First Appearance Friday: Daredevil
I was a big fan of Daredevil on Netflix. In fact, I enjoyed all of the Marvel series on the platform. I was disappointed when they were removed from the streaming giant, but equally excited to see them all land back on Disney+. So, when the news broke that Matt Murdock was receiving a reboot and Daredevil: Born Again was on its way, my comic loving heart was beyond thrilled. Murdock then had a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home and a series appearance in She-Hulk and it was like he never left. With the anticipation growing for the new series, comic collectors will undoubtedly start to seek out The Man Without Fear’s key comics, and with Double-D, that all starts with Daredevil #1.
Key Details
First published in April of 1964,Daredevil #1 was written by Stan Lee while the cover art was brought to life by Bill Everett and Jack Kirby, all icons in the comic book world. The book not only features the first appearance of and origin story of Daredevil, but it also serves as the first appearances of both Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. Fans of the Netflix series should be familiar with both names. The foundation of Murdock’s origin is laid out as readers are introduced to Daredevil in Fogwell’s gym as he’s looking for the Fixer.
What’s It Worth?
Clearly, the collectibles market has taken a dip from where it was at the height of the pandemic. For example, back in April 2021 a CGC 9.6 copy of Daredevil #1 sold for $150k at Heritage Auctions. In November of 2022, that same copy sold for $90k. That’s a $60k loss on one of the hottest books in the category. Still, collectors can expect to have to pay up for high-grade copies of this key issue. More recently, Dave & Adam’s sold a CGC 8.0 copy for just shy of $10k and a CSG 6.5 fetched $6,600. Raw copies still exist, and as you would assume they are extremely condition sensitive. A collector may be able to find a decent copy in the $3k to $5k range.
The Wrap Up
As I mentioned above, with the pending release of Daredevil: Born Again, the interest in this book will start to heat up. Not that it hasn’t been hot for a while already. However, pending is the key word here. Production has been halted as the current writers strike in Hollywood has the industry at a standstill. So, maybe now is the right time to think about picking up a copy for yourself. Either way, Daredevil #1 is a Silver Age classic “must have” for any comic collection.
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