doubt I’ll start regularly reading most of the current comic series out there due to time, but I do miss Daredevil and I’m glad to hear this new series is starting out well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good to hear your own Daredevil story, Todd. Yes, it’s been very good since the 2019 relaunch with this creative team.
LikeLiked by 1 person