3. Daredevil: Out
When Brian Michael Bendis took over the series, he wasn't going to give ol' Hornhead a moment's happiness that he couldn't just rip out of his hands and punish him for later. And, punish him he did: poor Matt Murdock's name is dragged through the mud, and he still hasn't quite recovered from the thrashing he's been subjected to under Bendis' watch. It all starts with Matt Murdock's extra-legal activities being leaked to the media and from there, it's all downhill. Nobody wants anything to do with Matt, his closest allies are looking at him sideways, and there's not a big bad for 50 miles in any direction that doesn't want his head on a platter. Bendis doesn't pull any punches here, he gleefully dismantles every facet of Matt's existence with the reverberations still being felt today. Secret identities have been a mainstay in comics since their inception, but the ramifications of leading a dual life of deception have rarely been explored with such stark realism. With Alex Maleev on art duties, the book was injected with a heavy dose of photo-realism that perfectly captured the gritty, multi-layered intensity of Bendis' take on Daredevil.