Daredevil #6 – Review

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

The Story: It’s a whole new low of villainy when nuns are your victims.

The Review: Even though I’ve picked up quite a few Marvel titles in the last year, I can’t say I’ve decamped altogether from my DC leanings. Case in point, I’m always up-to-date on the major going-ons in the DCU even if I’m not reading any of the relevant titles. Not so with Marvel. Lately, I’ve seen Original Sin stamped all over the place, but I still have almost no idea what it’s about. Something to do with somebody blabbing crucial secrets that makes everyone miserable?

Fortunately, Waid gives me just enough to understand the spark for this current arc, in which we reverse course from Matt’s bright, bouncy adventures in San Fran back to the grim, soul-sucking investigations of New York City. Actually, in terms of crossover premises, Original Sin is very promising in that it allows each participant to deal with the ramifications of their personal revelation on their own, no interference or collaboration with extraneous characters necessary. Now, that’s a crossover idea I can get behind.

Daredevil #6 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Marcos Martin (art), Muntsa Vicente (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Daredevil has to beat The Bruiser to help some innocents who know too much.

Five Things: 

1. Fun, street-level story. This is the kind of situation that I usually want to see Daredevil tackling: Innocents end up knowing too much about a criminal operation and are in danger; Daredevil saves them.  Sure, it’s fun to sometimes see Daredevil do something bigger like in that issue of Avengers during Fear Itself where it was smashing the Nazi Battle Mechs, but mostly I want him to do street level stuff.  The story is fun, well-written and lively.  Further, the overall story arc isn’t spread too thin by stretching a 2-issue story into an “epic” 8-issue story arc.  The only folks who might not love this story are those who want every comic to change the “future of the Marvel Universe”, but that’s an unrealistic expectation because that’s never what Daredevil has been about.

2. Interesting new villain. – I’m pretty sure this Bruiser guy is new, but he’s fun.  I really like his overall design with is a cross between SWAT team and luchador.  And his power set is kinda neat too as he can move his center of gravity around to his fists (to punch hard) or his feet (so you can’t knock him down).  I wouldn’t mind seeing this dude again as a B-list Daredevil/Spider-Man villain.

3. Wow, Marcos Martin! – We’ll miss him because he’s off to do some “super secret project”, but Marcos Martin was really getting it done in this issue.  I really enjoy his minimalism.  There’s nothing extra on any of these pages, just what’s needed to tell the story.  Unless the artist is really going to do a great job with the detail, less is almost always more in comic art.  Our brains and imaginations can fill in details much better than we can reconcile things in an image that are screwed up.

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: Wolverine and the X-Men #2 – Even though it was a light week volume wise, there was a LOT of quality last week (Secret Avengers and Cap & Bucky were also excellent), but my favorite was Wolverine and the X-Men #2.  It just has such a different tone than what we’ve typically gotten from X-Men comics because it incorporates Jason Aaron’s black sense of humor.  And of course, any comic with Chris Bachalo drawing is almost automatically going to be in the running for “pick of the week”.  I know there are some folks who complain about Bachalo, but they’re wrong.  Dude is among the best in the business.  Keep reading this site and we’ll train you properly in art appreciation.  🙂  Runner-up: The Unwritten #31.5 (found inside: some answers!)

Most Anticipated This Week: Daredevil #6 – Yeesh, another light week for me.  There are a few other comics that I’m looking forward to (see below), but Daredevil has been sooooo good since its reboot that it has to be the pick here.  Mark Waid has been telling a fun and accessible story and the art from Marcos Martin is sure to be incredible.

Other picks: Spaceman #2, Bomb Queen VII #1, Thunderbolts #166, Uncanny X-Men #2, Haunt #19