Kevin Recording The Commentary		Kevin, Joe and Jimmy’s Signatures		Signature Page
Daredevil #0 Screenshot		Introduction Screen		Main Screen
The Marvel Knights Crew		Recording The Commentary		Front Cover Of The Book
CD Label		Back Cover Of The Book

DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES (Graphitti Designs Limited Hardcover Edition)

The first thing you should know about this book is that it costs $80 and there are only 2,500 copies in existence (make that 2,499 – because my copy will never leave my possession!). For that very reason I won’t spend too much time reviewing the actual story – because let’s face it if you haven’t already read, and subsequently fallen in love with, the story collected in the book you probably aren’t going to shell out the $80 (unless you’re a bigger Smith fan than I am – and I seriously doubt that!!!).

So the book essentially reprints Kevin Smith’s “Guardian Devil” storyline that was originally printed in Daredevil (Vol.2)#’s 1-8. The nice thing about this book is that the eight issues are very self-contained and although Marvel have now picked up various plot points and are expanding on them the actual “Guardian Devil” storyline sits very nicely as a stand alone piece with a beginning, a middle and an end (which, in my experience, is a rarity in comics). The actual storylineis a tale of Daredevil’s struggle with his faith when he is left to care for a baby who he is told will grow up to be the antichrist. Along the way we are treated to appearances by a host of other Marvel characters (including Black Widow, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Kingpin, Bullseye, and others) but not once do you feel that they are merely pointless guest-appearances as each one serves to carry the narrative along. The twist in the tale comes in the finale when it is revealed that the Villain behind everything is Mysterio who has effectively tried to destroy Daredevil’s life as his swan-song before he dies. Daredevil however refuses to follow Mysterio’s plan by not killing him in a moment of rage and the third-rate super-villain is forced to kill himself. The actual story shows that Kevin can show a more serious nature and tackle more emotional subjects than he had with his previous comics (much like he did with his film Chasing Amy) and it’s also historically important as the story arc that got people reading Daredevil again!

So anyway, as I’ve already said, if you’re contemplating buying this book odds are that you’ve already read the story so why should you buy this collection? Well first off it’s a hardcover (and personally I’m a sucker for hardcover comic collections!), secondly it’s signed by Kevin Smith and the two artists who brought Kev’s words to life, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, and last (but definitely not least!) it comes packaged with a “Daredevil Digital Adventures” CD-ROM that you can only get with this version of the book. Personally I would have bought this book anyway if this CD hadn’t been included but I think that it’s inclusion in the package justifies the high price-tag.

On the CD you’ll find an interactive, web-browser based, package that houses over 2 hours of commentary from Smith, Quesada & Palmiotti, complete scripts from all eight issues, original penciled pages (before Palmiotti traced over them!!!), the Daredevil #0 cyber-comic, Wizard Magazine’s Daredevil #½ and a whole host of sketches, reference photos and other relevant pictures.

Of course the most interesting thing is listening to Smith, Quesada and Palmiotti talking about the project and in true DVD commentary style the group end up making fun of each other and swearing (although all swear words are “bleeped” out!). But in their serious moments the group discuss everything from plot-lines carried over from Frank Miller’s legendary run on the book to the religious elements of Smith’s story and his-take on the fan’s reactions to “Guardian Devil”. The way the disc is set out each issue has it’s own section (including an introduction section and an extras section) and each piece of the commentary is placed in the relevant section and labeled so as to make it easier to go back and just listen to a specific bit. The only bad thing I could say about the commentary is that they seem to rush through the last few issues (you even hear someone enter the room a few times towards the end and Smith telling them that they’ll be a few more minutes!). As you listen to each section of commentary there is a specific set of pictures relevant to what’s being said – ranging from sketches of scenes to pictures from other comics that are referenced. Of course once you’ve looked at the pictures you can flick over to the script of that particular issue or the penciled pages section – all whilst still listening to the commentary.

Once you’ve worked your way through all eight of the issue sections there is an extras section which contains even more cool stuff! First up is Daredevil #½ (which was originally available as a mail-in premium from Wizard Magazine) which is basically a text piece written by Smith documenting Mysterio’s meeting with the Kingpin, which was briefly mentioned in Daredevil #7, accompanied by splash-page illustrations. The way it’s presented on the disc doesn’t do justice to the way it was originally printed in the comic (in fact I would have preferred to see it reprinted in the hardcover book in it’s original form alongside the regular issues) but that’s a minor quibble and at least they went to the effort to include it. Following that is the #0 cyber-comic which shows us Daredevil discovering that Karen Page has left him – this was originally only available on the web and last time I tried to view it at Marvel’s site it didn’t seem to work anymore. Of course News Askew has screen captures of it but it has to be viewed in it’s full animated glory to get the full effect – and as far as I am aware the disc is the only place it is now available! The extras section also contains information on the mini trade-paperback (including Kev’s intro and Quesada and Palmiotti’s afterwords) and also info on the recording session of the audio commentary.

All in all I think the disc is an amazing compliment to the book and even though there are about 2 hours worth of commentary tracks on the disc it took me three hours just to work my way through everything. If you combine that with the 2 hours it took me to read the book itself your looking at a reasonable investment for your $80 and it’s a book that I personally will read over and over again. In fact the book now takes pride of place on my book shelf next to my Chasing Dogma hardcover (and hopefully will be joined by the Clerks hardcover when that arrives) and I hope that Kevin Smith continues to write stories that warrants these deluxe editions – however expensive they may be!