In "To Quote a Phrase," I spotlight memorable quotes from comic books.

Today, I try to figure out what the best line is from the legendary Daredevil storyline, "Born Again," by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. It's very difficult to do, but I will try my best.

One of the most interesting things about "Born Again" is how David Mazzucchelli was on the title for so long before this story ever came out. After a fill-in issue for Daredevil #206, Mazzucchelli became the regular penciler on the title as of Daredevil #208. Heck, he was so impressive that Denny O'Neil was already having him plot issues within a few issues of taking over as the book's penciler! As time went by, Mazzucchelli just kept getting better and better. I mention this only to note that it is funny how much this one storyline has overshadowed his already excellent work on this series. However, that's only natural, as the story was really good and it came after he had been developing his skills so much that there is a striking difference between the Mazzucchelli you see on, say, Daredevil #208 and the one you see when "Born Again" began with Daredevil #227.

Anyhow, the whole driving force of "Born Again" is the fact that Matt Murdock's former girlfriend, Karen Page, has become a drug addict and she was so desperate for her next hit that she was willing to sell Matt out. The information eventually made its way to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime. In Daredevil #227, Fisk begins systematically tearing Matt Murdock's life apart. He steals his money from him, he gets him disbarred, all sorts of stuff. All through this time, the Kingpin delights in watching Daredevil get more and more out of control as the burden of what Fisk puts him through begin to wear him down.

However, things take a turn at the end of the issue, when Matt is at such a low point that he even begins to doubt his girlfriend, Glorianna and his best friend, Foggy Nelson. Then he arrives at his brownstone and it explodes in front of him.

This was a mistake. Up until this point, Matt could not prove that anyone was actually out to get him. It FELT that way, but he couldn't prove it. After the explosion, though, it was obvious. As he notes (in one of the coolest lines of the story arc - which is why it is so difficult to pick the ONE line), "it was a nice piece of work. You shouldn't have signed it."

Of course, KNOWING that Fisk knows and stopping Fisk are two separate things.

A completely unhinged Matt begins to go a bit crazy on the streets and subways of New York City. He finally finds his way to the Kingpin's office, where Fisk is waiting for him. He knows Matt has barely slept and is completely out of sorts. Thus, he is able to beat Matt nearly to death.

While initially considering breaking Matt and then using him as an asset, Kingpin now instead decides to kill Murdock and make sure that he is disgraced in death. He beats a bad driver to death with Matt's bully club (with Matt's fingerprints all over it) and then dumps the cab with the two of them in it into the river. It's an exquisite way to kill an enemy...

However, there is a flaw to the Kingpin's plan...

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='The flaw in the plan']

The flaw is, in one of the storyline's other classic lines, is that when they dredged the cab from the river...there was no corpse. There was no corpse.

Matt Murdock was nearly killed, but nearly isn't good enough.

Matt is rescued by a nun who nurses him back to healthy (the nun happens to also be his literal mother). The Kingpin's crime empire continues, with him having a witness who was set to testify against him murdered in front of reporter Ben Urich, who is trying to get to the bottom of the Matt Murdock frame job.

However, the Kingpin is not in a position to gloat. No sir. You see, Matt foiling his plan is driving him nuts. He keeps expecting to see Daredevil at every turn. He realizes that it is one thing to ruin a man's life, but you have to FINISH THE JOB. When you don't, well, then you learn that a man without hope...is a man without fear.

What a brilliant use of Daredevil's actual tagline in a dramatic moment. I don't know if that's ever been achieved since. He took the actual tagline and actually worked it into a dramatic moment that FIT! It's brilliant.

Anyhow, Matt meets up with Karen Page, who has fled to New York City to look for Matt's help (even though she betrayed him, she has nowhere else to turn). He helps her get clean. He then returns as Daredevil and helps implicate Wilson Fisk in a government corruption case, with Ben Urich defiantly reporting the story on Fisk, even after his injury.

The rest of the story is awesome, but I don't think you can beat that one line for the best line in the series.

If you care to suggest cool comic book quotes that you'd like to see spotlighted here, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com. There's a decent enough chance that if you think the quote in question is super cool than I, too, will find it super cool and feature it here. Not a 100% chance, though, of course. Let's say roughly a 60% chance.