Daredevil #19 – Review

by Mark Waid (writer), Chris Samnee (artist), Javier Rodriguez (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer)

The Story:  As Matt’s mind falls apart, he finally figures out who’s behind all the insanity.

The Review:  While it’s not always had the same amount of success, one thing I’ve loved and respected Waid for doing in this series is truly experimenting and expanding on the type of stories that can be told with Daredevil.  With guys like Miller, Bendis, and Brubaker defining the “Daredevil comic,” we got to a point where the “Daredevil comic” was by definition a gritty noir affair.  Throughout his run, Waid has tried to break free of that mold, throwing the Man Without Fear into different genres.

This month, he tosses Daredevil a bit more into the horror genre (right in time for Hallowe’en!).  It’s a subtle, toes in the water move at this point, but it’s definitely palpable, and it definitely works.  Having a main character who is just as unsure as the reader is about what is and what isn’t real makes for a turbulent read that keeps the reader engaged and just a little unsettled.  Matt’s lack of vision and his radar sense also become vulnerabilities in themselves and as things pop in and out of reality and the Spot’s power mess around with Matt’s surroundings, there is also something distinctly creepy about the way Samnee illustrations Matt’s radar-vision of the world.

Where the horror element really kicks in though his with returning villain, the Spot, now new and improved with a distinctly horror-movie appearance.  Waid and Samnee do a great job of emphasizing the creepier aspects of the villain’s powers, leading to some really great panels.  There’s just something naturally disturbing about scores of disembodied hands reaching out to grasp Matt from black portals.  I don’t know what it is, but it just gives me the heebie-jeebies.  The ending of the issue is also great – it’s completely ridiculous, visually, but is a classic sort of “muhuhaha” horror moment.

All this being said, I’ll admit: I have an axe to grind with this issue.  I thought Waid’s use of Foggy this month was nothing less than deplorable.  What Waid has Foggy do this month is complete and utter betrayal of Matt.  That, in itself, runs completely contrary to who Foggy Nelson is.  I don’t care that Foggy thought he was doing it for Matt’s own good or that he was drunk – it’s a massive betrayal and, as such, it cuts to the core of Foggy’s character and it, well, it just isn’t Foggy.  Frankly, we’ve seen Matt in direr straits than this during Bendis and Brubaker’s runs and never once did Foggy even think of betraying Matt in this manner.  Foggy’s actions this month are really out of the blue and make the character difficult to like and genuinely irritating, which is a very bad look for Foggy and one which he was never meant to have.  Given what he and Matt have been through and who Foggy is, it also makes little sense.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: Punk Rock Jesus #4 – There were some other good comics last week.  Batman #13 was outstanding, but when two comics have equal measures of writing and art, my first tie-breaker is, “Which had the higher degree of difficulty?”  Not only is the story of PRJ engaging and fun and not only is the art superb, but Sean Murphy is actually making some biting commentary on religion.  Have you ever been around a person complaining about religion and religious people?  Even if you agree with them, they usually sound like hateful boors.  The point is: Murphy is doing an excellent job of tackling touchy subject matter without coming off as nasty.

Most anticipated this week: 1). The Walking Dead #103 – Even though last issue had some weird moments (Rick & Jesus suddenly being secret plan buddies?), this comic compels me to read unlike anything else on the market.  Every Wednesday that TWD comes out, at lunchtime I actually walk across the office suite to where the Wi-Fi is better and download this to my iPad.  Heck….sometimes I actually check at 9:00 in the morning to see if the Image app has updated (it never has).  Very few comics ever rise to that “read at work” level of importance for even a single issue, but TWD does it every month.

2). American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #5 – This spin-off miniseries has been outstanding, but it takes on added importance with the news that the main AV series will be going on hiatus so that Snyder and Albuquerque can work on “other projects at DC”.  Sigh…..even if these guys are doing Justice League, it isn’t a replacement for AV.  Anyway, with that hiatus news, each installment of AV becomes a little more precious because you never know how a hiatus will go.

3). The Sixth Gun #26 – As I mentioned last month, this has been another outstanding series that I was able to catch-up on through a sale on Comixology.  It’s great.  I can’t wait to see how Drake and Becky escape this snowbound mess they are in.

4). Chew #29 – Ha….it’s another series that I caught up on via a Comixology sale.  Chew is outstanding.  There isn’t a funnier comic on my pull list.  Even my non-comic friends kinda like the jokes and the wonderously inventive food-based superpowers that the creators devise.

5). Saucer Country #8 – Wow.  Has it already been 8 months since this and those other Vertigo series debuted (New Deadwardians & the dreadful Dominique Laveau were the others)?  I really enjoy Saucer Country.  It isn’t the best comic on the stands or anything like that, but I could see it being kinda like DMZ where it is very strong for a long time.  Plus, who doesn’t like reading about alien conspiracies?

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week:  Batman #13 – Seriously, holy shit.  This was one HELL of a way to write the Joker and Snyder and Capullo are firing on all cylinders.  With one issue, they’ve outdone everything they’ve done prior, which says a lot, given how good their Court of Owls stuff was.  If you thought Snyder’s Batman was good, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Most Anticipated:  Hawkeye #3 – With Journey into Mystery and Uncanny X-Force winding to their conclusions, Hawkeye is fast arising to its spots as my favourite Marvel book.  This really is unlike any Marvel book out there with Fraction and Aja making the most out of the medium.  If you aren’t reading this, but you are picking up other Marvel Comics, you’re doing it wrong.

Wonder Woman #13 – Azzarello’s Wonder Woman is basically always going to be on this list given that it’s probably in my top 3 as far as DC’s new 52 goes.  However, after that epic, out of nowhere New Gods cliffhanger in #12?  You bet your ass I’ll be grabbing this one.

Mighty Thor #21 – Well, it took right up to the very last arc, but with Everything Burns, I can finally say that Fraction’s Thor is actually really good.  This crossover has been all kinds of high fantasy awesome and I’m excited to see how Fraction and Gillen wind it all up.  Alan Davis’ art doesn’t exactly hurt either.

Daredevil #19 – It’s Mark Waid and Chris Samnee on yet another issue of my favourite superhero.  Daredevil is, generally, remarkably consistent in its high level of quality and Samnee’s art really has been a perfect fit for the book.

Justice League #13 – Yeah, I was hesitant to include this one.  However, I really liked the Shazam zero issue and I’ve found that Johns’ Justice League, while still not the greatest book in the world, improved drastically in its second arc.  While this is just the first issue of a two-parter, and not another long arc, I’m interested to see if that upward momentum continues.  I’ve also quite enjoyed Tony Daniels’ art since the relaunch and I’m rather interested to see what Daniels’ art looks like when inked by Richard Friend.