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DD Book Club - Holocaust in the Halls of Hydra!

 
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Mike Murdock
Golden Age


Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 1750

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the news opening. It was a good way to show the passage of time with a little montage rather than pick up where we left off. The idea that there's a manhunt helps raise the stakes because there's no way to know if Foggy will be found. That being said, I'm still not loving the art. I'm thinking it isn't Bob Brown, but more the inker. It's possible the re-coloring on Marvel Unlimited is to blame. Everything looks very flat. That being said, did the Central Park children's zoo have a giant whale in it? That might have been one of the more surreal moments of the issue. I like the attention to detail.

Apparently, the intelligence points to Blackwing. I'm not really a fan of them introducing a villain through exposition. That being said, he's not a new villain, since he appeared previously in possibly the worst Daredevil comic with the best title of all time - Circus Spelled Sideways is Death!

I do think some of the relationship exploration is fascinating here. Matt and Natasha make a very good couple when they're acting as a team, but they also end up at each other's throats when Matt acts protective. The idea that Matt wants someone strong when he wants them strong and weak when he wants them weak feels like perfect character setup for the Miller run with his treatment of Heather Glenn. Certainly, Matt's more controlling tendencies are being revealed here, which is definitely not a good look for him.

The back half of the issue involves Daredevil and Black Widow figuring out there is a trap and deciding to go straight into it. I don't get why that passed for logic back in the 70s. On the bright side, Natasha does get to kick El Jaguar in the balls and then say "yeah, I just kicked you in the balls." Blackwing and his giant bat seem a bit on the silly side, but I do like that Matt was forced to kill while Natasha ends up not. Overall, she came off as the better fighter for a change.

The character moments are quite good in this story. Hydra maybe not so much. Also, Silvermane? Really? Even if he were the head of the Maggia I could see it (I've always thought of him as a more street-level villain, so I could see him at the Kingpin's level). Still, I thought this was an improvement. Three and a Half Stars.
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Mike Murdock
Golden Age


Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 1750

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Daredevil Vol. 1 # 123 - Holocaust in the Halls of Hydra!



Quote:
Daredevil has been defeated, but never count him for being down and out. Foggy Nelson needs him!


Due 4/28
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Matt Murdock's cooler twin brother

Not sure what to read next? Check out the Book Club for some ideas!

I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons
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Dimetre
Underboss


Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 1366
Location: Toronto

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So this extra-long issue wraps up Tony Isabella and Bob Brown's Hydra saga. Read as a whole, I think it comes off as a pretty entertaining action caper for young readers. However, if you were a kid in 1975, and you were waiting for this installment to arrive at your corner store, this may have come off as a jumbled mess.

To be sure, there is a lot of action here. Man Killer takes out Black Widow. Ivan fights El Jaguar. Daredevil fights... more on that later. The problem is that there are just too many characters crowding this one little story, and in no way are all of them necessary.

The most insane part of this story comes after Black Widow blows up the Dreadnaught, and from out the smoke emerges a fearsome new villain -- Jackhammer! Why, oh why, did we need yet another villain in this story? What could Tony Isabella have been thinking? Jackhammer populates exactly two pages in this issue. That's it. Daredevil makes swift work of him. With all the villains appearing on this issue's cover, does it really make any sense whatsoever to add another?

Jackhammer's appearance I feel is testament to the level of thought, or lack thereof, invested in this story. The Marvel bullpen were all talented people, and this story had its good moments. I especially liked how Daredevil's awakening was handled. However, this issue felt like everything was getting thrown into the cauldron haphazardly, without any regard to what was being made.

I think the reason why Daredevil's return to consciousness stood out for me was because it was a character moment. Did any other character have a similar moment where we got a good look into who they are and what makes them tick? Did we get a good look inside anyone else's head? Does Man Killer hate men especially, but is okay with knocking out Black Widow? Why does she serve Hydra? Can Foggy not stomach the action S.H.I.E.L.D. faces daily, yet is able to swipe a rifle off a Hydra agent and free his friends from their chains without hitting them? How do each of these characters work? After witnessing Foggy's courage, is Fury just going to let him say no?

When Isabella and Brown try to give Silvermane his own character moment, it's too quick. They try to explain this weird de-aging process and how he snapped back to adulthood becuase the process worked like a rubber band... or something. Needless to say, I didn't get it, so as a way into Silvermane's character, it didn't work.

Also, with Daredevil, Black Widow, Ivan, Dum Dum Dugan, the Contessa and Nick Fury all there, someone should have been able to apprehend Silvermane and Blackwing at the end. Especially Fury, since he didn't seem to take anything too seriously in this issue. Witness how pissed off Ivan was with him for wasting two hours before springing into any type of action.

I'll admit, I probably would have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this issue when I was ten, but my standards were pretty low. When I was ten I thought Diff'rent Strokes was the greatest thing on television. Ten year old me would not have gotten a sense who anyone other than Daredevil was. I would have just enjoyed seeing everyone punching and kicking each other, and, at the end of the day, this issue isn't much more than that.

And that's kind of a shame. Going into this issue, there was some good tension between Daredevil and the Widow. Natasha gained massive respect for Foggy. None of that gets dealt with in this issue, which marks the end of Tony Isabella's time writing Daredevil.

I can't give this issue a good mark at all. I give it a two out of five.
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Mike Murdock
Golden Age


Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 1750

PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hydra's cast is getting crazier and crazier. I don't know who Man-Killer is, but I like that they go out of the way to point out they didn't totally make her up for the sole purpose of knocking out Black Widow. Still, Hydra is somehow more boring when unique like this compared to the mindless drones you normally expect. I don't really like Silvermane as the Hydra leader. Also, Silvermane wearing a slightly older mask doesn't make much sense. I almost wonder if they were covering for an art error from last issue.

There are a couple nice moments. I love when Daredevil is coming to his senses and you see his Radar Sense and hear description around him, but can't see anything. There's also a nice moment from the letterer when they whisper even quieter and the text gets smaller. It only lasts for a page, though. I like Foggy's moment of heroics.

Apparently, Hydra is planning on exercising plan 4-20. My Plan 420 looks a bit different from Hydra's. But, hey, I'm going to pretend I posted this story for that reason! Anyway, they mostly just run and SHIELD mops up. There's not a lot going for the rest of the story. It felt very simplistic in the end. That caption more or less summed it up as just a good vs. evil story and not a particularly dramatic one at that.

And thus ends the Tony Isabella run on Daredevil - not with a bang, but with a whimper.
_________________
Matt Murdock's cooler twin brother

Not sure what to read next? Check out the Book Club for some ideas!

I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons
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