Daredevil: Born Again

Daredevil: Born Again is a 1986 story arc of the Daredevil comic series written by Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli. The story follows Matthew Murdock, who's identity is ousted to New York's crime lord, Wilson Fisk, A.K.A Kingpin, who puts all his resources into utterly destroying Murdock's life.

Why It's Born Again

 * 1) Easily one of the best story arcs in all of Marvel, which is against some EXTREMELY stiff competition.
 * 2) Great artwork by David Mazzucchelli, which has bright early comic book colors and character designs that clash interestingly with the gritty material of the story arc, which is very interesting in it's own right.
 * 3) Fantastic writing by Frank Miller, which shows how Daredevil, who had been believed to be without fear, is now terrified and utterly beaten by his mortal enemy, being left with nothing at all. Now, he's a much more vulnerable and relatable character as a result of this, and it also sends a powerful message, that a hero is someone who gets beaten down, but always gets back up and faces every challenge ahead.
 * 4) Introduces new characters to the Daredevil universe, like Mother Maggie, a nun who's Matthew's biological mother, and Nuke, an overtly-patriotic mercenary who would become popular and a recurring character in other Marvel series.
 * 5) Kingpin is now a much more tangible and believable threat to Daredevil (as opposed to Spider-Man during his first appearance of the "Spider-Man, No More" story from issue 50 of The Amazing Spider-Man), showing that he's capable of literally making his life a nightmare, and how his obsession with defeating him is ultimately his greatest weakness, ironically.
 * 6) Foggy and Karen also play a major role in the story, Foggy trying to protect Matt from the onslaught of legal troubles that Kingpin is sending towards him, and suffering from a slow shattering of their friendship as a result of his later homelessness. Karen, on the other hand, is the regretful ex-girlfriend of Matt who gives up his alter ego for money, which only ironically ends up in the hands of Kingpin.
 * 7) Ben Urich also plays a very major role in the story arc, trying to oust the Kingpin for the monster he is and clear Matt's name while trying to survive and come to terms with his own mentality as well.
 * 8) Great depiction of the effects of drug abuse on both the mind and body, being that Karen is a heroin addict and soon must go through withdrawal. On that note, she, like Matt, gets fantastic character development as she learns to not be so concerned with material possessions, but real and genuine happiness instead.
 * 9) Awesome fight scenes with brutal and realistic choreography.
 * 10) The entire story arc has a strange air of believability in it, due to a pretty great amount of realism put in with the Kingpin's plans, Matt's life afterwards, and so on. The story is very well-detailed with a bunch of little details that help a great deal.
 * 11) A satisfying ending that surprisingly avoids the "everything is solved" stereotype. In fact, there's plenty of loose ends and not everyone returns to the life they once had, but that's part of what makes it highly satisfying, especially when Kingpin, though he evades most legal charges, still gets some that go through and has people's perception of him completely shattered, a fate worse than death for him.
 * 12) The "Last Rites" story arc many issues later, while not written by Frank Miller, ties up a lot of the aforementioned loose ends and has an equally mature and sophisticated form of storytelling.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Some lengthy scenes of narration that can get a little tiring, even for Frank Miller.

Trivia

 * 1) The Last Rites story arc, though not written by Frank Miller or illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, did have the same colorist as Born again.

Reception
Daredevil: Born Again is considered the best story arc in Daredevil history and has been routinely praised for it's artwork, story, and religious symbolism and themes. It is often credited with revitalizing the Daredevil series and causing a spike in it's popularity.