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Daredevil Epic Collection

Daredevil Epic Collection, Vol. 15: Last Rites

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The fall of the Kingpin! An amnesiac Matt Murdock is Daredevil no more - so who's swinging around town in the red suit? And why is he committing vicious crimes with pinpoint accuracy? Matt thinks he's the boxer Jack Murdock - but can he battle his way back to becoming the Man Without Fear once more? Meanwhile, the Kingpin sets his sights on building a media empire! But a reborn Daredevil is determined to administer the last rites to Wilson's reign of terror, and he won't let anyone stand in his way - even the lethal Typhoid Mary! With Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra all involved, will Daredevil finally bring down his archenemy once and for all? Plus: Captain America! Taskmaster! Tombstone! Baron Strucker! The Punisher! The Hand! And Ghost Rider! Collects Daredevil (1964) #283-300, Annual (1967) #7.

504 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2020

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173 people want to read

About the author

Ann Nocenti

736 books117 followers
Ann Nocenti is most noted as an editor for Marvel Comics, for whom she edited New Mutants and The Uncanny X-Men. She made her comics writing debut on a brief run of Spider-Woman (#47-50) and subsequently wrote a long run of Daredevil (1st series) #236-291 (minus #237) from 1986 to 1991, directly following on from Frank Miller's definitive Born Again storyline. She also wrote the 1986 Longshot limited series for Marvel, and in the same year produced the Someplace Strange graphic novel in collaboration with artist John Bolton. She wrote "the Inhumans Graphic Novel" in 1988. In 1993, she wrote the 16-issue run of Kid Eternity for the DC Comics imprint Vertigo.

In Incredible Hulk #291, published in September 1983 (cover date January 1984), Ann Nocenti made a cameo appearance, talking to Dr. Bruce Banner, in a history written by Bill Mantlo, drawn by Sal Buscema and inked by Carlos Garzón and Joe Sinnot. That time Ann Nocenti was Assistant Editor for Larry Hama on Incredible Hulk and X-Men.

She is noted for her left-wing political views which, particularly during her run on Daredevil, caused some controversy among some fans who didn't agree with her politics.

She created several popular characters, including Typhoid Mary, Blackheart, Longshot and Mojo, and wrote the 1998 X-Men novel Prisoner X.

Although Nocenti left comic books in the '90s after the industry sales collapsed, she later returned to the field, penning stories such as 2004's Batman & Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows.

In Ultimate X-Men, a reimagination of the X-Men comic, the character Longshot, who was invented by her, has the civil name Arthur Centino. His last name, Centino, is an anagram of Nocenti and a homage to Nocenti. The name Arthur is for the co-creator of Longshot Arthur Adams who was Ann Nocenti's artist on the Longshot Mini Series.

She edited High Times magazine for one year (2004) under the name Annie Nocenti and is the former editor of the screenwriting magazine Scenario.

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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for James.
2,587 reviews80 followers
November 30, 2023
This was pretty dope. Two halves here. First half was the end of Ann Nocenti’s run. Here, after the events with Mephisto, DD has some amnesia and forgets who he is. Bullseye notices this and takes advantage. He steals DD’s suit and parades around town as him ruining his rep. This is where Daredevil season 3 on Netflix got their inspiration. Great stuff. The second half is where DG Chichester takes over. Here we have Tombstone and Taskmaster working some scheme that DD interrupts. We find out they are just pawns in the organization, The Hand’s scheme. Punisher was after them too so we get to see him and DD mix it up. Nice. While fighting The Hand, DD gets help from an unsuspecting source which was a nice touch. We learn they were working with Hydra which brings in Nick Fury, and King Pin gets mixed up in it also. By the end, we see what happened Murdock in Born Again end up happening to King Pin. He gets taken down hard having to watch his empire crumble. Solid stuff all around.
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,060 followers
March 27, 2025
The first half is a weak story from the end of Ann Nocenti's run where Daredevil starts hallucinating before losing his memory and becoming a thief, then a boxer. Meanwhile, Bullseye steals the Daredevil suit and starts stealing from people and beating them up to ruin DD's reputation. Nocenti's writing is ham-fisted and overshadowed by her politics shining through. DG Chichester takes over in the 2nd half and the book is immediately better. He brings in the Hand, focuses on street level stories and has Daredevil working on bringing the Kingpin down. Speaking of Last Rites, that story is fantastic.

Lee Weeks handles most of the art. He's a very underrated artist. The book looks amazing each issue and his covers are superb.
Profile Image for Terrance.
Author 1 book11 followers
May 14, 2021
Before the terrible 90's downfall of most comics, including Daredevil with the new costume and mediocre writing, there was Nocenti - Weeks. Paying homage to the Frank Miller years in more ways than one, they blended the new with tradition. Weeks' art is Milleresque in the best way possible. It may not have reached those particular heights, but it felt comfortable.
Profile Image for Frédéric.
1,988 reviews85 followers
August 22, 2023
The first half of this volume is Ann Nocenti. So of course it is unbelievably terribly scripted. Of course. Still, the plot itself is not without interest. She continues to adress various issues and even manages to develop an interesting DD/Bullseye confrontation.
Alas, she also delivers inept lines of dialogues like she got them on bargain.
The great Lee Weeks illustrates most of this part and there’s 2 good issues by Kieron Dwyer to boot.

Enters D.G. Chichester for the second half, leading to the Fall of the Kingpin arc.
Chichester obviously tries to emulate Frank Miller and he honestly makes a very decent job of it. A bit too verbose at times but there’s definitely a style here, noir-ish and reminiscent of the famous Born again arc. There are way worse comparisons.

Chichester has the good idea to depict a DD actually driving the action instead of suffering from the events around him. And resorting to tactics his catholic upbringing will make him search for the nearest confessional. Very good, indeed. I also found the way he used a small detail directly linked to Born again to drive the plot very clever.

Lee Weeks and formidable artist Al Williamson on inks illustrate this whole half.
Profile Image for Edward Davies.
Author 3 books34 followers
January 22, 2021
Not the best of the Daredevil volumes, but still a good collection of enjoyable yarns.
Profile Image for Shreyas.
688 reviews23 followers
July 26, 2022
'Daredevil: Last Rites' (Daredevil #297 to #300) by Ann Nocenti and D. G. Chichester.



"If I could see, I know I'd view it there on his face. The dread certainty of what all his machinations, all our confrontations - of what all of it's come down to. A man filled with panic. And a man without fear."




Rating: 3.75/5.



Review:
Although the 'Born Again' comic run has a satisfactory ending, there was still something that felt missing. Justice had yet not been served. I wanted Matt Murdock to clear his name and finally get his revenge on the Kingpin.

And that's where the 'Last Rites' comic run comes in. Taking place around five to six years after the events of 'Born Again', Last Rites is the much-needed sequel to that famous comic run.

The first issue of the four-book run had problems of its own. The writing and dialogues felt a bit clunky and could hardly be compared to the 'Born Again' run, but then again it seemed to be somewhat of an unfair comparison considering the writers and the artists for both the comic arcs are different. What left me fuming about the first issue is the problematic manner in which Daredevil deals with Typhoid Mary. Instead of being pursued, Daredevil becomes the pursuer, seduces Typhoid Mary, has a night of passionate lovemaking (offscreen), and then hands her over to the authorities. There were so many other ways in which Daredevil would have defeated Typhoid Mary and handed her over to the authorities. Sigh.

Except for the Typhoid Mary part, the first issue does have some wonderful moments and some nice setup. And the latter issues in this run are a great improvement in terms of storytelling, artwork, as well as action, and intrigue.

There are a handful of cameos as well, though they don't take the story away from Mat and the Kingpin. Seeing Mat Murdock take down the Kingpin's empire was greatly satisfying, and the final fight sequence between the Kingpin and the Daredevil was a pure treat. This is a major landmark in the history of the Daredevil comics since this was one of the first instances where Kingpin was defeated in such a brutal manner by Daredevil.

Apart from the Typhoid Mary segment, the only issue I had with the comic run was its pacing. It seemed far too rushed. Watching the downfall of the Kingpin's empire would have been more satisfying had there been a slow build-up over multiple issues rather than jamming it in a four-issue-long arc. But even then, what we get is immensely satisfying.

Overall, 'Last Rites' is a great sequel to the 'Born Again' arc. It might be a flawed story, but it perfectly ties some of the loose ends from the previous arc and gives us an immensely satisfying ending. The first issue might be the weakest one, but the next three issues are a major improvement. An underrated landmark event in comic book history. I would recommend this to all the Daredevil fans who have read the 'Born Again' saga or who want to read about the downfall of the Kingpin's empire.
127 reviews
August 25, 2025
I really wish Goodreads would let you use half stars for ratings, as it is a rating closer to 3.5 stars, but not as low to guarantee a 3 star rating.

Anyways, this is an interesting book as it marks a transitory period in DD's history: marking the very end of Ann Nocenti's run on the character and the very beginning of D.G. Chichester's, with both being pretty evenly split across the contents of the book.

Kicking off with the end of Nocenti's run: it’s close to perfect, but I honestly can’t tell if she was running out of steam to tell stories with old Hornhead or if she had some kind of behind the scenes editorial mandate breathing down her neck; either way I like her final arc here but I do feel it a bit rushed and incomplete. Smaller characters and their plot lines, biggest example I can think of are the judge and his son, appear and then just vanish without much of a satisfying resolution to their problems; even Matt's new love interest just… vanishes never to be heard from again. Part of it is probably the switchover to Chichester in Issue #292 immediately after Nocenti wraps ups everything in Issue #291. That being said though, the story is still fun and continues to explore Nocenti's central thesis about the need for Matt Murdock's dual identity in a morally gray and politically complex world in very fun an entertaining ways, especially with how she uses Bullseye.

After she wraps everything up comes the annual, which is fine as far as annuals go, not much to say about the story outside of "it certainly exists and is part of Marvel's multitude of mostly pointless Annual crossovers from the 90s"

And then after that comes in D.G. Chichester as the main ongoing writer of the book and is he able to live up to Nocenti? No, but I also feel that a lot of people give him unnecessary crap over the fact he had the impossible task of following up such a monumental run AND tell a story worthy of a 300th milestone issue.

The stories in between the end of Nocenti's run in #291 and the beginning of Last Rites in #297 are mostly fine, they’re not absolute masterpieces of storytelling, nor are they horrible or unreadable in any sense. They’re just fine stories that do have a larger narrative across them, even if that larger narrative is kind of lame and poorly defined. While Nocenti felt like she was rushing to end things at certain points, Chichester feels like he’s rushing to get things back up to status quo again.

Now, Last Rites itself is an interesting beast to dissect, mainly because it’s one of only two major stories that Chichester's run is remembered by (with the second one being Fall From Grace) and I actually really enjoy it. It’s not perfect by any means, I have a lot of issues with it’s plot conveniences and characterization of certain characters (*cough* Typhoid Mary *cough*) especially, but as a big milestone celebration of 300 issues? I’ve seen worse milestone celebrations (Avengers #200 for instance, not necessarily a high bar to clear I know, but still) and it’s pretty good by those standards. Now, as a worthy follow up to Born Again? Literally one of the most beloved, important and impactful Daredevil storylines of all time? Debatable.

The story acts as a mirror of the previously mentioned Born Again, whereas BA was about Matt's rebirth through the stripping of everything that made up his Status Quo at the time; Last Rites is the same idea but about the same thing happening to Kingpin and the idea of ultimate retribution for Matt being thrown in there as well, and it’s not horribly executed but it’s also not perfect. My biggest issue comes from the fact that it feels more like Matt taking advantage of Kingpin not really looking into who he was dealing with (A very out of character thing for ol' Willie) and Matt just more spreading the word of that, I get where it’s coming from, more of an indirect and smart approach rather than just DD busting into Kingpin's office and breaking every teeth in his mouth, but it also feels like it’s just a coincidence that happened because the plot demanded it rather than it being a deliberate play on Matt's end.

It feels as if the way the story plays out after the first chapter is more just a happy accident that just so happened to align with what Matt started doing after getting rid of Typhoid Mary. Speaking of her, I don’t like the way Chichester handles her, I get that she was Nocenti's character but man did Chichester drop the ball on her, the way she gets defeated is so dumb and out of character for her, I really didn’t like that at all.

I think my last complaint about Chichester's writing in general (not just in Last Rites) is his overly verbose Neo-Noir narration; I get it man, we all love Frank Miller's run, but this is really edging on annoying. Every panel is overly stuffed with narration caption that give out overly written text that describes a lot of unnecessary and mundane details, stuff that would be fine in, say, a pulp detective magazine where there are no pictures, but the captions obscure the art so much that it feels as if all that detail could just be inferred through the artwork itself without so much verbosity, let the panels speak for themselves man. It is a very bad case of "I wanna be Frank Miller" which isn’t necessarily bad, but it is a bit annoying.

But overall I still enjoyed Chichester's stories so far, sure it’s a drop in quality from Nocenti's insane antics and politically aware, openly critical stories, but it makes a nice change of pace and, if anything, it’s nice to see Kingpin get his comeuppance.

The art in general is super solid, Lee Weeks is the artist for most of the book and he does an amazing job, even when Chichester's narration captions just completely cover his beautiful art. Mark Bagley also shows up as a fill-in artist at the very beginning of the book with Issue #283 and you can never go wrong with that man’s art.

Overall a still solid experience, with issues yes, but honestly a lot better than I expected, especially given how I have heard people talk about Chichester's run.
Profile Image for Marcelo Soares.
Author 2 books14 followers
January 31, 2022
Pois é, né.
Que que eu vou dizer pra vocês?
Eu acho que existem histórias que não funcionam e que todos os autores gostam de refazer; por exemplo:
- Homem Aranha e clones;
- Superman (ou assemelhado) do mal;
- Mutantes variados viajando no tempo para impedir um futuro que nunca se realiza;
- Batman perdendo um plano secreto para derrotar todo mundo, estranho que ele não tenha um plano para isso, né?
- Demolidor fingindo que é outro Murdock qualquer.

Bom, a Ann Nocenti depois de toda uma confusão envolvendo o Mefisto e uns inumanos peladões no volume anterior, resolve que tá na hora de arrumar a casa e traz o Demolidor de volta a Nova Iorque. Até aí, beleza. Porém o Demolidor não sabe quem ele é, e, por motivos ainda mais estranhos, acaba encontrando com o Mercenário na sua identidade civil, o cara do boné, os dois trocam de roupa num beco qualquer de Nova Iorque.
O Mercenário sai fantasiado de Demolidor roubando e matando para prejudicar a imagem do nosso herói.
O Demolidor sai fantasiado de "cara do boné", encontra uma gatinha, passa a fazer pequenos roubos e a dormir com a gatinha. Um mina dormiu com o Demolidor, pode encomendar o caixão. Logo em seguida, ele resolve virar um boxeador cego chamado Jack Murdock. Foda, né?
Enquanto isso, Wilson Fisk comprou uma TV falida e virou - inadvertidamente - sócio da Hidra.
Enfim, depois de muita linguiça enchida, Murdockão se lembra de quem é, se fantasia de Mercenário e sai na porrada com o seu inimigo favorito, claro que o Mercenário - fantasiado de Demolidor - sequestrou a mina aquela. Esse confronto é a parte mais interessante, porque, como um finge que é o outro, as ofensas parecem, na verdade, explosões de sinceridade sobre como é ruim ser quem eles são. Quando o Murdock, fantasiado de Mercenário, xinga o Mercenário, fantasiado de Demolidor, na verdade, ele xinga a si mesmo; e, claro, o oposto também acontece.
Quando essa parada se resolve, Matt Murdock volta, abraça o Foggy Nelson e volta a ser amigo e recomeçar a vida pela 38ª vez.
E a Mari Tifóide? E a Karen Page? E a TV Nazista do Rei do Crime?
Pois é, deixa que o D G Chichester resolve.
Eu só contar como ele resolve a Mari Tifóide: com o poder da pica demolidora.
Explico, o Demolidor encontra a Mari Tifóide numa briga de gangues, leva-a para um motel pulguento, passa a pica nela até dar aquela tonteada e ela pegar no sono, sai de fininho - o cafajeste -, falsifica documentos - ainda mais cafajeste -, e manda o serviço social invadir o motel pulguento e levar a mina na camisa de força pro manicômio mais próxima. Demolidor, o herói mais cafajeste de todos os tempos.
E o pessoal reclama do Tinder.
Vejam só.
Profile Image for ✨!.
69 reviews1 follower
January 13, 2026
Nocenti's run ends on a high note, which was a nice surprise. The final storyline (#284-#291) isn't perfect, and it's still got all the Nocenti-isms that irk me (it spends too much time on weird abstract dream sequences, the pacing is weird, and sometimes Nocenti's need to Say Something About Society feels really out of place), but I liked that Matt's journey to becoming himself again was different from what I've seen before, and issue #289 felt triumphant. I was really into it. I think this was my favorite story from her overall run

I've got mixed feelings on Chichester. I like that he tries to return to form and establish a darker tone with more action. Last Rites (#297-#300) has Daredevil and Kingpin acting as foils to each other, and the parallels between the two of them and between this arc and Born Again make the story feel like it was always destined to end this way. It's done so cleverly. However, a lot of the plot points in Chichester's stories (both Last Rites and the story before it) feel contrived and vague. Events would happen without explanation. It doesn't help that Chichester's scripts are really bloated. There are waaaay too many text boxes that, in the end, don't really add much to the story. My eyes kept glazing over because they were overwritten and the sentence structure was weird. I often had to read a page multiple times. So much goddamn text only for none of it to answer any of the actual questions I have lmfao

Lee Weeks does the art for most of this, and it was by far the best thing about the volume. The poses he illustrates for action scenes are fluid and kinetic, and I like the way he draws characters in shadow. Idk man he's just really solid
Profile Image for Christian Oliverio.
Author 1 book9 followers
February 14, 2025
Introducing Matt's long lost brother, Jack! Oh, yeah and Captain America, the Punisher, the Hand, some weird Hydra stuff... then the story you have been waiting and read this whole collection for: Last Rites!

So apparently DD just fought the literal devil in Hell and is returning for a soft reboot/jumping on point. This first issue was honestly pointless and way too political (I've never Captain America that unhinged before) as it raised far more questions than were necessary, but it gives us a fun intro into our first story, a story of Jack Murdock.

Jack was an interesting concept and I honestly enjoyed a lot of it. Is this a story I want to see adapted? Maybe, but not for a whole season. I liked it working as a jumping on point/intro to the character and main antagonists. Simultaneously, we get some goofy stuff as well. A balanced blend of stupid and very well done artistry.

Next we had an Annual Crossover. This is VERY skippable as the whole story isn't collected and aside from Nick Fury, it wasn't very interesting. Dang 90s crossovers and their constant interruptions of my readings!

Luckily, the next pair of stories were fun. DD and the Punisher "team up" to fight Tombstone and Taskmaster, leading to some fun fight scenes and unhinged chaos. I always forget how hilarious Taskmaster is until I read him. Plus his fights are always bangers. The finale was great too and it smoothly transitioned into the next story, "Infernal Mysteries," which sees the return of both the Hand and the Chaste. This story wasn't as good. We had a pretty wild deux ex machina that could have been interesting, but was clearly just fan service. Izanami was a pretty cool character/boss fight, although her character design was very 90s.

Finally, the icing on the cake and whole reason I read this collection: Last Rites. DD gets vengeance on Kingpin in a pretty solid story full of some emotional heavy hitters. Venessa finally becomes relevant again and Mary is 'dealt' with, while DD goes through some intense moral questions as he implements his plan. Karen returns and their relationship was pretty charming to see in action again. Overall, this story made the whole volume worth it.

In short, you get the whole range of Daredevil stories here. Some are grounded and gritty, some are goof-fests, while others are a strange mix of the two.
Profile Image for Dean.
987 reviews5 followers
September 10, 2024
I enjoyed Nocenti's social commentary. Their last arc may be my favourite of their run. I wasn't a fan overall of it, but it had some good moments.

Chichester's firs couple of issues I quite liked snd considered buying the rest of their run. Now I've read the full collection, boy oh boy. I'll never read another issue by them. Sorry mate.
Way too verbose, slowing down the pacing far too much.

Lee weeks' art is great.
85 reviews
November 9, 2021
The ending of Nocenti's run was ok. Much better than most of it. All "filling" issues were below average. There was nothing interesting, sad, or exciting. Last rites were interesting, well-drawn, but I had a big problem with Chichester's writing. English is not my first language, and his structure of sentences meant that I did not read it fluently.
Profile Image for Jonathan Waugh.
153 reviews3 followers
June 26, 2025
A little weird to have this one collection be the end of Ann Nocenti’s run and the beginning of D.G Chichester’s, but it’s still good. Nocenti is next level still, but Chichester’s spiritual sequel to Born Again is surprisingly great, even if it feels like it’s putting the toys back in the box. Absolutely love Nocenti’s run overall though.
Profile Image for Alex.
Author 274 books571 followers
January 1, 2022
A fitting response/coda to Miller/Mazzucchelli's fantastic BORN AGAIN story. An underrated Daredevil classic that features stunning artwork from Lee Weeks and a dark, well-crafted story from Chichester.
Profile Image for Michael.
26 reviews
January 8, 2022
A strong end to Nocenti’s run of DD. The writers that end this arc of Matt’s redemption and takedown of Kingpin do a great job. Some of the stuff in here, was also adapted to the Netflix show (like the Kingpin’s past flashback sequence).
Profile Image for No_One.
281 reviews
June 6, 2024
“I forgive you.”


“The words don’t come easy.”
Profile Image for Jacob.
43 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2025
they wanna be born again so bad
193 reviews
June 14, 2025
I bought this book after hearing a lot of praise of Nocenti's run on Daredevil. Now, after reading it, I'm wondering what the hell happened and how this run is seen as celebratory.
I think if the story was a little shorter I would not mind the run here that Nocenti covers in this volume. Its got politics, trauma, and different ideas that I could see Matt Murdock blending well with. But I think what makes it bad is how long it goes on in the story.
I'm a huge hater of amnesia plot lines too. Like, I cannot stand the amnesia stories about Matt Murdock here and at first I tried not to let it bother me but it went on way too long. The main thing keeping me around was Lee Weeks art, which to this day remains one of my favorite artists in the business.
The other stuff feels very 90s in storytelling, like the story with the Punisher crossing over. Its not particularly bad, but I didn't love it.
Profile Image for laureads.
31 reviews
January 23, 2022
overall i would say it was a uneven read with some stories working better than other so i give it 3,5/5
HOWEVER the last part collected which focuses on the kingpin’s fall was the best part and by itself it’s a 5/5 read!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
424 reviews2 followers
October 20, 2025
One of those books that leaves you wondering-- do I even like Daredevil? Do I even like comics?
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