Written by Mark Waid
Illustrated by Marcos MartinOne honest man — just one — exists in the vast criminal corporation known as Roxxon Oil, and Daredevil has to find him before a nightmarish disaster claims the entire Eastern Seaboard! Can DD get to him in time–or will this issue’s surprise villain get to him first?
Fair warning, this is a review with a purpose. I’ve challenged myself to inspire at least one person to jump on Daredevil by the end of it. So buckle up, true believers, because here comes…
(Go on, jump already!)
Daredevil is the best superhero comic on the market! Let that sink in for just a second.
Okay, now stop me if you’ve heard this one: These two blind guys are hanging out, just kind of standing around near a window in an apartment. One of them’s just lost their job and is feeling a little down. So the other guy — being a solid bro and everything — reassures his friend that everything’s going to be okay; there’s nothing to worry about. The punchline? Neither of them know they’re covered in a cluster of little bright red dots beaming in from the six snipers waiting outside.
That’s the last page of Daredevil #4 — how could you not come back for this one?
Matt “Daredevil” Murdock’s newest client, Austin Cao, who’s also blind, accidentally heard something he wasn’t supposed to hear, and now some very bad men want him deader than dead. As the assassins approach, Murdock’s heightened senses kick in, picking up on two signals: 1) the “ka-KLAK” of an automatic weapon being prepped to fire, and 2) the order “–on my mark.” from the lead killer.
The scene is both intense, and stylishly simple. I don’t know how he does it, but Marcos Martin just crams the page full of images and detail, and still somehow manages to focus on just the right piece of information and moment. Mark Waid gives voice to Murdock’s thought process, and the whole thing is captivating in a way I haven’t seen this book or this character ever be, and I’ve read a lot of Daredevil, daddy-o!
And the most amazing thing is that Waid and Martin manage to work at least two or three of these moments into every issue. Seriously, being blind never seemed so cool.
I don’t think I ever even flipped through an issue of Shadowland. I heard it was enjoyable, and chock full of all the customary ninja/lawyer/boxer goodness with a little supernatural thrown in just to spice things up. It sounded like it had everything we’ve all come to expect from a Daredevil story. But for me, enough was enough. After nearly thirteen years of watching Kevin Smith, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker put Matt Murdock through the ringer, I couldn’t take anymore of Daredevil, Marvel Punching Bag Numero Uno. But I don’t blame those guys.
Before he made Batman an almost literal Dark Knight, Frank Miller cut his teeth transforming Daredevil into more than just a Man Without Fear. Miller’s noir-infused take on the character and his introduction of DD/Elektra relationship turned heads and a lot of people on to the idea that the street-level Marvel Universe was just as exciting as what happened in the Baxter Building, Avengers Mansion, or that school in Westchester. But as good as it was, it accidentally saddled the character with a lot of baggage that nearly every creator since Miller hasn’t been able to fully let go of.
And really, why should they want to? As a sort of poor man’s Spider-man, the pre-Miller Daredevil saw some good times, but was never a Marvel powerhouse. Oh, he was a fan-favorite sure, but never one of the big boys.
Continued belowBut Miller’s take on the character worked, and was successful in giving him a voice that separated him from every other Marvel hero. And even though the whole experience left him a lot darker, Daredevil was finally his own thing and not just another guy swinging around New York looking for a fight with the Ani-Men.
After that, it was hard to even look at Daredevil as he’d been in the 60s. Gone was the happy-go-lucky, plucky swashbuckler who cracked wise as often as he cracked noggins. I think it was Ann Nocenti who described this era’s Daredevil as (and I’m paraphrasing here) the most conflicted and broken character in the Marvel Universe; a Catholic lawyer who’s the personification of justice is blind who breaks the law every time he takes the law into his own hands; the illegitimate son of a shamed nun and washed-up boxer who dresses up like Satan to rain violence down on the wicked; a man simultaneously disappointing his mother, his father, and his God all at the same time. Not exactly light-hearted.
Once you’ve gone that far, it’s hard to even think about going back to the way things were. At that point, the only option is to keep going, which is how you end up with Daredevil getting possessed by an honest to god demon, renouncing his friends and family forever, and taking over Hell’s Kitchen and turning it into an evil ninja prison-thing. How does someone get through all of this without being driven insane? The simple answer is “you don’t.” And while he hasn’t been expressly spelled out, I believe that this is exactly what’s going on in Waid’s Daredevil.
Murdock’s instability and his new found peace with all things Daredevil is briefly touched on in the first issue, but this issue (#5… the one I’m kind of still talking about) picks that thread back up, as Murdock’s law partner Foggy Nelson is starting to show signs that he might have a few doubts about his old pal’s sanity. And wouldn’t you? Through Foggy, Waid gives voice to our own concerns about Daredevil’s renewed passion for life, and in doing so lets us know that not everything about this rejuvenated Matt Murdock is as polished as it might seem. We’ll have to wait and see, but as we get deeper into the run, I’m starting to wonder if Waid isn’t teasing us with this lighter-side of Daredevil, before he lowers the boom and drops DD into some of the darkest days of his life.
Oh, and this issue also features a new villain called Bruiser. Bruiser’s a Luchador in a Nascar suit decorated with the logos of Marvel’s most notorious criminal organizations, like A.I.M., Hydra, the Maggia, etc.
So just to clarify, this comic features a masked wrestler fighting a masked ninja boxer on a yacht. I probably should’ve started the review off with that.
Final Verdict: 9.0 — Buy
