The most pivotal storyline from Bendis’ run on “Daredevil” is “Out” (published in “Daredevil” issue #32-40, drawn by Alex Maleev). Minor criminal Sammy Silke (a friend of the Kingpin’s son, Richard Fisk) trades Daredevil’s secret identity to the FBI in a plea deal. The secret is then leaked to newspaper the Daily Globe, and thus all of New York.Â
For the rest of Bendis’ run, Daredevil’s true identity is an open secret. Matt continues to deny he is Daredevil for legal and safety reasons, but most everyone is just humoring him. Bendis and Maleev’s last arc, “The Murdock Papers,” ends with Kingpin offering the FBI concrete proof that Matt is Daredevil in exchange for parole. The proof doesn’t and never existed, but Daredevil is still arrested. This works out even better for the FBI, because now Matt Murdock is locked up with Daredevil’s greatest enemy.
Bendis spoke to CBR in 2006 at the end of his “Daredevil” run, delving into why he told his story the way he did. For one thing, he felt that “out of all the Marvel heroes, Matt Murdock has been the most careless with his secret identity,” so the secret getting out would make sense and could act as a commentary on celebrity/paparazzi culture.Â
Bendis had wanted to end his run with Matt going to prison, but he only pulled the trigger because the book’s next writer, Ed Brubaker, was willing to start his “Daredevil” run there. “This is the ending that I had originally hoped to do, but I realized it was the most obnoxious thing you could do to the new writer and I wasn’t sure who the new writer would be when we announced we were wrapping it up,” recalled Bendis.
Speaking to Daredevil fansite ManWithoutFear.com, Brubaker said he had also come up with the idea of Matt going to prison. Brubaker, who didn’t want to put Matt’s secret identity back in its genie bottle, thought an imprisoned Daredevil would build on Bendis’ run while also doing something new. “Really, the only thing that changed for me was how quickly [Matt] got to prison. He was going to be put there at the end of my first arc, initially, but this was even better. I got to jump right into the deep end, and I loved that we actually had a hand-off with a cliffhanger ending, in some ways,” Brubaker recalled.
So, Brubaker’s “Daredevil” run opened with six-part story “The Devil in Cell Block D” (drawn by Michael Lark). The story features Matt’s loved ones trying to get him out of prison, and Iron Fist goes out crime-fighting in a Daredevil costume to give the hero an alibi. Meanwhile, Daredevil’s enemies inside try to kill him with the FBI’s tacit approval.Â
Matt is caught in a double-bind:Â His one remaining bit of plausible deniability is that (everyone assumes) there’s no way a blind man could pull off the stunts Daredevil does. If Matt defends himself inside, though, everyone will conclude that he’s just lying about being blind. His enhanced senses, too, make the loud noises and putrid smells of Ryker’s intolerable.Â
Brubaker, a crime comic master, excels at taking the “Daredevil” baton from Bendis and writing a gritty prison-set drama without indulging in cliches. (In issue #85, when a prisoner tries to get profound and claim prison changes men, Matt quips: “Seems like prison mostly changes men into philosophers about what prison does to men.”)
By continuing so directly from Bendis’ “Daredevil,” Brubaker’s run stands in the shadow of its predecessor’s legacy, but the quality control is seamless. Brubaker would ultimately end his time on Daredevil with another major cliffhanger — in “Daredevil” #500 (returning to the series’ original numbering), Matt agrees to lead ninja cult the Hand — but that’s a story for another time.