Daredevil isn't canceled says Zdarsky, teasing something "massive" for Marvel coming soon

Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1 excerpt (Image credit: Greg Smallwood (Marvel Comics))

On August 16, Marvel announced that writer Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto's Daredevil run will "reach its climax in an explosive final issue" in November 10's Daredevil #36. A week later, however, Zdarsky says not so fast.

"Okay, so, a Marvel Comics press release went out . And it’s incendiary and got tongues wagging!!" Zdarsky wrote in his newsletter. "Now, I’ve been around a long time, and so have you (my average reader is men in the 60-70 years-old demo), so you know that there’s a bit of a sales & marketing dance happening here."

Daredevil #36 cover (Image credit: Marco Checchetto (Marvel Comics))

Zdarsky says that his Daredevil series is "on pause" after Daredevil #36 because there will be events in upcoming issues that "that kind of, uh, spiraled out of control?"

He goes on to say that he and Checchetto need to "deal with it" before they resume their work on the main Daredevil title. This could be read as him hinting at a standalone limited series or one-shot, similar to Jason Aaron's Avengers run taking a hiatus over the summer for the recent Heroes Reborn event series.

But that being said, Zdarsky assures fans he plans on resuming work on the Daredevil series.

"Will that be issue #37? Or an all-new issue #1? I can honestly say I have no idea," writes Zdarsky. " All I can say is that we're continuing and have more story to tell after issue 36, especially leading to our big issue 38, which is Legacy Numbering issue 650!"

As we've noted here numerous times, superhero publishers like the freshness of a new #1 for each major new creative team, but also like callbacks to the total issue count for special occasions. If you were to say 'that doesn't make sense,' Zdarsky agrees.

"I know! It's comics!"

"Anyway, Daredevil #36 is big and wild and sets up massive changes in the title and, dare I say it, the Marvel Universe?!"

Zdarsky says "a clue to where we're heading" is in the recent Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom anthology story by him and artist Greg Smallwood. In that four-page story, NYC mayor Wilson Fisk teases an escalation of his actions. Not only does Jessica Jones find out there's a string of private detectives being murdered, but the Kingpin also narrates a delusion where he kills off the Fantastic Four, Emma Frost, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Iron Man, and Ms. Marvel.

Daredevil #34 goes on sale on September 8, followed by October 27's Daredevil #35, and then the 'season finale' Daredevil #36 on November 10.

Of course, Kingpin is on our list of best Daredevil villains - but which spot do you think he should be in?

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)