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When the Romantics decided to appropriate Milton as one of their own, the shadow ofthat Byronic legacy extended far and wide. Beginning with Blake's assertion that Milton was "of the devil's party without knowing it" to Byron, Melville, and Bronte's collaborative efforts in reconfiguring the Satanic Archetype into the likes of Manfred, Ahab, and Rochester, the Romantic Milton seems alive and well in both academia and in popular consciousness. However, one manifestation of this cultural phenomena has been virtually overlooked, and that is in the comic book superhero genre, and in particular Daredevil. The character, ostensibly, is a blind, conflicted Catholic driven to fighting crime in a red devil suit.
When Daredevil # 1 first appeared in April 1964, our hero wore yellow and was divested of any particular religious affiliation. The son of a has-been boxer, Matthew Murdock promised his father to fight with his mind rather than with his fists, despite the incessant taunts of schoolyard bullies who mockingly nicknamed him "daredevil." While pushing an old blind man out of the way of an oncoming truck, Murdock is hit instead and consequently blinded by a falling canister of unspecified radioactive material - radioactivity and superpowers being a common trademark in the Marvel universe. As a result, he loses his sight but is gifted with heightened senses which enhance his physical prowess. Once...