Brian Michael Bendis is a legend in the comic industry. He got his start in the indies in the ’90s, making the move to Image from Caliber Comics. His work on Torso and then Sam and Twitch with artist Alex Maleev got the attention of Marvel, and he was made the writer of Ultimate Spider-Man. A rocket was strapped to his back and he soon was put on Daredevil, one of the most popular books of the time. Bendis was soon joined by Maleev, and Daredevil became one of the best superhero comics of the 21st century. Their run is legendary and it ende20 years ago with “The Murdock Papers”, a story that put to rest the main plot that Bendis and Maleev had been building for their five year run.
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Bendis is returning to Marvel for the first time since 2018, getting a spot in Avengers #800. Bendis helped define what Marvel was in the ’00s, writing every major books that the publisher had over the years. Since then, the fan perception of Bendis has changed a lot. However, Daredevil is the one book that everyone still loves even all these years later. Daredevil has had some amazing runs over the years, but the Bendis/Maleev run is easily the greatest of the 21st century, possibly of all time.
Bendis and Maleev Made Daredevil Into Something Special
Daredevil has had one of the most interesting evolutions of any Marvel comic. At first, it was basically just another Spider-Man comic, with the character being a jokey acrobatic crimefighter, with his “radar sense” replacing the spider-sense. Eventually, writer/artist Frank Miller was put on the book, and everything changed for the character. He became the perfect noir superhero, and his books have become known for having amazing runs over the decades; from Miller to Ann Nocenti to Karl Kessel to Kevin Smith to David Mack to Chip Zdarsky. Bendis came on the book after Smith and Mack in a fill-in role, but would soon become the main writer. Once Maleev was added to Daredevil, things really took off.
Bendis took an idea from the Miller days — Daredevil’s identity being revealed — but went much further with it. It wasn’t just Kingpin that knew, it was everybody. The book took on a much different flavor than it had before; it was sort of a superhero book, but it was more of a crime book than anything else. Bendis was able to give the book the perfect feel, with Maleev’s art cementing that vibe. The writer isn’t always known for writing good action scenes, but Maleev made everything look amazing and gave readers the brilliant action they were used to from Man Without Fear.
Bendis played the identity reveal in a completely different way than other writers had played that trope. The writer remembered that Matt Murdock was a lawyer, and totally leaned into the sometimes smarmy feel that lawyers had. He was even lying to people who knew that he was Daredevil, all to protect his identity. It came to a head in “Hardcore”, a story with several of Daredevil’s most brutal fights, with Matt eventually taking over as the “Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen”. It went on from there, building and building until we got to “The Murdock Papers”.
I think what made Bendis and Maleev’s Daredevil work so well is that you could never predict what way he was going to take the stories they were telling. No one expected the Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen moment. The Owl as a major crime lord wasn’t something anyone would have guessed in a million years. No one expected the return of Gladiator in “The Golden Age” (which in my opinion doesn’t get nearly enough credit for how great it is) or “Decalogue” to go in the bizarre directions that it did. “The Murdock Papers” brought it all to the perfect ending, with Murdock unable to run from the truth anymore. No one could have predicted the ending of the plot line, and if you don’t know it, I won’t ruin it for you here.
For My Money, Bendis and Maleev’s Daredevil Will Never Be Topped
Daredevil was flying high for years after Bendis run (I’ve always been partial to the Brubaker/Lark follow-up), but no one had ever reached the heights of the book under Bendis and Maleev. The only one that has gotten close is the Zdarsky/Checchetto run, and even that wasn’t as great after Devil’s Due. Their five-year run never flagged in quality, and it was always at the top of people’s read piles. It was better than nearly everything out there, and I say that as a person who was mostly a DC fan at the time.
There are a lot of bad things you can say about Bendis as a writer, but his style worked perfectly for Daredevil. The drama he was able to inject into the book made it that much better, and when you add his great crime writing to Maleev’s art, you get something that is honestly pretty close to perfect. I would honestly say that if you want to see why people like Daredevil so much, you can just read their run. It’s really that good, a near perfect slice of superhero noir unlike anything we’ve gotten since.
What do you think about the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil run? Leave a comment in the comment section and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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Image courtesy of Paramount+
