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.

The Punisher #11 – Review

by Greg Rucka (writer), Mirko Colak (art), Dan Brown & Jim Charalampidis (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Detective Warren Bolt comes clean about his relationship with the Punisher after a crazy night with Frank in Times Square killing….zombies?

The Review: There are two ways of reading this comic.  On the one hand, you can look at it as a comic where Warren Bolt talks a lot and kills zombies with Frank in Times Square.  Pretty ho-hum, right?  On the other hand, if you come in with an open mind, this comic rewards the astute reader with a more psychological reading.

Rucka has given us an issue with a real interior focus; all the events are narrated from the perspective of Bolt with no one, as his interviewers later admit, to contradict his story.  As such, it’s all up to him and, given his background as faux-hero, you’re left wondering about the reliability of what he’s relaying.

Now, I’m not saying that this issue is entirely a figment of Bolt’s imagination; it most likely isn’t.  We know SOMETHING went down with zombies in Times Square.  However, I couldn’t help but get a real Tyler Durden/Fight Club vibe off of this issue.  Bolt and Frank’s unique relationship, with Frank doing the dirty work that Bolt is too afraid or too inept to do himself, leads to the two being inextricably linked to one another.   In a way, watching Bolt and Castle run about killing zombies in Times Square (a situation which, in itself, is so ludicrous that it only facilitates the surreality), you’re almost waiting for the Fight Club twist: Frank was never there.

PunisherMAX #11 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: At long last, Frank and Bullseye go one on one in a fight to the death.

The Review: I’ve read a lot of people, including other reviewers, really taking this series to task and frankly, I just don’t get it.  All right, there were a couple of issues that were weaker, but unless you’re reading a different comic than I am, PunisherMAX #11 is goddamned amazing.  It sees Jason Aaron both nail what Garth Ennis was going for in his Punisher work, while also truly establishing a creative voice all his own.  Issues like this one are everything you want out of a Punisher MAX book.  If you don’t like it then, quite frankly, you don’t like the franchise.

There’s so much to love here, but let’s start with the main event: the big brawl between Punisher and Bullseye.  Put simply, this was the best one on one fight scene I’ve read in a comic in quite some time.  It was insanely intense, personal, and goddamned savage.  It’s indescribably brutal, barely managing to skate past slapstick, instead managing to be just violent enough to challenge suspension of disbelief without breaking it.  The fight is crazed, wince-inducing, sickening, and I think I already said “intense,” but I’ll say it again to hammer that home.  Jason Aaron pulls out all the stops here.  You get construction tools, you get chemical weapons… You get it all.  At one point, Bullseye even uses his own vomit in a scene that is, quite honestly, one of the most disgusting things that I’ve ever seen in a Marvel comic.  It’s the sort of fight that pulls you the reader into it, managing to put you on the edge of your seat.  It’s also the kind of fight that, blow by blow, tells an actual story.  It’s a fight with a physical narrative, with a tempo and various chapters.

The Sword #20 – Review

by Joshua Luna (writer, layouts, letters) and Jonathan Luna (art)

The Story: Malia further manipulates the media and public opinion as Dara races to New York City to confront her.

What’s Good: It’s great to see an issue of the Sword on the racks again.

The opening scene may very well be the strongest bit of the book.  I enjoyed the Lunas’ putting Dara’s previously indisputable hero status into question.  It really adds a very unique tone to this final arc, while also encouraging the reader to look back on the rest of the series.  We’re forced to re-examine Dara’s progress, and it’s hard not to be struck by how much she’s changed and what she’s become.  That said, the Lunas leave much of this up to the reader, and I do feel some of their trademark flashbacks would have further augmented this element.

I also enjoyed Julie’s suggestions of the Sword almost being some sort of addiction.  It adds a darker feel that the book definitely benefits from.  Certainly, it adds another layer of complexity to the series.

On the action-front, there’s a scene involving Dara’s battle with a pair of fighter jets that’s a great deal of fun.  While I know not everyone is a fan of the Lunas’ work, they do know their way around an action scene.  It’s insane, bordering on over-the-top, but as with many of the Sword’s better action scenes, it works all the better for these reasons.

Justin’s dialogue was also particularly strong this month.  As the series grows darker, Justin provides that necessary comic relief, very effectively deadpanning the book’s grandstanding while highlighting many of the more impressive, super-powered moments.

What’s Not So Good: While the action sequence is good, there are a few botched faces on Jonathan Luna’s part.  One headshot of Julia crying out is unforgivably bad.  At other times, characters’ faces simply don’t carry the emotion they should.  When characters are caught in more rueful, subtle emotions, Luna often draws them far too close to a neutral expression.

Also, I can’t help but be irritated by Joshua Luna’s writing of the “crowd dialogue.”  Luna has opted to present the crowd noise around Malia in the form of a few select quotes being bubbled without a speaker.  This is already a bit ham-fisted on his part, but the actual content of this pseudo-dialogue can unfortunately only be described as moronic.  The quotes just sound far too stupid and thus expose themselves too fully for what they are: Luna’s method of capturing developments in public feeling regarding Malia and Dara.  This “crowd noise” is a weak method of accomplishing this as is, but Luna’s poor writing of these faceless characters doesn’t help any.  I wish he stuck purely to the newscasts.

That being said, Luna’s actual dialogue in this month’s newscasts isn’t great either.  As was the case with the crowd’s dialogue, the quotes are simply too obvious in their authorial purpose.  For this reason, they lack believability and the people speaking feel more like narrative tools than human beings.

Finally, while the Lunas have really done well with their use of flashbacks throughout the series, this is not one of those times.  The flashback isn’t bad, but it’s nowhere near the standards the Lunas have set for themselves.  The moral lesson is weak and uninspired, and the whole situation depicted feels clichéd.

Conclusion: An inoffensive issue that is a bit rough around the edges.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans