Miller's Lost Daredevil Masterpiece This is the Miller Daredevil story that got away. Coming out around the same time as Miller was knocking the socks off of the comic world with the "Born Again" story in the funny book format, this oversize graphic novel slipped under many radars. Like many of Marvel's graphic novel series, this is part of the main character's continuity and follows up on events of Miller's 1st run of DD. The story actually centers around the Kingpin and his handicapped wife Vanessa. Way back in the old comic run, Vanessa was apparently killed off but survived by taking to the sewers where she was enslaved by a grotesque underground king who ruled over a band of tunnel dwellers. By the time Daredevil intervened and returned his archenemy's wife back home, Vanessa's mind was all but gone. In the "Love and War" story, Kingpin is seeking help for his poor wife, and in his typical heavy handed way, he kidnaps the beautiful (and blind) wife of a famed psychologist to "persuade" the good doctor into helping Vanessa recuperate. The real problem comes in that the Kingpin's henchman for the kidnapping is a truly psychotic and delusional killer who begins to have conflicting fantasies about his lovely victim. The clock is ticking for Daredevil to rescue both the damsel in distress from the psycho and the good doctor from the clutches of the Kingpin before everything hits the fan. Oh, and Turk is along for the ride to offer a little bit of much needed comic relief. Although the story sounds rather simple, it is a pretty intense examination of the true nature of love and the terrible power of obsession. Miller puts one more notch on his billy club with this fantastic tale. Because the story is drama and character driven more than action packed, Sienkiewicz's fully painted art plays beautifully in the oversize format. This is much cleaner and visually beautiful than his work on Elektra Assassin which he also did with Miller. The panels are larger and there are quite a few full page illustrations that showcase what Bill can do with a brush. The storytelling is also much tighter, driving you through one breathtaking page after the next. If you are a fan of Miller's work on Daredevil, and are not familiar with this book, you owe it to yourself to pick it up. You won't be disappointed.
Outstanding Images and a great story This graphic novel by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz is one heck of a story. The graphic art complements this story as you are moved by the images. The story is compelling as it pschological moves you to uderstand each character. The art work is splended as you are fed with the right amount of colors, with th eright kind of colors depending on the situation.
This is a pschological drama and therefore, action is noticably missing. Don't misuderstand me, there are a couple of scenes, but the hero is not well represented in this area. This I think is to a fault. After all, one does expect certian things from certian charaters. With Daredevil, you expect a human drama with some action.
All in all, however, that may be more a matter of taste then principle and it should not stop any collector from getting this book. The story represents the mind as well as the soul of humans: good vs evil. An old story, but done with originality.
The Peak of Storytelling Comics/Graphic novels are for me a unique form of storytelling. Combining image with text in a controlled format. As a filmmaker I strive to blend dialogue and image to tell a story. In the study of improvisation there is a saying "Show; don't tell." and of course we all know the "a picture is worth a thousand words". In comics the artists have an opportunity to do this with every frame - a still frame that lets us use our imagination to provide motion and rhythm and sound. Although I have many favorite books - Dark Night Returns, Kingdom Come, The Killing Joke, Marvels - by far Love and War is the peak of storytelling for me. Frank Miller is an excellent storyteller, not only because of his original concepts and details but also because he is a master revisionist. The ability to take a character we already know and love and to get us to learn more about them and love them even more is remarkable. In Love and War Mr. Miller tackles the Kingpin, giving us insight into his personal makeup, letting us see why he is so cold and calculating and in a small way, accepting him as a person. It is devestating to understand and accept the "bad guy" and makes us realize the difficulty in being a true hero all the more. It is in Love and War that Mr. Miller manages to transcend Good vs. Evil and show us how things just are. Bill Sienkiewicz is the perfect artist for this story. His images are just as graceful, violent, distorted and colorful as the world can be. I can spend quite some time on each frame of this book noting details, following the motion of his brush stroke and deciphering the thousand words implied in each picture. He shows what Miller doesn't tell. All in all they combine to excute a fantastic story brilliantly told.
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