Daredevil and Superman

The year was was 1980.  My wife and I had moved to Texas when I secured a job as an illustrator at a publishing firm.

My work consisted mainly of cartoons.  I loved it!

I’d always been a big fan of comic books and this was (or so I thought at the tie) my chance to strut my stuff and eventually transition to comic books.

Things didn’t work out that way but, while employed, my wife and I happened to stop by a local used bookstore.

There, on the floor by the cashier’s counter, was a box of used comic books.

I had gotten rid of my comic books a few years before I got married and only occasionally looked at them when I happened to pass by a comic book stand.

With little or no money, I never bought any.

Now that was gainfully employed I decided to peruse the box and maybe pick up a few titles.

The first issue I picked up was an early Frank Miller Daredevil comic book-just after he started both writing and drawing the series.

I was dumbfounded.  Who was this guy?  What had he done to Daredevil?

Sure Daredevil looked the same (more or less) but he was a lot tougher!

Instead of his Stan Lee/Gene Colan quips, overly-acrobatic gymnastics and verbal and physical jabs, this Daredevil was as tough-as-nails, brutal at times and his adversaries were killers, hitmen and the scum of the earth with little regard for life or the law.

The pages were orchestrated battles with plenty of film noir sequences, brutal fisticuffs and violence.

I loved it!  I immediately snatched up the dozen or so issues and bought them all.

Not long after that I persuaded my wife to visit a local comic book shop where I subscribed to Daredevil, The Uncanny X-Men (drawn by John Byrne) and George Perez’s The New Teen Titans.  My comic book addiction reasserted itself.

In Frank Miller’s Daredevil And The Ends Of Heroism, written by Paul Young and published by Rutgers University Press, readers are invited to explore the Miller Daredevil phenomenon is full.

The author delves deeply into the life and work of Frank Miller, his influences, his vision of Daredevil and how he successfully re-engineered the Man Without Fear and his rogue’s gallery and supporting cast.

Full-color page and scene reproductions from Miller’s run on Daredevil are examined and the author fleshes out how Miller’s innovative layouts, story-telling techniques and unique take on the character changed the way superheroes were viewed.

Miller’s influence is felt even today as a whole new generation of artists and writers take what they’ve learned from Miller’s vision and transformed the comic book industry.

Superman: the granddaddy of comic book superheroes.

How is a character, created in the late 1930s, managed to stay so relevant and topical for going on 80 years?

Author Ian Gordon looks at Superman’s stellar career in his new book: The Persistence Of An American Icon Superman.

Like the Daredevil book the Superman Rutger’s book is part of its Comics Culture series that takes a serious look at the American comic book industry.

Aided by color photos of art spanning the decades the book delves into the enormous influence Superman has had on American society.

Films, comic books, toys, animation and practically every other form of merchandise tie-ins keep the character at the forefront of societal consciousness.

No other comic book character has the long, enduing and illustrious career as The Man Of Steel.

There have been some contentious times betwixt creators, publishers and other corporate types yet Superman has survived them all much as his character did from the destruction of his home planet Krypton in the comic books.

For a real insider look at what makes Superman tick be sure to pick up a copy of this book.  It looks like superman will be around for a very long, long time.