“It was big news when the team of writer Kevin Smith and artists Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti announced they’d be working together on Marvel’s Daredevil. Now the first trade paperback of the project, reprinting #1-3, is available. The title seems to be simply Daredevil (Jan 99, ISBN 0-9851-0715-0, $9.95), which is going to spaz out indexers. eventually. And Smith has certainly combined dynamite plot elements with wild possibilities. Unlike many trade paperbacks, this one doesn’t contain a complete story arc. The episodes are “…And a Child Shall Lead Them,” “The Unexamined Life,” and “Dystopia,” from which readers might suspect a religious tale. Readers would be right.

The tapestry Smith weaves is complex and thought-provoking: How should people react, in the face of a Second Coming? Could you judge the difference between God and a lying Devil? And, in terms of the fate of comic-book characters, what are the consequences of some of their past actions for Karen Page and Matt Murdock? Smith’s addressing many aspects of characters in the existing mythos of Daredevil – and it may be that none will escape unscathed. What’s important is how well the story is being told, and the team keeps the reader turning the pages.

The richness of the references even extends to elaborate backgrounds featuring the art of Gustave Dore, whose scenery…works great in the published form. This is clearly a labor of love – expressed in the midst of cynicism. But what will happen next?”