Daredevil End of Days #1 Review

I have never read any of Brian Michael Bendis' and Davis Macks' work on Daredevil before so wasn't too sure what to expect from this even though I have heard great things about their past work with the character. This book alone, which is issue #1 in an 8 issue limited series, has single handedly made me want to pick up trades of their older stuff.

The cover of this book says it all. Daredevil is dead. He got killed by Bullseye in what looks to have been an epic street fight from what the first few pages of the book show. So we know how he got killed, but we do not know why. Finding this out has fallen on Ben Urich's shoulders. The disillusioned reporter is originally assigned to write the story on Daredevil's death, however he discovers that there are a lot more questions that need to be answered concerning Matt Murdock and the Man Without Fear in the run up to his untimely death.

This is fantastically written, which is to be expected considering the writers involved. One of the personal high points for me has to be the retelling of DD's back story through an article Urich is compiling. It makes the book completely new reader friendly, meaning it can double as a jumping on point for readers who want to get into the ongoing daredevil title. The internal dialogue going through in Ulrich's head is also tremendous. Especially when he is auto correcting himself when typing up the article. Ulrich himself is also fantastically written. A man who has fallen out of love with the industry he works in, failing to see a point in carrying on doing what he is good at. The art is gritty. Hell's Kitchen looks just as it should, dirty and grimy. The tone for the book is perfect. However, I read this elsewhere but I cant help but agree, I got half way through the book before realising that it was Bullseye who murdered Matt Murdock. In all fairness I think the real detail in that scene was given to Daredevil's injuries, as well as the fight that was giving him those injuries. Nevertheless, I hope there arnt many more gripes like this in the rest of the issues.

I have tried not to give too many spoilers away in this review. Obviously we know that Matt has died, however the events before that are best read without spoilers to get maximum enjoyment out of this fantastic first issue. Pick this book up, it has potential to be a very special limited series.

Rating: 9/10