If you surveyed comic creators about which Big Two title they’d most want to work on, you’d probably receive a wide variety of responses. That makes sense, of course. Everyone has their favorites, as each person’s connection to these worlds is created in our own, singular journeys with them. No matter what someone picked, though, there would be no wrong answers. Each would be equally valid, even if someone gravitated towards something unexpected. 1 That said, I suspect one title would stand above the rest in the end.

That’s Daredevil, the nearly 60 year old Marvel series 2 about a blind man with special abilities and a gift for fighting who acts as a lawyer by day and superhero by night.

It would likely lead the way for two main reasons. One is going to sound like a hot take. I’d argue it isn’t. Simply put, Daredevil is Marvel’s greatest ongoing of all time. 3 You may scoff at that idea, but it’s hard to find a title that has shown more consistency or a higher ceiling. While it has its own down times, we’re going on several decades of greatness from the series, even as it’s shifted to different volumes and creative teams.

The second reason connects to that latter idea: the creators who have worked on it. Whether you’re talking early names like Wally Wood, Stan Lee, and Gene Colan, the generation that fueled its rise in folks like Klaus Janson, Ann Nocenti, and David Mazzucchelli, or more recent ones like Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, and Charles Soule, these names helped turn what could have been a comparative lightweight into the best pound-for-pound series in all of superhero comics.

And it all really started with Frank Miller.

While greatness preceded Miller on the series, particularly in Wood and Colan’s time on it, 4 once the artist-turned-writer/artist-turned-writer made his presence felt starting with 1979’s issue #158, Daredevil started to find a new level. It isn’t just me who believes that either. Writer Brian Michael Bendis was in high school when Miller began his run, and he described the legend’s arrival as being “like a hurricane.”

“This young creator showed you all the ways comics could be cooler and better every month,” Bendis emphasized. “It’s hard to describe pre-internet how someone could come on a title that was selling so low and change the entire industry. Everyone got better.” 5

Miller’s time on Daredevil acted as a gauntlet being thrown down, particularly when he returned to pair with Mazzucchelli on Born Again. 6 From that moment on, everyone had to bring the heat. You weren’t just taking on any project; you were working on Daredevil, the title where greatness was the expectation. That looming “precedent” is one of the main reasons Zdarsky believes it has been great for so long, with another key name helping solidify its position.

“Miller changed the game and it worked, so Marvel obviously realized they could just let creators go wild on the title and they’d probably be rewarded,” Zdarsky said. “But really, that idea didn’t sink in until Ann Nocenti proved that Miller wasn’t a one-off on the title. She inherited the most groundbreaking book Marvel was doing in the 80s and made it her own, no fear.”

Nocenti’s work with artist John Romita, Jr., amongst others, helped cement Daredevil as not just a flash in the pan but a hotbed of great stories. It turned what could have been a one-off peak into a baseline for others to live up to. Eventually, present and future comic book royalty tackled the series and rewarded readers for their faith. No matter if your favorite is Bendis, David Mack, and Alex Maleev’s extensive run, Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, Marcos Martin, and Chris Samnee’s one, or Zdarsky and Checchetto’s recently concluded tour, 7 if you were reading Daredevil at any point in the past 45 years, you were likely enjoying one of the finest superhero titles on the stands.

But what makes Daredevil so great? And how has the title managed to achieve such a sustained level of quality? There are a whole lot of reasons, as we’ll get to, but it in part stems from its own history and how that creates expectations for each new creative team. Working on Daredevil can create pressure for creators to deliver. That’s even true for those who asked for the job, like Zdarsky did.

“There’s definitely a feeling of weight with the title,” Zdarsky told me.

“You don’t want to fuck it up.”

The shape of that burden largely depends on the individual. Take Javier Rodriguez as an example. One of the Spanish artist’s early Marvel loves was Miller and Mazzucchelli’s work on the book, so when he was asked to color Waid, Rivera, Martin, and Samnee’s run, he knew it was a “big leap in my career in the USA.” While he’s now considered a top talent, Rodriguez was fairly unknown in America before editor Steve Wacker hired him as that run’s colorist. He described that experience as a “gift,” which continued to be the case until he was asked to fill-in for Samnee on interiors. Then it became something else.

At that point, he was “terrified.”

“I honestly didn’t think I was ready as a cartoonist,” Rodriguez said. “I knew the work very well because I had done colors for dozens of issues before, but to draw them was something else. I remember being paralyzed because of my big shoes to fill.”

That’s a common tale. Words like “nervous” and “stressful” came up when creators were asked about the pressure that comes with working on Daredevil. Like Samnee told me, “You’re standing on the shoulders of giants trying to make your own version of this character.” That’s a lot to take on! And as the artist noted, it isn’t even necessarily because you’re trying to match someone else’s work. Sometimes it’s because you’re trying to do your own thing. Waid said Daredevil’s history wasn’t why he felt pressure, or at least not in the way you’d expect. It was because he was doing something different.

“At Marvel’s request, I was deliberately taking it in a different direction than readers had been exposed to since the 1980s,” Waid said. “Where I felt pressure was knowing that if I didn’t do this right, the fans would crucify me.”

That brings to mind one of the unique things about the character, and the reason fans can’t help but notice when change comes to the series. Other characters have a plethora of titles to distract them, but that’s not true for Daredevil. Writer Ed Brubaker was acutely aware of that fact. While he may have felt the weight of the work that preceded him like others did, 8 he also knew that unlike bigger named superheroes, there’s just one Daredevil series. That changes the arithmetic for fans — and the title’s creators.

“There’s only one Daredevil book every month, and its fans expect a lot from you,” Brubaker said.

That didn’t necessarily mean everyone approaches Daredevil differently than other projects. Brubaker said his biggest concern was simply “making a good issue every month.” He wasn’t alone in that regard. Rivera told me that any desires he may have had to swing for the fences were quickly extinguished by “being under a tight deadline” and not really having time for anything else. While the constraints that came with those deadlines bred inventiveness, 9 sometimes the realities of a project define your approach and the pressure you feel more than anything else does.

That was certainly the case for the artist who followed Rivera as the primary artist on the series. Samnee was working on Spider-Man when he was hired to fill in for Rivera on a single issue of Daredevil. It was just meant to be a quick jaunt before he took on other projects. But that issue became an arc before it resulted in a regular, multi-year gig for the artist. That progression ensured it was more “exciting and less nerve-wracking” than if Samnee would have known how long his run on the title would be from the start.

Perhaps surprisingly for some, Samnee’s path wasn’t entirely dissimilar from Bendis’. While we look back on his time on the book as one of great runs Daredevil has ever seen, the writer was originally just keeping a seat warm for Kevin Smith, who had recently launched the Marvel Knights era of the title. 10 Bendis was working on Ultimate Spider-Man when Marvel editorial asked him to write an arc of Daredevil with his pal David Mack to hopefully buy Smith enough time to come back for more. That arc turned into another, and then another. Bendis just kept on writing. Even as buzz mounted and other previous collaborators like Alex Maleev joined him on the book, though, Bendis’ stay was still “Until Kevin’s back” for quite some time.

“About a year into our run, no one mentioned it again,” Bendis said. “It was just our book.”

While it was a funky start to a legendary run, sometimes that’s how these things work. More than that, going from “fill-in” to “full-time” likely dialed back some of the intensity the writer — who was a massive fan of Daredevil coming up, particularly Miller’s work on the title — may have felt if it played out differently. Like with Samnee, it’s entirely possible there would have been more pressure if Bendis had known that original arc was eventually going to turn into half a decade on the title. Circumstances can change a lot for creators on any title, but maybe especially Daredevil.

While most were doing their very best on the title in the same way they would any other project, Zdarsky found that the character and title’s unique history allowed him to aim higher than usual. That mostly manifested itself in how robust his plan was going in. As the writer told me, “The history of the title is one of longevity, for the most part.” He knew he had to think differently because of that, so his version of “swinging for the fences was really the fact that I had a three or four-year plan.”

“I probably wouldn’t have that long a plan upfront with any other title,” Zdarsky noted.

Every creator has their own angle on Daredevil, at least to some degree, and that helps define and differentiate each run. That said, much of what allows this series to consistently be great comes down to the character himself. And it starts with an important name we somehow have not mentioned so far: Matt Murdock. While Daredevil is the name on the cover, this comic is fundamentally about the person wearing the suit in a way most other superhero titles aren’t. As Bendis told me, “It’s Matt first, Daredevil second.” That’s a huge part of what makes the character so alluring to creators, and a series that delivers as often as it does.

Interestingly, Bendis says that nature is why a common superhero comparison for Daredevil just doesn’t work, really.

“Because of the shadows and the vigilante of it all, a lot of people compare Daredevil to Batman. But I think you’re better off comparing Batman to Rocket Raccoon. They couldn’t be more different,” Bendis said. “A lot of people have said that Bruce Wayne is a tool of the Batman. (Daredevil) couldn’t be more opposite.

“It’s the story of Matt Murdock, who dresses up as Daredevil.”

The way his everyday identity is emphasized was consistently mentioned as one of the main reasons Daredevil maintains such a high quality. 11 The understanding by everyone involved — creators, readers, Marvel itself — that Matt Murdock is the heart of the story, even above Daredevil, the actual, titular hero, completely changes what you can do on the book.

“I had Daredevil out of costume for a year. A year! If I was writing Amazing Spider-Man, I’d probably have to fight to have him not in costume for one issue,” Zdarsky said. “It’s a different machine and serves a different purpose for Marvel.”

“He’s the superhero that most sums up the classic superhero duality,” he added. “A Catholic who dresses as the Devil? A lawyer who breaks the law every night? There’s a lot to unpack there, and in a lot of ways he’s Marvel’s studying ground for ethics and philosophy.”

Bendis described the character as having “a complicated morality,” something that isn’t present in other superheroes. That’s possible at all because these ideas have been baked into the character’s identity since the beginning. That’s even true in his most famous stories. Just think about Born Again. Most of that story finds Matt Murdock dealing with his crumbling life, faith, and ethics, and often doing so while out of costume. The story even ends with a full page shot of Matt and his girlfriend Karen Page happily walking down the street in regular, everyday clothing. That’s not really an option for the vast majority of Big Two characters, but it’s a core characteristic of who Daredevil is.

The series is also aided by how much freedom creators are offered on the book, especially compared to other superhero titles. Even beyond its emphasis of the human side of the story, you can do things in Daredevil that simply aren’t possible on other books because of Marvel’s comparatively hands-off approach.

“Back when we were working on it, Marvel didn’t really care. You can get away with more because they’re not that worried about it,” Samnee said. “When we wanted to make choices on what to do with the character, (Marvel was) just like, ‘Yeah, go for it.’ We got to do almost whatever we wanted.”

“The book (gets) to stand on its own really, and for the most part, is always allowed to. That’s why the whole dark gritty hero of Hell’s Kitchen angle works. He’s not in a crossover every three months,” Brubaker added. “When you’re writing Daredevil, it’s like you get a corner of the Marvel universe to have as your own, basically.

“And I think that brings out the best in the writers and artists that take on the book.”

As Brubaker and others noted, that leeway is likely because the title and its creators have proven to Marvel that there’s value in that freedom. More than that, it fits the character and his street-level nature. You probably wouldn’t tell a story about Daredevil fist-fighting Thanos or dealing with cosmic beings. It just doesn’t make sense. As Waid told me, “His skill set as a superhero is limited enough to where he can be only so effective and isn’t a world-beater.” That limitation is a feature, not a bug. It allows the title to key in on more human stories. But it also creates flexibility in the stories you can tell within that.

“There aren’t many genres you can’t plug that character into,” Waid said. “The range to do anything from street crime to comedy to detective work to even light (science-fiction) is appealing.”

There are a lot of other aspects creators cited about what makes Daredevil special. Bendis and Brubaker both talked about how they built the idea of closing a run on the series with an “’oh shit’ moment,” as Brubaker put it, and how ever since creators have been “passing the baton” to one another with a hugely different — and creatively fertile — status quo lined up. Samnee, Rivera, and Rodriguez emphasized the character’s supporting cast and villains. Each of the artists also mentioned how much impact the character design has, with Rivera noting that unlike other heroes like Spider-Man, “there’s no flashiness to hide behind for Daredevil.” There are a lot of reasons this series has always popped as much as it has.

Most would never admit it, but the artists of the book helped cement the title as one of the true greats, and did so as much as anyone else. Whether you’re talking about folks like Rivera, Samnee, and Rodriguez, legends like Mazzucchelli, Romita, Jr., and Miller, or other remarkable runs by talents like Maleev, Checchetto, and Michael Lark, Daredevil has long been home to some of the finest art in superhero comics. You can tell the tale of the title’s greatness simply through the singular, iconic images from its pages, to say nothing of the remarkable storytelling each of these talents brought to the page. 12 This tale of a superhero who gains powers when he loses his vision wouldn’t be what it is without its long history of top notch visuals.

The truth is, while working on Daredevil comes with a lot of pressures other titles simply don’t have, it also comes with a lot of joy for creators. Each of the creators I talked to looked back on their time on the series fondly. Now, some of that is connected to simply surviving the experience. Waid was delighted he wasn’t “pilloried by Daredevil fans” for his run’s unusual approach, 13 while Bendis said his greatest joys were “not fucking it up” and “not getting fired.” 14 But it also comes down to what you can do with Daredevil that you can’t with other titles.

For example, Bendis appreciated how big of swings the title let him and his collaborators take. They were allowed to make “choices that could not have been in everyone’s appetite at the time,” and that helped them create a run that remains one of the strongest in the past 25 years of Marvel. Waid appreciated that freedom as well. The writer was surprised by “how much of my own personality and self that I could map onto Matt Murdock.” While he said he’d never “impose my own mental health struggles on a Marvel character,” he was thrilled by just how far he could explore those ideas on Daredevil.

“The more I broke Matt down in my head, the more it felt to me like he probably shared my diagnosis of depression–its symptoms seemed to me to hew pretty closely to depressive behavior, and God knows if any superhero’s dealt with a constant barrage of tragedy, it’s Daredevil.”

Finding himself in the character seemingly allowed fans to do the same, as the response to Waid’s run was appreciative of its depiction of that side of Matt Murdock.

In his own way, Samnee found himself on the series as well. The artist told me that he and Waid would “talk on the phone in-between issues,” and the more that happened, the more input he had on the story. They eventually became co-storytellers rather than simply artist and writer, which was a significant change for Samnee, one that made a major difference for him going forward.

“Having all that input and putting so much on my shoulders in the storytelling that I hadn’t been able to do in the past…that was the most that I had felt like a true storyteller, not just a wrist,” Samnee told me. “I felt like that’s where I started becoming who I wanted to be as an artist, not just the penciller of #12.”

It helps that this title is, again, one that so many want to work on. Each generation of comic fan has their entry in the “greatest Daredevil run” competition, and no matter if you grew up reading Miller and Mazzucchelli, Bendis, Maleev, and Mack, Waid, Rivera, and Samnee, or whomever, “you can’t read it and not just have it in your blood at some point,” as Samnee emphasized. And when you get the chance, you want to deliver as well as you can, both as an individual and as a team.

That connects with one of the key reasons so many fall in love with Daredevil, something that is a crucial aspect of this series. There’s a reason both Rivera and Rodriguez spoke lovingly about just how “team” oriented Daredevil felt in comparison to other projects. Daredevil as a title emphasizes the collective creators in a way that truly makes it special. While Zdarsky said writing Daredevil was “the closest” he’s felt “to writing a novel,” he knows it wouldn’t have been the same without his main collaborator in Checchetto sticking around for the entire run. 15 It was that collective vision that made it as special as it did in Zdarsky’s mind, just as it has in so many runs before.

“One of the things that gets overlooked with Daredevil is that all the great runs are defined by a team, not just a writer,” Zdarsky said.

“Daredevil is the strongest argument toward maintaining a creative team.”

There are so many reasons Daredevil has worked for as long as it has. The talent behind it. The person and the hero at the heart of the story. The freedom creators are afforded. The pressure they feel to deliver on this legendary title. You could go on and on about the characteristics that define this series and its lasting success. But Zdarsky’s point is a good one. While many titles see artists come and go, Daredevil’s one of the few in superhero comics that has sustained collaborations. That is something that unifies Daredevil’s incredible history, helping fuel its rise to what it has proven to be: the home of some of Marvel’s most deservedly lauded runs, and arguably the greatest superhero ongoing of all time.