Daredevil Message Board

[Kuljit Mithra]

Please discuss DD#101 in this thread...
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Dimetre]

I was quite moved by this issue. I never really liked Milla, and maybe I still don't, but I was touched by Matt's devotion to her. Milla's situation has led Matt to some irrational behaviour in this issue, but it's understandable.

Nice handling of Turk. He doesn't appear to be the dummy he once was. He seems to have learned a few things from his past dealings with Daredevil, and realizes that Mr. Fear has gone too far. And he turned tail and ran to the Hood.

I don't know anything much about the Hood. I don't want to touch any Avengers books with a ten foot pole. I'm curious to see if Brubaker can do anything good with him. I just hope they don't make any Avengers books necessary reading for Daredevil fans.

[Kuljit Mithra]

Read the issue last night... really liked some of the panels, reminded me of Mazz's Born Again artwork. Liked the Milla and Matt scenes. And I wonder if Fear will play nice with The Hood.
20 issues into the Brubaker/Lark/Gaudiano run... time flies.
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Clayton Blind Love]

Great issue! I was in the right mood for a little drama and the scenes with Milla were dynamite. Also, I can never tire of seeing Daredevil snapping arms in scum infested bars. This is the Daredevil I really love. A man who simply cannot control his anger at times. Very human. Very believable. He goes that extra step with the violence because it is really the violence that controls him. Bru and Lark do some wonderful work here. Honestly, this feels a little closer to Miller's work than Bendis and Maleev's take. I feel so spoiled getting this book.

Wow! Turk grew a brain, eh? A long time coming. It makes some sense. Even a lowlife like Turk is going to open his eyes at some point to see how the game is played. Love this new direction.

To make my day even sweeter, the Bowen Gladiator (Melvin Potter) bust arrived. Holy donuts Foggy! This bust is HUGE!

C.
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Love is blindness, I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night around me

[fox_limbo]

(Pardon my stepping back for a moment...)

There were a number of people that criticized DD#100. I'd have to say it was a very solid issue. The use of the guest artists was very well done (esspecially after comparing it to the one-panel variety that was seen in DD#50... gezz, I still cringe at that).

People have said that DD#100 did not push the plot forward. Well, if you look at it closely. Brubaker has written a Foggy-centric issue (#88 ), then a Milla-centric issue (#94). DD#100 was a Matt-centric issue. Then, the arguement comes: "well, doesn't every issue primarily have Matt Murdock as the central figure of this universe?" Well, yes, but DD#100 digs further into Matt's own psychology of a character (just as DD# 88 and #94 did for Foggy and Milla). Who knows, maybe #106 will be a Dakota-centric issue, or even a Lilly-centric issue. There is a formula Ed Brubaker is following here.

Based on that formula, so far, it makes sense why DD#100 was as much of a character-driven issue as it was.

Then, of course, there is DD#101 (yes! I'm back on topic). This, too, was a very solid issue. Ed Brubaker is the master of building suspense and ratcheting up the intensity. As you read, and re-read, any recent issue of Daredevil, there is a palpable sense of dread. There is an impending sense of escalating danger for the character(s) involved and the heightened intrigue, as you see the pieces on the chessboard in the larger picture and you see the meticulous intricacies of the spider's web. This issue is no different. Things were set up in the last issue (and really, the whole of the last arc), plot strands, that were followed in DD#101.

There was great charcter development, particularly in the Matt-Milla relationship. This is one of the moments you, as the reader, can feel how much Matt genuinely cares for Milla. And the fact that he feels helpless, again, like a cornered animal (but since "Born Again", Matt always feels this way, doesn't he?), the fact that he lashes out with such verve and volcanic, angry passion is pure Matt Murdock. That alone, in my opinion, shows that Ed Brubaker knows this character. He understands Matt's inner-landscape. And that is an exciting thing to see.

I'm new at The Hood, so (for me), the jury's still out with that character. But I'm willing to see where things go in that regard. I'm interested to see how Mister Fear continues to be used as a character (as people have yawned about how "boring" this character is). I've been waiting to see the return of this villain. And, right now, my wait has been well worth it. I am intrigued and curious about this particular character, but I dread what it will mean for our hero when this villain again rears his ugly head. This has been a delicious use of an antagonist (bursting him out onto the scene, then slipping him back into the shadows). There may be some people that are bored of Mister Fear, but I certainly am not one of them. No sir-ee.

As brilliant as Lark and Gaiudiano's art has been, which has really been pitch-perfect (and I do mean that with all sincerity, these guys have masterfully juggled a lot of things and have made them work in the gritty, dirty, dangerous work of Hell's Kitchen) for a number of consecutive issues, DD#101 puts Ed Brubaker's writing, once again, on showcase. I am feverishly waiting for the next episode....

[Ed Brubaker]

Maybe it's time to note that I don't see forward-plot-movement as a story-telling goal every issue. Character is plot as far as I'm concerned, so if people are looking for a checklist of things that happened to "move a story along" as many comic readers seem to be, they're going to be disappointed with my books sometimes. To me it's all about character exploration.

Nice post, fox.
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www.edbrubaker.com

[Solid Snake PAC]

[harryhausen]

Yeah. I read it last night and liked it a lot, but was most appreciative of 2 things: the way Dakota gives the straight talk to Matt (I like her more and more) and the scene where Matt goes to visit Milla as DD. That was great. He (albeit, perhaps, belatedly) gets his priorities straight for a time.

I still can’t shake the feeling that Matt having a lady in his life at this point is probably selfish of him. But then people do selfish things in love, eh?

I’m one of the ones who likes the Hood (and NA) and am excited about this development. If Matt finds and vanquishes Mister Fear, he’ll just have to fight the Hood and any number of other villains next. Another day in the Kitchen. Plus, if the Hood wants to set himself up like this, messing with Murdock is a good plan. He’s A-list, but vulnerable (now more that usual) and makes Tigra look like a, uh, cat-girl in underpants?

[Neilan]

[Lundonj]

[SouthernHero]

Awesome art, and even better writing. Matt's display of emotion was touching, and I loved the scene with them laying together in the hospital bed... really touching, I nearly cried like a woman.

It's great to see a writer who writes great literature, and not just a funny book. To everybody that said #100 was too slow, I feel that Ed could take a year to tell the story, and the pay off would be huge because of the character growth and development.

I love the mystery and allure, and I hope, really hope, that we see some awesome courtroom drama in the near future. It would be great to see Matt save Milla in the courtroom as well as in a fistfight.

Great work, gentlemen.
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Middle Class Fabulous

[Dave Wallace]

OK, I finally got my review finished.

http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/reviews/119375915942419.htm

[Clayton Blind Love]

Nicely put Dave. I feel right in the zone (crazy DD fanboy who needs a weekly fix of this) with this arc. I think this is shaping up to be as good as the Devil in Cellblock D. Can't stand the wait!

C.
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Love is blindness, I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night around me

[Dave Wallace]

Yeah, this arc is shaping up very well. I just finished digesting the Cap Omnibus, which I bought recently (I'd never read past the first arc of Brubaker's Cap until the last couple of weeks) and reading those 30 issues or so in one huge chunk has made me appreciate his talent for big-picture storytelling. Everything is there for a reason, and it's a lot of fun to see him build his story, putting all the individual elements together on an issue-by-issue basis and ending up with something that's greater than the sum of its parts.

I realise that this looks a bit sychophantic seeing as Ed is contributing to this thread, but I don't mean it to be. It's just that reading his Cap run has made me see similar elements in his Daredevil run so far, and that's perhaps why I enjoyed this latest issue so much. Maybe we'll see a Brubaker DD Omnibus before too long...

[Gloria]

I agree with Dave that, good as Brubaker's Captain America has been every single issue, reading all the run -so far- together makes a terrific, enthralling saga. Same goes for Brubaker's Daredevil... to those discussing about whether the stories are really arch of five parts or more, I'd say that it is actually one big, mighty DD story which started in #82.

Re this issue, much as I feel bad for what Milla is going through, I admit that, story-wise, this is much better than if -as some authors in the past have done- Brubaker had killed the character in #98 as some evil fanboys demanded. Milla's character has been significantly enriched in the current run, and you must admire Brubaker for taking a DD girlfriend from a previous author, and, instead of killing her, or estranging her, or plain forgetting she ever existed -again, as some authors in the past have done-, has developed her and explored the tough life she has to deal with as Murdock's wife... and develops a new plot which leaves a lot of future possibilities for the character, whether she overcomes her current situation or not.

The Milla-Matt moments were very tender and make me care even more for them as a couple... Also, while I feel that Matt's got sound motives to be enraged, I think that fighting angry is not wise: it blinds him from other things going on, as we can see.

I've said already that I love Brubaker's work with the secondary cast: Dakota is top-notch here, but I was a bit surprised that, seemingly, Matt hadn't told him at all about his being DD (even tho' she's clever enough to igure it out XD)... I thought that all the people at the firm knew about it. Darn it... I thought that Becky knew, too, but...Does she?

I also like the consistency in Foggy's portrait: in #82 we were shown a man who was experienced, highly commited to his job and to his clients, and was quite capable and level-headed at it, and so he is here: that will be much needed as Matt is really on the edge, so it is good that Foggy remains at his side, aware as he is of the rules, ettiquettes, shortcuts and Y-turns of the Law.

As pointed by others, the character development of Turk is just great... Even if he's not a Nobel prize, he has extracted a few useful lessons from past experience, and we might see him acting smart for once, which sounds interesting.

Apart from teh regulars, every bit player is finely charactherized, even in cameos...from DA Allgreen, to Dakota's inside man in the NYPD (it's good to know that DD has more allied beyond his circle of close associates)... With just a few pannels, you get to know these people as if you had met them before.

Re Lark's art, I'd say it's nicely Colan-esque as well, and going from strength to strength with each new issue.
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Gloria
Devuélveme el rosario de mi madre y quédate con todo lo demás

"Para la cuesta arriba quiero mi burro, que la cuesta abajo yo me la subo"