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Born Again (comics)

[[Kingpin (character)|Wilson Fisk]] [[Foggy Nelson]] [[Karen Page]] [[Ben Urich]]"},"writers":{"wt":"[[Frank Miller]]"},"artists":{"wt":"[[David Mazzucchelli]]"},"pencillers":{"...

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"Born Again" is a 1986 story arc in the American comic bookDaredevil, published by Marvel Comics. Written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzucchelli, with colors by Christie "Max" Scheele and lettering by Joe Rosen, it was serialized in Daredevil #227–233 from February to August 1986. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Daredevil and Kingpin stories ever told, "Born Again" is considered a landmark of the Modern Age of Comic Books for its deconstruction of the superhero archetype through an attack on the hero's civilian identity rather than his physical abilities.

Frank Miller had previously revitalized Daredevil during his tenure as writer and artist from 1979 to 1983, transforming the title from a struggling series on the verge of cancellation into one of Marvel's best-selling books. Following Miller's departure, Dennis O'Neil served as series writer before preparing to leave. Editor Ralph Macchio approached Miller about returning, and Miller agreed on the condition that artist David Mazzucchelli, with whom he had first collaborated on Daredevil #226, handle the illustrations. Their partnership on "Born Again" was their most celebrated work together; they subsequently reunited for Batman: Year One (1987).

"Born Again" begins when Karen Page, the former secretary of the Nelson & Murdock law firm and ex-girlfriend of blind attorney Matt Murdock, sells his secret identity as Daredevil to a drug dealer in exchange for heroin. The information reaches crime lord Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, who systematically dismantles Murdock's life by freezing his finances, foreclosing on his apartment, and engineering false criminal charges against him. Barred from practicing law and rendered homeless, a paranoid Murdock confronts the Kingpin directly and is beaten nearly to death before being discovered by a nun named Sister Maggie, his long-lost mother, who nurses him back to health. As Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich investigates the Kingpin's scheme, Murdock slowly rebuilds his life and reconciles with Page. The story reaches its climax when the Kingpin deploys a super-soldier named Nuke against Hell's Kitchen, forcing Murdock to re-emerge as Daredevil; the resulting revelations, uncovered by Captain America, shatter the Kingpin's public image.

«Born Again» recibió elogios por el arte expresionista de Mazzucchelli, el uso que hizo Miller de temas católicos como la caída y la redención, y su enfoque de desmantelar al superhéroe a través de su identidad secreta en lugar de mediante el combate físico. Consolidó la posición de Miller como uno de los escritores más importantes del medio y le otorgó a Mazzucchelli el estatus de estrella como artista. La historia sentó las bases del personaje de Daredevil durante años y se considera una obra influyente en la transición hacia una narrativa de superhéroes más oscura y madura. Se ha reeditado en numerosas ediciones recopilatorias desde su primera publicación en rústica en 1987. Elementos de la trama se adaptaron para la tercera temporada de la serie de televisión de Netflix «Daredevil» (2015-2018), y una serie de continuación de Disney+ , «Daredevil: Born Again» , se estrenó en marzo de 2025.

Trama

Karen Page , la exsecretaria del bufete de abogados Nelson & Murdock en Nueva York y exnovia de Matt Murdock , había dejado la ciudad años atrás para dedicarse a la actuación. Tras un breve periodo de éxito, se volvió adicta a la heroína y terminó protagonizando películas pornográficas en México . Necesitada de dinero, vende la información de que Matt es Daredevil a cambio de una dosis de heroína . Esta información llega a oídos del capo de la droga .

Durante los siguientes seis meses, Kingpin usa su influencia para lograr que el IRS congele las cuentas de Murdock, que el banco le embargue su apartamento y que el teniente de policía Nicholas Manolis testifique que vio a Murdock pagarle a un testigo para que mintiera bajo juramento. Casualmente, la novia de Murdock, Glorianna O'Breen, rompe con él y, como consuelo , empieza a salir con su socio y mejor amigo, Foggy Nelson .

Las investigaciones iniciales de Daredevil revelan que Manolis está ayudando a incriminar a Murdock a cambio de tratamientos médicos para su hijo. Sin embargo, no logra encontrar al responsable y se niega a entregar a Manolis a las autoridades. Una defensa legal excepcional por parte de Nelson salva a Murdock de una sentencia de prisión , aunque se le prohíbe ejercer la abogacía . Tras el fracaso de su plan inicial, Kingpin ordena incendiar el apartamento de Murdock , lo que este reconoce de inmediato como un intento deliberado y chapucero de Kingpin para destruirlo. Kingpin también ordena matar a cualquiera que haya manejado información sobre la identidad de Daredevil. Karen escapa de los asesinos de Kingpin y se dirige a Nueva York para encontrar a Matt.

Ahora sin hogar , sufriendo de paranoia y cada vez más agresivo, Murdock es seguido constantemente por los subordinados del Kingpin, quienes le proporcionan actualizaciones frecuentes sobre su estado mental, ya que se ha obsesionado con los frutos de su plan para destruirlo. Impulsado por pensamientos de venganza, Murdock se enfrenta al Kingpin en su oficina y es brutalmente golpeado por el capo del crimen. Para evitar una investigación sobre su muerte, el inconsciente Murdock es empapado en whisky y atado a un taxi robado , que luego es empujado al East River . Murdock recupera la conciencia, escapa del taxi y nada hasta ponerse a salvo. Gravemente herido, deambula por Hell's Kitchen , hasta que finalmente encuentra el gimnasio donde su padre entrenaba como boxeador. Allí lo encuentra su madre, Maggie , quien, tras décadas de ausencia en la vida de Matt, se ha convertido en monja en una iglesia católica local . Ella lo cuida hasta que se recupera.

Mientras tanto, Ben Urich, reportero del Daily Bugle, investiga la difícil situación de su confidente y acompaña a Manolis mientras su hijo es ingresado para una cirugía. Tras la muerte de su hijo, Manolis confiesa a Urich el montaje y sus sospechas de que Kingpin estaba detrás de todo. La enfermera Lois, una ejecutora asignada por Kingpin para vigilar a Manolis, responde rompiéndole los dedos a Urich y dándole una paliza casi mortal. Manolis, impávido, llama a Urich desde su cama de hospital ; sin embargo, Lois irrumpe en su habitación y lo estrangula, dejando el auricular sobre la cama para que Urich escuche su asesinato. Al principio, Urich se queda mudo de la impresión y no dice nada. Sin embargo, más tarde experimenta una revelación y retoma su investigación sobre el montaje de Matt Murdock.

Karen arrives in New York, having hitched a ride with Paulo Scorcese, a small-time drug smuggler and gangster who supplies her with heroin in exchange for sexual favors. She contacts Foggy to ask about Murdock's whereabouts. When he realizes that Paulo has been beating her, Foggy insists on taking her into his home.

Increasingly obsessed with killing Murdock, Kingpin uses his military connections to procure the services of a covert, experimental American super soldier, Nuke. To draw Murdock out of hiding, he arranges for a violent mental patient to be released from an asylum, dress up as Daredevil, and kill Nelson. Nurse Lois is ordered to relocate so that she cannot be implicated, but she rebels and attempts to kill Urich. Murdock, who has been shadowing Urich since hearing of the articles he is writing on the Kingpin, knocks out Lois and leaves her for the authorities. He then overhears a phone call that tips him off to the plot to kill Nelson.

Meanwhile, Page spots Scorcese stalking Nelson's apartment building. While she tries to prevent him from killing Nelson, the two are attacked by assassins who the Kingpin has ordered to kill anyone who emerges from the building. Murdock defeats the impostor Daredevil and saves Page, who confesses to being the one who gave away his secret identity. Murdock forgives her. Now back together, they move into a derelict apartment, where Murdock helps her through heroin withdrawal while supporting them as a diner chef.

Nurse Lois offers to testify against the Kingpin in exchange for a reduced sentence, but Kingpin has her killed by a bodyguard accompanying Urich when the reporter attempts to interview her in jail. Having failed to draw Murdock out of hiding, the Kingpin orders Nuke to fly to Hell's Kitchen and make a general assault on the neighborhood to send a message. From a helicopter, Nuke shoots dozens of civilians and destroys the diner where Murdock works. Appearing as Daredevil for the first time since his apartment was destroyed, he is left with no choice but to kill both Nuke and his pilot to avoid further civilian deaths. However, Nuke survives his attack, and the Avengers take him into custody.

El Capitán América , perturbado porque Nuke tiene una bandera estadounidense tatuada en la cara, investiga sus antecedentes. Cuando las autoridades militares le dan respuestas evasivas, irrumpe en archivos ultrasecretos y descubre que Nuke es el único sujeto de prueba superviviente de varios intentos de recrear el Proyecto: Renacimiento, el proyecto que mejoró el cuerpo del propio Capitán. Nuke escapa de la custodia en la misma base. El Capitán América lo detiene, pero Kingpin da la orden de matarlo. Los militares disparan a Nuke. Tras enterarse de la fuga de Nuke mientras robaba dinero a los importadores de drogas de Kingpin para reconstruir el restaurante, Daredevil lo rescata del Capitán América y lo lleva al Daily Bugle , con la esperanza de que testifique contra Kingpin. No es lo suficientemente rápido, y Nuke muere durante el trayecto al periódico antes de poder aportar ninguna prueba.

En su intento por rescatar a Nuke de manos de Daredevil, el Capitán América se topa con uno de los sicarios enviados para matarlo. El sicario señala a Kingpin como el responsable del ataque de Nuke en Hell's Kitchen, lo que desencadena una oleada de demandas. Aunque Kingpin logra defenderse de la mayoría de los cargos, su imagen pública como un hombre de negocios honesto y respetable queda destrozada, y sus lugartenientes pierden la confianza en él. Su obsesión persiste, ignora el papel del Capitán América y planea vengarse de Murdock. Por su parte, Murdock vive feliz en Hell's Kitchen con Karen y continúa luchando por la justicia en su barrio.

Antecedentes y creación

Con el guionista habitual Dennis O'Neil preparándose para dejar la serie, el veterano editor de Daredevil , Ralph Macchio, llamó a Frank Miller y le preguntó si estaría interesado en regresar. Miller, cuya primera etapa como guionista había salvado a Daredevil de la cancelación y la había llevado a las listas de los más vendidos, aceptó con la condición de que el dibujante David Mazzucchelli se encargara de las ilustraciones tras su primera colaboración en el número 226. [ 1 ] Contrariamente a los rumores, Mazzucchelli no dibujó sobre los bocetos de Miller; el arte de la historia es enteramente obra de Mazzucchelli. [ 2 ]

Análisis

Temas

Miller's stated approach in "Born Again" was to destroy Murdock not through physical combat but through his civilian life. One study of the text notes that stripping a superhero of his civilian life rather than his physical capabilities had not been done so thoroughly in the genre before.[3] The Kingpin articulates his own method in the story: "He faces poverty and public shame. He will be hounded by doctored tax files, deprived of his very home. Survival will become his only concern."[3] At the story's conclusion he twists Daredevil's Silver Age catchphrase against him: "And I — I have shown him... that a man without hope... is a man without fear."[3]

I thought, 'Break him down. Destroy him.' And then have the real deep hero emerge. And what I thought was the winning idea was I got rid of the costume for a good long time. And so that he wasn't wearing the tights and you realized the hero wasn't the costume. The costume was just dressing around the hero." [Enter the Superheroes]

The story's structure follows Christian theological concepts almost exclusively. Its chapter titles are "Apocalypse," "Purgatory," "Pariah," "Born Again," "Saved," "God and Country," and "Armageddon."[4] The title invokes the Catholic teaching on Baptism, drawn from the third chapter of the Gospel of John, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus that one's old life must end before new life can begin. Though set during the Christmas season, the story follows Easter themes: the splash pages of the first four chapters show Murdock lying down, in a fetal position in chapters two and three, then in the pose of the crucified Christ in chapter four, before chapter five shows him standing upright. In chapter three, Murdock's walk through Hell's Kitchen parallels Jesus's walk to Golgotha, including three falls corresponding to the Stations of the Cross, before ending with the image of the Pietà, Sister Maggie in the role of the Virgin Mary.

In a 2023 article in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Joshua Rene Cavazos applies Lacanian psychoanalytic theory to the story, arguing that both Murdock and the Kingpin are driven by what Lacan called "lack"; the permanently unresolved desire for fulfilment. Murdock's objet petit a, the object-cause of desire, is justice for Hell's Kitchen; the Kingpin's is public legitimacy. The Kingpin states this in Daredevil #232: "I am not a villain, son. I am a corporation — in the conglomerate that is America."[5] In Daredevil #233, receiving a business leadership award, he reflects: "The Kingpin of crime... how easily I will shed that title. How happily."[5] Cavazos argues that the two characters perpetually obstruct each other's attempts at fulfilment, and that this structural irresolution is what the serial narrative format of comic books requires.[5]

Miller later described "Born Again" as "the first of a series of works that I'd been involved with where I've looked at taking the machinery of the hero apart and putting it back together in leaner form so it was more pure," the first in a sequence that included The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Batman: Year One (1987).[3]

Artistic style

Mazzucchelli's artwork is representational in style, built on soft lines that convey understated movement and facial expression.[4] Action sequences are simplified rather than amplified; the story's weight sits in quiet, character-focused panels.[4] Catholic imagery runs throughout: cathedrals, stained-glass windows, nuns.[4] The palette is dominated by red and black: red references Daredevil's costume but also symbolizes the bloodshed required for rebirth, while all other colors are kept muted so that the two predominant colors stand out.[4]

Panel size controls pacing: small panels carry quick or routine action; larger panels slow the reader and direct attention to individual characters.[4] Overhead shots appear at key moments to make power relationships visible: when a physically diminished Murdock confronts the Kingpin, the reader views him from above; when Daredevil emerges from fire at the story's climax, he faces outward.[4] Mazzucchelli's style borrows from Miller's earlier Daredevil work, particularly its heavy blacks, while also recalling earlier artists on the title, including Wally Wood, Gene Colan, and Gil Kane.[4] In his afterword to the 1987 collected edition, Miller praised Mazzucchelli's ability to "make a three-dimensional stage of the individual panel, complete in authentic detail, nonetheless uncluttered and utterly readable," writing that Mazzucchelli "creates actors whose dramatic range is startling, whose best and most compelling moments are wordless."[2]

Collected editions

David Mazzucchelli autographing a copy of the Artist's Edition at Midtown Comics in Manhattan on June 28, 2012

The trade paperback collected edition was published in 1987. Between 2009 and 2010, Marvel reprinted the "Born Again" storyline in hardcover and trade paperback as part of Marvel Premiere Classic. The direct market variant edition was limited to only 1229 copies. Daredevil issue #226 is also included in this reprint.

In 2012, IDW Publishing published the Artist's Edition of the story in a 200-page hardcover. Mazzucchelli personally supplied all the artworks for scanning and supervised the process of the development for approval. The 250 copies limited edition was exclusively available only for pre-ordering; this version includes a colorful slipcase, a variant design of the front cover, and Mazzucchelli's personal signature printed in an interior page.[6][7][8] The trade paperback, known as an Artisan Edition, was published on 2019. This version, however, is scaled down to the standard size of a graphic novel despite retaining the same content as the regular version.

The large-format Gallery Edition was released in August 2023.

A finales de 2024, Marvel Comics anunció sus planes para la Premier Collection , una nueva línea de recopilaciones en rústica que presenta las historias y los creadores más célebres y prestigiosos de Marvel a lo largo de todo su legado en el mundo del cómic. Daredevil: Born Again fue el primer lanzamiento, en febrero de 2025, con un epílogo del escritor Frank Miller y un prólogo del actor Charlie Cox , quien interpreta a Daredevil en el Universo Cinematográfico de Marvel . [ 9 ]

Recepción

En lo que respecta al auge de la popularidad del cómic de Daredevil durante la etapa de Frank Miller en la década de 1980, "Born Again" se considera una de las mejores historias dentro del universo de Daredevil , con elogios para el arte de Miller y Mazzucchelli, la trama y la narrativa religiosa que refleja el arco argumental de Matt Murdock, desde su caída hasta su ascenso. Tanto los fans como la crítica consideran que "Born Again" fue un período influyente en el inicio de la Edad Moderna del Cómic .

Continuación

El arco argumental "Last Rites" en Daredevil #297–300, aunque escrito y dibujado por un equipo de creadores completamente diferente (excepto la colorista Christie Scheele), es en cierta medida una secuela temática de "Born Again". La trama de "Last Rites" se centra en Daredevil destruyendo sistemáticamente la reputación y las posesiones materiales de Kingpin, tal como Kingpin hizo con él en "Born Again". En un reconocimiento explícito de este paralelismo, un Kingpin desquiciado murmura "nacido de nuevo..." en la última entrega. La historia también muestra a Murdock finalmente desentrañando el montaje de "Born Again", recuperando su licencia de abogado .

En una subtrama recurrente de "Born Again", Kingpin contrata a Foggy Nelson para una de sus empresas. Cuando el guionista Frank Miller dejó la serie, esta trama se abandonó temporalmente, antes de resolverse finalmente en Daredevil #248–256.

En otros medios

References

  1. ↑Cordier, Philippe (April 2007). "Seeing Red: Dissecting Daredevil's Defining Years". Back Issue! (21). TwoMorrows Publishing: 56.
  2. 12Cordier, p. 45
  3. 1234Romagnoli, Alex S. (2013). Enter the superheroes : American values, culture, and the canon of superhero literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 28–30. ISBN 9780810891715.
  4. 12345678"Daredevil: Born Again | Literature and Writing | Research Starters | EBSCO Research". EBSCO. Retrieved 2026-06-13.
  5. 123Cavazos, J. R. (2024). The lack and unfulfilment of daredevil: born again. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 15(1), 66–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2235406
  6. ↑"David Mazzucchelli Signing "Daredevil Born Again: Artist Edition" with Special Guest Chip Kidd". Comic Book Resources. June 28, 2012.
  7. ↑Johnston, Rich (February 12, 2012). "IDW To Publish Artist Edition Of Daredevil Born Again By Frank Miller And David Mazzuchelli". Bleeding Cool.
  8. ↑Gallaher, Valerie (June 22, 2012). "'Daredevil: Born Again' Artist's Edition And More SDCC Exclusive Goodies From IDW!". MTV Geek!.
  9. ↑Nico Marjolin (17 October 2024). "Marvel Comics Unveils All-New 'Marvel Premier Collection'". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 23 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. ↑Daniel Robert Epstein. "Mark Steven Johnson, director of Daredevil (Fox)Archived February 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine". UGO. Accessed May 1, 2009.
  11. ↑ Kit, Borys (7 de junio de 2011). "Fox contrata al guionista de 'Fringe', Brad Caleb Kane, para el relanzamiento de 'Daredevil'" . The Hollywood Reporter . Consultado el 14 de junio de 2011 .
  12. ↑ Los derechos cinematográficos de Daredevil regresan a Marvel Studios." The Escapist Archivado el 21/01/2020 en Wayback Machine ".
  13. ↑ John 'Spartan' Nguyen (12 de octubre de 2012). "Bienvenido de nuevo, Daredevil, a la familia de Marvel Studios" . Nerd Reactor. Archivado del original el 13 de octubre de 2012. Consultado el 14 de octubre de 2012 .
  14. ↑ Scarnato, Ryden (6 de marzo de 2025). "El significado del título de Daredevil: Born Again, explicado" . CBR . Consultado el 11 de marzo de 2025 .