1) the story was so good! and
2) the news of Nelson’s murder reached me through the Spanish edition, so I was able to get hold of a good number of USA issues before teh conclusion of the saga was over in Spain, so… After the initial shock, I learned about Fog’s survival in a relatively short time (as compared with the USA fan)

I must confess that, had I been an USA fan, and had to wait six months to learn that Foggy wasn’t dead, it would have been a lot thougher and possibly I would have joined the “OH, Bru, what did you do” chorus, LOL

This sentence made me smile, because, sad but true, some people is actually very pissed if the title lead appears in a story without his/her trademark suit, even if the story is terrific beyond words. I have come across comments of the type that some reader thinks he threw his money to the trash if his (her) hero (heroine) spends the whole issue in mufti (which I consider a bit fetishistic, but, hey, to each his/her own)

Personally, I prefer a good story, regardless of the duds, and maybe the best example at hand is “Born Again”, possible one of the best superhero stories ever, where Matt only wears his costume in the last issues of the arc.

The scene with Foggy and Urich was great: both not being nice to each other, precisely, because of their respective concern about their mutual friend (and their perception about whicc is the thing most appropiate to help Matt). BTW, I loved to see here Nelson in charge, and Brubaker presenting him like a serious, competent lawyer. I loved the scene of Matt & Foggy’s conversation at Ryker’s separated by a piece of thick glass: it was very emotional to see, specially as Foggy does that final “i’m reaching you” gesture.

Needless to say, the scene of (SPOILER) Foggy’s death by martyrdom just brought a chill to my bones: maybe I must thank Mr. Brubaker to make realize how much I loved the character (which so far I very much liked: but I had to lose him to realize it was actually LOVE -lol-)… I really felt awful about his dissapearance, so needless to say, I was beside myself to learn, some issues later, that he was actually alive (if stitched).

As you state, the inside politics at the prison are excellently depicted, each leader catering for his “audience”, and shows Bru’s skill at writing noir… And having Matt and Fisk having a quid pro quo arrangement, and Matt’s alliance with Frank Castle are touches of sheer genius, all the more because none of them seems out of character in the least.

The best thing was, there was a hubbub: too many regular DD readers declaring themselves ready to leave the series when Bendis left… And Brubaker started with such a bang “there is life beyond Bendis, guys/gals!”