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 -

 

Writer Blocks - Batman: Year One

It was 1987, February, and I stood alone in front of the spinner rack at the Shop-Rite in Neptune City, NJ. It was the first time a Batman comic book caught my eye.  On the top, above even the title, it said “By Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli”:



I was a huge Miller fan, and the Daredevil: Born Again storyline by Miller and Mazzucchelli, which I had purchased from that same spinner rack the previous year, was and is one of my all-time favorites, so I couldn’t wait to get home and read what they did with the Batman.

Not only did I get a classic story, but also a lesson in dichotomy and juxtaposition.

Batman: Year One is really the story of James Gordon’s arrival in Gotham City and his struggle against crime, corruption and infidelity.  Bruce Wayne, and thus Batman, is almost a supporting player, acting as a visual representation of what Gordon is going through.  This compare / contrast effect begins on the very first page:



Gordon enters the city, and thus the story, on the ground, while Bruce returns to his birthplace by plane, above the fray.

Above it all. 

This sets the tone for the entire arc. Gordon is already an accomplished cop as opposed to Bruce, who has to learn how to be “Batman”.  While Bruce is getting stabbed by a young prostitute and then arrested, Gordon is taking out his main rival, Detective Flass.  And as the confidence and notoriety of Batman grows, it empowers Gordon to become a hero in his own right.

The two eventually collide at the climax of the book when Bruce saves Gordon’s newborn son, James, by diving into a mud pit, similar to where old man Batman defeats the Mutant Leader in Dark Knight. Gordon lets Bruce know that his secret is safe, saying that he is “practically blind without my glasses”:



Blind as a bat.

Batman: Year One is also the first time I remember picking-up on visual motifs in a comic book.  The clown painting hanging over Commissioner Loeb’s chair is a clear homage to the Joker:



As I read this I was positive that the book would end with Loeb becoming the Joker. I was half right. Batman: Year One does end with the arrival of the Clown Prince of Crime, but this is used to show the new respect and partnership between Gordon and Batman:



Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns will always be the bookends to the Caped Crusader’s career in my mind.  While what Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are currently doing with Batman in the New 52 is excellent, and Zero Year was an epic story, nothing can replace these two works by Frank Miller as how I will always see my Batman.

Next Week – Miller Time continues with Daredevil