Daredevil #1 (688)
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDaredevil (2026) #1 — carrying the legacy number #688 in the character's unbroken publishing history — marks a deliberate, street-level course correction after several volumes that took Matt Murdock into supernatural and theological territory, including stints in Hell and a life as an orphanage-running priest. By planting the character back in the gritty, neo-noir corner of the Marvel Universe that defined the title's most celebrated runs, writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Lee Garbett use this issue as both a reset for longtime readers and a clean entry point timed to the cultural momentum of the Daredevil: Born Again streaming series. The debut also introduces Omen, a wholly original villain whose design — rooted in Gothic literature and Greek tragedy — represents the first major new addition to Daredevil's rogues' gallery in several years, and whose ambiguous moral status (warning Matt of his own death rather than simply attacking him) injects a fresh narrative tension into the title.
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The series came together as a passion project: both Phillips and Garbett had independently wanted to work on Daredevil before landing the assignment, and the creative team — rounded out by colorist Frank Martin and letterer Ariana Maher of VC — developed the book collaboratively from the ground up. Phillips drew on her own academic background as a real-life professor when pitching the law-school status quo to Marvel, and cited the Bendis/Maleev noir run and Frank Miller's Born Again as tonal touchstones, while Omen's characterization pulled from Gothic fiction and Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist. The issue's on-sale date was pushed back roughly one week from its originally solicited March date to April 1, 2026, partly to accommodate the logistics of Marvel's newly launched True Believer Blind Bag program, of which Daredevil #1 was the second title selected.
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- Published April 1, 2026, by Marvel Comics; written by Stephanie Phillips, penciled by Lee Garbett, colored by Frank Martin, lettered by VC's Ariana Maher.
- Carries legacy number #688 in the cumulative Daredevil publishing count, making it the first issue of Volume 9 of the series.
- First appearance of Omen, a new villain whose identity and true motives remain concealed beneath a mask in this issue; described by Phillips as inspired by Gothic literature and Greek tragedy.
- Establishes a new civilian status quo for Matt Murdock: he takes a position as an adjunct law professor at Empire State University, a role that has never been used for the character before.
- The issue's opening sequence provides a self-contained recap of Matt's origin and powers, functioning as a deliberate on-boarding device for readers arriving via the Daredevil: Born Again Disney+ series.
- Reached at least four printings, with the second and subsequent printings featuring additional variant covers including a Marvel Television-branded edition, indicating substantial retail demand.
- Selected as the second title in Marvel's True Believer Blind Bag program, which offered sealed bags containing random covers — including hand-drawn sketch covers — as a new retail initiative.
- The issue acknowledges prior continuity lightly, including the estrangement between Matt and Foggy Nelson, but is structured so that no prior reading is required.
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