I always start my reviews of comic-book hero stuff by saying that I'm more a DC Universe kind of guy rather than making mine Marvel. I'd also say that I've found the recent DC shows like "Arrow", "The Flash" and "Gotham" to be superior to the less focused "Agents Of Shield" indicating that while Marvel may be winning the comic-wars on the big screen, DC was ahead on the small one. Finally, I have to admit that with hindsight, it's probably better to review a series like this not based just on the first episode as after slightly lukewarmly rating the three DC shows above after a single viewing that I'm kind of hooked on all of them, many episodes later.

So what of Daredevil then? I remember all too well the aimed-at-teens flashy - trashy Ben Affleck first try some years ago and really hoped for better this time and I'm glad to say I got it. After a brief, here's-how-he-got-this-way prelude, the action shifts to the present day and the topical subject of people trafficking as a mysterious man-in-black busts up a nighttime girl-smuggling operation. As things turn out, this operation is linked into a bigger criminal organisation with tentacles everywhere, run by an up till now unseen kingpin.

By coincidence our self-same black-garbed hero, in his everyday guise as a budding criminal attorney, together with his wise-cracking portly partner, takes on as his first case the defence of a seemingly water-tight murder perpetrator, but with smarts enough to match his nocturnal fighting skills, Matt gets the set-up girl off and finds himself defending her against the full force of the Mafia-type organisation working a multi-million dollar pension scam, which she as an employee has uncovered.

By the end of the first show, said girl has joined Team Daredevil and markers have been put down that our hero will no doubt on a weekly basis take on the big bad organisation in its various and multifarious guises, giving the show its running story.

Of course there are similarities with other characters, I mean Daredevil always seemed to me like Marvel's answer to DC's non-super-powered denizen of the night The Batman while his backing cast obviously mimics Hoppy and Pepper in Iron Man. Nevertheless, by playing down the super-hero aspect, even to the extent of eschewing the familiar maroon Daredevil costume from the comics, plus not referring to him by name (both like in "Arrow") and setting the action in New York's grainy and rainy Hell's Kitchen, this plays much more like "Gotham" in style and is all the better for it.

I like the three main leads, the dialogue is pithy and the action scenes, as you'd expect, are crisply choreographed. I hope the show continues in the style of this opener, gritty and believable but also with excitement and human interest. If it does, I'll be adding another comic-hero fix to my growing play-list.