Daredevil: Yellow...

[fajrdrako]

I talk from time to time about the comic book writers and artists who are gods in my pantheon. One of the writers is Jeph Loeb. One of the artists is Tim Sale. I particularly love the work they do together - including the TV show Heroes, where you would recognize Tim Sale's art as the work of Isaac Mendez, or vice versa. They've done some of the best Batman comics ever in The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.

Another of the miniseries Loeb and Sale produced was Daredevil: Yellow, which was one of a group of miniseries like Hulk: Grey and Spider-Man: Blue, the titles being references to the very first stories about these heroes - when Jack Kirby's Incredible Hulk was originally grey-skinned not green-skinned, and Ditko's Spider-Man had a red and blue costume. Similarly, Daredevil's costume was originally primarily yellow - a nice touch for a Man Without Fear.

So this series revisited Daredevil's first days as a superhero, framed as a letter to his dead girlfriend, Karen Page; covering his relationship with his father, the formation of his law firm with his friend Foggy Nelson, tracking down his father's killers, and taking on the first clients - the Fantastic Four. All great fun for a long-time Daredevil lover like myself, and they capture not only the excitement but the innocence of the time. Matt Murdock here has, it seems, managed to forget his doomed love for the assassin Elektra, so that his feelings for Karen Page have a rather sweet first-love aura about them, along with the touch of conflict because Foggy fell in love with her too - and ceded the romantic field to Matt.

And in parallel, we have Matt falling in love with the heady experience of being a superhero.

Comics like this: I love 'em.

Comments

[ladykoori.livejournal.com]

OH! You've piqued my interest. I love their Batman work (*refrains from gushing*) but hadn't read the Daredevil miniseries as I'm mostly a DC girl. I will definitely have to look into this one though.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oh, gush all you like about the Loeb/Sale issues of Batman, I think they are wonderful! Brilliant work, and pretty much the definitive Batman more me. Though there are other good examples of the definitive Batmana - but this is all part of my "top Batman stories of all time".

I would highly recommend their Daredevil series. I'm a big Marvel fan and have loved Daredevil from the beginning, but I'd think even in you aren't into the character you'd enjoy it because it's a good story. Nicely parallel to the Batman series, too, in some ways.