Book Review: Daredevil, Vol. 4: The Autobiography of Matt Murdock

Daredevil, Vol. 4: The Autobiography of Matt Murdock by Mark Waid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collect the end of Mark Waid's legendary run on Daredevil with issues 15.1 and concluding with 16-18.

Issue 15.1 are excepts from Matt Murdoch's titular autobiography and they're fun stories that carry the readers back to Daredevil's early days. Waid has excelled at this type of stories, so it's not hard to understand why he goes back to that well. My only complaint is that I'm kind of uncertain about the chronology of Daredevil's Yellow costume and working for another firm, but Waid probably has it right.

The final three issues bring us the climax of Murdoch's attempt to cut a deal with the Kingpin in order to restore his secrets and stop the damage that's been done by a Cyberattack. Wilson Fiske is probably the biggest (in both a literal and figurative sense) villain that Waid hasn't tackled. It's a very solid and satisfying story with great personal stakes and the book ends solidly even if it's in a way that makes this whole renumber after the end of Volume 3 of Daredevil seem more pointless than already has.

Having the read the entirety of this run, I have to say that Waid (and artist Chris Samnee who was with him for most of the run) deserve a ton of credit. Waid's entire run on this series has been historic, not just for Daredevil but for comics in general. He managed to take Daredevil in new directions while honoring what came before. It's been a strange mix brilliant originality which touches of nostalgia, with great character development and emotion throughout the series. Young writers and artists looking for an example of how superhero comics should be written couldn't really do better than looking at Waid's run on this book.



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