Back in 1998 things were not all well and good at Marvel. As a matter of fact, they were damn near done. Sales were down and, outside of Blade, there wasn’t a lot going on for them. But someone decided to take a shot in the dark and produce grittier comics featuring some of Marvels less popular characters: Daredevil, Punisher and Black Panther, to name a few. They called the line Marvel Knights and it took off! 

As a matter of fact, it is the Marvel Knights line that cemented my love of the street level heroes. The stories were written in a way that made the characters more accessible, more relatable. The violence was realistic, which made it more appealing, in a weird way. Maybe there was a neopulp feel to the books as well?

The effects of that line can be felt through the Netflix Marvel series. Daredevil and Punisher feel like onscreen adaptations of their comic versions. Plus, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones are all considered part of the line even though they did not have books at that time. The darker tone still makes it more appealing to fans and, even 20 years later, has fans clamoring for more. Marvel announced that they are bringing back the line for a miniseries this fall, as well as reproducing trades of major story arcs. I have bought all of the reprints of the Marvel Knights stories and look forward to getting all of the MK I can handle!