Daredevil: Yellow

This was a fantastic look at the origins of Daredevil. I was recommended that this should be read after Kevin Smith's Daredevil: Guardian Devil, and while it does take place after that mini-series, I don't think it's necessary to read the other first.

The art absolutely makes this book, in my opinion. Tim Sale's art and monochrome ink washes, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, creates the perfect nostalgic mood for this story. Jeph Loeb's script works well for me, explaining what drove Matt to finally don the Daredevil costume and go out and fight.

My one complaint is that Karen feels more like a prize for Matt and Foggy to fight over--that's definitely how they both treat her--rather than a character in her own right.

Daredevil: Yellow collects all 6 issues of the eponymous miniseries written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale with letters by Richard Starkings and Wes Abbott and colors by Matt Hollingsworth. The story uses a series of letters that Matt Murdock writes to the late Karen Page to process the trauma of her death. These letters explore their early relationship when Matt and Foggy Nelson had recently hired her for their law firm. Matt, then new to the superhero business, had a lot to learn and wore a costume based on his father’s early boxing clothes in a garish yellow. Loeb’s writing and Sale’s art capture the optimism and joy of those early Daredevil stories, contrary to the more brooding tales that became the standard in the show more 1980s and 1990s. They also explain why he changed to the red costume after only a handful of issues. Loeb and Sale craft a world that features a nebulous past, something that looks like it could take place anytime from the 1960s through the 1980s, thereby making it work as part of Daredevil’s continuity for any new readers. It also launched Loeb and Sale’s “color” books at Marvel, followed by Spider-Man: Blue, Hulk: Gray, and Captain America: White, each of which re-examine prominent characters’ early years through the themes of loss. show less

One of the best story/art teams around, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, retell Daredevil's early career and his developing relationship with Karen Page, now deceased. The stories are sensitive and well-told, with a bit more humor than we're accustomed to seeing in a Daredevil book these days.

I loved this book. It's brilliant. The Hulk: Gray book left me a little bit cold so I wasn't too sure whether to buy this one in the series. I'm glad I got it cheaper off ebay though! It's a wonderful tale of Daredevil's early adventures, the influence his father had on him and his sorrow over the death of his long-time love Karen Page. The period setting of the story by Tim Sale is also very clever. It looks just old enough to give you the impression that it might be set in the 1960s without explicitly showing that it is.

This is a great graphic novel by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The story is part love letter and part origin story. Matt Murdock's father is murdered after refusing to throw a fight, and thus begins Murdock's career as a lawyer and as a superhero. Murdock takes his father's yellow boxing robe and creates the first Daredevil costume. As he begins to establish himself as a superhero, Murdock also begins to fall for his secretary, Karen Page. The art is amazing and the story is heartfelt.

The sad elegaic letter thing feels more contrived here, and it doesn't conclude very well in terms of the characters or its origin story.

Matt Murdock sends a letter to his and his partner Foggy's Secretary to tell her about why he became Daredevil and the reason he couldn't tell her certain things. She was his love and he lost her. I really liked the illustrations and the characterisations. A good Daredevil read.