Welcome to the ”Being Matt Murdock” companion website!
If you haven’t read the book yet, see below for purchase options. Not sure if it’s for you? Check out some of the free book samples first! The book is currently available in print (paperback) and ebook formats. An audiobook version if coming a the end of November 2022!
If you’re someone who’s read the book – thank you! – check the individual chapter headings below for the complementary material mentioned in the Author’s Notes. Note that this site is still expanding and being added to.
By Christine Hanefalk
Being Matt Murdock
One Fan’s Journey Into the Science of Daredevil
You will never look at Marvel’s fan-favorite character Daredevil the same way again! Welcome aboard a genre-bending ride into the science of the senses – heightened or not.
What could possibly allow someone to hear heartbeats? Is there something it is like to “radar-sense”? Is it true that your remaining senses are enhanced if you lose one of them? And, how is it that any of us can sense anything in the first place?
Christine Hanefalk takes an in-depth look at these questions – and many more – in this definitive examination of the science of Daredevil’s senses. Here, the author makes a passionate case for how we might come to understand this fan-favorite character on a deeper level while making room for both his blindness and heightened senses.
Christine Hanefalk
Christine is best known in the Daredevil fandom for her website The Other Murdock Papers, where she has been writing about all things Daredevil for well over a decade. Combining her love of Daredevil with a lifelong interest in the natural sciences, she has turned a particular focus to examining the character’s heightened senses through a scientific lens. She holds a Master of Science in Engineering degree in Molecular Biotechnology from Uppsala University.
Complementary material
Browse by chapter
(Under construction!)
Chapter 9 | The Perplexing Origins of the Radar Sense
From Daredevil #1 (1964), by Stan Lee and Bill Everett Matt, to the reader:...
Chapter Ten
Making Sense of the Radar Sense
Chapter Eleven
There Is Something It Is Like to Radar-Sense
Chapter Twelve
The Missing Sense
Chapter 8 | Heat and Touch
Emissivity explainedThe different forms of heat...
Chapter 7 | The Forgotten Nose
From Daredevil #18 (1964), by Stan Lee and John Romita Caption: Not let's...
Chapter 6 | A Sense of Space
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Chapter 5 | Super Hearing
Not an error as much as a case of unclear wording in the following section: “You would also see that the oval window on one end is matched by a membrane called the round window at the “far” end. When the stapes pushes on the oval window (I like to picture this looking...
Chapter 4 | Senses, Meet Brain
A quick look at the action...
Chapter 3 | Body, Meet World
A (detailed) look at the...
Chapter 2 | Sense, Nonsense, and the Stimulus
Longitudinal vs. Transverse Waves Note: Electromagnetic waves aren't...
Chapter 1 | The Literary Adventures of the Super Blind
Note! Early printings (physical books purchased before circa mid-September, 2022) contain an error regarding Frank Miller's age at the time he started working on Daredevil. While he was indeed very young, he was not quite as young as nineteen. The first issue Miller...