Daredevil Message Board

Kuljit Mithra · Hardcore Joined: 29 Jul 2004 Posts: 1530 Location: Canada

DAREDEVIL #18, the final issue of volume 4 and the final issue by Waid, Samnee and Wilson, ships September 2nd.

Here's a preview, and it has spoilers that reveals info from last issue's final page... so be warned.

http://www.manwithoutfear.com/gallery/Daredevil-V4-018

Please use this thread for all discussion on the issue.
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

JoeWithoutFear · Flying Blind Joined: 16 Oct 2013 Posts: 54

This is very exciting because...

A. The end of Waid!!

B. This actually looks like it might be a pretty cool issue. Ikari is by far the best thing to come out of Waid's run. Spoilers aside, I hope something cool happens there.

DesignDevil · Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:57 pm Post subject:

So glad thats over. This issue had all the emotional weight of a wet fart. I gave it a 2 for Samnee's artwork.

Completely anticlimactic lead in to the fight with Kingpin. The resolution with the Kingpin was right out of the 2003 Daredevil movie. They punch each other for while then the cops show up cause "the word is out on the Kingpin". The end.

So Matt can now mimic other people's voices "passably." One or two words I'd buy, but when he starts freaking monologuing I rolled my eyes.

Waid, for the second time in his tenure, references the iconic "You shouldn't have signed it." line from Born Again in a completely pointless and awkward way.

Then we end the issue with Matt whining like a bitch and then Foggy and Kirsten McPerfect lecturing him. Kirsten's whole existence has seemingly been to make Matt look dumb, but Foggy under Waid has been a train wreck. Maybe Foggy's words to Matt would have a little more weight if Foggy had not gone along with, and actually encouraged, most of the utterly stupid things Matt has been doing for the last 2 years.

So happy I dropped this book 3 issues ago.
I welcome Charles Soule. I'd have welcomed almost anyone as the bar is not very high at all right now.

Daredevil24 · Humanity's Fathom Joined: 06 Apr 2011 Posts: 367

Damn,I knew he wasn't gonna kill off Kitstin McDuffie.

Dayle88 · Playing to the Camera Joined: 25 Mar 2015 Posts: 140

Firstly, the Miller quote was so forced it just made the moment seem all the worse considering the subtlety and context it originated in.

The issue was pretty rubbish. All the philosophy and morality was lost due to just not really applying to anything. Words trying to sound meaningful tacked on to a bad story just amplify the lack of quality on each side.

Roll on the end of Secret Wars and the start of a hopefully exciting new era.

kentuckydevil · Flying Blind Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 79

Wheelie · Flying Blind Joined: 10 Feb 2011 Posts: 37

Francesco · Underboss Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 1307

Check that out. I totally called it Smile

The only way out was dressing up like Ikari and beat the crap out of everyone before they realized what was going on.

Oh and yes, at long last this god-awful run has ended.

Thayrone Ibsen · Flying Blind Joined: 13 Mar 2015 Posts: 59

Plus,

"Wait. That's it! I know what to do! I can save everyone if I just --" (#17)

whatever happened to that?? Shouldn't we at least be informed of what was Matt's greeeat idea???

Man... Fare the well, Waid. The sad things are: as said, the media, the comics critics really love this twisted run; the choices made in the character enter the canon, it really "happened"; and last, the only thing that can save said canon from that legacy is really a reboot (I didn't want that, but now it's obvious that Soule has his own, new agenda, and the end of this crappy volume has nothing to do with his new stories).

DesignDevil · Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:52 am Post subject:

Kuljit Mithra · Hardcore Joined: 29 Jul 2004 Posts: 1530 Location: Canada

Daredevil24 · Humanity's Fathom Joined: 06 Apr 2011 Posts: 367

Dimetre · Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 3:57 pm Post subject:

So this issue brings an end to Waid's long run. I'm surprised to read that this is the longest continuous run any writer has had in Daredevil history. I thoroughly enjoyed all of Waid's Volume 3 work. Volume 4 much less so.

This issue started off promisingly. I love seeing Daredevil in a jam, and wondering how he's going to get out of it. I think Waid has been particularly good at that throughout his run. Under Waid, Matt has gotten out of sticky situations predominantly by taking crazy risks. Matt has become very impetuous, and it's kind of appropriate for a character named Daredevil. That's been consistent throughout Waid's run, and a relief to me after seeing Matt become an extremely reactive character under Bendis, Brubaker and Diggle.

So it was interesting to me to see how long he could fool the Kingpin. I felt Waid came up with a reasonable explanation for why he would have skills for mimicry. He explained it, so it didn't strain my sense of disbelief very hard.

One thing I thought was sloppy was the inclusion of Julia Carpenter. I don't know much about her other than the fact that she was Spider-Woman in the 80s. I don't know how she was blinded. But, I gather we're supposed to think she knows Matt is posing as Ikari. Matt is aware of this to, which is why he whispers to her, "Gunman at two o'clock. Hit hard." Then Samnee never shows Julia doing anything. Waid even dropped the fact that she's a trained combatant. Shouldn't Samnee have shown Julia doing something? It makes no sense to have her there to do nothing.

This wasn't a very strong issue for Samnee. The blood disappears from Kingpin's face with no explanation. I found the changing of the colour palette for the panel where Matt punches Kingpin in the face kind of confusing. What was the significance of the colour change? It also seems like the fight ended with that one punch, and they all get away. Kind of a weak ending to the fight, in my opinion, and the Miller quote was indeed ham-fisted in there. You shouldn't have signed it? You knew Matt was behind this for a while now? What are you talking about?

It's really too bad that the end of Foggy's cancer battle has such a rushed ending. There was no hint that Foggy was doing better. Matt didn't get a whiff of Foggy's body chemistry until he was a captive of the Kingpin? Wouldn't Matt have been able to smell the improvement over the past few weeks?

But, I think the most disappointing thing is the failure to capitalize on a recurring theme Waid has been bringing up time and time again throughout his run -- Matt's reluctance to deal with his issues. Really, this has been going on since Bullseye killed Karen page almost 20 years ago. Matt has not dealt with his grief properly, and Bendis used that to explain the crazy marriage to Milla, and even his decision to sue the Globe. Brubaker made it overt with the effect Lily Lucca had on Matt. Matt's unresolved grief has been used to explain everything from his sleeping with Dakota North to his decision to lead the Hand. Waid, from day one, has been consistent, saying that Matt is refusing to brood over his grief. He is making a conscious decision to operate with a different attitude. I was fine with that, but I also saw that Waid kept his demons lurking just below the surface. Matt's baggage was there to see in the issues with the Moleman. The Purple Children story was by far the best one in Volume 4, because Matt was made to feel what he was avoiding for so long. For me, that gave me hope that we were finally going to see Matt deal with the issues he was avoiding.

In this issue we get one page where Matt owns up to the fact that he is not "fearless." He criticizes himself for being reckless and arrogant. Never mind the fact that it doesn't match up with his behaviour from the page immediately preceding, but it doesn't come close to dealing with the themes Waid kept alluding to throughout his run. And that's really too bad. So much promise squandered.

I will always, always defend the amazing work Waid did in Volume 3. I will always be bewildered by the precipitous drop in quality for Volume 4.

Francesco · Underboss Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 1307

Julia Carpenter became blind when she replaced Madame Web at the end of a Spider-man event. With blindness she also gained madame web's powers in addition to her own (clairvoyancy mostly).

Kuljit Mithra · Hardcore Joined: 29 Jul 2004 Posts: 1530 Location: Canada

I'd love to know what Stephan thought of Waid's run. Are you out there, Stephan?
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Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

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