Daredevil #13 – Review

by Mark Waid (writer), Khoi Pham (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Javier Rodriguez (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Matt fights for his life against Megacrime, still holding onto the Omega Drive

The Review:  You’ve got to feel for Khoi Pham.  Daredevil has had some really, really great artists work on it (Marcos Martin, Paolo Rivera, Chris Samnee) and Pham is in the unenviable position of living up to the high standard those guys set.  Worse still, Rivera and Martin basically defined the book visually with a very unique, distinct look.  As such, Pham here is forced to try to ape Rivera’s aesthetic to some extent and, unfortunately, it becomes clear that he’s not quite up to the task.

Were this any other book, Pham’s art may not be that bad at all, but here, it’s hard not to focus on the clear drop in art quality, particularly after last issue’s brilliant outing by Samnee.  Pham’s work often appears rushed, almost unfinished at times.  It may not actually be rushed, but rather an effort by Pham to adopt a looser style to follow Rivera, but unfortunately, the impression given off is the former.  While Pham does fine enough when drawing a close-up, anything else feels weirdly barren, empty even.  It’s hard to say why exactly, but regardless, Pham’s work does not have the vitality of Rivera’s work.

Mark Waid’s script is fun enough.  Daredevil beating up bad-guys is always a blast and Matt’s narration really emphasizes that, truly, he is the man without fear.  Waid hammers home the daring-do nature of Daredevil, the carefree, risk-taking style of combat that Matt employs and constantly gives off the sense that in every battle, Matt is flirting with disaster and is always just right on the cusp of everything going very, very badly.

Daredevil #12 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Chris Samnee (art), Javier Rodriguez (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Matt and Kirsten go on a date which leads to Matt telling a tale from he and Foggy’s days at Columbia Law.

The Review:  This issue is really yet another effort by Mark Waid to expand the variety of tales that can be told about Daredevil; again, with Matt only appearing in costume on one page, Waid pushes the limit as to what constitutes a “Daredevil story.”  This has really become a theme of Waid’s run thus far and a key part of it’s success, so once again what we get this month feels fresh and very different.  Indeed, with Waid giving us a tale of a college-aged Murdock and Foggy with a nefarious, crochety law professor serving as a villain and a conflict centered around an alleged plagiarism, we get something that is less a superhero story and  more a university comedy.  With all the theatricality, buddy comedy (there’s a great scene of Matt trying to sleep over Foggy’s snoring), and a big final scene, it feels like a “college experience” type movie; in fact, what with the excessively nasty professor, I was reminded a bit of The Paper Chase.

Daredevil #11 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Marco Checchetto (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Daredevil tries to recapture the Omega Drive from Cole (Alves?).

The Review:  The Omega Effect has been a really nice little crossover.  It’s small, contained, and went across titles that worked well with each other.  If you enjoyed the previous two issues, you’ll enjoy most of what’s offered here.  Seeing Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Punisher kick Megacrime ass together is about as entertaining as you’d expect.

The real heart of the comic, however, is in Daredevil’s interactions with Rachel Alves (why does everyone, including Marvel, keep calling her Cole when the character explicitly calls herself Alves?).  There’s great chemistry between the two, highlighting the very high, very dangerous precipice that Alves finds herself at.  Naturally, this lets Matt really shine as well; in attempting to “save” her, we see all the personal characteristics that have defined Matt: his sense of responsibility, his heroism, his empathy, his passion, and, of course, his constant sense of guilt and his desire to atone for past wrongs.  In this case, in appealing to Rachel, he’s also trying to make up for what he sees as his failure in reforming Frank.  It makes for a strong, compelling read that says as much about Matt as it does Rachel.