Daredevil Vol. 2 #18

Daredevil Vol. 2 #18, also the third part of the 2001 "Wake Up" story arc. The official cover date is July 2001, and the actual release date was May 31, 2001. It was written by Brian Michael Bendis, with art, colors, and cover by David Mack. The lead character in this issue is Ben Urich, a veteran reporter at the Daily Bugle. He is assigned by his editor to cover the murder trial of the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), but finds himself increasingly drawn to another "unimportant" case: a second-rate criminal named Leap-Frog has mysteriously disappeared, and his young son Timmy Lange, after witnessing that night, has fallen into an almost mute daze, able only to repeat over and over the name Daredevil and imagined fierce battles. In this issue, Ben Urich struggles between his journalistic "objectivity" and his human compassion. He ultimately sets aside the newspaper's assignment, leaves the Kingpin trial, pursues the lead he himself considers more important, and finally finds Matt Murdock to ask him face to face what really happened that night. David Mack uses watercolor, collage, and experimental layout to create a visual representation of Timmy's chaotic inner world, one of the most acclaimed artistic features of this volume. This is the third of the four-part "Wake Up" story (issues #16–19); the plot follows the previous two issues and concludes in the next issue.