Bendis and Maleev are back for the second part of their epic saga.
They picked a perfect place in the story to take a break, because the first arc “King of Hell’s Kitchen” takes place 1 year later. Matt has really cleaned up his district, nobody dares to do crime in his territory. However he only pushed the problems to different areas, which is why other superheroes are not happy with what he’s done. We also find out that he secretly married Milla, and now he has to deal with the Yakuza. With the help of Luke and Danny Rand he defeats them, but in the meantime Milla realizes that he started all this because Karen Page died. So she leaves him. It’s ironic that the person who realizes this is Ben Urich, not Foggy. Then again, Ben is a journalist, it’s his job to notice these things. This is a good setup arc that lays the ground of the new status quo.
The next arc is “The Widow”, which obviously deals with the Black Widow. This is more about global espionage than city crime, but it was a nice change of pace. The scope is larger here, with Nick Fury and Shield involved. It’s almost a preview of what Bendis will do with the whole Marvel Universe later in his career. As for Matt, he has to deal with Milla leaving him and simultaneously having Widow in his life again. In the end he realizes that he loves Milla, but he can’t keep her if she doesn’t want him, so he gives her the annulment.
Issue 65 is called “The Universe” and is a standalone issue with many guest artists. Each segment deals with how other Marvel characters deal with what happened to Matt during Bendis’ run. We see Fury offering Matt to become a Shield agent. Peter Parker is worried about Matt but also about his own secret identity. Captain America also offered him to become an Avenger. Punisher wants to take out the new Kingpin, Daredevil. Matt talks to Doc Strange, hoping he might bring Karen back. The epilogue introduces the next arc: Alexander Bont is released from prison.
“Golden Age” is without a doubt the most interesting arc from a visual standpoint. Alexander Bont was the kingpin before Wilson Fisk, now he’s an old man and is out of prison. With many flashbacks we learn about his past, how he started out, how he became the boss, and how he was imprisoned. These flashbacks are told in different styles: first it’s all black & white, then it’s with old coloring. Maleev and colorist Dave Stewart did a phenomenal job here. Bont’s story is intersected with that of the Gladiator, both in the past and the present. Bont uses Gladiator to help him capture Matt and torture him. Bont is so intent in destroying Matt that he doesn’t even realize that he’s destroying himself with MGH. Gladiator’s story was tragic, unfortunately his past caught up with him again. There’s also a subplot about Del Toro, the new White Tiger. This arc went back to telling mob stories, delving into the past of organized crime. Another great crime story.
The “Decalogue” is an unusual story: it starts with a therapy group where people discuss how their lives have been affected by Daredevil becoming Kingpin. At first it’s self contained stories marginally related to Daredevil, but slowly we realize that some of these stories are connected, and there’s the mystery of a miniature devil figure. I like the mystery aspect of the story, I had no idea what was going on. I also like the revelation that Matt was in this group all along, but once he starts explaining everything, it becomes another superhero story. The setup was more interesting than the payoff.
We’re now at the final arc of this amazing run. All hell breaks loose, all the major players are back (Fisk, Urich, Elektra, Widow, Bullseye, Milla), and we finally get the payoff to Matt’s secret identity problem. It’s a tense roller coaster, but I want to focus on the end. I loved the fantasy where Matt escapes from trial and lives with Milla, then Elektra, but in the end he doesn’t have anything to live for. So instead, he decides not to run and goes to prison. That’s a great payoff to the main plot of this run. Bendis went all out and didn’t back down at all. He didn’t let people magically forget about Daredevil’s identity, he didn’t try to make it go away. Instead he let Matt face the consequences, legally. That’s just a great ending to this run.
This is one of the greatest runs in superhero comics for me, not surprising since I love crime comics so much. To me, this run paired with Alias are Bendis’ best work at Marvel. He recently re-united with Maleev on Spider-Woman, so I’m hoping that run will be as good as this one.
But this being the Marvel universe, this is not the end of the series. Instead Ed Brubaker is gonna pick up the reigns and it’s thanks to him that Bendis could write this ending. They couldn’t have chosen better successors to Bendis and Maleev: Brubaker and Michael Lark are famous for their collaborations on crime comics like Scene of the Crime and Gotham Central. I can’t wait to read their run starting with Matt in prison.
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Following are my notes.
- The King of Hell’s Kitchen: 1 year later, hell’s kitchen is clean now, secretly married Milla, other heroes not happy with Matt, he just pushed the problems to other areas. Present, attacked by Japanese army, Milla can’t find him and goes to Ben. Ben finds him in a private clinic, recovering. Once recovered he asks Luke and Iron Fist to help him defeat the Yakuza. Ben realizes that Matt is doing all this because of Karen’s death, then Foggy tells Milla, and she leaves.
- The Widow: Milla wants annulment. Avengers capture Madam Hydra in Bulgaria, but government doesn’t want to release her, unless they get Black Widow. Fury warns her and she goes hiding. She goes to Matt, fight together in public, targeted by sniper, who almost defeats Daredevil, but runs away. Jigsaw also angry with Daredevil, attacks and Widow beats him. Fury finds the sniper and the Bulgarian director paid him. Widow goes to him and he was the Red Guardian, married to her. He’s now back from the dead, powerful but wanted to risk it all to kill Widow. Now he’s taken now by Avengers. Matt gives Milla annulment.
- The Universe (guest artists): stand alone issue with flashbacks to when Matt was outed in the papers. Fury offered him to work for Shield. Peter worried for Matt but also for himself. Cap offered to be in Avengers. Punisher wants to take out the new Kingpin. Matt apologizes to Strange after harsh talk, asks if he can bring Karen back. Epilogue: Agent Del Toro learns about release of Alexander Bont.
- Golden Age: Bont in 3 time periods: black & white, old coloring, present. Matt captured by Gladiator, flashbacks to Gladiator and Bont in past. Bont records Matt being tortured. Before Matt was captured, agent Del Toro goes to him and asks him about the White Tiger. She’s the new White Tiger. She learns what it is to become a superhero. She helps Matt with Gladiator, Bont takes MGH and dies. Gladiator back in jail. Flashback, Bont is in prison, so now Wilson Fisk can be new boss.
- Decalogue: therapy for people to discuss how their lives were affected after Daredevil became kingpin. Mystery about a little devil monster. Matt was in the group following Lawrence, who made Jester possessed by little devil, a secret of “the hand”. Lawrence escapes but kills himself.
- The Murdock Papers: Fisk makes deal with feds: give them proof of Matt as Daredevil, in exchange he walks and leaves country. Milla goes back to Matt. Elektra shows up, knows about the Murdock Papers, they go to retrieve it. Widow and White Tiger show up, but leave letting Matt and Elektra deal with Bullseye. They defeat him but feds shoot Matt. They escape, but Fisk tells them that Urich knows where they are. Elektra brings Matt to night nurse, calls the Hand. Widow also brings Milla. Feds show up and fight ninjas and Iron Fist/Cage. Matt doesn’t want to fight, surrenders. Matt in trial, fantasizes about escaping and reuniting with Milla in Paris, but she’s killed by Bullseye, he kills him and goes to Japan to Elektra. Then go back to reality, he declares himself not guilty and is imprisoned. Fisk is released, but soon after is arrested for murder. Owl gave feds proof. They’re all locked in a floating prison island.
I thought this was a great run of comics as well, with the possible exception of “Golden Age.” I thought “Decalogue” was particularly good. I don’t, however, understand the name. Was it originally supposed to be a longer story? Why is it called decologue, when it is only five issues?
I thought “Golden Age” was the weak link in this run. I understand that they are trying to make the three different time periods in that story match three different historical periods, but I think it was mistake to do the early-career Daredevil as if it was taking place in the Seventies. Presumably those events are supposed to be no more than 10-15 years in the past, so having the setting look like 30-35 years ago is just distracting.
It’s funny that our opinions about these two arcs are so different. To me Golden Age is a high point, I just love those epic stories that span decades.
As for the timeline, I didn’t really care while reading it. For the sake of discussion, we all know Daredevil was first published in the 60’s, so those stories do look like they were done in the 60’s-70’s. But of course the Marvel universe is permanently going to be 10 years old, otherwise all heroes would be 70 years old. I note that but I don’t really care, as long as I enjoy the story.
Decalogue seems to have lost its focus, that’s the only explanation I can think of. It started out as something, but it ended up something else. I don’t know. I just wasn’t crazy about it.