Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark had some big shoes to fill when they took over the creative reins on this title, but they've proven themselves to be more than equal to the task. Brubaker has wisely not cast aside what came in the years before now but has opted to build upon it. Still, there's a clear shift in the tone of the storytelling. Brubaker has already made this title his own, and I'm just as captivated by the grim tone of the book now as I was when Brian Michael Bendis was at the helm. Daredevil has naturally evolved from a street crime and courtroom drama to a prison epic, and the writing has made the impossible notion of a blind man/super-hero in the middle of a prison population surprisingly easy to accept.
Matt Murdock spends his days in prison protecting himself from attacks by other inmates and the scheming of the more corrupt guards, but importantly, Murdock is trying to extract information as to the persons responsible for the murder of his best friend and attorney, Foggy Nelson. He has limited time and space to get that information, so he has to resort to some nasty methods. And if prison life weren't dangerous enough for a man with so many enemies on the inside, two new "guests" of the federal government promise to make life even more interesting... and deadly.
Just as Brubaker's prison story flowed naturally from the Bendis stories that preceded it, Lark's style is consistent with that of his predecessor, Alex Maleev. I'm stunned by the level of detail he achieves in the backgrounds, reinforcing the level of realism that's such an integral part of the story. This isn't a super-hero story, after all. Lark's eye for anatomy furthers that goal as well, and it's a testament to his storytelling ability that he doesn't need the flashiness of super-hero costumes and powers to keep the reader's attention. He even makes Hammerhead look like a real person rather than a bad guy who escaped from a Dick Tracy strip. D'Armata's colors add tension to the story, embracing dark colors and even some eerie-feeling ones.
The Ben Urich are really well done. I'm honestly intrigued by the potential identity of the new Daredevil, but I'm more interested in how Urich investigates the mystery and how he handles his boss's decisions about coverage of the story. Urich is the ultimate romanticized reporter. He's determined, he's smart and he's passionate about both the truth and his writing, but he's also something of a martyr. He's not a rich man, and he's suffered for his profession. He's far more grounded a character than Matt Murdock, and as a result, he's even more interesting.
The final scene offers up an idea that's far from new. We've seen a vigilante seeking to be purposefully incarcerated so he can follow through on a mission, but when it comes to this character, we usually see him as wanting to pursue prey. Instead, it seems clear he's out to act as a protector. The scene has a real impact, and it made me anticipate the next issue all the more. It's not that we want to see what he'll do in Ryker's, but we want to see how Murdock will react. And therein lies the strength of the script -- it's in the protagonist's reactions to what happens around him, not the action itself. 9/10
