Writer Blocks - Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again, originally published in 1986, is the first collaboration between Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, the same team who would produce Batman: Year One the following year.  It is also the best Daredevil story ever and a perfect illustration of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey.



For those unfamiliar, The Hero’s Journey is a story structure composed of twelve parts:  The Ordinary World, The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting with the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests (Allies & Enemies), Approach, Ordeal, The Reward, The Road Back, Resurrection, and finally the Return with the Elixir.

Here is how Daredevil: Born Again works within these confines -

The Ordinary World – the story opens with the crumbling of Matt Murdock’s world.  His former lover Karen Page sells his secret identity for a fix, and this bit of information makes its way to the Kingpin, who goes about dismantling Matt Murdock’s life piece by piece.

The Call to Adventure – as a final blow, the Kingpin has Murdock’s townhouse blown up, and now Murdock knows that the Kingpin is behind all his troubles, having left Murdock’s Daredevil costume in the wreckage as a way to brag about what he has done.

 

Refusal of the Call – instead of donning his Daredevil tights and paying the Kingpin a visit, Matt holes up in a seedy hotel, suffering from depression and unable to physically leave.



Meeting with the Mentor – we’ll get to that a little later.  Not everything in The Hero’s Journey happens in order!

Crossing the Threshold – Matt eventually crosses an actual threshold, mustering the will to leave his hotel room, gradually losing his reign on reality and degenerating into a fantasy world of extreme violence.



Tests (Allies & Enemies) – this was probably going to be Miller’s swan song on Daredevil, so he includes everybody who was ever in his run: Foggy Nelson, Turk, Melvin Potter, Nicholas Manolis and especially Ben Urich, whose subplot would have made a strong comic book in and of itself.

 

Approach – Matt makes his way to the Kingpin’s offices where . . .

Ordeal – he is badly beaten by the Kingpin and presumed dead.



Meeting with the Mentor – now a derelict on skid row, Matt is taken in by a benevolent nun named Sister Maggie.  This is really Matt’s long-lost mother, and she nurses him back to health both physically and spiritually



The Reward – Matt reclaims his identity, and more importantly, his soul, and is reborn a stronger man.



The Road Back – now healthy, Matt reenters the world and takes out all of his enemies.  He does this as Matt Murdock, not as Daredevil.  He hasn’t reclaimed that part of his identity yet.  One especially striking part of Daredevil: Born Again has Matt fighting a lunatic the Kingpin disguised as Daredevil in order to frame the hero for Foggy Nelson’s murder. 

Resurrection – this is the resurrection of the hero, Daredevil.  In the final two issues of Daredevil: Born Again, Daredevil fights Nuke, a parody of the 1980’s action hero.  Daredevil eventually wins, with the help of Captain America, and this victory exposes the Kingpin’s involvement in organized crime. 



Return with the Elixir – Matt is back in Hell’s Kitchen with his true love, Karen Page!



There is so much more to this book than just The Hero’s Journey.  From the Easter themed religious imagery juxtaposed against a story that takes place during Christmas, to the “Matt Murdock in bed” title pages representing his descent into madness, Daredevil: Born Again is a masterpiece.  

Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli were operating in perfect lock-step, and it showed in every panel.  This book completely remade Daredevil, and, as a true test to its longevity, the repercussions are still being felt today, after almost 30 years.

I’m getting old.

- Aloha -