It’s sun, sea and sand for Matt Murdock as his team-up with Misty Knight as well as this series wraps up! Jimmy Palmiotti and Thony Silas conclude their story which finishes up this anthology miniseries. Let’s say farewell, shall we?
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti
Illustrated by Thony Silas
• DAREDEVIL’S IN THE ISLANDS – AND HE BROUGHT THE STREETS WITH HIM!
• Matt Murdock and Misty Knight are the only thing standing between a ruthless crime boss and justice.
• Marvel Knights legend Jimmy Palmiotti and rising star Thony Silas (VENOM) bring you the rollicking conclusion of IN THE NAME OF THE KING!
A while ago, I called “Daredevil: Dark Nights” #1 ‘the definitive introduction to Matt Murdock anyone has ever written’ and while that is certainly a claim, I stand by my words. It was one of the strongest single issues of a “Daredevil” comic I have ever read. Not only that, but Lee Weeks followed up that #1 with two more issues that were just as good, making this a stand-out title that should have been able to hold it’s own weight beside Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s stellar “Daredevil”. The series then unfortunately faltered with a less than stellar story from David Lapham that was ultimately rather forgettable. Then, that was followed up by this last three-part story by Jimmy Palmiotti and Thony Silas that teams Matt Murdock with Misty Knight in sunny Miami.
As a quick refresher course, Matt Murdock was brought to Miami as his client, who was supposed to testify in a homicide investigation, was put into witness protection. The client was kidnapped and Murdock and Misty Knight teamed up to get him back. As it turns out, Murdock’s client was testifying against a major drug lord’s brother and said drug lord had him kidnapped. Oh, and said major drug lord is Misty’s ex. It’s a funny ol’ world, innit?
But let’s get to the issue itself, is it any good? Well, yes, it is, but that’s not what sticks out to me about the issue. Still, Palmiotti and Silas have definitely created an enjoyable issue here which is the conclusion to an equally enjoyable storyline that serves a nice end-cap to mostly enjoyable series. Yet the question lingering for me is what was really the point of this series? Did these three stories arise separately and then get thrown in one series? Or was the idea of a Daredevil version of “Savage Wolverine” get cut short? There’s simply no real connective tissue to the series as a whole other than it being a collection of short Daredevil stories. For an anthology, there was almost zero theming of the stories beyond the main character which leaves me wondering why I bought into eight issues of this in the first.
That’s a minor quibble, though, as an anthology should stand on the strength of its stories, right? And as mentioned, Lee Weeks’ opening story was incredibly strong, but while David Lapham’s wasn’t up to much, Jimmy Palmiotti and Thony Silas have really tried to turn it around with this story. The pair have definitely aimed for a more fun, adventure-like story that breaks the mold of a few of Daredevil conventions like not taking place in Manhattan and it’s worked out in their favour. The issur really works on the strength of the banter between Matt Murdock and Misty Knight which is all thanks to the wit in the dialogue courtesy of Jimmy Palmiotti. However, there’s very little of note outside of that. Despite the villain’s connection to Misty Knight he barely has a presence in the book and has almost no real impact on the closing of the story. It was frustrating to have come through three issues of story to be met with little in the way of resolution. Yet while the plot itself fell a little short from delivering any kind of meat, it was saved by the camaraderie between the two heroes.
The strength of this story is not just in how much fun Palmiotti is clearly having writing Daredevil and Misty Knight’s interactions, but also in how much energy in Thony Silas’ artwork. While Silas doesn’t have the most refined art in the world, it’s more than made up for in how energetic that action scenes are. It really conveys the action-adventure stylings of Palmiotti’s story. However, there are definitely times (like the double page fight scene between Misty Knight and the female villain of the piece) where the exaggerated poses in the action cross the line between stylistic and ridiculous. It breaks the flow of the issue completely which is a shame because it has the makings of a good fight scene, but simply goes a little too far and tries a little too hard to to really work. And, ultimately, outside of some fun action there is not much all that memorable about Silas’ art which brings this issue down even further, sadly
Overall, when looking at this issue I see the conclusion of a still mostly enjoyable story despite its flaws. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that there was very little point to this series as a whole. Despite how strong Lee Weeks’ story was, the series definitely peaked there and could not recover and stumbled to the home stretch. This series seems more like an experiment in showcasing smaller stories from a wider variety of creators that shot itself in the foot right out of the gate with an uneven showcase of stories. A valiant effort, but nonethless it still resulted in a strong first impression that it couldn’t follow through on.
Final Verdict: 6.1 – For a fun team-up, the issue delivered, but the series itself had little in the way of identity.
