DAREDEVIL 325 cover

Chichester: Boy, we must have felt pretty good about ourselves by that point.

Way simpler and more in tune with the times to slam a sai-spinning comin'-atcha shot of Elektra as the ninja-bitch-avenger. With a slam-bang headline in the Merry Marvel style. Something like, "...and they shall call her -- ELEKTRA!" Then again, if I'd pushed for that, maybe I'd still be working in comics today! ;-)

I love the heck out of that cover. From the moment I saw it. A perfect bookend to the Empire State free fall. Maybe this is what landed on the sidewalk below. Stark. Intriguing. The awesome.

DAREDEVIL 325 pg. 35

The page is easy to read visually. The only thing I would reconsider is the color hold on the Erynys "spirit" as it seeks to come home. I think a color hold on an object tends to push that object into the distant background, as if all of a sudden atmospheric haze has begun to obscure the object's clarity and sharpness. And that's the opposite effect for this precise moment - the fleeing spirit is in the immediate foreground, and should have better captured the visual focal point.

Chichester: More of this please.

I must have suggested something right to bring out this sequence from Scott's pencil. Just a really strong combination of moments. And I managed to not muck it up. Instead, I somehow struck a much more satisfying, crisper balance of writerly pretension (splashes of red and searing furies) and telling the tale ("I can feel it back inside, malignant and twisting and tearing!")

Even the way Garrett and the Snakeroot get their due comes in fast transmissions, unique to who they are. Their lines cut to and communicates their essential characters and intent. Wow. I finally managed to use the power for good again!

I'm wondering now if this and other moments in this issue work "better" because I was free of the guest stars. And clear of all that, able just to focus on the story and the characters that actually mattered the most to the core.

(I agree with Scott. The tint-print doesn't really do this moment justice. Oh well -- we tried!)

DAREDEVIL 325 pg. 44

Note the simple camera placements. With the action axis set between the two characters, Maggie is always on the left, and Matt is always on the right. The constant camera movements capture the action/reaction of the interchange, adding a little motion, like a gentle dance, to an otherwise physically static exchange.

Chichester: Your dislike for Matt's identity switch, Kuljit, have given me some pause and new perspective on that storytelling choice. But whether or not I'd change that up, I'm pleased it gave me the chance to write this page. A return to the past before stepping to the future.

Like the other page you pulled for this issue, I seem to have been able to balance my skills and ambition to a lot nicer effect. Scott turned my plot points into just what they needed to be. (Without my ever knowing that this was *it.*) He delivers with a great sequence of beats. By keeping the framing the same, he lets us focus on the characters and their relationship.

I had to write *something* so I could voucher for the scripting. But you can scan those faces and personalities and know what's happening. Look at their body language and expressions and how much he shifts and reveals from panel to panel. Relief, conflict. Uncertainty, trust. Faith, hope. Sharing -- and humanity.

That last, especially, was one of the things I most liked about the character. And it's great to be reminded of it again here.

DAREDEVIL 325 pg. 46

Chichester: When we started this, I said I had come to the conclusion that FFG *came* from an angry place. And I think that's still largely true.

But for a story where one main character is forced to re-absorb an evil essence... and another is forced to give up his identity to protect his friends and loved ones... it really ends in a better place. On a pretty hopeful note.

Sometimes the "Marvel style" -- plot, then art, then script -- works against you. We've seen a few instances of that along the way. Minor sins. Such as where Scott and I should have coordinated better when it got to the scripting, so the flow of balloons and captions wouldn't cover up stuff, or confuse the reader.

And of course that system could get really messy. There was a Black Widow/Punisher graphic novel I did where the plot dictated a big visual reveal of the villain's plan. And the lazy artist decided he'd rather draw a generic action pose of the main characters instead. Which meant I had to move the story along by scripting the page with word balloons of Widow and Punisher referring to and explaining things the reader would never see. ("Punisher...do you see what I see?" "You're right, Widow! It's a mega-evil Doomsday device!" "We have to target that red wire!" Etc. Eck-cetera.)

But that frustration factor is the outlier. What made this process fun was the surprise. How would the artist interpret the words? And where would that take the storytelling in the captions or the dialogue? My plots were pretty tight. I'm sure Scott would use a word like "dense". And that would be being kind! So I had a pretty good expectation of what I'd see. But when you *do* see it for the first time, and it's really coming to life in that breakdown of panels... it inspires words you didn't know were coming. All told, for this medium, I think it's a more collaborative process of creation.