Daredevil was born in April 1964 under the pen of Stan Lee and the pencil of Bill Everett inDaredevil#1, before going through six decades of editorial reinventions: the darkness inaugurated by Frank Miller from 1979, the identity drama of “Born Again” in 1986, the Marvel Knights revival by Kevin Smith in 1998, the urban saga of Bendis and Maleev in the early 2000s, then the brighter tone of Mark Waid from 2011. This tormented trajectory explains why certain key issues — #1, #7, #168, #181, #227 — are among the most sought-after pieces in the Marvel catalog, an interest further revived by the Netflix and then Disney+ series.
Few Marvel heroes have such a storied editorial history as Daredevil's. Where Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four benefited from relatively stable editorial continuity from the 1960s, The Man Without Fear was shaped, broken, rebuilt and reinvented by a succession of authors who were never afraid to shake up the original formula. A blind lawyer who fights crime at night in a working-class neighborhood of New York, without fortune or extraordinary technology, without extraterrestrials or Nordic gods on the horizon: the concept was already jarring in 1964, and it is precisely this fragility of the character which has enabled, decade after decade, the most daring rereadings of the medium.
Understanding the history of Daredevil is therefore not just about tracing a publication chronology. It’s following how a second-tier character, several times threatened with cancellation, became one of Marvel’s narrative pillars, capable of attracting the biggest names in comics – Miller, Mazzucchelli, Bendis, Maleev, Brubaker, Waid, Zdarsky – and of justifying two critically acclaimed Disney+ series today. This turbulent editorial continuity has also directly shaped the collecting market: the issues which mark a creative turning point are, almost systematically, those which collectors seek today.
This article traces this trajectory in chronological order, focusing on the moments of editorial change and what they mean for those interested in the collection. For an overview focused on the designers and scriptwriters who left their mark on the character, head to our article on themajor Daredevil artists; for a ranking of the best reading periods, our guide toDaredevil's best runsdetails each arc in depth. Here, the angle is different: it's about understanding how and why the character's editorial history was built, run after run, crisis after crisis.
1964: the birth of an unexpected anti-hero at Marvel
Daredevil first appears inDaredevil#1, dated April 1964, a title written by Stan Lee and drawn by Bill Everett, with design input from Jack Kirby - it was he who imagined the famous telescopic stick ("billy club") which would become the character's signature accessory. The origin set out in this founding issue remains, even today, that which all adaptations take: the young Matt Murdock pushes an elderly man out of the path of a truck transporting radioactive materials, but a container opens and the spilled contents reach his eyes, making him blind. In return, his other four senses are multiplied to a superhuman point, and he develops a “sixth radar sense” which allows him to perceive his environment with almost visual precision.
This same issue also lays the foundation for the character's mythology: the law firm Nelson & Murdock, with his partner and best friend Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, and their secretary Karen Page, whose story arcs will span decades of stories. This is a rare aspect in Marvel origin stories from the early 1960s: the hero's civilian life – his job, his loved ones, his office – occupies a place almost as important as his nocturnal activities in costume. This duality between the rigorous lawyer and the acrobatic vigilante will become the trademark of the series, and the preferred playground of the screenwriters who, decades later, will choose precisely to attack this civilian identity rather than just the powers of the hero to put him down.
On a strictly editorial level,Daredevil#1 remains today one of the most popular Silver Age issues among Marvel comics collectors. The CGC census lists around 3,800 examples graded to date, and copies at the top of the scale are extremely rare: fewer than five examples have been certified at the maximum grade 9.8. This peak rarity has resulted in spectacular sales in recent years — a 9.8 copy sold for $250,000 in 2021, while 9.6 grade copies reached $102,000 in January 2021 and then $90,000 in November 2022, a development that illustrates the volatility specific to very high grade coins. At the other end of the spectrum, a mid-grade 5.5 example traded for $4,800 in April 2023, a useful reminder that the value of a key Silver Age issue remains primarily a matter of conservation and condition.
Unlike Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, whose commercial success was almost immediate, Daredevil struggled in the first years to find its audience. The yellow and red costume of issue 1, considered difficult to read and not in line with the name of the character, was abandoned from issue 7 (April 1965) in favor of the all-red costume designed by Wallace "Wally" Wood, who took up the pencils from issue 5. This aesthetic change, made to reinforce the visual identity of the "devil" of the title, gave birth to the costume which will remain the graphic reference of the character until today - and makesDaredevil#7 a key issue in its own right for collectors who want to own the first appearance of the iconic red suit.
The title searches for its voice: from the 1970s to the arrival of Frank Miller
During the first decade of the series, Daredevil changed screenwriters several times and struggled to distinguish itself from other Marvel titles of the time. The character goes through the 1970s without lasting creative direction, oscillating between classic adventure stories and occasional attempts at renewal. It is in this context of a title in search of identity that the arrival of a young, then little-known designer: Frank Miller took place, at the very end of the decade.
Miller first joined the series as an artist, notably drawing issues 158, 159, 163 and 165. His graphic work, influenced by black cinema and Japanese comics, immediately stood out in the Marvel landscape of the time. Faced with the visual impact of his boards, the publisher entrusted him with writing the title from issue 168 (dated January 1981), a turning point which would permanently redefine the character. It is in this issue 168 that Miller introduces Elektra Natchios, Matt Murdock's former college lover turned feared hitwoman, a character who will become one of the most notable female figures in the Marvel universe.
Miller's run on the series, which extended until issue 191 (1983), established a dark and urban aesthetic that contrasted radically with the more classic tone of superheroes of the time: New York neighborhoods plagued by organized crime, ambiguous morality, raw violence and personal issues taking precedence over costume clashes. The high point of this period remains issue 181 (April 1982), where Elektra faces the killer Bullseye in a duel to the death and expires in the arms of Matt Murdock, one of the most discussed moments in the character's history and an issue that has since become an essential collector's item for any fan of Marvel comics from the 1980s.
“Born Again”: the creative peak of 1986
After leaving the regular writing of the title, Frank Miller returned in 1986 for a one-off story which remains, even today, considered by a large part of critics as one of the greatest stories ever dedicated to Daredevil, if not to the entire superheroic genre. "Born Again" was published in issues 227 to 233 (February to August 1986), written by Miller and drawn by David Mazzucchelli, with whom he had previously collaborated on issue 226.
The story is based on a radical premise: Karen Page, who has become a drug addict and works in pornographic cinema in Los Angeles, sells Daredevil's secret identity to a dealer in exchange for a dose of heroin. The information goes back to the kingpin Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, who methodically sets about destroying Matt Murdock's life: freezing his bank accounts, seizing his apartment, fabricated criminal charges. What makes “Born Again” so striking in the character's story is the narrative choice: instead of pitting the hero against a super-powerful adversary, the story attacks his civilian identity, his reputation, his mental health – a deconstruction of the superheroic archetype hailed as one of the milestones of the modern age of American comics.
Editorially, “Born Again” also validated a principle that would structure the entire subsequent story of the title: Daredevil works better when we deprive him of everything – his resources, his status, his dignity – rather than when we multiply the supervillains around him. This principle would become the backbone of several major runs of the following decades, from Bendis to Zdarsky.
The crossing of the desert then the rescue Marvel Knights (years 1990-1998)
The 1990s were more difficult for Daredevil. The title went through the decade without a creative direction as significant as that of Miller, while suffering the economic ups and downs that hit the entire comics industry at that time - overproduction of variants, frantic speculation, then collapse of the collector's market in the mid-1990s. The first series (vol. 1), launched in 1964, ended after 380 consecutive issues, a run among the longest in Marvel history for a single title.
In 1998, the relaunch of the character was entrusted to a then-unexpected pair for mainstream superheroics: the filmmaker Kevin Smith (director ofClerksetMallrats) to the screenplay, associated with the artist – and future editor-in-chief of Marvel – Joe Quesada. Their “Guardian Devil” arc, published in the first eight issues of volume 2, relaunches the series under the new Marvel Knights banner and imposes a dark tone, anchored in reality, which directly reconnects with Miller's legacy while injecting new spiritual and existential issues for the character. The critical and commercial success of this arc paved the way for one of the most admired creative golden ages in the title's history.
Bendis and Maleev: the turning point of the urban thriller (2001-2006)
From issue 16 of volume 2 (2001), Brian Michael Bendis takes up the pen of the series, accompanied by designer Alex Maleev, whose photorealistic style and expressionist light effects visually redefine the character. This run, which extends until issue 81 (2006), i.e. 55 consecutive issues, establishes Daredevil in a contemporary urban thriller register, where the secret identity of the hero ends up being exposed publicly - a radical scriptwriting choice which will have repercussions on years of subsequent stories.
Maleev's graphic influence on the character was considerable: his artistic direction, mixing reworked photography and chiaroscuro, marked an entire generation of superhero comic book artists in the "crime" register and directly nourished the visual identity subsequently taken up by the Netflix series, almost a decade later. Ed Brubaker, another author associated with the thriller genre at Marvel and DC, took over with artist Michael Lark from 2006, extending this dark and procedural vein until the end of the decade.
Mark Waid and the Return of the Light (2011-2015)
After nearly three decades of stories dominated by darkness, exhaustion and tragedy, screenwriter Mark Waid made a bold editorial choice in July 2011 with the launch of volume 3: giving Matt Murdock a little lightness, humor and hope, without ever denying the gravity of his past. Accompanied in particular by the artists Paolo Rivera, Marcos Martín then Chris Samnee, Waid reoriented the series towards a brighter adventure, hailed both by critics and by professional awards: the run won the Eisner Prize for best ongoing series in 2012, while number 7 of the volume itself received the Eisner Award for best single issue the same year.
This period demonstrates that there is no single "canonical" way to write Daredevil: the character has enough depth to endure both the despair of "Born Again" and the near-solar adventure of the Waid run, which goes a long way to explaining why the series has survived so many tonal shifts without ever losing its core identity.
Zdarsky, Soule and the contemporary period
The 2010s and 2020s continue this alternation of registers, with authors like Charles Soule then Chip Zdarsky taking up the title. Zdarsky, associated with artist Marco Checchetto, notably leads the character towards the crossover "Devil's Reign", which sees Wilson Fisk, now mayor of New York, declare open war on the city's superheroes - a new variation on the central theme of the series since "Born Again": the institutional power of the Kingpin turned against the civilian identity of Murdock. Zdarsky's work on the title earned him an Eisner Award nomination, confirmation that the series continues, six decades after its creation, to be considered one of the most demanding author-driven titles in the Marvel catalog.
The impact of adaptations on the rating
The recent history of Daredevil can no longer be written without mentioning his time on screen, which directly influenced the demand for the original comics. The TV seriesDaredevil, broadcast on Netflix from April 10, 2015 with Charlie Cox in the title role, offers an adaptation closely inspired by the urban thriller genre popularized by Bendis and Maleev, right down to its artistic direction. The series had three seasons before its cancellation in November 2018, but its cultural impact far exceeded its broadcast duration: it permanently reintroduced Daredevil into mainstream popular culture, far from the degraded image left by the 2003 film, and mechanically revived readers' interest in the arcs that inspired it.
This ripple effect is directly verified in the comic book market: issues associated with stories adapted or evoked on screen – the meeting between Daredevil and the Punisher, the start of the “Born Again” arc – saw their sales volume increase significantly in the years following the broadcast of the series, a classic phenomenon of comic book collecting where a successful adaptation redirects the attention of buyers towards the source material rather than towards new spin-off series.
The return of the character on Disney+ withDaredevil: Born Again, the first season of which was broadcast in 2025, then a second season launched on March 24, 2026 with a weekly broadcast until May 5, 2026, extends this cycle. The title chosen for this new series – a direct nod to Miller and Mazzucchelli's 1986 arc – is not insignificant: it signals the extent to which this founding story remains, even today, the absolute reference against which any new incarnation of the character is measured, on screen as well as on paper. For collectors, each new season mechanically revives attention to the source issues, whether it's the original issue #1, issue #168 introducing Elektra, or issues #227-233 of "Born Again."
Buying guide: how to approach the Daredevil story as a collection
Faced with such a long editorial history and so rich in creative turns, it is better to move forward with a method rather than buying bins at random. Here are the essential points of reference before getting started:
- First Identify Creative Toggle Numbersrather than aiming for an exhaustive collection:Daredevil#1 (origin), #7 (first red costume), #168 (first appearance of Elektra) and #227-233 ("Born Again") concentrate most of the historical and collector's interest in the title.
- Systematically check grade and conditionbefore any purchase of Silver Age: on a number likeDaredevil#1, the difference in value between an average copy (grade 5.5) and a near-mint copy (grade 9.6) is in the tens of thousands of dollars — preservation trumps almost everything else for back issues.
- Do not neglect the less “iconic” pivotal runs on paper: the beginnings of Bendis/Maleev (#16) or Waid (volume 3, #1) mark changes in tone as structuring for the character as the great Silver Age classics, often at a much more accessible entry cost.
- Cross-reference price sourcesbefore setting a budget: ratings change quickly, particularly after the broadcast of a new season of a television series, and a price seen six months earlier may no longer reflect market reality.
- Distinguish between reissues and original prints, particularly on cult arcs like “Born Again”, regularly reprinted in trade paperback or omnibus format: only the original booklets dated 1986 have collector's value in the literal sense.
- Use a collection tracking applicationto precisely catalog what we already have and spot the holes in our run, particularly via ourcollection management application.
To go further on the choice of readings themselves rather than just the collection dimension, our guide toDaredevil's best runsdetails arc by arc what is worth reading first, while the fact sheetDaredevil charactercentralizes all the data on the hero, his powers and his mythology.