A dose of real world issues comes to Hell’s Kitchen in “Daredevil” #31, but Mark Waid and Chris Samnee refuse to let The Man Without Fear get dragged down into grim grittiness.
Written by Mark Waid
Illustrated by Chris SamneeThe Jester returns! And it is no laughing matter. Plus: Meet Matt’s new law partner! Plus PLUS…News from Hank Pym!
By the protracted nature of their creation, comic books are not naturally suited to “ripped from the headlines” storylines. This isn’t South Park, where a team of animators will work for sixty hours over three days so that an episode can use a presidential inauguration speech from the day before. The visual work in a comic is done by one artist, working alone, taking weeks to complete a single issue. If there is an attempt to incorporate some real world headline, the finished product shows up months after the fact and makes the issue out of date the second it is printed. But despite all these difficulties, in “Daredevil” #30 storytellers Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have clearly used an recent infamous trial as inspiration, and crafted a tense and exciting issue.
Issue #31 of “Daredevil” is a return to the type street level storyline that the character is known for after last month’s cosmic team up with the Silver Surfer. Matt Murdock is still helping Foggy through his cancer treatment, while adjusting to having his ex-girlfriend working at his law firm, but everything gets put on hold as some breaking news pops up on TV. There’s been a verdict in the high profile trial of a wealthy woman accused of murdering a teenager. Given the fact that the crime seems to be racially motivated, the trial has become extremely controversial. New York City is on edge of its seat waiting for the verdict, and it’s at this moment that the villainous Jester chooses to strike, creating mass chaos and forcing Daredevil into action.
Mark Waid is nothing if not a master of economical storytelling. He knows the exact amount of focus each scene needs to convey both story and emotion, and he doesn’t go one letter beyond what is necessary. The opening scenes with Foggy and Kirsten amount to no more than a couple of pages, but contain a wealth of new information and character motivations. The friendship between Foggy and Matt feels genuine, and when they have an argument, as occurs in this issue, their dialogue only becomes wittier and sharper. Waid never lets the audience forget that these two are in this friendship for the long haul, and as a result their more heated moments still ring true, without the dark shadow of melodrama hanging over their relationship.
The trial featured in this issue is clearly inspired by the recent events in Florida, and on paper incorporating something so recent and tragic could seem in bad taste and almost tacky. Why “Daredevil” escapes this fate to due to two very important decisions on the part of the creative team. First, the trial itself is not the main focus, nor is it an exact copy of real life events. Instead the book focuses on the overall themes and resultant anger over the recent trial, and shapes it into something for the Marvel Universe. Secondly, Daredevil himself does not become dragged down into a pit of dark grim grittiness for the sake of dark grim grittiness; Matt Murdock is aware and troubled by the issues surrounding the verdict, but the moment that pandemonium breaks out, his soul focus becomes the protection of innocent life on both sides of the conflict. Under Waid’s superb direction, Matt never loses sight of this objective, and never makes the angry mob out to be pure villains; instead they are simply the victims of manipulation.
Chris Samnee’s continuously excellent artwork plays an enormous part in keeping “Daredevil” #31 in the same exciting and entertaining tone found the rest of the series. An artist with a more photo-realistic or darker style could have made the mob appear almost monster-like. If this was an Opena or Capullo drawn book, the look of the crowd would be designed to create a visceral reaction, a feeling of immense dread as anger starts to spill out of everyone. Instead, Samnee does not seek to rid the mob of their humanity, but rather to show that they are simply everyday people who have fallen prey to a master manipulator.
Continued belowThe climax of this issue features a threeway fight inside a court house, a torrential downpour, an appearance from Hank Pym and an army of flying ants with tiny backpacks filling the sky. These very disparate events are not separated by any large number of pages, but in most cases only one or two panels. Samnee manages to make all these elements feel cohesive, like they really do exist side by side in the same world. He even succeeds in making an army of ants, a sight which would make many people’s skin crawl, appear heroic in their own unique way. It’s not that Samnee’s style does not acknowledge the dire circumstances these characters find themselves in, or makes these situation feels lighter and inconsequential, but he just refuses to let the book get dragged down to a level of heaviness and dread that is just not necessary for the story.
“Daredevil” #31 is yet another in a long line of excellent issues. Mark Waid and Chris Samnee manage to tell a superhero story that addresses real world problems, but instead of wallowing in misery or becoming unbearably preachy, they aim to offer some hope to the reader. This makes the book feel incredibly refreshing, without losing sight of the serious issues that are present. And any story that features Daredevil trying to call up Thor and instead settles for an army of ants saving the day deserves a read.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Mark Waid and Chris Samnee prove that tackling unpleasant real world problems does not have to be unbearably grim and gritty.
