Daredevil Reviews - Page 2

Daredevil: Guardian Devil 2003 (SC TPB) 190 pages

Written by Kevin Smith. Pencils by Joe Quesada. Inks by Jimmy Palmiotti.
Colour/letters: various. Editor: Nanci Dakesian.

Reprinting: Daredevil (vol. 2) #1-8 (1998-1999)

Rating: * * * (out of five)

Number of readings: 2

Additional notes: intro by Ben Affleck; afterword by Smith; covers

A young woman leaves her baby with Daredevil's alter ego of Matthew Murdock -- claiming demonic agents seek to kill it because it's the Messiah. Yet then another man tells him the baby is actually the anti-Christ. And as troubles plague DD and his friends, seeming a result of the baby's "curse", he isn't sure who to trust...or if he can kill the child even if it is evil. Along the way, a significant supporting character is killed off.

This was part of Marvel's attempt to reignite some of its moribund titles by restarting the series (though it isn't a "re-boot" per se -- it's the same on-going Daredevil continuity, just with a new numbering system) and landing a "hot" creative team headed by Kevin Smith -- the cult fav indie filmmaker and comics fan marking his first mainstream comics work.

At first glance, the premise seems a bit odd for the normally realist, "mean streets" of Hell's Kitchen Daredevil. Not that Daredevil hasn't tackled supernatural themes before -- but still, demons and anti-Christs? But that's part of the appeal. By inserting Daredevil in a story that has overtones of occult thrillers, it stays true to the character while providing a slightly novel plot.

Though the story is talky, it moves along well, the thriller aspects intriguing, promising a provocative story of good and evil, morality and responsibility. Smith, better known for writing comedies, crafts some funny lines and moments, while maintaining the serious tone of the series.

The art by Joe Quesada is vibrant and robust, detailed without being cluttered, and full of brooding shadows that suit the spooky tone of the story. Quesada's style reflects the slightly caricaturish style of modern artists, but not too much so to lose the humanity of the characters. I'm not always a big fan of "cartoony" comic art in super hero comics, but I've begun to acclimatize to it, accepting it as the new "norm" -- yet then I read some reviews of this which criticized Quesada's art as too caricaturish. Man -- I'm never going to figure out what's "in", am I? The art is further enhanced by moody and vibrant colouring. Though the art is beautiful, I suppose it is true that it lacks some of the urban realism other Daredevil tales have had over the years.

Interestingly, Quesada is one of the few Daredevil artists (at least, so that I've noticed) who draws Daredevil as really blind, with his pupils kind of rolling up into his head.

Anyway, with its intriguing premise, rich with provocative themes, nicely written scenes, and sumptuous art, I was turning pages eagerly, thinking I had stumbled upon one of the greats -- a compelling, thinking man's "graphic novel". And though it clearly builds upon Daredevil's reality and past adventures, Smith seemed to be keeping a better rein on his fanboy instincts than he did later in Green Arrow: Quiver. The story here seemed relatively self-contained, with only the occasionally cryptic reference liable to throw a newcomer. I was loving this book!

And then it all went to Hell (pun intended).

It was partly when arch foe Bullseye showed up, and suddenly this unusual occult thriller veered back into run-of-the-mill super hero stuff. And Smith started pulling the story in a fanboy direction, working in cameos for the sake of cameos; Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, etc. The Black Widow had earlier appeared, of course, but she's a familiar part of DD's world.

Like a train hitting rough spots, the story started to rattle and shake -- and eventually it went off the rails entirely.

I don't want to give to much away, but it retreats from the intriguing, spooky premise it started as and becomes just a simple super hero story -- and a not very good one. As the explanations are given and the mystery explained, you can't help thinking: this is sooooo stupid. And Smith knows it's stupid, and the climax entails Daredevil and the villain trading barbs about who behaved the most idiotically, and how "trite" it all is. Smith also betrays his film background as the story starts to seem like a cinematic in-joke. The cynic in me would almost wonder if it's meant as a mean spirited raspberry spat at the readership -- except Smith, a comics fan, seems an unlikely person to want to thumb his nose at comics fans.

But in a sense, Smith becomes like his own villain in the denouement, a character who convinced himself he had crafted some grand, intricate master plan...but it's really pretty lame and cliched and simplistic.

I can't claim expert knowledge of the villain, but he seems out-of-character. That's because the plan is so "savage", resulting in so many innocent victims, it doesn't simply require a criminal mind, but a completely psychotic sociopath. There have been a few comic book "mysteries" -- such as Batman: Hush and Identity Crisis, even dating back to Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? -- where writers seem to feel the best way to surprise the reader with the identity of the villain is to simply have the villain be soooo out of character there's no way you could deduce it logically! Smith even goes so far as to have the villain not even be a regular Daredevil foe (something we learn part way through, so I'm not giving too much away -- though I did guess his identity thanks to a reference the Kingpin makes).

A good mystery is one that builds upon what we know -- not one that can only surprise us by defying what we know.

And this shaggy dog of an ending ultimate undermines, or exacerbates, earlier problems. The story is supposed to be a character study of a man torn between logic and faith, but it's hard to see it as a character study when Daredevil's clearly not in control of himself. Likewise, conversations between Daredevil and others, including a nun, about faith and God (presumably close to Smith's heart) are undermined by a story that doesn't support them. And that's not even touching on other character inconsistencies, such as Foggy Nelson cheating on his girlfriend.

Still, maybe I let my expectations get too high, expecting a literary epic, and instead Smith just delivers of fun super hero romp. Fine. I love those, too. And after a second reading, knowing where it's all headed, I can sort of enjoy it on that (lower) level.

But it's hard to take it as just a fun romp because of the "savagery". Though not graphic, by the end there's tremendous body count, as if Smith belongs to the modern school of comics writers who feel a crime is barely a misdemeanour if it involves less than a dozen corpses. Which then brings us to the death of a major supporting character (I'm being vague but, doubtless by now, anyone reading this knows who). In a complex tale of good and evil, spiritualism and redemption, it could maybe be justified. But it ends up being one of the most pointless deaths in the history of comics, and smacks of house cleaning, or, as so often happens, Smith (or his editor) wanted to "make their mark" by doing something shocking. But it ain't edgy if everyone's doing it!

And ultimately, Smith has so pushed me out of the story that by the final chapter, dealing with the ramifications of this character's death, including the obligatory funeral scene where other super heroes show up, I just couldn't buy into it emotionally. The death itself was so mercenary and contrived and artificial.

The saga starts out as a relatively self-contained epic (though the resolution requires referencing a bunch of other comics that'll leave a casual fan's head spinning). At the same time, Smith leaves one mystery unanswered. Comic writers seem to have trouble with closure, or maybe they feel that that "makes their mark" as well, forcing other writers to continue their story. But whether anyone did follow up on it, I don't know. Back in the mid-1980s, in Daredevil: Born Again, Frank Miller awkwardly inserted a nun who may or may not have been DD's mother. But I'm not sure anyone followed up on it, given that Smith throws in that same nun and, from the dialogue, it sounds as though nothing more had been explained about her in the intervening decade and a half of DD stories!

Ultimately, I'm having trouble assessing this. I loved the first part -- and, honestly, almost actually hated the second half. But, as usual, after a second reading my passions have cooled. No longer expecting a "great" story, but just reading it for the pacing and art, it's more enjoyable. At the same time, if a second reading means I disliked the resolution less than I had...it also means I'm less excited by the first half, too. Knowing what a mundane story it evolves into, you can't read the opening scenes with the same enthusiasm.

Cover price: $31.95 CDN./ $19.95 USA.

Daredevil in Love and War 1986 (SC GN), 64 pgs.

Written by Frank Miller. Painted by Bill Sienkiewicz.
Letters: Jim Novak. Editor: Al Milgrom.

Rating : * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: a few times over the years

Marvel Graphic Novel #9 - oversized, tabloid format

This multi-character story has the crime boss, the Kingpin, soliciting the help of a famed psychiatrist, Paul Mondat, in the treatment of his beloved, semi-comatose wife. Not content to just hire the man, Kingpin wants to guarantee his commitment by having Mondat's blind wife, Cheryl, kidnapped. The kidnapper is Victor, a completely unstable junkie-schizophrenic who becomes fixated on Cheryl. Daredevil becomes involved, and also becomes infatuated with the blind woman.

Daredevil: Love and War is an atmospheric, fully painted, tabloid-sized graphic novel. And if it isn't perhaps the best thing Frank Miller ever wrote, it's still pretty good. The interweaving of the various characters, most well-delineated, and how their different actions have unforeseen effects on the other characters is well done. Frank Miller's ear for dialogue is, perhaps, the finest in the history of comic books, and his ability to turn phrases, to repeat lines but with different significance (like the opening and closing monologue), and to juxtapose words and images is almost unsurpassed. The story veers between urban grittiness and violence, to humour, to being lyrical, poetic, almost dreamlike, and ultimately kind of poignant.

Perhaps the chief weaknesses are that it is an ensemble piece -- Daredevil is still a prominent character, but only one of three or four -- and, of course, comic relief goon, Turk, who can be amusing...but also strikes me uncomfortably like a racist caricature. And there's a strange sense of disappointment by the end, a feeling that something is missing. I'm not quite sure what, but it keeps Daredevil: Love and War from being truly great.

Thinking about this some time after having first written this review (and just reading an old Daredevil comic), I almost wonder if what's missing is...Foggy! No, really. I mean, not so much that Foggy Nelson makes or breaks a D.D. story per se, but supporting characters often add humanity to the otherwise grandiose heroics, and dimension to the star. As noted above, even Daredevil/Matt Murdock is shunted a bit to the side in Love and War, and maybe that robs all the artiness, all the lyricism, of Daredevil: Love and War of its grounding.

Bill Siekienwicz's art (this isn't pencil ink drawings with painted colour; this is fully painted -- perhaps one of the first mainstream graphic novels to be done that way) is very effective, but stylistically far removed from his early work as a Neal Adams disciple. It's weird and stylized, but hauntingly evokes the varying moods of the various scenes and characters.

Mature readers. Original cover price: $7.95 CDN./$6.95 USA.

Daredevil in Marked for Death 1990 (SC TPB) 96 pgs. 

Written by Roger McKenzie. Drawn by Frank Miller. Inked by Klaus Janson (and Josef Rubinstein).
Colours: Glynis Wein. Letters: various. Editors: Al Millgrom, Mary Jo Duffy, Denny O'Neil.

Reprinting: Daredevil #159-161, 163, 164 (1979, 1980) (with covers)

Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

Reprinting five Daredevil issues, more or less in a row (it skips #162), Marked for Death includes a three part story in which Bullseye plots to kill Daredevil, using D.D.'s on again/off again girl friend, the Black Widow, as bait. It's followed by a tale of D.D. tussling with the Hulk, then rounds out with a reprise of Daredevil's origin. There's even a one-pager (from #159, I believe) giving the technical low-down on D.D.'s billy club.

The Bullseye trilogy was fine. Oh, it was mainly a breezy action-thriller, but it was an entertaining breezy action-thriller. Roger McKenzie is a solid, if largely neglected, comic writer and the Frank Miller/Klaus Janson art is energetic and moody, superbly complemented by Glynis Oliver Wein's sombre, night time colouring. It was also refreshing to see Bullseye portrayed as, frankly, a pathetic figure. Too often bad guys, particularly the more twisted and sleazy ones, are portrayed as though they're kind of cool (from Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs" to Bullseye himself). Boosting my interest in the Bullseye story even more was an unexpected sub-plot involving reporter Ben Urich unravelling the secret of Daredevil's identity.

The problem comes with the Hulk story. It's not a bad story, but pretty generic. There isn't a plot that involves D.D. and the Hulk -- D.D. and the Hulk is the plot. As well, I'd begun to think of Daredevil as comicdoms most urban, most down-to-earth superhero, playing out his adventures against mob-infested mean streets. Going up against the Hulk seemed just a little too comic booky. It's also illogical: D.D. wants the Hulk to calm down...so he starts hitting him (yeah, that'll work). Joe Rubinstein's guest inks also took a bit of getting used to (though he and Miller later teamed up to good effect on Wolverine).

Added Feb. 2003: Here's a situation where re-reading a story gives one a different perspective. I now realize that when I say there isn't so much a plot as D.D. and the Hulk is the plot...is exactly the point. In a sense, McKenzie isn't trying to write an action team-up piece, but rather a character study of both characters (three actually, counting the Hulk's alter ego of Bruce Banner). Here the Hulk is less a nominal super hero, than a tragic monster, and Banner his tormented alter ego. And this is contrasted with Daredevil's compassion and determination. The whole point of the story is that DD is completely out of his league confronting the Hulk...but does so anyway. Confronting him with his fists, yes, but also with his compassion, evidenced in a parallel scene near the story's beginning and end. I still have mixed feelings about the story's success, but I believe I was underselling what it was trying to be.

The final story, the climax (anti-climax, frankly) of the Ben Urich sub-plot, was also a problem because it leads into a rehash of Daredevil's origin...and I'd recently read the real thing (in Son of Origins).

Obviously, that makes my review problematic. If you've never read D.D.'s origin, then the final story will be fresher (though I'd argue the original Lee-Everett take is the better one) and maybe a Hulk/Daredevil story strikes your fancy. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'll like it better after a second reading, once I've acclimatized to its inclusion. How's that for prophetic, eh? -- see my addition above.

The point of this collection is vague. The back cover implies the Bullseye plot is the reason for the collection...except it only accounts for three/fifths of the issues. It might have been intended as a collection of Frank Miller's earliest Daredevil work...except he started on issue #158 (and his first work on the character was in a couple of issues of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man). So you think, ah hah, the Ben Urich story line was the real impetus for this collection...except we come in in the middle. The pay off is a bit weak, and I'm more curious about how it began. After all, concluding that Daredevil is really a blind man is a pretty hefty leap of logic for Urich to have made. What made him suspect?

Reviewing TPB "collections" is an interesting dilemma, in that are you reviewing it overall...or according to the "best" in that collection. In other words, if one story (or stories) makes it worth the purchase, does it matter if there are lesser tales in it? In the end, Daredevil: Marked for Death may be an unspectacular collection...but that three-part Bullseye tale is, just in and of itself, and enjoyable, well told tale.

Original Cover price: $11.95 CDN./$9.95 USA.

Daredevil: Out  2003 (SC TPB) 208 pages

Written by Brian Michael Bendis. Illustrated by Alex Maleev, Terry Dodson.
Colours: Matt Hollingsworth. Letters: Richard Starkings, Wes Abbott. Editor: Stuart Moore.

Reprinting: Daredevil (2nd series) #32-40

Rating: N/R

Number of readings: 1

Once again, I haven't read this TPB. I've read the hardcover book, Daredevil, vol. 2, which included the "Out" story line from #32-37. But the Out TPB also included the next three issues comprising, apparently, a separate story arc. As such, I've resisted giving this an "official" rating, though I'm offering my opinion of the "Out" story line.

Following Underboss (though you don't really need to have read that earlier story), a mobster offers up Daredevil's secret identity to the F.B.I. as a trade. Although the F.B.I. doesn't have much interest in following up on it, the story leaks out and, soon, a major newspaper is splashing it across their front page.

I read this story as it was collected with Underboss in the big hardcover collection, Daredevil, Vol. 2. Underboss left me unimpressed...and this, frankly, doesn't do much to change my impression of writer Brian Michael Bendis. Part of the problem with Bendis is that he takes a long time to say and do very little. The opening chapter is entirely devoted to a talking head sequence involving the F.B.I. agents as they recap Underboss, and lay out the case that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. To be fair, Bendis works in some cute dialogue, but basically, there's no real story here, nor development of any of the personalities.

In subsequent chapters, Bendis presents whole sequences without verbiage of any kind, leaving it to artist Alex Maleev to convey matters as best he can. Bendis is part of the modern crop of comics writers who obviously grew up on movies and TV (unlike earlier generations who, one infers, were more literate) and he clearly thinks in cinematic terms of pantomime sequences and mute reaction shots. But sequences like that are tricky, since an artist, no matter how talented, will have trouble drawing the same subtle nuances an actor can convey with his face. Maleev, in particular, has a photo-realist style at times that, like a lot of photo-realist artists, can actually be less expressive than a style drawn strictly from imagination. He also layers on the shadows, rendering a lot of scenes and faces masks of black ink.

The story is extremely thin. In an afterward included in the hardcover book (but probably not this TPB), Bendis comments that he didn't want his story to use some "cheap-ass ****" by having someone impersonate Daredevil and appear beside Murdock to fool the media. One infers that Bendis believes he's written something far more sophisticated. Great. But like other writers before him seeking to strip away the "childish" adornments of comics past (I'm reminded of an introduction John Byrne wrote for Lois & Clark, claiming the same) Bendis doesn't replace it with anything. It's like someone claiming a tree in the yard is unsightly, so he has it dug out...then just leaves a gaping whole in the yard and says, "There, isn't that better?"

Daredevil is "outted" and struggles internally with this for an issue or two as we wait for him to come up with a plan. We wait, we wait, and then he -- ready? Are you sitting down? O.K. he...denies it! What a stunning plot twist! Why hadn't Superman and Batman and all the other super heroes who've been through similar plot lines done the same?

Oh, wait. They did. But previous writers didn't think a denial alone would justify a six issue story.

Besides, if you had a secret identity, and friends like Spider-Man, what is the more realistic and sophisticated behaviour? Sitting on your hands, knowing that the longer the story goes unchallenged, the more it threatens you and your loved ones? Or coming up with some "cheap-ass ****" to get out of it -- like getting Spidey to dress in your costume and be seen standing with you in your civilian identity? Personally, I think I'd go for the "cheap-ass ****". That's the problem with hiding behind realism...we all have our separate views on what's realistic.

There's even a technical question. Although circumstantial evidence is produced to intimate a connection between Daredevil and Matt Murdock, the chief "proof" is an F.B.I. agent claiming a mobster told him that another mobster told him that another mobster believed Matt Murdock was Daredevil. That's not proof. That's barely a rumour. Would a newspaper even take that story seriously, let alone splash it on the front page?

Plot-wise, not a whole lot happens. Ditto for the adventure aspect. There's one scene where DD and Spider-Man take on Mr. Hyde who, having read the paper, comes a-calling. It's a moderately entertaining, if brief, scene, with Spidey's quips and serving as an illustration of why a superhero prefers anonymity. But mainly, this saga is meant to be brooding introspection. Which would be fine...if it really worked for me. But between the thin plotting, the stretched out pantomime scenes, and only an occasional use of internal captions, I just didn't really feel I was getting whatever Bendis thought he was giving out. On one hand, when Foggy suggests now would be a good time for Matt to give up crime fighting, DD reacts unfavourably. Yet, later, DD is gun-shy about putting on his costume, with even the Black Widow trying to shake him out of his funk. But even that turns out to be a bit of a non-plot as, later, when he puts on his costume again, it's not clear what's changed his attitude.

At the same time, other reviews I've read of this have heaped praise on Bendis' knack for character insight...so go figure.

Bendis throws in talk of the "cycle of violence" that Daredevil lives, and there are a few guest appearances and cameos, but it doesn't really add up to much. Bendis touches on a troubling idea at the centre of superhero/alter ego stories -- particularly with reporter heroes or, in DD's case, a lawyer -- and that is their profession represents "truth", and yet they lie every time they open their mouths! Admittedly, Bendis can't really get into the morality of that too deeply, because it's intrinsic to the genre, but it might've been nice to examine it more closely. Particularly in a story where DD eventually sues the paper...when he knows the story is accurate!

On the plus side, Bendis occasionally crafts some good dialogue -- or, at least, a couple of witty lines. There are some decent scenes, like DD finding that, once people see him as a man-in-a-costume, he loses some of his necessary mystique. There's a scene in the Daily Bugle newsroom with J. Jonah Jameson demanding coverage of the story, and reporter Ben Urich, and Peter Parker (Spidey's alter ego, of course) putting themselves on the line to try and protect DD's secret. It's O.K. but, like so much else, is longer than it needs to be, and not as well done as it could be.

Another problem with both Underboss and Out comes about in Bendis' afterward again, in which he states how important it is to be fresh, and innovative, and shake up the comic. The problem with both stories is how, well, derivative they seem. I recently read Daredevil: Typhoid Mary and, going into that story about DD becoming seduced by a lady assassin working for the Kingpin, I couldn't help thinking it sounded like a rehash of the whole Daredevil-Elektra stuff. But I was wrong. Ann Nonceti's story does its own thing. Conversely, Bendis' material seems vaguely familiar and even tired -- a problem of the thin plotting, I think. Every story is probably familiar at its roots, but it's how the writer dresses it up with plot twists and new characters that makes it original.

Even the very idea of "outting" Daredevil is hardly radical since we've already been through the scene where a character pieces together the fragments of Matt Murdock's past to get a portrait of DD -- a number of times. Heck, even arch foe Bullseye figured it out once, but was fooled into rejecting his theory by a "cheep-ass ****". And Bendis seems to want to eat his cake and have it to, as by the end the DD-is-Matt thing seems to be treated as nothing more than a high profile rumour (at least, in DD stories published years later, his secret identity still seems more-or-less a secret). The story ends in a way that kind of allows Bendis to say he radically changed the nature of DD's situation...without seeming to have changed it at all!

Cover price: $__ CDN. / $19.95 USA 

< Back  or  Next >
Or, back to the main listing of all reviews
Or back to...
 

Back to