Miller Daredevil

Daredevil: Love and War

Bill Sienkiewicz is one of the best artists in the business when he does work like this.  It’s just so freaking good.

Best Kingpin ever.

The story by Frank Miller is pretty good too.  He brings some closure (until the next writer picks it up) to the uncommunicative Vanessa Fisk thread from his original run.  The hilarious bit is that Daredevil does very little in this comic.  Sure, he rescues Cheryl from the psycho kidnapper in act two, but he has nothing to do with the final resolution of any of the storylines at the end of the story.  He does a poor job of breaking into Kingpin’s building while all the action happens around him.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Elektra Lives Again

Before I forget, this book smells amazing.  It smells like comics should.

I’d forgotten just how beautiful this comic is.  Miller’s pencils, Lynn Varley’s colors, and the oversized pages combine to make this a super special experience for the eyes.  Each page is truly a work of art in a manner that stands apart even in this medium that revolves so much around the illustrations.  This has to be apex mountain for Miller and Varley.

I've always loved this page.

The colors!

The colors!!!

I want this bathroom.  I love that in a book full of action, it's the brownstone that I love.

That's...a throwing star attached to her nipple?

No one does silhouetted rooftop chases like Frank Miller.

As with Love and War, the plot doesn’t live up the art.  It’s a surreal exploration of Matt’s obsessive need for Elektra to not be dead.  The whole thing is more likely than not the fever dream of a man operating on zero sleep.  It really doesn’t matter when it’s this gorgeous.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Miller Daredevil

Daredevil 183-191

I totally didn’t realize until today, having read these issues for thirty years, that Klaus Janson was the artist for most of them; Frank Miller handed off penciling duties starting with 185.  I console myself with the fact that Janson-inked pencillers often look a lot like Janson-penciled art.  

Miller finishes his run on Daredevil with some really strong stories: A Punisher two-parter, Matt’s senses going crazy, and the possible resurrection of Elektra.  (The following panels have almost nothing to do with them, they're random things that tickled me.)

He's off to take the law into his own hands.  

That guy in the foreground is TOTALLY in Miller's later Sin City style.

Hooking up with Matt is the capper to that list?  Fury is such a sexist.

Miller understands how to write Kingpin.

I have to devote just a few lines to the insane relationship between Matt and Heather Glenn.  It’s messed up in so many ways: Heather’s completely useless as a functional human being, no matter how much she protests;  Matt is a complete dick to her, a completely controlling, emotionally abusive asshole. 

And then there are his so-called friends; Foggy and Natasha don’t think twice about breaking up their engagement.  I don’t know which is more disturbing - that they had zero misgivings about doing it, that they were totally right to do so, that they were able to accomplish it so easily, or that literally on the next page, all related parties have totally moved on with their lives.

Yeah.  Two forged letters.  That's all it takes.

By the way, that all takes place in less than five hours.

Turk continues to be hilarious.

I'm amazed Kingpin knows Turk well enough to have an opinion of him.

Thus ends his brief career as Stilt-Man

Turk's final Miller appearance.  Never change, Turk.

I still don’t know what to make of the last issue.  I get Matt questioning what he does, that part makes sense.  But what’s with playing Russian Roulette with an empty gun with Bullseye?  Is he trying to scare him?  Admitting that his resolution to not kill is a weakness?  An acknowledgement of the futility of what he’s doing?  I don’t get it.  

Regardless, this run totally holds up after forty(!) years.  Miller will obviously go on to do even greater things, but this is rightfully a classic.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good to Really good for 190

What If 28, 35

These would be totally forgettable if Frank Miller hadn’t done the art.  As such, they still don’t leave much of an imprint in my mind.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

Miller Daredevil

Daredevil 173-182

Everything up and including Elektra’s death.  Reading it again today, I have to say that issue 181 is definitely on my short list for best comic ever.  Fight scenes with breathtaking action, expertly drawn by Frank Miller, one of the most famous panels ever, plus the emotional element; It all adds together to form a true work of art.  

Here we go...

A little appetizer.  Follow the nunchucks.

The main event.

That pose makes no sense, but it's so, so classic.

It's the little things, like how he stalks her home.

That middle panel is a brilliant use of time and space.

Showing anything after that can’t help but feel like a letdown, but it’d be wrong to ignore the other awesome stuff Miller does in this stretch of issues:

Love that last panel, after a long night's work.

Great narration in this two page sequence.

Did Klaus Janson do the colors for this?  They're perfect here.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty Good to Pure Joy for 181 and 179

Miller Daredevil

Daredevil 168-172

Frank Miller’s first writing credit on Daredevil and he starts with Elektra?  Are you kidding me?  His first time out the gate and he creates an iconic character who’s still starring in her own comics today?  Astounding.

Nice shots of Daredevil.

It also appears as though he’s the one who adds the Kingpin, an established Spider-Man villain, to Daredevil’s rogues gallery.  It’s a decision that’s borne countless fruit in the ensuing years.  I don’t know how Wilson Fisk was previously characterized, but I have no doubt his appearances here are the definitive studies.

Their first face to face ever.

Their first fight.  Heh, one punch.

So slick.

I love the pacing of Miller’s fight scenes.  They’re excellently paced, and the action reads very well.

Plus, he knows how to maintain a solid running gag, with the long-suffering Turk and the broken windows at Josie’s Bar.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Miller Daredevil

Daredevil 158-161, 163-167

It’s the start of a long, long collection of Daredevil comics.  Off the top of my head, it starts with Frank Miller, then jumps to Marvel Knights with Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada.  Then Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Andy Diggle, and finally Mark Waid.  A lot of runs, covering about 250 issues.  

So here we start with Miller debuting on Daredevil in 1979.  He’s not even writing yet, Roger McKenzie has those duties.  Miller isn’t Frank Miller yet, but there are clearly signs of what’s to come.

Great shadows, even back then.

I probably wouldn’t have kept these if it weren’t for Miller.  The stories are nothing special.  Matt Murdock somehow has three women fawning over him, and Black Widow is surprisingly incompetent.  That’s fine, these are very much the appetizers before the main course that is Elektra.

Over the course of this project, the classic 80s Marvel runs have generally not been as good as I remembered - Stern’s Avengers, Simonson’s Thor, Byrne’s FF.  Really, only Claremont’s X-Men has stood up, and a lot of that’s due to nostalgia.  Where will Daredevil fall on the scale?  On the good side, I hope.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Bone Mini-Series, Box Summary

Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails 1-3

I was so bored reading this.  I care not a bit about the adventures of a tall tale-telling, blustering frontiersman, even if he is drawn by Jeff Smith.  Keeping because my daughter might like it when she gets a bit older.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

Rose 1-3

I was pretty bored reading this.  I care not a bit about the adventures of Grandma Ben when she was a teenager, nor the machinations of young, evil Briar, even if they are drawn by Charles Vess.

So pretty.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Another day, another box.  (Well, a little longer than a day.)  Here are the numbers for Image Box 6.  

Box Summary

Time spent reading: 22 hours, 35 minutes

Issues read: 202

Issues cut: 0

Highlights (Good or better): Elfquest 1-32; Invincible 1-65, 71-144; Astounding Wolf-Man 11; Bone TPB 1-3.  This was a great box of comics.

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 50 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes

Issues read: 10542

Issues cut: 1096