5 out of 5

Mark Waid is on some kind of renaissance right now.  He’s lucky – he’s made his name with his runs on The Flash and classic books like Kingdom Come, and yet I feel like he’s just getting around to a comfort zone where he’s putting out some of the best books of his career, both indies and majors.  What does it take to do that?  A certain kind of trust from the publisher, sure, but I also think that the new world’s requirements of constant character reinvention works well for creators, as it implies a constant tearing down of or re-presentation of old ideas.  Since it can only be a dream to take what you knew as a youngster and spin it anew (instead of weighed down by old stuff that, sure, you probably loved, but with adulthood now under your belt, would probably write differently), when writers like Waid find that tricky balance between tribute and modern, it’s pretty effin’ magical.

So: Daredevil.  I don’t know how he’s done it, but even going on 20 issues, Waid has managed to keep the book funny, the characters compelling and evolving, take into account past actions and yet move forward, and even develop new plots that are INTERESTING after SEVERAL READS!  This is a big deal – a lot of times when I’m wowed by a writer’s take on a book, I re-read it after a chunk of issues comes out and spot that I was just distracted by some flash.  But I just re-read the first 2ish years of Waid’s DD run and it stands up.  It stands up.  Even the crossover issues into Spider-Man and Punisher stand up, which I’ll attribute to Waid’s understanding of all of Marvel’s characters (he gets Spidey’s voice) and perhaps a good friendship with Greg Rucka.  Who knows.  And it’s not just a case of “apply this formula anywhere,” because Waid and artist Chris Samnee, who jumped on the book a few issues ago, are also working on the Rocketeer reboot at IDW, which just fizzled out for me.  Perhaps there’s just not enough background to the character to make it work, but the pulp style that is used in the pages of DD just meshes perfectly with the art style – Samnee, as mentioned, and initially Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin- and Waid’s take on the character, which tries to pitch it not as the depressed-as-fuck just-trying-to-stay-alive Brubaker version, but as a man recovering and trying to make the best of his life.  True enough, timing is everything, so that spin might not have been possible without Brubes (and Bendis before him, and, who, Andy Diggle after that, I think?) dragging double d through the mud first…

Reeegardless, this is sorta the pop-trawl through a character’s life that I’d hoped Joe Kelly’s ancient run would’ve been.  Waid seems to have a good grasp on where his story is going, so I can only hope the run being included in the (as of now) Marvel NOW! reboot (one of the perpetual series of reboots) doesn’t change the tone of things.