Chopping Block Review: Daredevil-End of Days #1

With the massive Avengers Vs X-Men having just wrapped up, it seems most Marvel books are feeling the effects of it. Not so with Daredevil-End of Days: the eight issue miniseries takes place in the future of the Marvel Universe, right to the day Daredevil dies. This is a book I have been waiting on, as the premise sounds great and the creative team on board knows their Daredevil mythos. So, did this debut issue leave it’s mark, or is it under the radar?

This book is, without a doubt, mind blowing. Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack, two guys who have done their fair share of Daredevil work, pen the tale with industry mainstay Klaus Janson and a hosts of other artists providing the visuals. The book takes place right when Daredevil meets his end, and let me tell you that he doesn’t get a peaceful ending. The guardian devil of Hell’s Kitchen meets a grisly end at the hands of an old foe, and that’s only the beginning of the book. Ben Urich, reporter extraordinaire and good friend of Daredevil, is the person we follow through this horrible time as he tries to put together what happened to Daredevil during his last years alive.

When I say grisly end, I mean it. This book pulls no punches as violence spews out of the panels, adding to the seriousness of the book. Daredevil does goes over the deep end, an event that surely set up his bloody death, but why? That, and what Daredevil’s last word meant is what sends Urich to find the truth. For a first issue, this book has set the bar extremely high, as it has the feel of The Dark Knight Returns, minus the returns. I can’t recommend this book enough, as it is easily one of the best books I picked up this year. Highly recommended, I give Daredevil: End of Days #1 a perfect @@@@@ out of FIVE.