It’s interesting that you would mention the irony of the Daredevil comic being largely inaccessible to the title character himself, which is something that has entered my mind too from time to time. I could talk at length about this subject, and already have, here and elsewhere, but I’d be more interested to hear your views on how this subject has actually been handled in the comics. I’ve expressed some disappointment in this post (as well as in a previous post) about how this aspect of the character has been dealt with. I would hope that readers in the 21st century would be mature enough to be able to handle a more realistic take on this. OTOH, there’s also the much later introduction of Echo that shows us how little Marvel has learned over the years. Why come up with a deaf character and make a major point of her ability to read lips and speak perfectly? Doesn’t that make the whole thing into just a novelty, and does her apparent “perfection” really matter? Which sort of brings me back to the whole “my other senses more than compensate” issue. If the point of Daredevil’s power set is to make his blindness irrelevant, then why make him blind in the first place?

Well, I’d better leave this issue before I get into another whole thing here. LOL Thanks again for commenting.

I was born partially deaf because of a congenital defect and while I am able to navigate through the world quite well I will always be at a certain disadvantage (depending on the situation), no matter how good my coping strategies are. So the notion that Matt’s other abilities “more than compensate” for his lack of vision never made sense to me, because I know it doesn’t work that way. He can hear things we cannot; smell, taste and feel things imperceptible to the rest of us. But we (anyone reading this) can see a world in vibrant colour that he can only perceive as a memory. It is one of the most intriguing aspects of the character, that as readers we can explore a world of heightened perceptions vicariously through him while also being reminded by his limitations of how our experience of the world is so often defined by sight. Comics are a visual medium where the art drives the story, so we’re looking at a character who himself could not even enjoy his own story (if he were real) as we do.

Regarding Frank Miller, I think he did a lot to try to explore Matt’s inner world and the double-edged sword of having heightened senses (which must be a lot like having a form of tinnitus when you think about it). He also did his part in trying to readress the nature and origin of the radar sense, making it more of a mystical ability. I’ll return to this in depth when I get back to my history of the radar sense series and the chapter on Miller.

When it comes to Milla, I’m not quite sure what to think. They brought in another blind character but never really addressed what that meant, if anything. I’m not saying they should have, but when it comes to the character of Daredevil, I do think writers are hesitant to address the blindness issue, and bringing in Milla was one way of doing so without really commenting on it.

When it comes to how I personally think Matt and Milla clash, I’d say that they would obviously share some common concerns while Milla would have to deal with a host of issues that Matt would be unaffected by. In practice, this would mean that both would have a vision-related disability, but hers would be considerably more severe than his.

I’ve been in debates with DD readers who do not buy the “disabled superhero” aspect at all, indicating that they don’t think he’d have anything in common with regular blind people or in any way consider himself disabled. I obviously disagree with this, on the basis of it being counter-intuitive, and I’ve often answered by stating that even in real life, there is a spectrum between total blindness and 20/20 vision. It is quite obvious that Matt’s other senses restore certain functions that the average person would use their eyes to perform, and give him certain abilities that normal people don’t have at all. It’s the idea that he doesn’t have a rather severe vision problem which would have to be addressed, accomodated and dealt with in various ways that I don’t buy. (Case in point: any time you have evidence in court that’s either a photo or something from a surveillance camera, for instance. Also, in most academic settings, his advantage over the average totally blind student would be modest at best.)

I don’t advocate making this a big part of the book or the character, but it’s nice when a writer, like Bru, at least doesn’t seem to be afraid to acknowledge it when appropriate.

Two additional thoughts:

1 Frank Miller to some extent addressed the dilemma of the whole ‘heightened senses’ thing in one issue where Matt seems unable to stop the clashing of noise from his heightened hearing – this has sometimes been addressed by other writers and also was in the Daredevil movie (Matt sleeping in a crypt to block out noise). In a way, it vicariously addresses his blindness by emphasising the impact of another sense.

2 More a question than a comment – has the whole notion of introducing Milla Donovan over the last few years helped bring the ‘blindness’ to the fore once again? In what ways do the characters contrast? These are just thoughts I’m having without real reference to what I’ve read (I’d have to look myself maybe to answer these concerns).

Anyway, cheers!

I agree that Matt’s blindness adds a lot of humanity, but that’s the aspect of the character that the reader normally has to fill in for himself since most writers don’t really seem comfortable dealing with it. Doing it well also requires some imagination on the part of the writer and many don’t put in the extra effort even when it would really add something to the character, such as letting him solve a problem by being extra resourceful every once in a while rather than pretending that his radar and superhearing will fix everything.

When it comes to Bendis, I really liked his run a lot, and I loved Maleev’s art as well. But one thing I remember from the Decalogue arc that made me think of some of these things (okay, I’m actually quoting from the book now, LOL) was when Matt told about his encounter with the “demon baby,” saying:

“The one thing I do very well, is understand the world around me. The tastes, the smells, the sounds. This is what I can do. And in doing so I usually can paint a picture for myself that is actually better than sight.”

Of course, the interesting thing about this passage is that it leads into an explanation of him feeling helpless because he couldn’t understand what he was confronted with, but it’s also a pretty good example of when writers feel the need to almost apologize for DD’s blindness. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any real issues with this passage at all, but one thing that struck me when I read it is that it almost makes Matt come across as slightly immature. Not this specific quote so much, as just a bunch of other previous situations in the book that it reminded me of, going all the way back to Elektra and his saying “But I have other abilities that more than compensate.”

Now, as a nineteen-year-old, this kind of attitude actually makes sense. Elektra has basically shunned him at first because of his blindness, and he’s trying really hard to impress her. But as someone who is 30+, has been blind for more than half his life (albeit in a very unique way), you’d think he’d be comfortable with a more “Oh hey, I can hear heartbeats but can’t read a street sign, but that’s all nice and dandy, and I’m cool with it” kind of attitude.

Realistically, he would be somewhat inconvenienced by his blindness several times a day, and he would be acutely aware of the fact that doing x, y, and z would be easier if he could see normally. Whenever writers put words in his mouth that suggest some need on his behalf to prove himself as being better than everyone else it just comes across as slightly immature to me. You’d think that after almost twenty years, he would have found a healthy and adult way of relating to both his superabilities and his disability.

Oh well, that turned into another essay, I guess. But anyway, I think Bru does really well with this issue and that Bendis did okay as well, for the most part.

weaknesses really make a character – and kryptonite doesn’t count. those human elements in DD are what allow us to make it through all the noir moments with some hope. and matt’s blindness is really the focal point of his humanity for us reader’s – any writer ignoring that is really missing out so much on his character. Bru is doing a great job at this balancing act – but to be honest, I guess I really wasn’t missing that aspect too much during Bendis’ run (probably cuz it was too much kick-ass fun to care)

I agree that Brubaker is writing a much more believable Matt Murdock right now. I hope that trend continues.

Thank you for the add to your blogroll! I will return the favor.