|
DAREDEVIL #26 (Best of the Week!)
"Underboss Part One"
Highly Recommended (10/10)
|
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 |
In comics, there are not many sure bets. You pay your money, you take your chances, and sometimes what you had really high hopes for turns out to be a disappointment, or at least not as good as you hoped. Bendis/Maleev, a proven team from Sam & Twitch, writing Daredevil (which Bendis had handled well before) under the auspices of editor Stuart Moore, seemed like a sure bet. As it turns out, it was, as Bendis and Maleev deliver a knockout first issue that combines gritty crime with the type of courtroom scenes you expect on good television and throws in super-heroic action for good measure. It's got terrific atmosphere, stunning dialogue, an intriguing plot and some big questions that I'm just dying to know the answers to. I know that many have given up on Daredevil after delays or dissatisfaction with the
rotating creative team... now is the time to get back onboard.
There are also few surprises
in comics, and I wish I could say this one contained a lot of them.
Unfortunately, while the opening scene is moody and powerful and definitely
starts the whole thing off with a bang, the rumors made it less than a surprise
for me. Knowing what was going to happen, however, didn't make it any less of a
terrific scene, or Silke any less of a cool villain, any more than wondering why
the educated Kingpin wouldn't know of Julius Caesar other than that it made for
creepier momentum to the scene. That's good writing, knowing full well that
there are a couple things that should have stopped your thought process but not
realizing until you go back to reread because the dialogue, action and artwork
was so damn smooth.
Alex Maleev has been someone to watch since he first showed up on the radar with Batman: No Man's Land. His work with Sam & Twitch was better than that, and his work
here is another step up. Together with Matt Hollingsworth, who excels at this
kind of slightly downbeat coloring, he has created a dark and shady world that
nevertheless feels wholly real. The courtroom scenes are incredible, as we move
around the room watching Matt Murdock give his closing argument, and the act of
terrorism in the street is an incredibly powerful image as well. Destruction,
blood, bruises and implied rather than overtly shown fatalities make for a
chilling image, and one that gives the reader the same drive and motivation to
find out what's happening as Daredevil himself.
If you turn on primetime TV any night of the week, you're bound to find a lawyer show. Ally McBeal, The Practice, three different flavors of Law & Order, Philly... the list goes on. And yet no one, not even undisputed Daredevil master Frank
Miller, has played up the courtroom angle of Daredevil much. Bob Gale started to
look at that side with his last arc, and I hope that Bendis continues it. This
issue's scene, an amazing look at a closing argument complete with narration
that shows how Matt Murdock's heightened senses affect his practice of law, is a
good step in that direction.
What I really love, though,
is that the book shifts direction three times this issue. First a moody and
dirty backroom crime drama, then a courtroom scene, then an explosive action
movie. And it never feels odd, it always feels completely natural, and Bendis
and Maleev nail the tone of each one. Daredevil's chase through the city, with
visuals that show his grace and control and narration that highlights the
struggles he's going through to achieve it, is a fantastic denouement for the
issue, and leaves me as a reader wanting more. Fortunately, Bendis and Maleev
will be back next month to deliver just that, and I hope they'll be around for
quite a while.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
