Its always gets me, to the point that I crave the new DD almost more than any book. Murdock the Hand leader could make for some VERY interesting storylines. What does the great DD supporting cast think(Urich, Dakota, Foggy, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, etc)? This probably attracts Norman Osborn to DD now that he's becoming a serious threat(hence the DD: List one-shot). Will this be the big spark in the war against the Hood's gang for Hell's Kitchen? Theres a lot of potential here for more great storytelling, and if that means Murdock's gotta be dragged through the mud to do that, so be it.

I would also have to disagree with you Jeremy, as far as shit-dumping on Matt goes. Good storytelling, to me, is based on conflict and putting a challenge in the hero's path for him to overcome. The only problem with DD lately is that it's all problem and no overcoming or prevailing on behalf of the hero. Now, mind you, I can wait for a very long time for the hero to prevail. In fact, it's only recently that I've felt that Brubaker has gone too far in putting Matt through the wringer. I just don't get where all the downward spiraling is supposed to lead. When will writers and editors say "enough"? When will they decide to build the character back up again so that he will be strong enough to face the next conflict or challenge? Everyone wants to do a take on Born Again without remembering the actual "born again" aspect where the main character triumphs. And, as I will show in a post later this week, Frank Miller's Daredevil succeeded without putting he hero through anywhere near this amount of almost ridiculous trauma. The level of tragedy right now (adding up the back to back tragedies of the last few years) is actually unprecedented in the history of the book. I'm glad that you're enjoying this since that means there will still be people out there buying the book if things get even worse (in terms of tragedy) because I know that a lot of fans are likely to be turned off by it. The overly depressing tone of the book was also given as the number one reason people didn't read Daredevil in the poll I did last year on CBR and Newsarama.

Well, those were just some thoughts. I will never stop buying Daredevil as long as the book is in publication, so no need to worry about this blog, but this development has me worried. On the other hand, Diggle is capable of writing both humor and "the good guys ending up on top" types of stories (the difference in tone between Brubaker's Criminal and Diggle's The Losers is rather striking). If anyone can rebuild Matt Murdock right now as a man with a complicated life, but an actual life nonetheless, I think he might be it. I like the "superhero next door" aspects of Daredevil, but right now I'm finding him very hard to relate to.

Remember in one of the interviews Brubaker planned on putting DD in a bind, like Bendis did to him with Murdock is jail? Well, look at that last preview page. Notice how when the Hand attacks, the old man looks scared and DD doesn't care?

THATS BECAUSE HE'S THE LEADER OF THE HAND! He must have accepted Lady Bullseye's offer! Man, Murdock's life just gets worse and worse, which always makes it more fun for me to read actually.

I'm not that surprised that the art looks pretty close to Lark/Maleev since de la Torre is pretty good at rendering fine detail and has a good grasp of anatomy. The "sketchiness" shouldn't be too hard to add to that mix if that's what you want to do. I also hope Matt Hollingsworth will stay on colors, but I guess they won't tell us yet.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21697