At long last, over five decades in the making, it’s Daredevil #600! The very first issue of Daredevil appeared in April 1964, and if you add up every issue released since then under all the various creative teams (from Stan Lee and Bill Everett all the way to me and Ron Garney today), you get six hundred issues. Pretty amazing, and I don’t know if there’s another character in superhero comics with the same set of incredible writers and artists in his background – Frank Miller, David Mazzuchelli, Brian Bendis, Alex Maleev, Ann Nocenti, Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Paolo Rivera, Marcos Martin, Chris Samnee, Mark Waid, Andy Diggle, Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, Kevin Smith, Wally Wood, Gene Colan, Klaus Janson, Joe Quesada, Lee Weeks, Roger McKenzie, Roy Thomas, Joe Orlando, John Romita Sr., Goran Sudzuka and MANY MANY MORE.

Getting to work on Daredevil at all is a huge privilege, and getting to write a milestone century-mark issue, even moreso. Issue 600 wraps up the “Mayor Fisk” story that’s been running in the series since DD #595, and ends with a massive twist that will propel the book in some super cool new directions. The story also marks the end of Ron Garney’s run on the title – he started this volume of the book with me all the way back in 2015, and helped define the darker, gritty look and feel of Daredevil during this chapter in Matt Murdock’s long story. I love working with Ron. He’s a true collaborator, but also uncompromising in all the right ways – which is what you need if you’re going to make something special, I think. Mike Henderson will pick up the art duties on the book with #601, and he’s doing amazing work – but that’s a story for another time. Today, it’s about 600!

There are a ton of variant covers for this issue. Here’s the main one, and then some of my favorites, including the one Adi Granov did, that you can’t get in stores, only from us.

The three versions of the amazing Adi Granov variant, available only from us - click through on the image to order!

Why did I decide to tell the story this way, as opposed to any of the others I could have chosen? For example, these century issues often work as jam pieces, with earlier artists and writers from the title coming in to do little bits and pieces of a larger story, as a tribute to the legacy of all those folks. Those are often amazing, but I wanted to do something different here – I wanted to create an issue of Daredevil that has everything I think great DD stories often have. Four elements: (1) Daredevil fighting on behalf of the city he loves; (2) Daredevil also fighting to save himself against desperate odds; (3) Daredevil failing spectacularly in some way, or getting hit by a massive tragedy that’s basically his fault; (4) somehow rising above that to succeed at (1), often while losing at (2) to do it.

Guest stars are also cool, and DD 600’s got plenty. Heroes: Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Knights both Moon and Misty, Echo and Blindspot… and villains: Kingpin, Muse, Diamondback, Black Cat, the Owl, Hammerhead, and more. I wanted this story to feel like a culmination of the amazing street-level superhero ecosystem – that was always the stuff I loved reading these books when I was younger.

And then… that ending. I don’t want to talk about it here yet, because it’s a huge spoiler, but rest assured that I’ve been building to this and planning for it since Issue 1, and you won’t believe where this story goes. Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think!

NEXT WEEK: OH MY GOD THE ORACLE YEAR IS FINALLY OUT! You’ve been seeing me post and tweet and use every other avenue I can to get the word out about my first novel, and next Tuesday, April 3, it’ll finally arrive. I’m sure I’ve got some comics and stuff happening too, but this is the biggie for me. Years and years in the making. I hope you’ll check it out, and please head over to the book’s website for more information and to pre-order. I’ll also be taking over the HarperCollins Twitter account next Monday from 2-3 PM Eastern Time to predict people’s futures live, so check in there if you have questions you want answered!

March 28, 2018 - DAREDEVIL 600!!