I BEAT DAREDEVIL - more like Waid & Rodriguez are destroying Daredevil
Cover Art: 1/5
Samnee & Rodrigue fall well below par when executing this cover. I don't know what happened here lately with comics with less than stellar art (Daredevil & Hawkeye for example) but this just seems lazy, or it should belong in a newspaper cartoon section.
Story Line: 1/5
Mark Waid is trying to work in some very difficult messages into this book that I feel are anti-climactic. If you do ANY research, you will know that 1/3 men in the U.S. will develop cancer, and that 1/4 women will develop some sort of cancer. People going through cancer in the U.S. is something everyone has dealt with or has a friend or family who has dealt with. Validating that through comics seems insensitive. We readers are looking for realism, but our favorite heroes or sidekicks should be dying at the hands of arch enemies, or saving the hero from peril and justifying their true strength of character, not dying of cancer. I get that it takes Daredevil into a whole new realm of pain, but why? We see Matt tending to his dear friend Foggy Nelson who is loosing his hair due to treatment, and Matt must excuse himself to vomit in the bathroom as his overly developed senses cannot take the overwhelming smell of chemicals and death in the hospital and that is hovering over his friend Foggy. The story then makes a complete change of direction in which Matt unwillingly takes on a new client. His new client, Nate Hackett, was one of the last faces Matt saw before he lost his vision that also made his other senses hyper powerful. Nate was also the leader of a childhood "club" that would ritualistically bully Matt. We find that after Matt saved the old blind man and became a hero, Nate became a serial looser and ultimately joined a super gang called the Sons of the Serpent. Cops arrest Nate on false charges and Matt aids Nate in representing himself in court. (SPOILER ALERT) Nate does fairly well for himself until the Judge starts asking him why he left Sons of the Serpent. Nate, unknowingly, diverges details that he is aware of regarding names, plans, etc and we see the Judge (who we find out is a member of the Sons of the Serpent by the symbol on the gun he is holding) pull a gun on Nate and fire at him in the court! Matt is in the courtroom and unable to do anything. The next comic is titled: SNAKED, giving the impression Daredevil will be on a revenge mission to destroy the Sons of the Serpent.
Story Art: 1/5
I am not a fan of Javier Rodriguez's art. I have been reading a lot of previous story arcs from the past and Javier just not do Daredevil "justice" (pun intended) with his art. Daredevil should be drawn with such etherialism as did Joe Quesada in Parts of a Hole, or with a gritty, unfinished, guttery style like Alex Maleev did in The King of Hell's Kitchen. This cartoon style just doesn't fit Daredevil at all.
Verdict: 1/5
We are at a time in comics where everything is being compared to everything else. I call this age the "Comparison Age". We compare everyone to Superman. We compare everyone to Thor or to the Hulk. We create lists based on previous writings and art that most inspire us. If you have read any of the great stories of Daredevil such as Parts of a Hole, Redemption, or The King of Hell's Kitchen, you will quickly realize that this book just doesn't compare to what Daredevil should be or could be, written or draw. I recommend passing this book up until a new writer/artist combo comes along that proves worthy of the Crimson Devil.
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