10 Hugely Influential Comics That Changed Everything
5. Daredevil - Guardian Devil (Marvel Comics)
Filmmaker and massive comic book fan Kevin Smith's first stab at writing comics is a much more influential piece of work than some might realise, especially given that Smith's star has waned somewhat in the last number of years. But a quick re-examination of the state of comics in 1998, when Guardian Devil was first released, reveals a series that revitalised a beloved character and also just may have saved Marvel Comics as a whole. When Smith was brought in by Marvel to write his first comic book, he chose Daredevil, a character that he loved but who had fallen on hard times, disappearing completely off the Top 300 sellers list. Teamed with artist Joe Quesada and released under Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti's imprint Marvel Knights, Guardian Devil was a stratospheric success, catapulting ol' Hornhead back to the top of the sales charts. Smith brought a dedicated fanbase and a celebrity following with him to comics, all eager to see what he could do in the medium he always talked about with such reverence. This raised the profile of the series tenfold and would have made it a financial success even if the stories had been terrible, which fortunately, they weren't. Smith's entry into comics also paved the way for more writers from other mediums to make the jump. Without him, we mightn't have had novelist Brad Meltzer's DC work on Green Arrow and Identity Crisis, or Buffy creator (and eventual Avengers director) Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run, for example. There is also the factor of the artist on the series, Joe Quesda, who you may have heard of. He is currently Marvel Comics' Editor In Chief, a position he was awarded only two and a half years after starting Marvel Knights. It could be said that Quesada saved Marvel and without him we wouldn't have the current prosperity that Marvel Studios is enjoying, as whenever Quesada launched Marvel Knights, Marvel had filed for bankruptcy. This rescue job, as grand and hyperbolic as that may sound, had it's foundations in Guardian Devil, that much is for sure.
