It’s simple but not overly simple, redolent of crime noir with outstandingly drawn action sequences.

Miller’s inventiveness with the pencil makes his scenes come alive. These feature not only Daredevil but other Marvel characters, among them the Avengers, Black Widow and Bullseye. There are half a dozen frames across this collection that could already be considered iconic thanks to the use of bright colours on blacks and greys with subtle shading. This evolved into a stand-out artistic collaboration, Janson as much an integral part of Daredevil’s re-genesis as Miller and the synchronicity of the partnership clearly developing here.

In the introduction Miller relates how dependent he was on Klaus Janson’s inking to smooth out rough edges. The problem is the writing being typical of its time, with lectures from heroes and monologues from villains pummelling each other at the same time. Miller’s style and layouts improve the stories, though McKenzie’s work is not bad and some stories like ‘Marked for Murder’ are very good. At this point Daredevil was a struggling title published bi-monthly, McKenzie trying to inject change into the character. You can trace the development of Miller’s skill as a young artist throughout this collection as he brings his own unique style to the character. This book collects Frank Miller’s work as penciling Roger McKenzie’s stories. Even visionaries start somewhere and Daredevil is where it began in earnest for Miller. The strength of a visionary is not only in seeing the potential within and which direction to take, but having the courage to fulfil that vision. He would progress to write genre-defining work such as Batman: Year One and the Sin City series – work that has become films, used as source material for other media and inspired more than a few writers and artists to try their hand at illustrated storytelling. This was only really the beginning for Frank Miller. Impressed by confidence he didn’t necessarily feel, they gave him the job. In 1979 a young artist with comparatively little experience had the audacity to approach a mentor and tell her he was the new man they needed to pencil Daredevil.

Daredevil visionaries