depression in comics, part one
One of the oft-repeated truisms of the comics world is that part of the appeal of Marvel Comics is that their heroes are flawed in ways that their target audience can appreciate. Spider-Man has to deal with financial worries and social geekiness, the X-Men are basically hated pariahs, etcetera.
And then there's Daredevil, who has the flaw of being handicapped (he's blind), but who also, throughout his run, has struggled with some pretty serious depression. The recent Ed Brubaker issues on Daredevil have been like a fucking case study:
(Clicking on the sample panel here will take you to a scan of the entire page, if you want to see it in context. It's worth a look to get the full impact of the example.)
Sheesh. Looks like Daredevil could use a good therapist. But is this even the best example of depression in comics? Stay tuned for Part Two!