It starts with Karen Page, long-ago lover of the hero. Now, battered by lost dreams of fame on the silver screen, she trades a name for an armful of short-lived chemical bliss.

Then it's the massive crimelord, meeting with his lieutenants on a yacht. The name sold by to a low-level dealer has wound its way through channels to reach the Kingpin, the Marvel Universe's pinnacle of organized crime. The Kingpin, always on the lookout for a way to hurt a perpetual foe, decides to test the information.

And only then do we meet Matt Murdock, frail alter ego of the crimebuster Daredevil. Blind to the world, but other senses enhanced by a freak accident in his youth, he greets the day from rumpled sheets and finds his world collapsing. It starts small and builds from there -- payments lost, accounts frozen, records audited. Lies bought and sold. Matt's life begins to collapse.

This is how it begins, when writer Frank Miller decides to prove the adage, "That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Before the end of the book, Matt will have done everything but die as the Kingpin first strives to prove his identity, and then to cash in on his new knowledge.

It's powerful storytelling of the kind we've come to expect from Miller. This isn't standard superhero fare; this is real stuff, real life thrust upon a person who just happens to wear gaudy tights on his nights off. But while Daredevil has withstood any assault thrown his way, he has no way to protect poor Matt Murdock.

Meanwhile, the hired guns are shooting for Karen Page, and anyone else who knows the name she spoke in a desperate moment several pages earlier. And in her direst moment of need, it's that same name which gives her even a slight bit of hope.

And then a stroke beyond the pale clues Matt in on the identity of his hidden tormentor. And with Kingpin's signature on all his woes, Daredevil decides to take action. And ... he fails. Matt Murdock is a broken man, and soon he's on the brink of madness. And things keep getting worse. But at what should be the final curtain, he survives. And he begins the long road back.

Hooked yet? You should be. This is one of the best runs ever on a Marvel comic, and it stands alone here as an exceptional collection, a brilliant short story in the midst of Daredevil's/Matt Murdock's ongoing saga.

Besides the major players already named, the tale has a host of strong supporting characters. Ben Urich, the Daily Bugle reporter, proves why he's a top-notch member of the press corps. Lois shows us the bad side of home nursing. Nuke brings destruction to a Manhattan neighborhood in a misguided mission for "our boys," while Captain America makes a few brief appearances seeking the truth behind Nuke's flag.

People can talk about various storylines involving the likes of Bullseye, Elektra, the Black Widow. They can point to Kevin Smith's excellent reboot of the Daredevil franchise. But if you ever read one Daredevil storyline, make it this one. Read Frank Miller's Born Again.

[ by Tom Knapp ]