Hey! Im curious about your thoughts on this! Do you think it would be antithetical to the themes of Daredevil for them to bring Jack back (temporarily or otherwise) in the comics? And on that same vein, do you think they'd ever do it? (So far Jack's death is an event I don't think we've ever seen messed with, and as it is such a core aspect of Matt's story that surprises me)
Ooh, that’s a really interesting question. I don’t think it would necessarily be antithetical to the themes of the comic (after all, you’d think Matt regaining his sight would be, and look at how many times that’s happened). But– as with the sight example– it couldn’t be permanent. I’ve always been of the opinion that Matt would have become a superhero even if Jack hadn’t died, so it’s not as if his being Daredevil would suddenly have no meaning if Jack were to come back to life. But I don’t think he could be brought back permanently, simply because it would sap much of the power from Matt’s origin story. “My dad died and it completely changed my life, and I’ve been haunted by that loss ever since… but it’s okay, because he’s back now” doesn’t have quite the same impact. But I do certainly think he could be brought back temporarily, for some brief interactions with Matt, and that that could be quite powerful. Ed Brisson recently did something like that in his Iron Fist run, temporarily resurrecting Orson Randall in what ended up being a very moving little story arc.
And yes, it’s surprising this has never been done before! Especially considering that– as you point out– so many of the building blocks of Matt’s life have been toyed with over the years, and many writers have found other ways of telling roughly that same story via hallucinations, Matt discovering new memories/footage of his father, etc. (I would bet any amount of money that Matt will “encounter” Jack again later this month in #612…) But I do think there is a unique story that could only be told if Jack were to actually come back. I think there are many questions Matt has for his father, which could be answered without weakening the comic, because so many of them are no longer relevant to his everyday life. For example– nowadays Matt doesn’t spend his time pondering Jack’s motivations for refusing to throw the fight, but I’m sure he’d still love to ask about it. And I know he’d want to get Jack’s approval for his superheroing, even though he has never actually let that concern get in his way. Giving Matt the deeper understand of his father that this type of conversation could allow wouldn’t, I feel, be detrimental to future Daredevil stories. He will always love and miss his father, and I don’t think meeting him one more time would change that.
