This isn’t a review of David Mazzucchelli and Frank Miller‘s seminal Daredevil story Born Again. Born Again is a terrific tale from one of the finest artists to work in U.S. comics and a frustrating, problematic, once brilliant writer. Mazzucchelli and Miller follow Matt Murdock/Daredevil to hell and back after the Kingpin gets ahold of his secret identity and sets out to ruin his life. It’s a harrowing tale, one that pummels Daredevil (and blows him up, traps him in a car that’s hucked into a river, stabs him, and gives him pneumonia) and the people he cares for brutally but never pointlessly.
Marvel
Born Again doesn’t confuse cynicism for depth—it moves with care. It counterbalances Matt’s succession of long nights of the soul with his partner Foggy Nelson’s desperate attempts to navigate his best friend’s life being demolished. It follows Matt’s former girlfriend Karen Page’s efforts to escape from a horrific life of addiction and abuse (the most frustrating part of Born Again—on its own, Karen’s story works. In the context of Miller’s oeuvre, it’s a prime example of his issues with women) and take responsibility for selling Matt’s identity. It weaves in Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich as he faces Kingpin’s hidden army of corrupt creeps and the failure of his courage. It tracks Kingpin’s attempt to move into legitimate business while simultaneously brutalizing Daredevil and how, for all of Wilson Fisk’s cunning viciousness, his rage and need for revenge set the stage for him to undo himself—particularly when he gets desperate enough to pull in the murderous cyborg supersoldier Nuke, who embodies the United States’ vice the same way Captain America embodies its virtues.
Marvel
Born Again is a beloved comic that has earned its august reputation. But again, this isn’t a review of Born Again. This is a review of the Marvel Premier Collection’s edition of Born Again. Per an October press release, the Premier Collection is a budget-friendly line of “iconic stories” presented in “a sleek, high-quality, and highly readable format.” Born Again and Brian Stelfreeze and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ A Nation Under Our Feet (The first year of their Black Panther run) are the launch titles. They’ll be joined by Steve Epting and Ed Brubaker’s Winter Soldier (the Captain America story that reintroduced Bucky Barnes) and Dave Eaglesham and Jonathan Hickman’s Solve Everything (the opening arc of Hickman’s long run on Fantastic Four) later this year.
So, is the Premier Collection “sleek, high-quality, and highly readable”? Going off of Born Again, Yes, with caveats. The book’s about the size of a trade paperback and printed on thick, eminently turnable paper. It’s a strong presentation of the comic itself (although, as the good crew at the Mangasplaining podcast note, Christie Scheele and Richmond Lewis’ colors were designed for newsprint, meaning that they look different than designed on bright white paper).
The trade dress, however, is significantly less impressive. Where the DC Compact Comics line (which the Premier Collection is comparable with as budget-friendly, bookshelf-friendly presentations of well-loved comics) opts for famous covers (or, in Watchmen‘s case, an iconic panel) and black title ribbons with distinct, colorful fonts, the Premier Collection takes a cover and fades it into white with a red ribbon at the bottom and the title and credits in plain black and white font. It’s plain and undercuts the project’s goals. If the goal of the Premier Collection is to make people want to pick up affordable, attractively presented collections of beloved comics, then its trade dress should give the comic’s illustrator space to shine.
Marvel Comics
In the case of Born Again, the best part of its Premier Collection presentation is its bonus features—namely a selection of Mazzucchelli’s layouts and one of Miller’s scripts. While previous trade presentations of Born Again included these, they were compressed to multiple images per page. The Premier Collection gives all of Mazzucchelli and Miller’s pages a page of their own and high-quality scans. It’s a strong archival presentation, one that’s bolstered by a cover gallery and Daredevil # 226, Mazzucchelli and Miller’s pre-“Born Again” collaboration. As someone who loves digging into the craft of comics and who’s always happy to see folks getting interested in how comics come together, I’m really glad to see these included and treated with care. Not everyone’s going to learn about “Born Again” and jump on the oversized artist’s edition, but I can see someone excited for the new Disney+ show of the same name picking up this premier edition, checking out the layouts and scripts, and getting the comicscraft bug.
My frustrations with the bland trade dress aside, the Premier Collection is a good idea that’s mostly executed well. I hope the coming volumes follow “Born Again”‘s lead and include interesting back matter. I hope it succeeds—I want more folks to have the chance to fall in love with comicscraft.
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