Daredevil normally limits his superhero activities to Hell’s Kitchen while the Silver Surfer patrols entire universes. Under normal circumstances, the street-level vigilante and cosmic hero would never cross paths – but when they did, Matt Murdock got to fulfill a lifelong dream by flying on the Surfer’s cosmic board!
The offbeat adventure happened in Daredevil #30 by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, when the Sentinel of the Spaceways met up with the Man Without Fear – and the two discovered they had some surprising things in comm
The tale began in Murdock’s law office where he received a strange visitor in the form of an alien named Ru’ach of the Archian race claiming he needed both Matt Murdock and Daredevil’s help. Ru’ach stated that he had heard a radio transmission of a speech Murdock gave years ago where he argued for an “extraterrestrial bill of rights.” Although Murdock admitted he was half-joking when he made that speech (and may have not even been entirely sober), Ru’ach insists he needs asylum and that he has information on a threat to the planet. At that moment, however, Matt gets another unexpected visitor – the Silver Surfer.
Claiming that he has tracked Ru’ach from across the galaxy, the Surfer fires a blast of cosmic energy at the alien, nearly injuring one of Matt’s staff. Furious, Matt pushes the Surfer out of his window and switches to Daredevil, engaging him in a mid-air battle. Before the fight can become too heated, however, the Surfer explains that the alien Daredevil was protecting is not what he seems.
According to the Surfer, Ru’ach is actually a “sentient lie” that lives to sow discord and malice on countless worlds. Unfortunately, due to Ru’ach’s nature, the Surfer cannot easily detect him – something that seems strange to Daredevil, considering the Silver Surfer’s cosmic senses. As they talk, however, Daredevil realizes that the Surfer – like him – has evolved senses that he uses to “see” people by their inner light or souls. Sine the Archians do not have an “inner light,” the Surfer is, ironically, blind when he tries to see them.
Offering to help, Daredevil makes one minor condition – he gets to fly the Silver Surfer’s surfboard. The Surfer agrees and bonds Matt mentally to the board, giving him full control over its capabilities. The experience is an exhilarating one for a blind man like Matt, who never had a chance to earn his driver’s license (for obvious reasons). Instead of immediately going after their quarry, Daredevil does a little joyriding, zipping across skyscrapers and zooming under cars.
Still, Matt eventually focuses his senses and tracks Ru’ach down to Stark Tower where the alien is trying to get an audience with Tony Stark by claiming to be a representative of Asgard. Since the Surfer still can’t see Ru’ach, however, Daredevil is forced to take the lead and use his radar sense to track down the living lie. He even lets the Surfer use his body as a target to knock out Ru’ach, enabling the Surfer to take him away from Earth.
One of Daredevil’s weirder adventures, his team-up with the Silver Surfer allowed Matt Murdock to briefly indulge in his wilder side. So many people know Daredevil as a serious, focused vigilante that they forget Matt Murdock was once a genuine “daredevil” who enjoyed engaging in some hellraising in his early years before the accident that cost him his sight. Getting to fly the Silver Surfer’s surfboard was probably one of Matt’s lifelong dreams – and one he happily got to live out.
