Daredevil Message Board

[Kuljit Mithra]

DAREDEVIL #608 by Soule and Noto ships September 12 and here's a preview!



http://www.manwithoutfear.com/gallery/Daredevil-V5-608

Please use this thread for all discussion when the issue ships next week!
_________________
Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[Dimetre]

This story is asking me to buy into a lot, and in the end, I just couldn't.

Phil Noto again does an excellent job on art. I hope we get more issues from him. He's a star.

But the problem is Charles Soule. In order for this story to work, the audience has to accept a number of premises:

1. The audience has to accept that among the legal briefs he gave the Reader to look over, Matt included some information about his fictional twin brother whom he killed off a long time ago.

2. We have to believe that the Reader, while reading a passage about Mike Murdock, (someone who never actually existed, and whom he never met) would make real someone with their own personality and back story. Someone who would have memories of Karen Page.

3. We have to believe that Matt is dumb enough to allow this non-human facsimile of his fictional twin brother to continue to exist, knowing that he's dangerous and angry with him.

In the end, I just couldn't do it. Soule is asking too much from me. I spent this issue dreading that Mike was still going to exist at the issue's end, and sure enough, he does. And I think that sucks. I was completely in agreement with the Reader when he said, "He's not even a person, just a fragment. What the hell is there to talk about?" and then later, "This is ridiculous."

When the Reader asks Matt why he stopped him from erasing Mike, this is Matt's response.

[Mike Murdock]

I found the standoff at the start of the issue effective. Mike Murdock is a fictional person (so is everyone else, I get that), which makes his behavior so hard to predict. Case in point was Karen Page. He doesn't have all the details, so he didn't really have an emotional reaction to finding out about her death. Bushwacker was a fun addition. I don't think we've ever seen him drink gasoline before, but, for a flamethrower, that makes a bunch of sense. Would he join with the Kingpin? Possibly. He's practically a blank slate.

Four Starts.
_________________
Matt Murdock's cooler twin brother

Not sure what to read next? Check out the Book Club for some ideas!

I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons

[Dimetre]

[Daredevil24]

I love the art. I'm just sad to see the art wasted on mediocre story at best. Noto is one of the best artist's in Daredevil history. Mike Murdock remaining at the end and Matt buying into this crap is ridiculous. The man refuses to tell Elektra, Echo and Natasha about the tampering in their relationship yet has sympathy for his fake psychopathic twin brother after meeting him for an hour. GTF with that crap! This is why I'm skeptical when writers try to be cute with nostalgia. After my suffering through Waid's goofiness and now being subjected to this type of mediocrity I'm just sad. This book is between mediocre and boring. Doesn't seem to know what kind of book it wants to be.

[macjr33]

Noto's art continues to be amazing.

Other than that I am little unsure of where this story is headed. As it stand right now I am a little concerned and do agree that this whole Mike Murdock thing a) doesn't make sense b) has Matt acting a bit ridiculous.

However, as I said when this arc started, I think we will have to see where the whole thing goes before passing judgement.

3 stars for now, but could drop lower depending on how things go.

[Sunni]

Late to the party, I gave it a five because Noto’s art popped off the pages, and it hit all the right emotional beats for me with Matt. He misses Jack badly enough that he makes a decision to save Mike based on pure emotion and faith (killing is wrong, so erasing would be as well).

That said, logically this issue did not only fail to resolve any of the logic problems from the last two issues, it added even more (for example, why didn’t Reader just erase Mike from the rooftop?). I’ve praised Soule for his strong construction during his entire run with each storyline flowing smoothly into the next like a river, but this arc has been a big rock. Maybe it’s for the best he’s wrapping everything up if he can’t maintain the level of structure that’s been such a highlight of his writing.

[Cropsy Cryptkeeper]

I think the entire Mike situation is dumb and an obvious setup for something coming down the road, or a horrible red herring. Either way I am not a fan of it. DD works best without the magical mutant power stuff thrown into the mix; keep it street level.