Daredevil #4 – Review

By: Mark Waid (story), Chris Samnee (art), Javier Rodriguez (colors)

The Story: Owlsley discovers a technology more wonderful than Google Glasses.

The Review: I suppose it can’t be helped, for a genre that sustains itself on the clash between hero and villain, that characters in superhero stories somehow always fall neatly on either side of the divide between good and evil. It’s rare to find characters who truly straddle that line. I’m not talking about your antiheroes, whose methods are questionable but whose moral alignment is rarely in question. I’m talking about characters who really don’t know where they stand.

As you may expect, it’s the most insecure people who usually land in this category, and Max definitely fits that profile. Besides the jealousy and resentment he has for Matt, the unexplained disappearance of his girlfriend keeps Max unhinged, willing to make deals with the devil—or, in this case, the Owl—just to bring a little more stability to his life. There’s no question he’s decent at heart; as predicted, he never intended to let Matt go down in flames. But it’s that willingness to compromise, to set his needs over the greater good, that takes him into gray territory.

Daredevil #3 – Review

By: Mark Waid (story), Chris Samnee (art), Javier Rodriguez (colors)

The Story: Matt learns not to include a known backstabber as part of his big plan.

The Review: For a superhero writer, I imagine that there can be no greater, more joyful challenge than reinvigorating a character that everyone else already considers a lost cause. This particular task does embody the very essence of creative power, doesn’t it? Taking something that seems dry and infertile and giving it new life just with one good idea? But writers claim to deconstruct characters all the time; very seldom do they actually manage to do so.

Even for a writer as gifted as Waid, finding new dimensions to neglected or exhausted characters is no easy task. At best, what he’s done with the Shroud and what he’s currently doing with the Owl is strip them down to find what makes them, if not original, then at least unique. As far as the Owl goes, his physical alterations and more bestial presence make him campier, if anything (watch him swoop from tree bough to tree bough as he demands to know “Who” is in charge). It’s his unflappable—pun intended—reaction to having his life threatened that gives him street cred.

Daredevil #2 – Review

By: Mark Waid (story), Chris Samnee (art), Javier Rodriguez (colors)

The Story: This town ain’t big enough for two blind superheroes.

The Review: The exciting thing about moving Daredevil out of New York, where he and several dozen superhero pals are taking down the same army of villains day in and day out, is the chance of encountering new enemies—or, at least, not the usual suspects. For San Fran, this could be a mixed blessing. On the plus side, their ordinary crime rate is sinking fast. The minus is that now all of the city’s exotic threats are coming out of the woodwork.

The one that’s weight most heavily on Deputy Mayor Charlotte Hastert’s mind is actually not a villain, but a vigilante. Unlike the sunny Matt, Maximillian Coleridge (a.k.a. the Shroud) embodies all the worst qualities of the modern superhero, “[v]iolent, sociopathic, defiantly uncooperative with the law.” Not coincidentally, he’s modeled in no small part after Batman (“Saw his parents gunned down by a mugger when he was a boy…”), although in other respects, his skills and strengths parallel Matt’s.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #9 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber, Rich Ellis (Artists), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: It’s Boomerang versus Bullseye. Who will emerge victorious?

The Review: There is a certain trend that has been going around for a good number of years in the comic market, one that has changed the very way books are written and sold. For a good period of times, arcs and long saga were varying in their lengths, with creators having a certain control over the whole thing. Cue the arrival of the trade paperbacks, hardcover’s and the overall collection of storylines. With them came the popular expression ”written for the trade”, indicating a story that has been created specifically to be collected in one single book, leading to decompression sometimes and a general presentation that creators had to recreate as to get work. Long gone was the approach that made such epics like Walter Simonson’s Thor and other such work.

However, with a more open approach nowadays for creators, there is a certain resurgence of complete stories in a single issue, more stream-lined stories and experimentation more akin to the past of the market. One of the books that is clearly part of the new wave is Superior Foes of Spider-Man, with Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber simply making the story progress with each issue, the book being an evolving arc instead of a series of stories leading to a massive progression made step by step.

This issue, in itself, is a wonderful example of why that is a good thing, with plenty of the plot threads moving forward, yet without sacrificing what makes the title fun to begin with. Continuing the adventures of Boomerang, a loser super-villain, and the rest of his crew, the title entertain not only through its vision of what it means to be a lower-class villain in the Marvel universe, but also through its emphasis on showing them as people and not just as antagonists.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #6 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Boomerang goes on a date and in more trouble as the other Sinister Six are the captive of the Owl.

The Review: Identity is something impossibly important for a book. In a market where there is a severe load of stories in similar settings, a title needs a hook, a style or something else in order to differentiate itself. There are plenty of zombie, super hero and post apocalyptic stories, yet there is a huge difference between title like Hawkeye and Swamp Thing, like there are differences between Sheltered and Wasteland. Some people may like a specific genre, yet there must be something different between each titles or else the interest of readers would soon become naught. Thankfully, some titles goes out of their way to be different, which may work or not depending on the angle.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man is a title that simply works very well, as its identity, style and angle of presentation are close to unique, with a specific insight on one side of the meta-human equation that doesn’t always get presented as much as it should. However, how does the adventures of a bunch of super hero losers tend to work so well in terms of entertainment?

Superior Spider-Man #10 – Review

By: Dan Slott (Writer), Ryan Stegman (Artist), Edgar Delgado (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock has a lot to day in his first day of his new life, like thwarting evil, a family dinner, getting closer to getting a doctorate and being secretly the target of a bunch of criminals led by an old enemy of Spider-Man.

The Review: This series has now changed once more, which seems to be the norm so far, as it seems to just dodge a lot of our expectations. As soon as us readers were close to figuring out how this could play out, Slott managed to just go in a totally different direction by *Big Spoilers* removing Peter Parker from the whole equation. It was a risky move, yet he seems to be fully willing to play by this direction as can be seen in this issue.

In a smart move, Dan Slott tackles on throughout this book how the book plays out without Peter Parker and his memories, as stuff that had been to Otto’s advantage quickly seems to crumble a bit without his knowledge, which should give a bit of satisfaction for those who felt kind of cheated that Peter is not here anymore. It can be seen in various scenes as we get to see a lot of the supporting cast of Amazing Spider-Man reacting to the new attitude of ‘’Peter’’, like Mary-Jane, Carlie, J. Jonah Jameson and his father. All of these changes being acknowledged does lead to some interesting tidbits, like how Jameson and his father views the new way Spider-Man deals with criminals or how Mary-Jane believes that ‘’Peter’’ is behaving really strangely. It’s all neat stuff that does leave some place for some long-term planning and gives us a good bit of tension and interest on how these situations will develop.

Daredevil: End of Days #6 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), David Mack (Writer/Artist) Klaus Janson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Alex Maleev (Artists), Matt Hollingsworth (Colorist)

The Story: Ben Urich gets saved by the new Daredevil and continues his investigation, this time trying to talk with some of the villains in Matt Murdock’ life.

The Review: It seems that Brian Michael Bendis is on fire right now. With his All-New X-Men being great, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man being still the best part of the whole Ultimate universe and set to debut Guardians of the Galaxy this month (for real, I mean, with a #1 issue), he seems to be on top of his game. He seems fully reinvigorated, with his writing skills just like when he started writing Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil.

How fitting it is then that one of his strongest inputs in years is his ode to the death of Matt Murdock. Having killed him right in the very beginning of the series, we have followed Ben Urich (probably one of the characters that Bendis handles the best) as he tried to solve the mystery of his death and of Daredevil uttering of the word ‘’Mapone’’. What started as a homage to Citizen Kane as Urich started to question the entourage and loved ones of Matt Murdock has quickly evolved into something else thanks to this issue, as it adds some new elements to the game that are handled quite well.

Daredevil #503 – Review

by Andy Diggle (writer), Roberto De La Torre & Marco Checchetto (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Daredevil continues to use the Hand as an instrument to battle corruption.

What’s Good: I continue to enjoy Diggle’s take on Dark Reign, which remains one of the most unique in Marvel’s stable.  While most series simply have Osborn stomping about and occasional cameos by the Dark Avengers and/or the Thunderbolts, Diggle’s book best depicts how the world and society itself has changed thanks to Osborn’s rise.  Daredevil is used to occupying his own little corner of the Marvel Universe, and much of this issue is a wake-up call that even the farthest/lowest fringe of that Universe is subject to this major shift in status quo. The series’ own isolation stands in relation to Matt’s obliviousness to the larger state of things, absorbed as he is in his own crises.  Matt, and the comic itself, can now no longer ignore larger events, which do have an effect on Hell’s Kitchen, whether Matt realizes it or not.

While the theme is great, Diggle also writes some great dialogue this month.  The conversation between Daredevil and Izo was a particularly good.  Both men seem to be speaking in veiled threats and what seems to be the same old conversation we’ve heard a million times between the two takes on a tone of menace, where we’re forced to wonder who is trying to intimidate the other.  Is Izo getting impatient enough to threaten Matt?  Is Matt becoming inflated by his leadership of the Hand?  And which character is the initiator and which the respondent?  It’s a fascinating, multi-layered conversation that bears reading twice.

Other than that, the issue gives us everything we’ve come to expect from a good Daredevil comic.  Diggle writes the kinetic, thrilling action scenes that have been the signature of his career,  Kingpin is an absolute badass,  Becky, Foggy, and Dakota are as lovable as ever, and seeing Matt hold a pep rally for his horde of devil-horned ninjas definitely gets the blood pumping.  Meanwhile De La Torre continues to put out the best work of his career, as it’s clear that he was meant to draw this comic.  It’s shadowy, grimy, and gritty in the utmost, but with no loss of detail or clarity.  It’s quite the achievement, and he makes action and dialogue scenes equally engaging.

Daredevil #502 – Review

by Andy Diggle (writer), Roberto De La Torre (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: An out of touch Matt Murdock becomes familiar with the current Dark Reign environment.  Meanwhile, the power shifts continue in Hell’s Kitchen.

What’s Good: It seems that most Marvel comics are more focused on Osborn and his Avengers running about and appearing at inopportune moments.  While this can be fun, it glosses over the larger, overall effect of Osborn’s rise to power.  This issue of Daredevil is thus somewhat refreshing as it takes a street level look at Dark Reign, a world where the police and the entire justice system are under Osborn’s sway.  Daredevil isn’t battling the Sentry, but rather Osborn’s diseased system itself.  In many ways, this approach only makes Osborn seem all the more powerful: we never see or hear him, but we see his effects on the world and the people he has in his pockets.

This ultimately makes Matt’s use of the Hand all the more interesting.  It’s the always-fun trope of beating bad guys by becoming a bad guy.  Matt’s using the ninja deathcult to combat police officers, and this really encapsulates what Dark Reign should be about, as the positions of good and evil are reversed.  Meanwhile, behind this all, the Kingpin still lurks, plots, and consolidates.

Roberto De La Torre meanwhile continues to put out some of the best work of his career.  It’s clear that he was born to draw Daredevil and is the perfect choice for the series.  Art-wise, it’s a real challenge to think of a book currently on the racks that’s any darker, grittier, or more shadowy than this.  De La Torre’s work is in this sense really quite daring, as its far darker and grimier than you might expect from such a mainstream book.  The design for Matt’s DD-inspired ninjas is also completely awesome.

What’s Not So Good: It’s hard not to be incredibly let down, even frustrated, when Diggle completely reverses the giant twist he dropped on us last month.  It was such a daring move and to see it completely taken back only leads to a bevy of “what ifs” and a feeling that the book has somehow been dumbed down, that it’s become less brave and risqué and more typical.  It also makes me feel like a lot of page-space has been wasted these past couple of months on what is essentially a very simple, even unimaginative, trick.

Indeed, instead of the relentless forward progression that last month’s twist furthered, we end up spending a couple of pages listening to the same old conversation we’ve heard several times already: destroy the hand, or try to use it for good?  It’s as though we’ve gone back to square one, replete with psychological water-treading.  The relentless rush of story progression that the last couple months have seen for DD slows this month to your bog-standard, steady trickle.

Conclusion: It’s by no means a bad book, but it’s hard not to be aggravated by Diggle going back on what made his first issue so great.

Grade: B –

-Alex Evans

Daredevil #500 – Review

by Ed Brubaker (writer), Ann Nocenti (second feature writer), Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, Klaus Janson, Chris Samnee, and Paul Azaceta (art), David Aja (second feature art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Battles with the Hand and bad guys aplenty sees Matt Murdock finding himself in a role in which he never imagined himself.

What’s Good: Daredevil #500 succeeds where other landmark, giant-sized issues have failed in that it actually has a thrilling, must-read main feature.

The main feature is a kinetic thriller with electrifying action scenes coming one after another at a breathless pace.  The pages fly by and it is definitely a very, very fun read.  After the blandness found in Captain America #600, I almost feel that Daredevil #500 shouldn’t be allowed to be this exciting.

That’s not to say that it’s mindless, however.  Daredevil’s fight with the Owl in particular is brutal, thanks in part to its emotional savagery and DD’s final act this is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Of course, I can’t go without commending the cliffhanger that Brubaker ends his run on.  It really is a case of leaving the reader dying to know what happens next.  It’s so unexpected, it has Matt making a complete 180. Although Brubaker could be condemned, he nevertheless manages to pull it off through making Matt’s change of heart logical; making him grow out of his self-loathing.  It’s a natural choice and Brubaker successfully injects the sense of tragedy always present in Daredevil.

Ann Nocenti’s back-up story is absolutely, pitch-perfect fantastic. Brooding, cerebral, and at times downright surreal. It’s simply amazing work.  After taking a beating from Bullseye, Daredevil finds himself recovered by a retired boxer, Larry, and a schoolgirl, Gina.  The dynamic here is fascinating and both Larry and Gina are uncomfortably interesting characters.

On the one hand, Larry and Gina reflect different aspects of superhero voyeurism.  Larry’s the backseat driver, full of criticism, while Gina is the bloodhound, in it purely for the violence.  Yet, the genius is that despite this seeming division between DD and these two viewers, in their surreal dialogue, they almost seem to be parts of himself, Gina the off-kilter Id and Larry the curmudgeonly superego.

Aja’s art meanwhile is beautifully realized and thoroughly imaginative.  There are some truly inspiring images here, from DD’s fall through a cloud of balloons, to DD preparing to leave Larry’s bar, pausing at the doorway before breaking out into a run.  It’s very dark, yet oddly beautiful, poetic even, and that’s how DD should be.

What’s Not So Good: For the main feature, with so many fight scenes, some of them were just too quick and as a result, too easy.  Essentially, one side just totally steamrolls the other in a thoroughly non-competitive two page brawl.  Lady Bullseye in particular is far too much of a pushover.

Also, though I loved it for its mood, I at times found Aja’s stylized work to be a little too barren detail-wise.

My only real complaint about Daredevil #500 however is the package itself, which is absolutely brimming with filler.  Along with these two stories, you also get a preview of Diggle’s Dark Reign: the List entry, a pin-up gallery, a reprint of Frank Miller’s Daredevil #191, and a cover gallery.  The galleries offer some cool pictures, but  I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t prefer another story instead.

The Dark Reign: the List preview is even more offensive.  It’s pure advertisement, but it dwells right smack in the middle of the book, not at the end.  What’s worse, Dark Reign and Norman Osborn feel completely out of place in this book, as does Billy Tan’s slick, bright artwork.

Miller’s reprint is, well, a reprint.  A fantastic issue, yes, but also one that I’ve read before and have in a trade.

Conclusion: A very good main feature and an absolutely fantastic back-up in a book that would reach an A, were it not for all the damn filler.

Grade: B+

-Alex Evans