Reviewsarama

This is the run I’ve been wanting to read for years. To me, this was the peak of Bendis writing skills, before he started writing Avengers. Here he is reunited with his collaborator on Sam & Twitch, Alex Maleev. I loved that series, so I was happy to see them together on Daredevil.

Their run is mainly a crime comic, smoothly mixed with superheroes. Bendis jumps back and forth between different timelines, as he always does with his crime stories. There are plenty of dialogs as well as action scenes, but at the heart of this run is Matt Murdock outed as Daredevil.

It all starts in “Underboss”, where a new player in the crime organization tries to take out Kingpin. It’s very typical of mob stories, but it’s very well done and obviously has a superhero twist to it. That’s valid for most of the run.

In “Out”, the feds learn about Murdock’s identity, and one detective leaks it to the press. Matt then decides to sue the paper and denying the truth.

“Trial of the Century” was a misleading title, as well as a slightly disappointing story arc. It’s not Matt’s trial, it’s about the White Tiger. This will be relevant later on, but for the most part this arc doesn’t really fit into the bigger arc. It is a tragic story that ends with the death of White Tiger. The art is done by fill-in artists, who are good but they’re just not Maleev.

“Lowlife” introduces a very important character: Milla. She is blind and starts dating Matt. Meanwhile the Kingpin’s territory is taken by the Owl, who sells a new drug, MGH. Matt defeats him and he’s imprisoned. The Owl’s reign was very short, so short that he felt like small fish compared to Kingpin. Who is now back in town.

That’s what “Hardcore” deals with. We learn what happened to Kingpin after his wife Vanessa shipped him abroad in a coma. Now Kingpin is back and looking for revenge. He employs his best assassins, Typhoid Mary and Bullseye. It was fun seeing Kingpin trying to re-build his empire from scratch, something I hadn’t seen before. The end of the arc is another shocker: Daredevil defeats Fisk and takes his place as Kingpin! Also, Milla keeps dating him despite being in danger all the time.

Alex Maleev’s style is realistic without looking stiff. His faces resemble real life faces, but they’re also very expressive. His action scenes are very dynamic and work well with both superheroes and “normal” people. This is obviously a very noir style, perfect for this crime series, but at the same time it works well with man and women in tights. His women in particular are very attractive, luckily he got to draw many of Daredevil’s women (Black Widow, Elektra, Typhoid Mary and Milla). At times I had difficulty recognizing Kingpin, all bald men look the same to me (and they look like Bendis!).

Here ends the first part of Bendis/Maleev’s run, 25 issues that see Matt dealing with the crime organization once and for all, as well as dealing with legal troubles regarding Daredevil’s identity. He also picks up a new girlfriend, a blind one. A great run so far, full of surprises.

————————————————————-

Following are my raw notes about these issues.

- Underboss: Sam Silke is new man working for Kingpin, he learns from Kingpin’s son about Matt/Daredevil. Silke puts bounty on Matt, makes move to take out Kingpin with other capos. Kingpin wounded but not dead, his wife Vanessa takes out the people who did this, including her son. Silke is afraid and goes to feds, tells them about Matt. Daredevil defending from bounty hunters, trying to find out what happened.
- Out: Silke tells det about Matt, but he’s still imprisoned. Captain didn’t want it to leak, but one det tells Daily Globe. Urich and Peter defend Matt to JJJ. Matt struggling, doesn’t know what to do. Decides to sue the Globe. Electra shows up. He finds det, who disappears. Now Globe has no source, can’t win. But Globe’s owner still wants to fight in court, because of Matt’s lying.
- Trial of the Century: misleading title, not about Matt but White Tiger, who’s loser. He loses his temper in court, is found guilty, freaks out and runs, then is killed by cops. Matt finds the real guilty, who confesses to police. Too late.
- Lowlife: Milla is blind, saved by Daredevil. The Owl took Kingpin’s territory by force, after Vanessa sold it to others. He produces MGH. Globe’s owner decapitated. Milla goes to Matt, recognizes him and they start dating. During the date, police comes asking about the murder. Owl ordered the murder. Owl caught by feds, tries to escape, captured by Daredevil. Kingpin is back in town.
- Hardcore: Kingpin (couldn’t recognize him) gets Typhoid Mary out of retirement, kills his old consiglieri. Was left in a foreign country to heal, Vanessa disappeared with his money, his connections are gone. Milla still wants to date Matt, but Mary arrives. Flashback: Kingpin slowly building his empire, picking up scraps from Owl’s leftover. Mary attacks Matt, Jessica and Luke help. Millie still wants to be with Matt. Bullseye comes to Kingpin. He attacks Matt, almost kills Milla, but Daredevil is furious and carves his face. Doesn’t kill him, give him to FBI. Milla is still happy to see him!?!? Kingpin tries to talk to other bosses, tries to bully his way in, but one of them tells him he’s done. Then Daredevil comes in and fights Kingpin. He wins, then takes it to the other bosses and tells them to leave or change, now Daredevil is in charge.