TITLE: Daredevil: Yellow Book One: The Championship Season
YEAR: August 2001
COMPANY: Marvel Comics
Written by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
Design & Lettering: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Wes Abbot
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Assistant Editor: Kelly Lammy
Editors: Nanci Dakesian & Stuart Moore
When it comes to the Marvel Universe, one character who is complex and fascinating is “The Man Without Fear”…Daredevil.
And prior to the Netflix series and a few years before the Marvel live action film starring Ben Affleck, Marvel Comics wanted to touch upon the character’s origin with a limited series titled “Daredevil: Yellow” written by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.
I happen to be a Daredevil fan and despite the directions taken by writers in putting the character through the worst emotional moments and relationship problems more than any Marvel character I can think of (even Spider-Man, Cyclops and Wolverine don’t come close to the emotional crap that Daredevil had to endure comic after comic and being affected by it for the long run).
Similar to Spider-Man, both Matt Murdock and Peter Parker became heroes due to tragedy and along with Bruce Banner, the three received a color series back in the early 2000’s.
And many people who don’t follow Daredevil may not realize that he began with a black, yellow and red costume.
The comic begins with Daredevil talking to himself, composing a letter to the late Karen Page and revisiting the boxing ring where his father trained.
Matt Murdock’s father was Kid Murdock, an aging boxer who still had what it takes to win and doing well financially and most importantly, putting his son through law school.
Matt and his college roommate Foggy were excited for Jack “Kid” Murdock’s next boxing match.
But it appears that Kid Murdock was working with gangsters who insisted he take a dive and lose, but Kid Murdock didn’t listen and won his match.
The last time Matt would see his father, his father said he was going to retire and gave him his yellow and black boxing robe.
Unfortunately, as Matt and Foggy were going to meet with Jack, he was killed by the gangsters.
The gangsters who had control of corrupt authorities including the judge were able to walk free and as for Matt, he took his father’s robe and made a costume and became Daredevil.
I actually enjoyed the first issue and artwork. Of course, if you want more of the story, you’ll have to read back issues of the first seven “Daredevil” stories (I own nearly every first volume of “Daredevil” except the first nine issues, so even I had to read reprints).
Granted, some people may feel it was farfetched for Matt Murdock to create an effective costume despite being blind. Perhaps Loeb and Sale should have used Leo Zelinsky (the costume maker of superheroes and supervillains) but in “Daredevil” issue #001, it was established that Matt made the costume and best not to overthink this one.
But overall, “Daredevil: Yellow Book One: The Championship Season” was an entertaining origin issue, cool artwork and story!