Daredevil Visionaries - Frank Miller, Vol. 3

If it weren't for this volume bringing Elektra back to life a few of these issues would be forgettable. But thankfully the art is dynamic and engaging and the ending with Elektra being resurrected and the final issue of Matt confronting Bullseye makes a powerful end to Frank Miller's first crack at Daredevil.

Unbeknownst to me, THIS, my beloved Marvel character favorite since childhood(circa 1964, I was 8) was the property Frank cut his teeth on before going on to blow the doors off of DC's circulation with The Dark Knight! Raw - is how I would categorize this, the seminal work of the artist/writer birthed at Marvel and blossomed at DC. Frank Miller took a 'C' list Marvel character and brought him out of the clown fights he had been introduced with, and into the 'A' lists of circulation with serious and gritty storytelling, that won him a favored spot in Marvels early 1980s comics bronze age. This is what made doing Daredevil so appealing to Netflix. There was years of substantial story arches, provided by Frank for a successful Daredevil franchise launch. This series of compilations is beautiful AND educational. Enjoy! I needed only have volumes 2 & 3, they contain the cannon of Frank Miller runs with Marvel's DD!

This third and final collection of Frank Miller's Daredevil run pales in comparison to volume 2, but it's still better than what a lot of creators could do! Besides, it's kind of hard to top yourself after a very impressive run like the one found in the previous volume. Frank Miller visionaries volume 3 includes Daredevil #183-191, What If? #'s 28 and 35, plus Bizarre Adventures #28. This volume opens up with Daredevil and the Punisher both trying to take down a scum-bag who's peddling drugs to kids. I really liked this two-parter because I love seeing the war of morals between both vigilantes. There's only a fine line separating Daredevil from becoming the Punisher, and it's always interesting to see these two in a war of ideals. We also get the return of Stick and the Black Widow, who needs Daredevil's help in discovering who poisoned her. This of course leads to a ninja battle with The Hand (gotta loves those!). After that, horn-head tries to stop The Hand from resurrecting Elektra! Finally, rounding out the series is a powerful tale about a young boy and his father's gun that finds Daredevil in Bullseye's hospital room with a revolver, debating on whether to end the villain's life. This marked the end of Frank Miller's run on the series, but he would return twice to the character in later years, with two more gripping stories.

What can I say buy it if you like super heroes with writing that takes readers seriously and Frank miller dose excellent storytelling great characters if your not big on daredevil collect vol 1 2 and this vol and you definitely might Change your mind

The first two volumes were some of my favorite Daredevil comics and some of my favorite Frank Miller work. But the third lacks a little. Just a little.

great description. book was truly "Like new"

The death of Elektra in issue #181 of DAREDEVIL was a shocking, groundbreaking moment in mainstream superhero comics... but it was far from the end of Miller's transformative work on the book.Over the course of his run on D.D., Frank Miller had utterly transformed an uninspiring, second-tier book into one of the most dynamic and fascinating reads on the monthly comics racks. He'd infused Daredevil with the grit of film noir and the occult mood of esoteric ninja sagas. Month after month, his writing improved and his art became tighter, more expressive and more experimental.As his experience deepened, Miller seemed to discover more about his technique -- and more about his characters and the world they inhabited. The previously shallow characterization of D.D.'s "alter ego" Matt Murdock became richer and more complex each month, as Miller explored the character's history and paradoxes. The growing sophistication of the book meant that even though his run had seemingly hit its apex with the tragic conclusion of the Elektra thread, Miller mined the aftermath of the tale for some of his run's most memorable and haunting stories. Characteristically, Miller found ways to enrich Elektra's saga even after her death.The stories in this book are haunted by her memory -- as Matt Murdock seeks solace from other lovers, and as he grapples with his own anger and rage, sometimes in ways that are hurtful and damaging to the other characters. The storyline threatens to bring Elektra back as a dark, grotesque shadow of her former self. Murdock already failed to save his lover's life -- now he has one last opportunity to save her soul.Appended to the book are some stories from WHAT IF? and BIZARRE ADVENTURES. One of the WHAT IF stories is an utter waste -- a slight and pointless piece reimagining DD as a superspy for the agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. But the other WHAT IF tale is a haunting, troubling tale, with Daredevil standing at Elektra's grave, wondering what would have happened if she had not died. It's the perfect coda to the Elektra storyline, with Miller's most emotionally evocative writing. Inked by Terry Austin, Miller also lays out some of his most impressive artwork of this period.Finally, the Bizarre Adventure tale follows an early adventure in Elektra's career as a hitwoman-for-hire. It's black-and-white, crudely simple in plot, but with simply gorgeous art prefiguring Miller's later experiments with noir storytelling in the SIN CITY line. (Unfortunately, the publisher jumbled the un-numbered pages, so you may have trouble following the plot.)This volume is not without its awkward moments and flaws, but it's still an astonishing feat. You can literally watch Miller honing the artistic and storytelling skills he'd display in his later, more powerful works. The esoteric themes of RONIN have their roots here, as do the technically brilliant artistic flourishes of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Miller may have perfected his fusion of superheroics and noir in BATMAN: YEAR ONE, but this is where he developed every tool in that bag of tricks.In terms of sheer formal inventiveness and skill, ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN and ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN may be two of the most stunning works in Miller's bibliography. But to truly appreciate them, you have to know the history of the character and how far Miller had journeyed with his femme fatale. Some of the most crucial moments in that journey lie between the covers of this volume.

Stated as a hardcover and received a paperback