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DAREDEVIL #27
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stuart Moore
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
I think this latest story arc is the strongest of the series since the interlude issue written by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, illustrated by Rob Haynes, released in the spring of 2000. Bendis astounds yet again with his dialogue and narration. And then there's Maleev and Hollingsworth, who bring a gritty, dramatic, Scorese-esque look to the book.
The intervention of a naive rookie cop prevents a disoriented Daredevil from doing something he would regret to the man who bombed the courthouse. The bomber -- a superhuman called Nitro -- was after Matt Murdock, and his law partner and best friend, Foggy Nelson, points him in the obvious direction: the Kingpin of Crime. After all, he's got a mad-on for the hero and knows his secret identity. Meanwhile, the betrayal of Sammy Silke seems to have opened up the top spot in New York's underworld.
Bendis's choppy descriptions of the title character's perceptions while suffering from a concussion struck me as incredibly well written and powerful. I loved reading them in the previous issue, and that holds true here as well. It conveys not only the power of his senses, but how they can be a bane as well. I also found that those perceptions served to remind me that no matter dire or happy our circumstances may be, life around us proceeds as normal, that there are other stories unfolding all around us.
In the latest issue of The Punisher (also released this week), Garth Ennis talks of the side of New York that some have forgotten, the nasty side that lies under the neon and tourism facade. Maleev's dark but realistic art captures that ugly side of the city in this comic book as well. Hollingsworth's dull greys and blues blend into that world perfectly, establishing the title character's frustrating, downtrodden mood even before his words do.
This story arc boasts a palpable darkness, but Bendis makes time for some solid humor as well. The exchange between the two cops was a riot. The banter struck me like something Aaron (The West Wing) Sorkin would put to paper. It's clever, believable and even a little silly.
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