Daredevil #109 – Review

By Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka (writers), Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano (artists), and Matt Hollingsworth (colorist)

There have been a lot of negative reviews on WCBR lately, and I was hoping I could turn in an upbeat review (C’mon guys, X-Men #500 wasn’t that bad), but sadly the latest issue of Daredevil can only be called “underwhelming”.

This issue continues the search to discover who framed “Big” Ben Donovan for triple murders and why Donovan confessed to the crimes if he didn’t commit them. As mysteries go, it’s not terribly compelling, and this issue brings us only inches closer to solving it. Murdock and his partners do very little detective work. Mostly they sit around and talk while mysterious quasi-governmental bad guys watch them from helicopters and through sniper-scopes. Because this is one of those mystery stories where the moment they come anywhere close to a clue the investigators get roughed up and told to stop asking so many questions. Does this ever happen in real life? Isn’t that just like holding up a sign that says, “You’re on the right track!”?

Speaking of things we’ve seen before, this issue also reintroduces “Turk” and Mr. Slaughter, who were such a prominent part of Frank Miller’s original run on Daredevil. Presumably Brubaker and Rucka are hoping we’ll feel a twinge of pleasant nostalgia at seeing these old characters resurrected. But to me it just feels lazy. Mr. Slaughter, at least, is trying a new trick; he’s now supposed to be a legitimate businessman (with a name like “Slaughter”, though, his profession seems predestined). Turk is still the same old one-dimensional snitch he always was. Shouldn’t someone have put a bullet through his head a long time ago?

Supposedly this storyline wraps up next issue. All I can say is, it better be a hell of an ending, or this’ll be my last issue of Daredevil until a new writing team comes along. (Grade: C)

–  Andrew C. Murphy