Daredevil: Man Without Fear #1, October 1993
Frank Miller returns to Daredevil and brings an all-star art team with him in the origin story, “Man Without Fear.”
Ok, easy to call “all-star” an oft-overused cliché, but in this case, no exaggeration. The artistic team of John Romita Jr. and Al Williamson is a stunning compliment to Frank’s storytelling.
This is Romita’s best work up until this point in his career, and Al certainly still had his inking chops as well.
I’m guessing (and strictlyguessing) that Miller provided a full script or close to it, because the layouts and storytelling are so “Milleresque.” Either that, or Romita Jr. channeled his inner Miller.
Probably a combination of both.
In this page, young Matt Murdoch discovers his true powers for the first time in a sink or swim training session provided by his tutor, the mysterious “Stick.”
The page layout cleverly and beautifully uses the nine-panel grid to show the development of Matt’s reaction time to Stick’s attack.
A great page from one of the all-time great limited series.
