Daredevil Message Board

[Dave Wallace]

Hi Guys,

For the first time in quite a while, I've got an advance review up of this week's issue of Daredevil. Enjoy!

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/121976226828204.htm

Dave

[jumonji]

[Dave Wallace]

You're too kind! Thanks.

[Kuljit Mithra]

I really liked how the supporting cast worked in this arc. Dakota comes across as someone we'd like to see more of in the comic, rather than just a replacement for Jessica Jones.

I was worried everything wouldn't come together in the last issue, but it worked. And like Sam North says, DD won this battle, for a change.

Hopefully with Lady Bullseye appearing next issue, we can see a jump in readership. We all know this comic is good. Let's see if people stick around with this next arc.
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www.manwithoutfear.com

[Dimetre]

I liked this issue too. Matt was a more proactive character here.

[Dave Wallace]

Yeah, I feel as though Dakota and Becky have finally managed to snap Matt out of the funk that he's been in for the last year or so.

I wonder if the book will see a boost for the "Lady Bullseye" storyline - I'm sure it'll be a great read either way.

[FatalRose]

Yes this was a VERY good arc. Very pulp noir and realistic with some awesome super heroics by DareDevil. Can't wait for the Lady Bullseye story arc.
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[harryhausen]

Perhaps I’m the voice of dissent (or at least the only one posting), but I wasn’t feeling this arc too much. I like Dakota a lot and I felt that the plot was fairly tight, but I’m not sure I like the Matt that we’ve been getting (and who has been developing consistently, I’ll admit) under Brubaker’s pen. I take the fact that this arc was a bit of an upswing with a grain of salt, because I keep thinking, “is it Rucka righting the ship here?”

Perhaps it’s the “realistic” tone of the book that makes it so tough to pull off? Matt seems more and more like a self-absorbed kook in a red suit who’s getting his ass handed to him every time he faces off against anyone who’s not Turk or Grotto. This kind of thing works on Captain America, ‘cause he’s dead.

I’m not a slave to the Miller period (though it’s my favorite, for sure), but I miss the Matt who would occasionally have the upper hand. If Brubaker is driving the character this way on purpose, it’s cool, but I think it’s time to let up. I’m not talking sunny days, just more focus.

Speaking of the realistic tone, I continue to have trouble with bits of Lark’s art. In the scene an issue or two ago where Dakota cracks Moss with the bat, the positioning of their bodies and vehicles over the course of those panels was very awkward. In the most recent issue, when DD jumps into and through the helicopter (very cool, I’ll add), it sure looked like he jumped UP into it and then his swing to kick the shooter was impossible-feeling. Does this not bother anyone else? Every time I see that stuff it totally takes me out of the story. I don’t mind it so much when it’s on some crazy book (like Mighty Avengers or some other schlocky crap), but Lark’s accomplished DD art looks like film stills and my mind naturally wants to connect the action scenes.

My point is – and I may be holding the book up to a higher standard than others – if I weren’t so invested in my DD collection (almost a complete run), I would probably drop it. How can this be?

And now Fraction (and Brubaker) are making the Uncanny X-Men way too glib and nuts and with that awful porn art? I feel betrayed. I’m turning back into a DC guy? Batman’s killing right now and so are Action and Superman (James Robinson!). Wait til the new Flash series gets going….some Marvel’s gonna fall to the axe………

[jumonji]

I thought this was a good issue, perhaps even great. However, I agree with the reviewers out there (on the "Internets") who have said that the conclusion was a bit rushed and a little too neat. I had expected something else and was - I'm sad to say - a little underwhelmed. I'm a devoted Brubaker fan and I really liked this arc a lot, but the ending didn't quite live up to the quailty of the story overall. What I did like in this issue was the character work. Oh, and Matt smiled. Not a smirk, but an actual smile. Has hell frozen over yet?

[Blind Alley]

I kinda agree with some of the points made by harryhausen.

The helicopter scene : it seems DD should "land" below the helicopter and not on the same level...

The "upper hand" : yeah, DD is too often depicted as a victim, a target, not proactive enough and not "badass" enough.
Though, in many scenes by Brubaker he demonstrated he was not to be messed with (in Ryker vs the Owl and Hammerhead, in Paris vs Tombstone and Matador).
Unfortunately, since the Mister Fear big arc, he was more often written as a weak pawn, easily played by villains like Mr Fear, the Hood or whoever.

But I think (hope) the latest arc marked the beginning of a positive change.
If I had to drop the series (monthly, at least, not TPB), I would have done it after the Mister Fear arc. Now, I think it's gonna get better.
My favorite DD is the "Never Give up" hero, not the "it's all my fault" whiner.
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[Francesco]

I too was expecting a more spectacular conclusion (the chatroom braintrust guys know this, since I've been boring the heck out of them with at least two theories on how the arc would've ended), but looking at everything I must say that I'm more content with how Brubaker and Rucka wrapped things up.
There's a reason for that, and it lies in a message the authors inserted in the last issue.
It is when Matt and gang are at the hospital, and Matt, thinking aloud, says that it's his fault again for what happened to Dakota, and Becky tells him "knock it off" and "not everything is about you".

That's right. There will be time for Matt to rise from the ashes, shine again, and maybe get his vengeance on Mr Fear, but first of all, what is important to underline is that "not everything has to be about him".

It would've smelled of fake if, after his fall, Matt would immediately have made who knows what spectacular comeback in who knows what plot twist connected to Mr Fear's drugs.
For now, what's important is that Matt has "remembered who he is". He's a hero who fights for Justice. An innocent has been framed. Framed by a government agency, on the top of that. His job is to save him.

The real epiphany of this arc is when, confronted by Sam North outside the hospital, Matt refuses to take his crap and condemns the whole ballet of "looking at the bigger picture" "covering up for national security" as an "indecent" "perversion of justice".
When was the last time we've heard Matt reaffirming who he is, what he believes in, his purpose, with such determination?

And, right after that, free of any hampering sense of guilt or self-pity, without wasting time, he gets back to his game. Within the space of two moves, he gets to the culprits and lays a well deserved smack on them. Shortly after, with the cover up exposed, Ben will be sent free. Justice is restored thanks to Matt/Daredevil. He has found is identity again, and has emerged triumphant.
And now, only now, there are the premises for him to reach his old heights again.

[Blind Alley]

Very well said, Francesco.
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[jumonji]

[Gloria]

[harryhausen]

Francesco and Gloria both make good points. I should probably rethink my stance a bit.....

Francesco's post really gave me pause about the purpose of this arc. Thanks.

And Gloria, you're right.....indeed, Brubaker does seem to be making a (potentially laborious) comeback for Matt seem feasible. And, yes, it would seem that Bendis put the hero at the absolute bottom and now Brubaker is trying to bring him back. So, no fault of Brubaker, per se.....

...but that doesn't mean that I wanted to read 29 issues of this comeback. Maybe Bendis is the culprit and Brubaker is struggling mightily with a way to return the character to his previous proclivities, but this all reminds me of how so many comics readers I know tout Peter David - even when the books he writes are often mediocre - by saying things like, "but it's so amazing what he's able to do when forced to crossover with X-crap," or, "his talent as a writer shines through, even on this material." Eventually, that wears thin for me. I know Peter David can write, but that doesn't mean I'm pulling She-Hulk every month.

In the end, will Brubaker be the guy who reset Daredevil (in a non-magical way, eh, Gloria?), setting the stage for his successor to start telling the "clean-slate" stories with this great, fleshed-out cast? I hope so. But that's a raw deal for such a talented writer.

Also, as a corollary (and please forgive the length of this one, but I post infrequently these days, at least!), I find that as I get more and more into comics that I guess I'm becoming a sort of Silver/Bronze Age junkie. It's taken me a long time to realize this, but all the times that I rail against comics operating as ersatz representatives of TV and film (a criticism I have levelled at Brubaker and Lark on DD) and writers who seek the ludicrously hyper-realistic (a criticism I have NOT directed at B&L's DD) - I just wanted to reclaim that thrill from the "heyday." Plus, I really like that I'm getting a super-hero story and a cultural snapshot all in one. [Of course, I am arguably getting that now, too.....]

* disclaimer - Know, too, that I'm a nut who doesn't own a TV and the only movie I've seen in years was The Dark Knight. Just so you know what kind of Luddite freak is writing this.[/quote]