A story that’s been years in the making arrives this week! Daredevil: End of Days by writers Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack with Klaus Janson and Bill Sienkiewicz on art. This is the final fate of The Man Without Fear as told by reporter Ben Urich’s last story.
“This takes place in the not-too-distant future and we get to see what the Marvel Universe may look like. In the vein of Daredevil, it’s a more realistic future. In the very first issue, some very large things happen, including Daredevil’s very public murder, which sends Ben Urich on his final assignment, once again telling the story of Matt Murdock,” said Bendis
“This is the Daredevil all-star team, but in order to get everybody together, we needed to dance between the raindrops. We think it’s worth the wait. It’s beautiful,” Bendis explained.
“We wanted to get a lot of people associated with Daredevil through the years together on one book and use it as the culmination of our passion for this character. We see almost every character who has been associated with Daredevil through the years as well,” Klaus Janson added.
Although set in the near future the creators reflect on the retro cinematic feel of the project.
“The idea of doing a ‘Mean Streets’ version of Daredevil, with all the characters we love and loath, ups the excitement factor for me as a fan,” said Bill Sienkiewwicz
“This is like 70’s film. Even though it exists in the near future, it has an old style New York City grit to it,” David Mack added.
Mark Waid’s current tone is more heroic and upbeat so this project may be a shocker to new readers.
“Our book will be dark and violent and shocking to people who followed our runs on Daredevil. To people reading Daredevil now, it will be doubly so. This is not Mark Waid, who is doing a phenomenal job. I was trying to shock readers of our stuff!” explained Bendis of the tone.
Bendis and Mack delve into Matt Murdock’s past and supporting cast.
“Just about every major girlfriend and every rogue of Daredevil plays some role in the story,” says Mack.
“You’ll see how all of Matt’s interactions with women affected them 10 years down the line,” adds Bendis.
“One of the more intriguing characteristics of this project is the little glimpses of the Marvel Universe in the future. They’re not in your face, but they’re around the corner. I find that as important a part of the story as the main plot. My curiosity is always piqued,” says Janson.
“You get the story from Ben Urich’s point of view, so you get the story from his point of view as far as what characters he encounters. One of my favorite pieces Klaus and Bill have done thus far is of Nick Fury,” adds Bendis.
“Daredevil has been a comic that has always enable a lot of experimentation by very different artists. There’s something really interesting about the character that allows for a lot of interpretation. With this project we’re trying to let all the different styles shine in service of the story,” says Mack
“In life, Daredevil had questions he could never answer, itches he could never scratch. Some characters get to a point where they’re ok, but Daredevil is not like that. He’ll never get over what happened to his parents, he’ll never save enough people. His battles with forces of nature like Kingpin, Bullseye and Elektra force him to become a force of nature. To give it 10 years and see the fallout of that is very interesting to write about. Also, we’re not getting it from Daredevil’s perspective, we’re getting it from perspective of somebody who may be willing to dig deeper than Matt even would have,” says Bendis
For more quotes from the creative team here’s the Marvel.com link. Daredevil End of Days #1 of 8 arrives this week.
By Editor