Daredevil #28 – Review

By: Mark Waid (story), Javier Rodriguez (art), Alvaro Lopez (inks)

The Story: Remember, kids—bullying only gets you shot by your own judge.

The Review: As someone who doesn’t read as many Marvel comics as he should, I don’t have the right to opine too broadly about their style and purpose.  I think it’s safe to say, however, that Marvel likes to emphasize the humanity of its characters, portraying them as deeply flawed and frequently petty people.  It might not fit the noble, saintly profile you might expect from DC superheroes, but if anything, it makes their virtues even more admirable.

That seems most clear in Matt’s care for Foggy as he finally undergoes cancer treatment.  In a brilliant use of Matt’s powers to develop story, Waid opens on our fearless hero nauseated and heaving from the enhanced smell of Foggy’s treatments.  “I know he needs me, but I can’t go back in that room.  I just can’t,” he thinks.

From inside, Foggy’s weakened voice calls out, “Matty…you there?”

Slowly, Matt straightens his back, puts on a big grin, and strides right back in.  “Where else, buddy boy?  Turn on the TV.  I wanna know how Hulk is doing on ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’”  It’s a joke, of course, but it’s also a commitment to stay in there, enduring his aural torment for as long as it takes.  In that scene, we get a moment that’s at once funny, but also heartbreakingly tender, such that you might chuckle through your tears.

The opening is so powerful that you remain intent on the issue even as it reaches its more complicated later stages.  Confronted by a figure from his distant past, Matt must not only relive one of the most painful periods of his life, but also grapple with the idea that some of his pain wasn’t entirely undeserved.  Matt as a young boy may have had his problems, but some of them were his and his alone, like the total, even mean, arrogance he had in regards to his dad and his own intellect.  Even as he tries to defend himself, there’s a hesitation in his voice that suggests he realizes the truth of his childhood jerkiness.