Daredevil: Guardian Devil

By: Kevin Smith, Marvel

Narrated by: Jonathan Feuer, full cast

A scared teenager on the run. An infant child some say is humanity's savior. A former lover whose life is now hobbled by a terrible secret. A law partner accused of a horrible crime. A city being overcome by an inscrutable menace. They need a guardian. Someone to protect them. Someone with faith in them. They need Daredevil.

GraphicAudio® Production.

©2019 Marvel (P)2019 Marvel

Surprised at how good this was

I bought it because Kevin Smith and Daredevil, but when I saw how short it was I significantly lowered my expectations.

And I was wrong for that - great story, really well produced and acted. Absolutely enjoyed it in one quick sitting

really good

really liked this. listen to it while at and wanted to finish it. get it you won't he disappointed.

Marvel at its best

There is nothing like a tribute to a character when it is delivered by a fanboy. Kevin Smith brings the goods and drops a Daredevil story that is everything from action to mystery to flat out horror. When a story of this power is dropped on a cast with these chops then you will find yourself listening to this amazing story more than once. Do yourself a favor and check out what Kevin and DD cooked up in Hell's Kitchen.

everything great

everything great was very entertaining. I look forward to listening to more adventures. True Believer

Better than the actual comic

DAREDEVIL: GUARDIAN DEVIL basically is the second most important Daredevil story in the entire history of the character after BORN AGAIN. It's not my favorite of the runs but it brought massive attention back to the character, started the run that included Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker (helping rocket them to the fame they'd later achieve), as well as established the modern status quo for the character. It is also infamous as the run that killed one of the most beloved supporting cast members of the series. A character who still hasn't been brought back in comics.

The premise is that Matt Murdoch is doing his usual thing when he encounters a sixteen year old girl that is carrying around a baby. Said girl is also being chased by a bunch of murderous cultists that want to kill her as well as said baby (or so it appears). The young woman, Gwyneth, proceeds to tell Matt Murdoch that her child is Christ Reborn. Matt is somewhat nonplussed by this as while established as Catholic, he is very much of the lapsed variety. Things get stranger for Matt as he finds himself met by a mysterious old man who claims the baby is actually the Antichrist.

Matt Murdoch's handling of this isn't particularly great as he immediately starts getting paranoid and suspicious. I don't think he ever actually believes the baby is the Antichrist or Redeemer until he's incredibly drugged up (and even then you can tell he's unwilling to cross some lines). Still, I think he is more credulous than he probably should be. Perhaps my favorite part of the story is that one point he decides, "Screw it, I know Doctor Strange so I'll just go ask him if the baby is legit."

Even so, the book suffers for the fact that a lot of it feels like warmed over BORN AGAIN. Someone has figured out Matt's secret identity and decides to attack him through his friends as well as loved ones. Foggy Nelson is under arrest for murder and sexual assault (!!), Karen Page is seemingly suffering from AIDS, and Bullseye has been hired to screw up his life. There's a line between rip off and homage, though, which I believe Kevin Smith was doing more to the latter than the former. Still, the ultimate revelation of the Scooby Doo plot nature of things is underwhelming.

At the risk of spoiling what is heavily implied before the end, Matt Murdoch is under assault by someone who isn't even one of his villains. He's under assault by someone he only knows peripherially but has decided to make him his project because, well, why not? It's an underwhelming revelation and the deliberate psychotic pettiness of it is something that will either go over well or not with a sufficiently jaded reader. Still, I can't help but think this probably would have worked better played straight with someone like Mr. Fear or an actual member of Matt's rogues gallery.

I also gotta deduct points from the book from the fact that it's a little heavy in the 90s casual misogyny. Again, Kevin Smith is making an actual point here. Matt Murdoch even gets lectured about the fact he has unconscious issues with women due to his mother, Karen Page, and Elektra. Plus, maybe, some unresolved Catholic issues. However, no less than three main female characters are murdered in the plot as well as Foggy's mom hanging him out to dry. Thank God for Natasha Romanov or this would have been even worse.

While the comic is well-regarded for a reason, I actually prefer the Graphic Audio version. I'm just not a fan of the art. I think this is definitely a must read for Daredevil fans but I also don't think it's at the top of the list but more like seventh or eighth. Joe Quesada's influence is something I also think contributed to the comic being far edgier than it needed to be and that's acknowledging Daredevil is pretty edgy to begin with.