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DAREDEVIL #612 Preview, Reviews and Discussion

 
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What did you think of DAREDEVIL #612?
5
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 0%  [ 0 ]
4
45%
 45%  [ 5 ]
3
45%
 45%  [ 5 ]
2
9%
 9%  [ 1 ]
1
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Total Votes : 11

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Rand
Flying Blind


Joined: 30 Jun 2015
Posts: 16

PostPosted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Let's focus, for a moment, on two comments at the back of this final issue of Charles Soule's run:

1) "[Phil Noto]'s an old friend, and I think we packed in some wonderful stuff in the issues we got to do together, from bringing back Mike Murdock to killing Daredevil off... which we did, by the way. Those black pages? Yeah. Daredevil died." -- Soule

First, the good:

Phil Noto provided (inarguably?) the best art that Daredevil received during the entirety of Soule's run.

Now, the bad:

a) It wasn't a good idea -- much less a "wonderful" one -- to bring back Matt's fictional twin brother. Worse still: we're stuck with him now; the most we can hope for (I guess) is that no future writer ever mentions the fact of his existence again.

b) An unbroken series of black pages closing out an issue to signify the death of a character was used just two years ago in Saga, and to much stronger effect. It's unknown to me whether Soule was unaware of that other book's use of the same device, or else, whether he thought it would work equally well here... which it doesn't.

c) Soule himself admits (!) that his gimmick scarcely succeeds, since he (embarrassingly) feels the need to explicitly state -- at the end of an arc entitled "The Death of Daredevil" -- that what he'd (momentarily) done was kill Matt off.

2) "After five years and over 40 issues, Charles Soule's epic run on Daredevil has come to a close, and Matt Murdock will never be the same." -- Devin Lewis (editor)

a) Soule's run on Daredevil kicked off with a new #1 released on December 2, 2015; this final issue shipped on November 28, 2018. Simple arithmetic dictates that Soule's run therefore lasted exactly three years, not... five years? (What?!)

Keep in mind: this was the first sentence of Devin's page-long reflection on the book; his job was, literally, editor.

b) If anyone here believes that Matt Murdock will "never be the same", moving forward with 2019's new run -- which I can only assume (and, to some extent, hope) will be a more-or-less back-to-basics approach (compared to Soule's flights of fancy) -- I've got a suspiciously familiar truck full of radioactive waste with which to run you over... Rolling Eyes
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Daredevil24
Humanity's Fathom


Joined: 06 Apr 2011
Posts: 367

PostPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anyone know how Soule's sales stack up against Waid's?
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Rand
Flying Blind


Joined: 30 Jun 2015
Posts: 16

PostPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Daredevil24 wrote:
Anyone know how Soule's sales stack up against Waid's?

http://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-sales-data.shtml
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Sunni
Flying Blind


Joined: 07 Jan 2017
Posts: 87

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Loved it. Matt momentarily dying on the operating table is the only kind of death for him I can get behind (actually killing him would be so, so bad for so many reasons), and Karen saying exactly the wrong thing when she was welcoming Matt to Heaven was perfect. She might as well have thrown in a “You have nothing to feel guilty about” LOL. Of course he came back!

That said, four stars for me because four issues is a lot to spend on “it was all a dream!” except for Matt getting hit by the truck. I think this whole arc could have been reworked to be done in three or even two issues with a tighter narrative giving it much more impact. As is, it still works, but it’s not Soule’s strongest story. Then again, his opening arc wasn’t either, so I think it’s oddly fitting in a way for him to come full circle. I’ll miss him on the book, but I’m glad he mentioned on Reddit that he’s told the Daredevil stories he wanted to tell outside of one that he will be doing elsewhere.

lcarr1991 wrote:
Didn’t hate this but if you’re going to actually kill daredevil, the story needs to b better than this. No real emotional gut punch and a little predictable.

Cropsy Cryptkeeper wrote:
I think if the whole arc was a stand alone issue I would rate it higher. I usually am not a fan of "it was only a dream" type twists, someone else predicted it here and I was kind of hoping for a little something more, but the end message was a powerful one. It's like Matt can't settle on a happy ending for himself, but he also is choosing to be his own light in the darkness. I really liked that. Oddly enough, after picking up this comic I was almost hit by a truck crossing the street, really made me think.

I'm glad you're okay! And yes, I agree this needed to be shorter to have the gravitas Soule wanted to it have. It's just too drawn out to be the gut punch it's supposed to be.

Dimetre wrote:
Charles Soule deserves credit for some well-chosen words and phrases. "So I will be the light," suggests Christian scripture.

It’s also a nice callback to what Matt has thought in earlier arcs. Soule has said his run is meant to be one big novel, and it really shines through here.

Dimetre wrote:
So, I'm annoyed that Soule felt entitled to end his arc by leaving Matt in a compromised state, just like Bendis and Brubaker had before him.

*shrugs* It's a trait Matt's known for now. Might as well make the most of it and run with it since it's another thing that makes his book distinct from the rest of the comics on the shelves.

Dimetre wrote:
I'm annoyed that Noto drew the Vigil to be so visually arresting, but so unknowable. I guess the Vigil represented the permanent embrace of death, but he really wasn't much of a character. He just looked really cool.

RGdesigner wrote:
Mike Murdock, was kinda funny as a plot device at first, but him actually running around is ridiculous. He needs to be killed off and quickly forgotten as soon as possible.

Rand wrote:
It wasn't a good idea -- much less a "wonderful" one -- to bring back Matt's fictional twin brother. Worse still: we're stuck with him now; the most we can hope for (I guess) is that no future writer ever mentions the fact of his existence again.

The Vigil was Matt’s Catholic Guilt. The Catholic Vigil is also known as a wake before a funeral. That said, his character design was awesome, and IMHO too good to not reuse. I hope someone down the line makes him a real non-dream character, and it might as well be Mike since I’m the only one who likes him apparently. I thought Mike would turn out to be the new villain anyway, so it’d work well for everyone.
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