|
DAREDEVIL #29
Highly Recommended (9/10)
|
Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights imprint
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stuart Moore
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
So I've been watching a lot of The Sopranos lately. And I see a lot of that in Bendis's take on the Kingpin and his organization, including a family element that seems an obvious idea but somehow no one has ever taken on to this degree before. It seems that many folks jumped off of Daredevil after Kevin Smith left, and that's a shame,
because Bendis and Maleev are turning in quite possibly the best work the book
has seen since the days of Frank Miller. A twisting conspiracy of shaky
loyalties fills the backrooms of Kingpin's affairs, and we're now coming to find
out that Daredevil is, in a way, the cause of it all. It's a beautiful piece of
pacing and plotting, and Maleev's gritty and dark artwork is a perfect
complement to Bendis's hard-boiled script.
This issue jumps around in
time quite a bit, and it's a testament to the skill of the creative team how
well it flows. Though we're jumping between past and present, this isn't just
for showing off. Instead, Bendis and Maleev show us key moments, revealing the
size and shape of the plot through judicious flashbacks, as we learn why Matt
Murdock has a price on his head, why the Kingpin was stabbed and who was behind
it all.
There's some clever visual
storytelling going on here as well. The shifting of backgrounds around Vanessa
Fisk to demonstrate her travel brings to mind the quick-cut travel sequences in
Snatch, and the use of heavy darkness to show a confrontation between two blind
men was a terrific visual choice as well. Maleev has great instincts and a style
that is harsh, realistic and gritty, all without being too hard to read, as such
dark art often is.
While there are certainly
plenty of stories to be told with Matt Murdock, Bendis seems more concerned thus
far with his nemesis, and his take on the character is every bit as
ground-breaking as Miller's re-invention of the character in his heyday. The
family element that has surrounded Kingpin, with a traitorous son and a somewhat
flaky wife, is brought home this issue with revelations about the role each of
them plays in the larger drama. I was particularly impressed with the
characterization of Vanessa as something other than window dressing, as a strong
woman who I can understand why Wilson Fisk might have fallen for.
However, while the story may
revolve largely around the Kingpin, it is still Daredevil's story. These two
have a strong bond, as they know each other better than many of the other people
in their lives know them, and it's interesting to see that the Kingpin has some
strange affection or other soft spot for Daredevil that ultimately has led him
down this dangerous road in the first place.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
