Daredevil Squares Off With Mr. Fear's Citywide Scheme as a New Arc Kicks Off in Issue #9

Marvel's Daredevil launches straight into its "City of Fear" arc with issue #9, out November 11, and writer Stephanie Phillips is stacking two crises on top of each other at once. On one side, a dangerous new drug has started circulating at Empire State University, pulling Matt Murdock into campus-level damage control to keep the students safe. On the other, his alter ego is squaring off against a citywide scheme being run by Mr. Fear — a classic rogue finally getting room to operate at full scale in the "all-new era" the series has been building toward.

Pairing a street-level drug crisis with Mr. Fear is a pointed choice. The villain has built his whole identity around chemically induced terror, and lining him up against a story already about a mysterious new substance hitting the streets suggests Phillips is setting up more than a coincidence — whatever's showing up at ESU may trace straight back to him.

The issue also brings art from the current creative team alongside a loaded variant lineup: covers from Federico Vicentini, Peach Momoko's Momo-Tone series, Alessandro Cappuccio's Stormbreakers Workout theme, and a 1:25 incentive from Leo Chiola. With the arc just getting started, issue #9 looks like it's laying groundwork that will stretch across the next few months of the series.

Daredevil #9 hits shelves and digital November 11. Original reporting: Comic Watch.