• Daredevil/Matt Murdock
• Kingpin
• Echo
• Foggy Nelson
• Black Widow

TALES OF WONDER SPECIAL: Daredevil Vol. 1-3 HC combo: $39.99

• DD #10, PAGE 20

By now, most retailers are stocking the later prints, since the first print run has sold through at Diamond.

DAREDEVIL (VOL. 2) #1-8: Guardian Devil

Script: Kevin Smith
Pencils: Joe Quesada
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Dan Kemp, Laura Depuy & Drew, Richard Isanove

Daredevil #1: "And A Child Shall Lead Them All"
22 pages + cover • November 1998

In New York City, a maternity ward in a hospital is the scene of a terrible event in which all the babies are murdered. A young woman races through the city streets clutching a baby to her breast; Matt Murdock picks up her heartbeat and races to her aid as Daredevil. He stops two goons that were chasing her, but she escapes into the distance. Later, Foggy introduces Matt to his new client, the lovely Lydia McKenzie. The two goons Daredevil stopped are bailed out from jail and meet their employer, who kills them for not achieving their mission: to get the baby from the woman they were chasing. The woman sees a vision of angels as she sleeps on the streets, and the next day, the woman comes to Matt's office with her baby. She tells him a hard-to-believe story about her having a virgin birth, tells him she knows he's Daredevil, hands him the baby and tells him to care for her as "the world's only hope" and she races off, leaving Matt holding the baby.

Daredevil #2: "The Unexamined Life"
22 pages + cover • December 1998

Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, sits with Matt in his apartment as he feeds the baby, his place strewn with diapers and toys and baby mess. He asks her aid in babysitting while he does his work to investigate what's going on. While at his office doing research, he's met by Nicholas Macabes, a wisened old man with a pipe who reveals to Murdock that he knows he's Daredevil and that the baby he's caring for is the Anti-Christ and that evil comes to all it touches. He says his "organization" is seeking the child so they can rid the world of this evil, and to turn it over to him. Murdock is confused as he thinks it over. As he makes his rounds as Daredevil, the young woman is finally tracked down by "the organization" and is kidnaped. DD meets up with Natasha on the rooftop and is overcome with the urge to destroy the baby. Natasha fights back and laughs off the insane idea that the child is the Anti-Christ, takes it and swings off into the night, away from DD. Foggy engages in a romantic dalliance with his client, and Karen Page knocks on Matt's door with shocking news- she has the AIDS virus.

Daredevil #3: "Dystopia"
22 pages + cover • January 1999

While Karen Page rests at Matt's home, he is shocked to have to meet with Foggy in prison, where he's been arrested for the murder of Lydia McKenzie. According to Foggy, she turned into a demon while having their affair and jumped out the window to her death. Foggy's mother, the head of their law firm, tells Matt that she's going to be cutting her son loose to save them from embarrasment. Matt quits in response to this declaration. Later, DD is out making his rounds when he is knocked out by agents who ferry his unconscious body to an unknown location. The old man Macabes meets with Karen and tells her of the Anti-Christ, enlisting her aid in finding and destroying the baby by telling her that her AIDS misfortune is a direct result of her proximity to the man caring for the child. DD awakes in a white room with a debilitating sound wavelength that dulls his senses. He's greeted by a massive devil-like creature that explains to him that he is also seeking the child to protect it from harm, as he is fighting against "the organization." DD manages to destroy the machine making the noise and flees the secret location, landing outside the building in front of an oncoming truck.

Daredevil #4: "The Devil's Distaff"
22 pages + cover • February 1999

DD is rescued by Black Widow, and they discuss recent events on the rooftop. He is overcome by an urge to kill the child, and he attacks Natasha and grabs the baby from her arms. Unable to throw it off the rooftop, he instead leaps to his own doom, taking the baby with him. As he nears the street, he reconsiders, and uses his billy club rope to break his fall. He hits the street with a loud thud, but the baby is alright. He wanders to a nearby church where he seeks the aid of a nun. The nun turns out to be Matt Murdock's mother, who fled to the convent shortly after Matt was born. She helps recuperate him over time until he is back into physical health. After much talk between mother and son over their shared past and their fealty to God and religion, Matt enters the sanctuary where Karen waits for him. She tells him what the old man told her, and that she thinks her AIDS virus is because of the baby's influence. Matt tells her she has nobody to blame for her misfortune but herself. Matt can't believe what is going on in his life, and how he's being the center of a twisted game of emotional despair. Meanwhile, the man who seems to be behind all this misfortune turns out to be Macabe, and he is in discussion with an assassin that can help put the final pieces of the puzzle together: Bullseye.

Daredevil #5: "Devil's Despair"
22 pages + cover • March 1999

Daredevil meets with Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum, to help broker a conversation with the Devil- if this child is indeed the Anti-Christ. Strange tells DD that he was under the effect of a time-released toxin that made him go mad whenever the child's innocence was brought up. They summon the demon Mephisto, who helps give hints about the identity of the man responsible for the misfortune in Daredevil's life. He goes back to the mission shelter where his mother lives, and finds all the people there dead or injured from a massive attack by Bullseye, who is still in the sanctuary. They fight ferociously amongst themselves, and unbenknownst to DD, Karen Page is hiding in the pews. She has been able to get the baby, and rises to offer Bullseye a deal- let DD go and she will give him what he wants. He takes her up on her deal, but realizes he's been handed a doll while the real baby is being curried outside by a nun. He grabs the real baby and throws his billy club at Karen, impaling her in her chest. As Bullseye walks out with the baby, Daredevil cradles the dying body of Karen Page in his arms.

Daredevil #6: "The Devil Divested"
22 pages + cover • April 1999

Kingpin reads of Karen Page's death and he chuckles to himself. Matt is in serious emotional trauma reflecting on her death, and after grieving he takes to the streets to get to the bottom of her murder. He starts shaking down criminals (like Turk) in a bid to find his way to Bullseye's employer. Information leads to Macabe, and Daredevil begins an assault on his skyscraper headquarters. He works his way upstairs, past ninja warriors and images of Karen in Hell before coming upon the demon creature who had kidnaped him before. Instead of accepting the demon's offer of help, DD knocks him out and finds that he's just a human wearing a robot suit. He finally makes it to the penthouse where his persecutor stands- Mysterio!

Daredevil #7: "The Devil's Demon"
22 pages + cover • May 1999

Mysterio takes the opportunity to explain his motives to Daredevil. As a master of special effects, Quentin Beck had led a life of criminality and being ignored for his spectacular achievements. He eventually got cancer due to his exposure to the chemical agents he worked with. He decided to make his last mission in life the utter destruction of a costumed character, before he settled on Daredevil with the assistance of the Kingpin. The recent events in DD's life were all organized and well-planned, using agents, applications of nerve toxins, and his powers as Mysterio, all in an attempt to finally get Daredevil to become so enraged that he would take his life in battle. Daredevil refuses this request, and while rescuing the baby from captivity, Mysterio ironically winds up shooting himself.

Daredevil #8: "The Devil's Deliverance"
22 pages + cover • June 1999

Matt attends Karen's funeral and goes over his feelings in varying turns with Foggy, Spider-Man and Black Widow. Karen has left Matt the proceeds of a substantial life insurance policy, and demands he use the money to spend on himself. Matt decides to open Nelson & Murdock again. Matt meets with his mother at the maternity ward at the hospital where the baby is being cared for; her name will be Karen.

DAREDEVIL (VOL. 2) #9-11, 13-15: Parts of a Hole

Script: David Mack
Pencils: Joe Quesada with David Ross
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti and Mark Morales
Colors: Richard Isanove

Daredevil #9: "Murdock's Law"
22 pages + cover • December 1999

A young woman named Maya plays a piano concerto, and then the next day fights in a boxing match, excelling in both pursuits, all under the watchful and approving eye of Wilson Fisk. Matt obsesses with thoughts of Karen, while putting his remaining energies into building up his new firm with Foggy. Their first client is a man with a speech impediment named Lenny who tells them that the Kingpin has a hit contract out on him. Sure enough, a sniper shoots him to death in front of Matt and Foggy, the bullet grazing Matt's cheek. Matt springs into action as DD and tracks down the killers, twins that dress in all white and speak only in cliches. He finally subdues them, and realizes they are in the employ of the Kingpin by hitting redial on their cell phone. Realizing Daredevil knows he's behind this, the Kingpin turns to Maya, who is sitting in his office, and requests her favor in a particular matter.

Daredevil #10: "Echoes"
22 pages + cover • March 2000

Matt Murdock is taken to the hospital to have his wounds treated. While there, he thinks he is visited by Lenny, the marble-mouthed fellow who was shot dead in his office. Lenny utters the words "Crazy Horse," which haunts Matt as to their meaning. Maya, on her mission from the Kingpin, heads to the office of Matt Murdock to follow through with his wishes. She meets with him and there is an immediate romantic spark. She passes on the information she came to give him: that she wishes to discuss further matters relating to Wilson Fisk, and they can meet and discuss it after her next piano performance the following day. She also tells him that she's deaf. Daredevil is sure the Kingpin is involved, and so he infiltrates Fisk's building and breaks into his safe to discover a whole cache of incriminating blackmail materials that help Fisk maintain his life of crime. Maya learns ballet by watching a prima ballerina on TV- it seems she has an exceptional ability to mimic the movements of what she sess. The Kingpin visits her and tells her that Daredevil is responsible for the murder of her father when she was a child, and when he was in the employ of Fisk. He produces images of Daredevil rifling through his safe and going through materials related to her father- aka Crazy Horse- and that he is trying to erase the evidence of his murder. This inflames Maya, also known by her stage name as Echo, and she fixates on getting revenge against Daredevil. Later, Kingpin reflects on how it was he who actually killer her father, a one-time business partner.

Daredevil #11: "Dinner & A Movie"
22 pages + cover • May 2000

Maya begins her day watching a videotape of Daredevil fighting Bullseye. Foggy informs Matt that Lennywas a twin, and his twin brother Larry was the one who spoke to him at the hospital, and he wants tohelp put the Kingpin away for the murder of his brother. Maya and Matt spend the day romancing each otherin the park, at a movie, and at dinner; they are falling in love with each other. Later that night, Maya beginisher hunt for Daredevil to revenge the killing of her father at Daredevil's hands, and as her alter-egoEcho, she finds her target.Daredevil recognizes Echo as Maya, and he tries to find a way to communicate with her and stop the fight.She knows both his moves and Bullseye, and Daredevil is unable to gain the upper hand. Their fighttakes them down to a school playground, where she stuns Daredevil and is able to point her pistolat Daredevil's skull- the same gun the Kingpin claimed Daredevil used to kill her father.

Daredevil #13: "Trial And Error"
22 pages + cover • October 2000

Echo is about to fire the killing bullet into Daredevil when some kids come onto the scene. Not wantingto do something so drastic in front of children, she tells Daredevil she'll get him again sometime in thefuture. Matt connects the dots that Maya is learning combat moves from martial arts films. Foggy'scase against the Kingpin hits a snag when Wilson Fisk provides an able witness for himself on the stand; aswell, his star witness- Larry Cebulski- is late to make his appearance to blow the whistle on Fisk. As Daredevilhits the underworld in search of Cebulski, Fisk reflects back on his life and how he became the Kingpinthrough grit, determination and intimidation. Larry Cebulski is unable to be produced to take the witnessstand, and the case against Fisk is dismissed. As he is driven away from court, Fisk is turned on by hislimo driver who holds a gun up to him- it's Larry! As Daredevil shows up on the scene, the vigilante janitor fires several shots at the Kingpin,who falls off the bridge down into the river. His body is not recovered. Maya watches the news of Fisk'ssupposed death and sees Daredevil on the scene, further solidifying her hatred of him.

Daredevil #14: "An Object In Motion"
22 pages + cover • March 2001

After Matt and Maya enjoy another afternoon with each other, she takes her leave, telling him she has "something important to take care of." Matt knows what she's referring to. With Wilson Fisk supposedlydead, Matt gives Foggy all the files he had that helped the Kingpin blackmail all sorts of criminals and city officials. Foggy begins a successful crusade against them with the Kingpin's evidence. As Daredevil waits for the coming of Echo, the Black Widow meets him on the city rooftops to talk to him. Echo takesa shot at them from her vantage point across the rooftops but accidentally hits the Black Widow.It's a poison dart, Daredevil realizes. He fights off Echo and then evacuates the unconscious bodyof Natasha into his dark apartment, where he is able to effectively fight off the deaf and now blind Echo.He escapes with Natasha, where he finds out that it was only a tranquilizer dart; she will be okay. Echofigures out that Daredevil uses the sense of sound to be effective while fighting in the dark. She figuresout her next move will counteract that ability. Meanwhile, the Kingpin is alive in the city sewers, planninghis next move as well.

Daredevil #15: "Vision: The Conclusion"
22 pages + cover • April 2001

Echo has drawn Daredevil out for final battle in a blazing, smoky playground where DD's senses of smelland sound are minimized. Meanwhile, the Kingpin rests and rejuvenates himself reflecting back on hislife as a young boy. His parents were loveless and argumentative, driving him to be self-reliant at an early age. Picked on because he was fat, he used his hidden strength to create the persona of a bully.He gained an early appreciation for money, and started an arson to earn his first bucks as an intimidator.As time went on, he built a life of crime as a controller, using conflict and fear to consolidate his power.An early partner of his- William "Crazy Horse" Lincoln- works with him until he is of no more use toKingpin, and he kills him. He promises to "take care" of Lincoln's "retarded" daughter- Maya- who hetrains to use her skills to be a warrior for him.

Meanwhile, the fight between Echo and Daredevil has reached a climax where he is able to stop hermomentarily enough where she can read his lips. She realizes that it's Matt when he speaks, and hetells her that he couldn't have possibly killed her father- he was in elementary school at the time of herfather's death. She realizes now how the Kingpin has played her for the consummate fool, and she racesaway from Daredevil. She finds the Kingpin- the man she now knows killed her father and manipulatedher whole life- and shoots him at point blank range. Matt wonders what the future will hold for both he and Maya. Tthe Kingpin has survived the attack, but when he reconvenes with his assistantWebster, it is revealed that he is now blind.

-- synopsis by Gormuu