Daredevil Message Board

[Kuljit Mithra]

This thread will be used for discussion on the next issue of Daredevil. In the meantime, here's the new preview of the issue! a

http://www.manwithoutfear.com/gallery/Daredevil-506
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Dre]

Haha How can Matt tell Bakuto not to kill anyone when he himself just threw someone impaling them on a sword?

[Minion]

I see it as "Don't kill them if they give themselves up and are thus more likely to tell us what we want to know." Personally. he had just killed the one attacker who had given himself up and since the Hand aren't known for doing that too often that one may have been their best source of information.

Bakuto has shown his first bit of honor. He believes that flashbombs are cowardly.

Also the fact that the entirety of the hand knows that Matt is blind they knew that after setting off a flash bomb he would have to separate from Bakuto and chase the last ninja. Nice set up for an assassination.

...But if you can dull Matt's senses with magic why haven't they done it before and killed him while he slept? Oh yeah and I guess that could be an explanation for that whole impaling a guy thing.

Also looking back over it I noticed that all of the panels are all layed out in a cinematic widescreen style. Reminds me of the beginning of 181.
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Random Insanity since.... Ummmmm... Tuesday?

[Dre]

[Kuljit Mithra]

Comics Bulletin has a review up already...

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/127116436690654.htm
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Kuljit Mithra]

CBR has a review up:

http://bit.ly/9LHPqp
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Dre]

So anyone get this months issue yet? What did you think?

[vtsoxfan7]

I just finished reading #506 and while I am enjoying the arc, this latest issue has raised my concern a tad.

I know the thread is already labeled SPOILERS but here's another warning just to be safe...


As soon as White Tiger paused when discussing Bakuto with Matt I knew that she was the source of his problems (hat along with the solicit pretty much gave it away even before the last page reveal) but why can't Matt detect this? I guess it's the black magic that also killed the Hand foot soldiers without their being mortally wounded, keeping them from being questioned?

Also, it just seems like White Tiger has some sort of deeper connection to The Hand than we've been shown in the book. Clearly Black Tarantula wasn't able to cleanse White Tiger when he brought her back at the end of the Brubaker/Lark run but when did she have time to get in tight with the other Hand Daimyo?

I do like Bakuto's continued paranoia over who is responsible for his attack though.

As I said, I'm still enjoying the arc, and Diggle's run (with help from Johnston). This is just the first issue that I found myself asking questions before I finished reading it. We'll see where it goes!

Oh yeah...I thought the art (Checchetto's pencils, Hollingsworth's colors) was great - as it has been.
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[Minion]

Major spoilers below.

Also it is also probably too long-winded. Just saw how long it took me to get through the first five pages.

While I still think that this story line has potential I was not a huge fan of this issue. The only character I felt had any development was Bakuto, and while he is a bit of a stereotypical character he is a realistic portrayal of a man brought up as a Japanese gangster and he is in control over one of the more lawless continents.(South America just in case anyone forgot.)

We have to give these characters time to grow. We can't expect them to just appear as fully formed characters. The best characters are formed over time. The Purple Man was taken over New York and has defeated the Avengers and the Thunderbolts. But he started as a bank robber that Daredevil stopped with a tape recorder.

In the opening pages of the issue Daredevil and Bakuto are fighting off hordes of Hand Ninjas/Demons. There is quite a bit of mindless action in this issue but it is a superhero comic that is just beginning to find its feet under a new creative team. What better way to see how an artist takes direction than with some gorgeous art heavy issues? (But aren't they changing artists again in two issues?)

The first page is, to put it simply, awesome. Bakuto is standing back to back with a Demonized version of Daredevil. Who is looking awesome against a lunar backdrop (His sash is reminding me of Disgaea though.) I wish they had taken the occasion to make DD's billy club look like an evil scepter since it is the only drab part of the piece, but it is still a beautiful piece or art. As I said Bakuto has his back to Daredevil. He is not worried about Daredevil stabbing him in the back at all. He either believes that Daredevil's foolish code of honor will prevent him from doing so or is too delusional to prioritize his target.

The ensuing battle is hard to make sense of. In the first page we are informed that Magic is causing Bakuto's hallucinations and is also being used to dull DD's sense of smell and sound. Intuitively this would make it seem that Daredevil is only fighting with his sense of touch. But there are no internal dialogue boxes to tell us of either of their thoughts or descriptions of their martial arts. All of the art panels are horizontal across the entire page giving it a cinematic feel but it is not utilizing the pages. It feels more like a storyboard than a comic book. It is cool, but it didn't feel like the epic battle it should have been with DD's senses gone.

Although he just stated that he has no sense of smell or hearing Daredevil and Bakuto have a short conversation then DD uses his radar sense to warn Bakuto about an attacker behind him. This may be to separate his radar sense from his hearing but nothing is made clear. And on almost every page DD is using his billy club at full extension even though he would have no way to control it in such a confined space then it disappears for a page and is suddenly back in his hands on the next page.

After the opening page of Bakuto and Daredevil standing back to back I was hoping to see them work together more, but there is hardly a panel where they are seen together and if they are they are silhouettes in the background.

And of course every couple of pages there is a cool picture of a ninja's face exploding around his skull. Cool. But no substance. We know the hand disintegrate when they die.

The dialogue is interesting but there is simply not enough of it.

Pages 3 and 4 are individual pages. In page 3 Daredevil is featured and implores Bakuto to trust him.(While killing a Hand Ninja) On page 4 Bakuto is looking quite badass while dispatching three Hand ninja, but one asks for mercy before he is killed while Bakuto remarks, "That word has no meaning here!" These pages could be happening at the same time so we don't know to whom Bakuto is speaking. Personally I believe he was talking to Daredevil because of how he dispatched his former master. We know he does not believe in Trust. The jury's still out on Mercy.

Right after this Daredevil tells Bakuto to not kill them(Right after he killed one.) because they need answers, with his billy club doing another impossible loop. Bakuto kills a few more while reaffirming what the Hand are. They were formed to kill people.(More specifically foreigners) The last surviving member of the attack then decides to run away and drops a flashbomb which still effects Daredevil even though his hearing is supposed to be impaired.

And that's the first five pages of the book.

We are given a three page reprieve from the cinematic style, Instead we get columns that take up the entirety of the page. While Daredevil goes to chase the remaining assassin, Bakuto is ambushed from behind so the preview solicit has a cliffhanger to end on. Daredevil captures the final assassin with ease, but it looks awesome. The assassin drops a cryptic line about the Left hand path and Shadows to play on the event that is to come and then explodes into dust with spectacular effect.

We are brought back to Bakuto and the cinematic panel layout as he easily breaks free of the trap that was set for him and in a series of events that would take at most ten seconds to happen Bakuto is kicked through a wall and DD is already back to save him after tracking down the ninja who ran.

As the final assassin turns to dust Daredevil and Bakuto have a small conversation/argument about the motives of the attack, and I've got to side with Bakuto on this one. Matt doesn't try to explain rationally at all he just yells that they are on the same side. Bakuto is a smart guy who can see how things may have been set up. Daredevil is not going to convince him he wasn't set up by yelling at him.

Then there is a time skip to later with both Matt and Angela in their superhero costumes walking to Matt's room... Why is White Tiger in costume? Does she feel she needs to be dressed as a superhero just to walk around this place? They discuss the attack and White Tiger seems focused on blaming Bakuto, but I can't see why. He's sexist but so are all of the Hand. Of course the conversation is then brought into Matt's bedroom so he can change for dinner... Do we really need to see him get shirtless with White Tiger after he's been running around as Daredevil for ten pages? It just seems like an excuse to make him look like another Tony Stark who will have sex with anything willing with no regard to previous relationships. This conversation could have easily happened anywhere.

Well here we learn that the Left Hand Path is the seeking of divinity through studying magic. Which Matt just knows. White Tiger is jumpy whenever Matt mentions magic and ends the conversation making herself look stupid by dismissing it and calling it mumbo-jumbo.

At dinner White Tiger is put in charge of security, and Matt promises that if whoever attacked him and Bakuto will be forgiven if they confess they will be forgiven... But two pages ago he said that this couldn't stand didn't he? Well Bakuto is understandably upset and accuses Matt of only wanting the obedience of the Hand. Of course getting in an insult at Matt's blindness. Which makes sense. Matt has not shown real leadership at all at this conference. Just a few snippets of speeches that you could hear anywhere. Back in 503 he gave a great speech. Where is that Matt Murdock?

Then Matt scans the crowd with his radar sense which we know won't work since they have established that whoever is doing this can suppress his senses, and THEY'RE NINJAS.

As he storms out Bakuto and his number two discuss the situation and Bakuto draws the quite reasonable conclusion that Matt Murdock was the person who would have benefited from his death. And personally I think his final line was pretty awesome.

If we hadn't already seen that there is a consortium of the other hand Daimyo I would be suspicious of his Number two but since they have already shown who it was it is not really any kind of mystery.

We cut to Matt in bed and it is impossible to miss Elektra in a gratuitous cheesecake shot before you see any words on the page. Well anyway Matt's shirtless again and can't sleep. So Elektra shows up and tells him to cut it out of his stomach. Then does it for him. The scene would be just gratuitous sex and violence if not for the next page where Matt wakes up from his dream and finds that he actually is wounded. Somehow he has been cut open in the night. Did Elektra actually visit him? We don't know. They did hold something back at least.

I am being overly critical of this issue. The dream sequence could easily be Matt's subconscious telling him that the Hand is invading him and it is only going to get harder and harder to get out. And he loves sex.

We cut to the Hand's cave of skulls and the Left Hand Daimyos are arguing about the staged attack leaving no doubt that it was them behind the attack, and again state that they are surprised that Matt is still trying to reach out to Bakuto. Then they attempt to fit some poetic imagery into the conversation by saying they are trying to change the golden soul of Matt Murdock into blackest lead. In essence saying the greater the hero the greater the villain they will become when corrupted.

There is a sense of Mystery for one page as a new hooded figure enters the conversation but I'm not going to ruin it in case someone sees this part by accident. It is a reveal that happens much too quickly and we will have to wait two months to see what will happen next. It is a great way to keep the ending of the book in our heads though which I can understand, but it feels cheap.

I must admit I have been spoiled by the hardbacks. I am used to being able to read entire arcs at once and seeing stories in issue form is not the same, and by no means do I mean to say that this is a bad issue. I am looking at it way too closely because I'm sick and have nothing else to do. I liked the issue but it was very flawed.

Done. sleep now.
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Random Insanity since.... Ummmmm... Tuesday?

[Darediva]

I didn't read the review before I read the issue, so I didn't exactly see that it was going to be WT under that cloak beforehand. I did wonder a little about her saying something about the magic business, and wondered how long before it would be brought up that "Left Hand Path" is black magic terminology.

Since we don't have the internal monologue during Matt's little chat with WT, we don't know whether he knows she's lying or not. He doesn't let on to her if he does. Not even when she asks him to "read the crowd". I think he's thought something was fishy for a while, because he chose to bring her and leave BT back in New York.

But we do get that internal monolgue back this issue, right when it makes the most impact.

Love love LOVE the cover art on this issue, and Checchetto did great with the interior art. Hollingsworth...eh, what can I say? He rocks it as expected. Diggle and Johnston are definitely on a roll.

Only gripe I have is having to wait past "Cage Match" to get to the conclusion of this arc. Can't have everything, so no biggie.
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Alice




Those who throw dirt merely lose ground.

[Darediva]

Hey, Minion! That gratuitous shirtless stuff is for us fangirls, don'tcha know? Balances out that gratuitous butt shot of WT on the same page, and the pages with Elektra.

Nice post up there, with some great points. You posted sometime between when I began my post and I finished it, so didn't read it until after I'd hit the send button.

The stuff about DD hitting the auto-rewind on his billy club has never really bothered me, because he's been doing that for forty-odd years. Sort of like I don't question why Matt and Angela are suddenly in the costumes when the battle starts. Where do these costumed people hide their boots, for instance? Under their socks? I don't know, and never have cared. I park my disbelief at the door.

I've figured that the lack of internal monologue has been as much to keep the reader in the dark as anything. If we don't know what Matt is thinking (or anyone else for that matter) we only have the actions and dialogue to lead us to believe we KNOW what he's going to do, and possibly why. Pretty good way to set up some red herrings. We're all assuming we know what's coming. No, we don't. I like this type of storytelling. Let me think I can figure it out, then pull the rug out from under me.
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Alice




Those who throw dirt merely lose ground.

[Kuljit Mithra]

If you don't mind spoilers, I've completed the summary for the issue...

http://www.manwithoutfear.com/issuesIIinfo.cgi?issue=506
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Minion]

I was being overcritical. I just thought that a lot of the time it seemed that they are trying to ease Daredevil back into the mainstream.

And at times it seems they are just trying to make Bakuto look like a badass. It works. I like him, but we don't get much else.

I haven't really had to wait a long time to read this issue and was waiting for it to be awesome, and it was cool. Not quite where I was hoping it to be.

Not what I expected but still great.
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[Kirika]

Well, I must say that this is one of the first DD issues I have really enjoyed in a while. I loved that it was all action and intrigue. That and I loved the Elektra cameo. Also, the art was beautiful. I love that color is once again entering the DD universe! It might not be the best DD story arc ever, but I like this little bit. I just hope it keeps getting better.

[Minion]

I must agree on the coloring. The bright reds and greens are great. I love the old drab style, but Bright is good too.
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