Daredevil Reviews - Page 5

Daredevil: Yellow 2002 (HC & SC TPB) 144 pages
a.k.a. Daredevil Legends, vol. 1

Written by Jeph Loeb. Illustrated by Tim Sale.
Colours: Matt Holingsworth. Letters: Richard Starkings, Wes Abott. Editor: Bronwyn Taggart, Stuart Moore.

Reprinting: the six issue mini-series (2001) - with covers

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale made a big splash at DC Comics with the epic mini-series, Batman: The Long Halloween, then Superman for All Seasons (and the Batman sequel Dark Victory); then they moved over to Marvel to try their formula (telling a retroactive tale set within a character's early career) on some Marvel characters. First with Daredevil: Yellow, then Spider-Man: Blue, etc.

Yellow takes its name from ol' horn head's original, yellow based costume, which he had for only the first half dozen issues of his comic. This retells how Matt Murdock's boxer dad was murdered, and how he dons a costume for revenge, then it continues on, with the emphasis on his relationship with secretary/future girl friend, Karen Page, even as he battles various villains. Karen has been killed off in modern DD mythos, and the framework for the story is that a still-grieving DD is writing letters of reminiscence addressed to Karen, as a kind of therapy -- recalling the good times, to provide a salve for the bad. Despite that melancholy hook, the series is lighter (for the most part) in tone than modern DD comics, harkening back to the character's roots.

I went into this with some ambivalence. Some of the other series by the Loeb-Sale combo seemed to fall far short of Loeb's pretensions -- and the acclaim fandom awarded them. Often seeming more flash than substance. That's true here, as well...but nonetheless Yellow emerges as the more effective -- and appealing -- of the ones I've read. And it's this mix of the bitter and the sweet that perhaps helps make it work, and imbues it with a seductive, gentle ambience.

I'm not sure how much of this is Loeb crafting his own story, and how much is simply "reinterpreting" pre-existing stories (since I haven't read many of DD's earliest comics). Certainly the first couple of issues rehash Daredevil's origin...and, even then, Loeb prunes it a bit (leaving out DD's childhood and blinding accident). And the villains that crop up over the rest of the mini-series certainly mirror the villains that appear on the covers of the first few issues of the original Daredevil comic. A lot of modern creators like to go around re-telling older stories. But with the proliferation of TPB collections (like the Essential books) it's not even like it could be argued they are retelling stories the modern reader has no way of reading in their original form. The argument is, of course, that the modern creators are bringing an edgier, more sophisticated spin to older, childish stories. But it's usually a trade off, with scenes that certainly are better, more subtle than the original...sitting next to scenes that are less effective than the original.

It can also create an odd animal, in that on one hand this can be seen as a retelling of the early DD adventures for the uninitiated, even as in other ways, it seems kind of like you need to know your DD to appreciate some of the nuances. Heck, I don't think it's till the third or fourth issue that a passing reference is made to the accident that gave him super senses. If this is intended as a jumping on point for novice readers, that probably should've been worked in earlier.

Nonetheless, Yellow is an enjoyable, atmospheric read.

Part of that, admittedly, is the art. Tim Sale's at once cartoony, and dynamic figures (though not as distractingly cartoony as his Superman) and his beautiful eye for evoking an environment -- whether it be Kansas farm fields and the clean streets of Metropolis in Superman for All Seasons, or the mid-town and downtown environment of Daredevil's milieu, the book-crammed offices of Nelson & Murdock to the brick and water pipe-strewn cellars of inner city tenements, to spectacular vistas of DD swinging over nocturnal New York -- is breathtaking. All beautifully painted by Matt Hollingsworth with washed out water colours, making even DD's much-maligned yellow costume striking and dramatic. Perhaps because of Sale's Will Eisner-esque cartooniness mixed with the kinder-gentler world evoked by Loeb's script, this is a softened grittiness, where you can smell the car exhaust and taste last night's rain, but in a pleasant way.

In fact, though I've read reviews that have said the opposite, to me the art here is more appealing and atmospheric than in Loeb-Sale's Superman and Batman epics. And I think Hollingworth's colours are a big part of that.

Loeb isn't so hot at maintaining plot threads or developing characters, but he can do nice work simply with scenes. There's an involving readability to the sequences of characters just sitting around, chatting, with Loeb realizing his characters quite well at times (though that may say as much for past writers, from Stan Lee to Frank Miller, who helped establish these people to begin with). The Fantastic Four appear in a brief scene, and Loeb captures the original Lee and Kirby version of these characters better than many. There's also a nifty, eerie (if not wholly plausible) scene of DD attempting to find someone, missing in the city, simply by listening with his super hearing. Though sometimes Loeb's interest in a scene-for-its-own-sake results in sequences like DD attending the execution of his father's killer...which doesn't really take us anywhere, plot or character-wise. Or even philosophically.

The back cover likens this to a romantic comedy, which is a stretch. There's light-heartedness, and some amusing badinage, but nothing that approaches really being a "comedy" per se.

I'm often quick to criticize comics that seem to be big panels of art with few words, making for rather brief, insubstantial issues. But here there's an appeal to it, as the saga breezes along, not becoming turgid or too heavy. Collected in a single volume, the issues becoming merely "chapters", it makes for an enjoyable tome that can be read in just a couple of sittings, allowing you to immerse yourself in the atmospheric visuals, the nostalgic mix of introspection and whimsy, without finding yourself dwelling on the weaknesses.

There are a few battles with super villains (which, as I say, I suspect are simply restaging of the original comics), but in other ways Loeb puts the emphasis much more on the civilian side of things, focusing on Matt Murdock, Karen Page and Foggy Nelson hanging out in their office, or going bowling. Presumably Loeb is trying to flesh out the old stories by giving us scenes the more action-plot focused originals might have skimmed over (for instance, in the original first issue of Daredevil, Foggy simply introduces Karen to Matt as their new secretary -- here, Loeb milks a bit of humour out of a few pages showing Foggy interviewing various applicants for the secretary position). And true to Yellow's wanting to be about Matt and Karen as much as DD, Loeb shuffles sequence. In the original, Matt meets Karen in the middle of the origin story, the climax being his confrontation with his father's killer -- here, the climax of the two-part tale is his first meeting with Karen.

Though the issues can bleed over into each other, this doesn't really form an overall arc, not as if Loeb were taking the original comics and reshaping them into a single narrative -- a graphic novel. Even the basic stuff involving Matt and Karen doesn't really go anywhere. That's of course the problem with sticking as close to established continuity as Loeb is, since Matt and Karen didn't become an official couple until many issues after the period in which this is set.

Loeb kind of throws in plot threads...then does nothing with them, or deals with them poorly. At one point DD confronts his father's killer, demanding to know who he worked for. The killer refuses to talk...and nothing comes of it. Maybe, for those familiar with DD's history, the answer is known (maybe the Kingpin was involved, or something) but in this stand alone mini-series, it's as if Loeb is setting up a story...then forgets about it. In another scene, a woman comes to Nelson and Murdock, terrified of someone, later that someone shows up at their office...and hires them as his lawyers, and no one seems concerned about the terrified woman.

Even the romantic angle is unevenly handled. At its core, it's a romantic triangle, as both Matt and law partner Foggy are in love with Karen...but the fact that he knows his best friend is in love with the same woman never seems to influence DD's thinking or actions.

In the end, if you expect Daredevil: Yellow to be a profound examination of these characters, or a richly plotted epic, you'll be disappointed. But if you want an easy going, episodic story, with a mix of adventure, and character and romance, beautifully visualized, I'll admit to having liked this.

Quite a lot, in some ways.

Enjoyed for what it is, it can make you nostalgic for the DD of old, a warm, affectionate homage. It ain't as smart as it pretends, but it is kind of fun and very atmospheric. Though if it turns out, as I suspect, that Loeb is just shamelessly ripping off the early issues of Daredevil, my evaluation might drop -- though even then, perhaps I'm a hypocrite, and validating the very notion of such "remakes"...since I've yet to bother picking up Essential Daredevil, vol. 1.

Soft cover price: $24.00 CDN./ $14.99 USA

Essential Daredevil, vol. 2 2004 (SC TPB) 560 pages

Written by Stan Lee. Pencils by Gene Colan, with Jack Kirby. Inks by John Tartaglione, with Frank Giacoia, Vince Colletta, George Klein, others.
Black & White. Letters: various

Reprints: Daredevil (1st series) #26-48, Daredevil Special #1, The Fantastic Four #73 (1967-1969)

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

When I first read Essential Daredevil, vol. 2 (collecting more than twenty consecutive issues of Daredevil in economical black & white) I had enjoyed it, but gave it only a mild "thumbs up" review. For one thing, the tone of this era of DD stories seemed a bit uncertain read back-to-back, the (minor) sub-plots involving the romantic tension between Daredevil's alter ego of Matt Murdock and his secretary Karen Page (and fifth wheel Foggy Nelson) seemed a bit erratically developed, as if writer Stan Lee was having trouble remembering from issue to issue where they stood. Some issues had them pining for each other, but unwilling to voice their emotions...others had them calling each other darling. As well, given the increasingly dark and tragic tone Daredevil stories later went in (and continue to this day) the frequently light-hearted tone and the wisecracking, devil-may-care persona of Daredevil seemed a bit odd.

Still, there was nonetheless a readability to these run of issues, a page turning aplomb. Just not quite on the same level as some other Essential volumes I'd read.

Yet then something happened.

I kind of found myself gravitating back to this volume from time to time, particularly when I was feeling down or melancholy. I found myself re-reading stories, or story arcs, just 'cause I wanted to read 'em again. And I began to realize that I may have unintentionally sold this collection short. In my desire to write a "thoughtful" review, I maybe over-analyzed this era of issues. Disregarding continuity for a minute, and how well one story segues into the next, or whether the romantic tension is maintained consistently from issue to issue...reading the issues, or story arcs, independently just for themselves, there's quite a lot to enjoy.

A number of the multi-parters are quite entertaining, full of interesting ideas and unexpected quirks and twists -- unlike some modern multi-part sagas where a simple premise is stretched out over multiple issues. A three-parter where DD must battle Mr. Hyde and the Cobra after losing his super-senses -- so he really is blind -- is effective. The middle issue of this trilogy features as its key action scene, not a fight, not a brawl, but simply DD trying to walk across a street-spanning tightrope, pretending he can see, when he can't! And though it's ridiculous and implausible -- it's also edge-of-the-seat suspenseful. Other effective multi-parters include Dr. Doom switching bodies with DD, or a three parter where villain the Jester frames DD for the murder of...the Jester. Even a two-parter wherein DD tackles the Beetle is a well told, well-paced adventure. A lot of the one-shot issues are more just breezy action pieces, but can still be entertaining. And sometimes, the stand outs aren't what you'd expect. The well-regarded "Brother, Take My Hand", in which DD aides a blind Vietnam vet, actually turns out to be fairly bland...while the atypical (for DD) story wherein DD thwarts an alien invasion at an up-State college is actually quite entertaining.

Nowadays DD is thought of as a grim, urban adventurer, battling mobsters and other "real world" crooks, and this era has that...but it also a lot of sci-fi and super villains (the Stilt-Man appears at least three times!).

And part of the appeal of these stories is precisely what maybe threw me when I first read it. The humour -- the light-hearted, wisecracking Daredevil. I seem to recall seeing an interview where Lee claimed writing for Daredevil was one of his favourite gigs, and one can maybe see why. Far removed from the grim Daredevil of later periods, one can well imagine Lee enjoying it precisely because he saw it as a lark

Fans of the later era of DD stories might say, hey, this isn't DD -- but, in a sense, maybe it's more true to DD than the later issues. After all: Lee created the darn character. And when you consider his name (Daredevil) and his background (forbidden to fight by his father, the DD persona becomes a kind of cathartic release for Matt) the idea of the wisecracking DD seems a logical character. Even the wacky -- and much maligned -- notion that during part of this era, Matt adopted yet another identity, that of his twin brother "Mike" (whom he told Karen and Foggy was really Daredevil) is kind of entertaining. In fact, Lee spends so much time writing Matt as Daredevil and/or Mike, one suspects he actually preferred that persona to button down Matt.

The idea of Matt fabricating yet another identity, and one that, like DD, can say and do things he wouldn't as Matt, would've been a great idea to explore from a psychological perspective (I mean, must this guy hate who he is or what?). But it's a mark of the overall breezy tone that one rarely gets the impression that Lee sees it as anything more incisive than an added plot complication. At the same time, it is that, and you can admire the sheer storytelling chutzpah that went into it.

What's interesting is to realize that though the wisecracking character was obviously a comfortable one for Lee, echoing Spider-Man, and the FF, it's not fair to dismiss it as a carbon of Spider-Man. In a way, DD is even more outrageously sarcastic and flippant than Spidey (in a couple of issues where Spidey appears...Spidey is the more restrained). And, in a sense, DD is supposed to be kind of obnoxious in this persona -- Foggy hates him, and the bickering between them is amusing.

Despite the lighter tone, in other ways, Lee's characters can actually seem more grounded than later writers made them. Foggy would come to personify the guiless bumpkin, even comic relief -- yet here, Foggy is a somewhat tougher, flintier character, and more believable as one half of a successful law firm. And he becomes an interesting portrait of "everyman" heroism, such as in a couple of sequences where he must come to DD's aid even though, as mentioned, he can't stand the guy!

Gene Colan, who maintained an unusually consistent run on Daredevil, draws almost every issue here (save an issue of the Fantastic Four, included as part of a crossover story, drawn by Jack Kirby). As I get older, Colan emerges as one of my favourite artists, for his artistic use of angles and composition, his lifelike knack for rumpled suits and human faces, and his dynamic, if anatomically inconsistent, action scenes. But he's been better. I don't know if the fault is Colan himself or whether it's a fault of a poor choice of inker to finish his (admittedly) difficult pencils. Certainly the lion's share of these issues are inked by John Tartiglione, an inker I've not seen tackle Colan before. But the work is often rough. The stuff with real people -- Matt and Foggy and Karen sitting around their office -- is still good, even if the ink lines are a bit unsympathetic to Colan's soft, organic style. But the super heroic stuff is more uneven, with either Colan, or his inker, showing little grasp of anatomy or musculature, with lines that don't always seem to correspond to real muscles. The best art is when Dan Adkins inks Colan -- and then you can really see Colan at his best. Unfortunately, Adkins only inks two issues (he's only credited with one, but I'm sure he inked #44 as well). The art is still above average, but given that I picked this up, in part, for Colan's art, it's not as strong as his work that's represented in say Essential Tomb of Dracula, or Essential Captain America, vol. 2.

An interesting sidebar is that I (and others) have complained how modern comics seem to exclude the casual reader by not bothering to explain things for non-fans. Yet reading these decades old issues, it's curious how many issues can trundle by without an explanation that DD is really blind with heightened sense! Which might make it confusing in spots for a casual reader.

Anyhoo...

Also of note in these issues are appearances by Thor, Captain America and Spider-Man and the FF (as mentioned). There's an amusing short filler (included as part of the reprinting of Daredevil King-Size Special #1) which jokingly looks behind the scenes at Stan Lee and Gene Colan coming up with a story. The gag is that Lee is portrayed as a self-centred egotist and Colan as really coming up with the stories, which some saw as telling on the nature of Lee's creative input. But, at the same time, it is a joke piece, so how much you can take it to heart is debatable (for example, jokes are made about Lee smoking...but I thought I read somewhere that Lee didn't actually smoke, he just liked to use them as props for photographs)!

Ultimately, this run of DD issues may not be as obviously strong as some of the other Lee-era Essential volumes I've read (Spider-Man, Captain America). But there's a kind of subtle effectiveness to it. As mentioned, I've actually dragged this off the shelf for re-reading more often than some of those other collections! And having, therefore, read and, in many cases, re-read the issues herein, I've got to bump it up in my estimation and say, this is an enjoyable collection to chase away the blues.

Cover price: $27.25 CDN./ $16.99 USA

Essential Daredevil, vol. 4 2007 (SC TPB) 596 pages

Written by Gerry Conway, with Steve Gerber, and others. Pencils by Gene Colan, and others. Inks by Tom Palmer, Syd Shores, Jack Abel, Ernie Chua, others.
black and white. Letters: various. Editors: Stan Lee/Roy Thomas.

Reprinting: Daredevil (1st series) #75-101, The Avengers #111 (1971-1973) - with covers

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

Number of readings: 1

In some of my other reviews of Marvel's "Essential" volumes I've commented that it can be hard to assess these books -- that, by the very vastness of the material, you can find yourself enjoying it even if the issue-by-issue quality isn't that remarkable. Collected together, no one issue really has to carry the book.

This Daredevil volume starts a few issues into writer Gerry Conway's tenure on the series, with the majority of the issues drawn by the great Gene Colan with various inkers embellishing his distinctive pencils. Though often thought of as a gritty series set in the mean streets of New York, different Daredevil eras have emphasized different elements. The Stan Lee-scripted stories in Essential Daredevil volume 2 played up DD as a wisecracking, well, daredevil. Here, there's a decided super hero feel to the comic, eschewing much of the grittiness for more fantasy-tinged tales with some monsters and robots thrown in. Though there are also more "rooted" adversaries, like a martial arts assassin, or old foe The Owl cropping up.

This was fairly early in Conway's professional comics writing, and so it's interesting to detect an evolving of his style. In the earliest issues, he goes over board with heavy handed pretension and overwritten introspection as Daredevil spirals into melancholic rumination at the drop of a feather. It's not wholly successful...but you can kind of admire Conway's desire to make the comics seem as though they have deeper meaning, his style evocative of (or anticipating) contemporaries like Don McGregor, Steve Gerber and others. But after a few issues, Conway reins it in, realizing there's a fine line between profound...and pompous, and his style becomes cleaner and less pretentious.

Daredevil has always been a tricky character to depict. Being blind but with "radar" senses, writers have had trouble knowing how "blind" to make him. But there are some interesting bits here where Colan depicts scenes from DD's perspective, and where Conway incorporates the idea that DD is, at least nominally, blind.

The story threads bubbling beneath the issue-by-issue action can seem a bit like Conway is dragging out ideas with no clear direction. DD has been dumped by girlfriend Karen Page -- fuelling plenty of teeth gnashing brooding for our horned hero -- but Karen continues to flitter through the pages as Conway repetitiously pushes them back together, then pulls them apart, then pushes them together. Likewise, a story arc where a mysterious Mr. Kline manipulates villainy from behind the scenes seems a bit vague as to what Kline is up to or why. It doesn't help that when the solution occurs, allusions are made to events in other comics (The Sub-Mariner, Iron Man) so you aren't really sure if you're getting the full story anyway (likewise, there's an issue where DD meets Spider-Man and the Sub-Mariner...which just leads into some Spidey/Sub-Mariner story in some other comic not included here!)

Yet on an issue-by-issue basis, there can be -- moderate -- enjoyment. There's some off beat plotting, such as a two-parter that begins this collection with DD getting embroiled in a South American revolution (if you can forgive the corny idea of revolutionaries dressed in ponchos and sombreros like something out of an old Western movie!) or a two-parter involving a mad scientist attempting some experiments. Plus there are appearances by familiar foes like the Owl, the Scorpion, and Mr. Hyde.

Along the way, this first introduces the Black Widow into DD's world. In fact, part way through this collection, the cover title changes to Daredevil & The Black Widow (a marketing trend at the time, with Green Lantern & Green Arrow, and Captain America & The Falcon also on the stands).

Colan's art is a big appeal of these issues (Colan having had a remarkably long association with DD) His weirdly fluid style, mixing dramatic angles, shadows, almost photo-realist faces with stylishly contorted bodies, doesn't always take to every inker, but the pairings are mainly successful, with Tom Palmer inking a number of issues. Even Jack Abel, a heavy embellisher who would seem a poor choice for Colan, works better than I might've thought. In black and while, you realize how much Abel's inking style is about shadow and black/white contrast.

Still, the first part of this collection is a mixed bag of seeming unfocused sub-plots and uncertain character development, but with a passable entertainment value to the adventures themselves.

Then Conway abruptly drops Karen (as well as long serving supporting character Foggy Nelson) and moves DD and the Black Widow to San Francisco.

I'm usually the first to decry when creators start changing things just for the sake of change. But in this case, the move seems to breathe life into characters and creators alike.

The San Francisco setting allows for a fresh visual look (as Colan beautifully evokes the hilly city scapes and street cars) and allows DD (and the Widow) to be the only heroes in town, and Conway starts to add a supporting cast.

And the move begets the Project Four story arc, which is the highlight of this collection. Running from #87-94, it's neatly self-contained, beginning and ending in these pages, and would make a decent TPB collection in itself!

I've often complained about how modern "story arcs" just seem like thin stories stretched out to pad a TPB collection. Here, there's no padding. The Project Four idea (a secret mission from the Widow's past) is threaded through the issues as a sub-plot, while front and centre adventures occupy our hero (battling Electro, Mr. Fear and Killgrave) making it all pretty jam packed. Along the way there's delving into the Widow's history/origin, her relationship with her gruff chauffeur, Ivan, DD's settling into 'Frisco and the ups and downs of DD and the Widow's romance (this being a 1970s comic, they share the same house, but not the same bed). Even the front and centre super hero battles can be cleverly plotted, as DD battles Electro and Killgrave in separate issues, then together in a third issue -- so even those stories can build on each other to create multi-issue arcs (both villains DD hadn't encountered since his earliest adventures!).

Years later, Brian Michael Bendis would write a six issue arc detailing DD dealing with his secret identity being outted by the press -- here, Conway covers the same ground...in just eight pages! Sure, Conway's handling of the concept is kind of goofy and implausible...but it's no worse than Bendis' was.

(Though, seriously, man: DD has got to be the sloppiest super hero when it comes to protecting his secret identity -- a guy who tries to cover his secret by fabricating a twin brother or, in these issues, publicly hangs out with the Black Widow as both DD and Matt Murdock!)

The Project Four saga is a nicely enjoyable run and, as mentioned, is all tidily contained within its eight issues, not referencing too much continuity, or with dangling plot threads to carry you into the next arc. All attractively rendered by Colan & Palmer.

But afterward, Conway starts to run out of gas again. The next two-parter brings back a foe from earlier in this collection, for minor effect (and curiously, basically has DD kill the guy in the end...but comics seem to work under the premise that if a body isn't recovered, it's not murder!) Conway then provides the plotting for the next two-parter, which isn't bad, with Steve Gerber now on board as scripter. Gerber's first full-credit story is an inane filler issue as DD and fellow super hero Hawkeye duke it out over the Widow. But as it's basically just meant to segue into The Avengers #111, maybe there wasn't much Gerber could do with it. The Avengers issue, which is included, is okay but, likewise, pretty dismissable.

The final two DD issues are still rough in execution, but seem to show Gerber getting a better grasp of the gig. Unfortunately, though a two-parter that is complete in this collection, it still ends with a lot dangling. A new sub-plot/arc had begun a few issues before, once again with a shadowy foe behind various seeming unrelated villainies.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, these "Essential" compendiums are hard to assess, the very quantity of material, and a price tag that comes out to less than a dollar an issue, means it's not hard to say you get your money's worth.

This maybe isn't an essential Essential collection, but I quite enjoyed the Project Four arc, just as a collection within the collection (and if Marvel had published it on its own, in colour, it would probably cost more than this Essential volume). And though there aren't many obvious stand out issues in this TPB, and certainly some goofy plot turns and corny dialogue, nonetheless most of the issues keep you turning the pages.

Cover price: $__ CDN./$16.99 USA.

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