Return to the 90’s with a Daredevil story set during his ‘edgy’ phase
The 90’s were a weird time for comics. The domino effect of Frank Miller’s work on Batman and Alan Moore’s Watchmen resulted in an industry-wide rush to make comics ‘mature’. Apparently, the medium wasn’t for kids anymore, which meant revamping every popular comic book character or superhero team to fit a singular tone and aesthetic that, for the most part, really didn’t suit the source material.
Many superheroes started to be depicted as grotesquely buff. There was lots of brooding. It was the era that spawned Deadpool (and Spawn). Superman died. Peter Parker got a dark and angsty clone. Even my favourite superhero, Daredevil, wasn’t immune to the industry’s changes.
Gone was his timeless red costume, replaced by a black suit with armoured shoulder pads and spikes on his elbows. Putting my thoughts on the ugliness of this costume aside, I find many of the storylines of this era to be borderline unreadable. I know it has its fans, but the ‘Fall From Grace’ story arc that dropped this new costume on us (and brought Elektra back into the fold after a decade-long absence), is an overwritten slog.
I personally have no nostalgia for this time in comics, but there’s obviously a market for it, because Marvel brought writer D.G. Chichester out of seeming retirement in 2023 for a four-issue run set during Daredevil’s ‘Black Armor’ era, which Chichester himself helmed. The graphic novel collecting these comics is out now, and even though I’m not a fan of the Black Armor era, I couldn’t deny that I was curious about how it would be depicted now that we’ve left that style in the past.
Supermassive Black Hole
After faking his death For Reasons, Matt Murdock is adapting to his new life as both ‘Jack Batlin’—the streetwise conman offering free legal advice—and the new black-clad Daredevil, who isn’t fully trusted by the community. When the down-and-outs of the neighbourhood start disappearing, Matt is determined to find out who is kidnapping them and why, but he might have picked a fight he has no hope of winning.
Comics in general can be quite embroiled in their own continuity. Jumping into a series means accepting that things will happen for which you lack context. This goes double for jumping into a story like Daredevil: Black Armor, which takes place during a time in Matt Murdock’s life that isn’t readily available on shelves and has been pretty much forgotten by the community.
Without stories from that time fresh in my mind, even I had a bit of trouble adjusting the specifics of the status quo as it is presented in this book. There’s no Foggy Nelson, no Karen Page, no Elektra, no law firm, a new and unrecognisable cast of supporting characters, and a group of villains not known for their association with Daredevil.
Down With the Devil
For this reason, I don’t really recommend Black Armor to anyone but hardcore Daredevil fans. Chichester does his best to catch the reader up on the salient details necessary to absorbing the story, but it’s a rush job. This, like the current Daredevil run by Saladin Ahmed, is an irregular premise to kick off a Matt Murdock story. But whereas Ahmed’s run has the benefit of being an ongoing series that can explore the corners of this new status quo, this four-issue miniseries wound leave a new reader with a lot of unanswered questions about Matt’s world.
I’d say a decent understanding and familiarity with the Marvel Comics Universe is also necessary to getting the most out of this story. The limited page counts just don’t give Chichester space to really explain who the villains and supporting character are, or elaborate on their relationship to Matt. You’re expected to know who these guys are and what they can do from the beginning.
If, however, you’re all caught up on your Marvel and Daredevil lore, you’ll find a fun story here. It’s not amazing, but it reminded me of some of the wacky, outlandish stories that would crop up in Daredevil comics back in the 60’s. It’s solid, superhero fun that doesn’t feel as overwrought as the 90’s comics it’s inspired by.
It can feel a little cluttered at times—too many side-characters, pop-ins from famous super-faces, and flashbacks to Matt’s childhood—but I did find some of the action panels where Matt draws on memories of his boxer father to be quite effective.
Better Angels
The artwork by Netho Diaz also feels like a good fit for Daredevil. It reminds me a little of Marco Checchetto’s work on Daredevil a couple of years ago—lots of gritty, sharp lines, kinetic energy during the action scenes, and some great, subtle, facial expressions.
I guess that ultimately I felt a little let down by the plot and the writing. Even though I think that Chichester did a great job capturing the interiority of Matt’s mind, I hard a time tracking with his stilted and staccato writing style, which sometimes caused me confusion on a word-to-word level.
I liked the main antagonist—a villain who deems certain people in society to be ‘worthless’. It’s a good contrast to Matt’s whole small-scale ‘I look out for the little guy’ philosophy. I just wished the plot had pushed these two contrasting ideologies further—had taken the themes beyond fisticuffs to a place that really challenged Matt’s worldview.
Like I said, the plot is fun. It’s a very self-contained ‘Monster-of-the-Week’ type of story. If a version of it had been released as part of Daredevil’s core ongoing series, some might decry it as a ‘filler’ arc, but I see nothing wrong with smaller stories like this that don’t irrevocably alter the fabric of a character’s reality.
They can be tremendous fun, and can offer great insights into who your character really is. Daredevil: Black Armor almost gets there, but falls just short of success.
***
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