There's really not much reason not to buy Daredevil this week because it's been reduced to a quarter, but even at full price this stands out as a strong point of the Bendis/Maleev run so far. Beyond introducing a new supporting character in a clever and funny sequence, Bendis gets out of the courtroom to explore a little of how the ramifications of his stories have affected Daredevil instead of Matt Murdock, and comes up with a plausible and very likable explanation for why the underworld is so scared of Daredevil. Maleev is as always perfect for the more human and normal settings that make up most of the book, but he also acquits himself pretty well when it comes to the super-hero stuff, which makes something of a return this issue.
While there's plenty of fun to be had in the action sequences that show Daredevil whupping up on a couple thugs or saving a young woman from an accident that echoes his own origin, it's still in the "talking heads" sequences where Bendis and Maleev really shine. I'm reminded in a pleasant way of Alias, where half the fun is watching the characters get together in a room and talk. Murdock's embarrassed, almost overly polite apologies to the woman in the first scene are interesting enough, and tease a possible relationship for Matt, but what got me this issue was seeing how Matt Murdock/Daredevil relates to the underworld.
Bendis's use of Stilt-Man in this issue is absolutely hysterical. Without reducing Stilt-Man to any more of a laughing stock than he already is, he makes the character very real and human, and his insights into why Daredevil is so frightening to the underworld community both make perfect sense and provide some laughs for the readers, who know the truth of Matt's tenuous legal and crime-fighting abilities. The conclusion that Stilt-Man comes to is particularly hysterical. I also love that Bendis continues to empathize not just with the heroes, but with the villains, painting the thugs as guys doing a job in a Tarantino-esque style or serving up a frightening and dangerous vision of the Owl.
Mind you, the vision would be a tad more frightening if his hair weren't so out of control, but that's the only complaint I have to offer about Maleev's work this time out. The body language of Milla and her... sister? lover? is vague in the opening scene, and I suspect it is deliberately so, inviting the readers to guess the relationship and what that means for Matt. I also really appreciated little touches like the amusement in Matt's face when he confronts Stilt-Man, or Stilt-Man's obvious frustration and fear.
It's really not fair to the other writers that any one guy dominates the industry to such an extent, but Bendis is currently writing four ongoing super-hero series, and all of them are among the best things being published in comics today. I suspect it's because each of them has a style and a niche that it fits into, and in Daredevil's case, it seems to straddle the line between the plain-clothes crime/drama of Alias and the spandex super-heroics of Ultimate Spider-Man.
