Daredevil’s Best Comic Book Run Changed Marvel Forever and Decades Later No One Has Come Close

It has been 44 years since Daredevil ended the best run the character ever had, and it was done with style. Frank Miller worked on the Daredevil book from issues 158 through 191, writing and drawing many of the issues, including the final part of his story, “Roulette.” Miller did something magical with Daredevil and created some of the best stories the hero had ever appeared in, making Kingpin his greatest enemy and introducing Elektra to the world. Over this run, Miller broke down Daredevil and did more character building than any writer, before or after.

Daredevil Vol. 1 #191 went on sale on October 26, 1982, and it was the last issue that Frank Miller wrote and drew for the character. Miller actually stopped drawing the comics in #184, but he returned to pencil his final issue as the writer, too. The story was called “Roulette,” and it helped wrap up the stories that made Matt Murdock’s life a living hell.

Frank Miller’s Final Daredevil Issue Came Out 44 Years Ago

The first page of Frank Miller’s final issue of Daredevil had an image that really wrapped up his entire run on the title. Daredevil put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, which really fits into the ideas behind the run’s tendency to send Matt Murdock to a literal hell every step of the way. The fact that he was sitting beside Bullseye’s hospital bed, where his enemy was unable to do anything but watch, is terrifying and a good example of how Daredevil got to this point. Daredevil was playing Russian Roulette with his helpless enemy.

Daredevil explains the game and how both “idiots” put a gun to their heads and pull the trigger, and the winner is the one who lives. Bullseye looked panicked, but he couldn’t do anything but lie there and watch as Daredevil put both their lives in danger. Daredevil admits that Bullseye is paralyzed now, can’t move a muscle, and can’t even make a sound or talk. It makes this seem extremely cruel, but Daredevil also admits that it is nothing near the levels of pain and torture that Bullseye put him through, which includes Bullseye killing Elektra.

The issue uses a lot of flashbacks to tell the story and how things got to this point. That makes sense because this is Frank Miller ending his run, and he had a chance to just tell a story that broke down how Daredevil ended up at this point. Flashbacks are just a way to add some catharsis to the entire saga. This included scenes where Daredevil wasn’t even fighting villains.

When a child lets Daredevil know he is his fan, the hero smiles. When the kid says it’s because Daredevil will punch out anyone who gets in his way, it hits home. How does this make Daredevil a hero? That same child who idolized Daredevil just wanted to be a hero. When he saw that his father was a bad person and Daredevil took him down, the child decided he must be bad as well. The boy took a gun to the playground and shot a bully, and it ruined the boy’s life. Daredevil wants to know who is to blame: the boy’s father, villains like Bullseye, or Daredevil himself. That is what Frank Miller is examining here. What makes a hero, and where is the line where they become a villain?

Frank Miller Put Daredevil Through Hell

Daredevil’s gun in “Roulette” had no bullets, and he was only messing with Bullseye. However, the lesson was there. What happened to Daredevil during Frank Miller’s run showed that he was only a step away from becoming a villain. It wasn’t because he was a bad person. It was because bad people took everything he loved away from him. Miller took so much away from the hero, and in the end, it had Daredevil wondering if he could ever be the hero he once was again.

In Daredevil #181, Bullseye murdered Elektra, and there was nothing the hero could do to save her after she crawled to his home, dying. This is when Daredevil ignored his moral code and let Bullseye fall from a high wire, which is what paralyzed him. Miller even returned later for the “Born Again” story arc, where Daredevil lost everything. When his ex-girlfriend Karen Page traded his secret identity to Kingpin for drugs, Wilson Fisk systematically ruined every single part of Matt’s life, taking his money, foreclosing on his apartment, having him disbarred, and driving him into destitution.

Miller even broke down Matt’s childhood, showing that he was an abrasive and hotheaded kid who had violent outbursts and moments of poor impulse control before the accident that blinded him. It took the kid who became a hero and made him into something darker, with a violent side that would explain many of his actions as Daredevil. The roulette game with Bullseye fits this portrayal, even if it made Daredevil darker than any other creative team has dared.

What did you think of Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil? Let us know your favorite moments in the comments below.