Unless you’ve been spending most of the day under a rock or haven’t gone to any of the comic book sites, you couldn’t have missed that Disney just bought Marvel Entertainment. After the initial shock settled, I decided to take a stance of cautious optimism. Reactions have varied, but most people currently working for Marvel seem to take it all in stride. Paul Cornell brings up some good points on his blog www.paulcornell.com. When I get the chance to find out more about this acquisition, I’ll comment further.
Not surprisingly, people on Twitter have been spending the last few hours coming up with insane ideas for cross-overs between Marvel and Disney characters. I decided to join in with a special Disney version of Hell’s Kitchen, which can be found in the Hell’s Kitchen section of the blog*.
*) The Hell’s Kitchen section will be added to the new site as well, so stay tuned.
Every now and then, when browsing older issues, you come across something that raises an eyebrow and seems to beg the simple question: What were they thinking? The scenario below, while not particularly politically correct, is hardly cause for indignation, but you have to wonder whether there is any scientific basis for the ability to smell a person’s ethnic background (though I should mention that one of my co-workers, with a relationship record that spans almost every continent, claims that you can). And while we’re on the topic of “weird,” what’s with Matt pawing this guy’s face to begin with?
For those who are curious, this panel is from Daredevil #224, written by Jim Owsley, in his first of two guest writer appearances, and penciled by Daniel Jurgens and Geoff Isherwood. The older man in this picture is Abe, for whom the issue is named, and comes into contact with Daredevil when caught in the cross-fire between some baddies, and the two spend much of the issue at a diner together.
Another pretty funny thing about this issue is that I think it has one of the most contrived instances of must-insert-reference-to-origin-and-powers I think I’ve ever seen (click to enlarge): “That sound… the momentary burst of heat… Possibly a large burst of energy being released. Energy like the radioactive burst that robbed me of my sight when I was a child and heightened my remaining senses to paranormal levels.”
One piece of news to come out of Fan Expo Canada, currently underway in Toronto, is an upcoming one-shot starring the Man Without Fear and his former lover. This tale, as we would expect from the What If? concept, takes us back in time and has things play out a little differently. From Marvel.com:
“The heart-rending story of the Man Without Fear and his ill-fated lover fills out an entire book by itself. Karl Bollers returns to inquire, ‘What If Daredevil Died and Was Resurrected By the Hand?’
‘What could corrupt Matt Murdock,’ he muses. ‘Or who? And that’s the direction we decided to go in. Matt is corrupted by outside forces and becomes an agent of evil. Elektra’s father not dying, though, is what starts the dominoes tumbling-or falling into place, depending on how you want to look at it.’”
Below is one of the two preview images available in the article listed above, and obviously answers the question I’m sure I couldn’t have been the only one to wonder about: Will Matt’s eyes turn red when resurrected?
On a different note, does this mean that none of the Hand stuff currently going on in the main title will actually involve Matt dying and being resurrected? There’s been nothing to really indicate that, but I was a little worried since that’s not something I would want for Daredevil. Anyway, what do you think about this news? Discuss away in the comments!
Hey guys! Sorry for the slow week around the blog. I’ve spent most of my spare time playing around with my new computer and transferring files from my old ailing one (which had obvious problems with the letter ‘r’). Enough with the excuses, but do check in over the weekend when I’ll have some things to post!
NEWS
Nothing much to report here, but do check out this brief interview Andy Diggle did with his local radio station. It’s very “comics 101,” but Daredevil is mentioned quite a bit and it’s a good interview all around. It starts 1.32:00 into the broadcast.
LINKS
Frequent TOMP commenter and Daredevil fan extraordinaire Alice, the “Darediva,” was featured in CBR’s Robot 6’s Shelf Porn series. Be sure to check out her Daredevil collection.
If you read my review of Daredevil #500, you know that I enjoyed it a great deal, and as a whole, I’m very excited about where the new direction might lead. Before I get to that part, however (hidden under a cut for those who haven’t read the issue yet), I’d just like to talk a little bit about the old status quo. You know, the one that has Matt Murdock being your good old-fashioned low-powered superhero next door with a somewhat normal professional life and ordinary friends. It is oftentimes a very shitty life, but still fairly grounded in the “real world.”
Matt has left the default status quo before at various points in the history of the book, and usually with interesting results, but I would still say that the basic premise of Matt being a blind lawyer who fights crime at night is insanely interesting in and of itself. Where some people might consider that well to be completely dry, I’m going to go in the opposite direction and say that it’s under-explored and has never really been used to its full advantage. Television and movie action-dramas involving cops, lawyers and criminals are everywhere, and part of the reason they’re everywhere is because there is a demand for them. And why is there? Because there are tons of ways to make them interesting. This basic storytelling engine combined with a superhero element is even better, and while this well is visited on occasion (the Cruel and Unusual and Trial of the Century story arcs for instance), there really haven’t been that many stories that treat Matt’s job as more than just another job. I’m not advocating Daredevil going full legal drama, but I would like to see someone do more with the lawyer angle when Matt eventually returns to the default status quo. That might be a year from now, two years from now, or even further down the line, but it will happen eventually. And I would love to see it done right. Currently, with the new shake-up, we are possibly farther away from the default status quo than we’ve been in decades. It looks like it’s going to be a very interesting and exciting ride, but my reason for feeling that way has everything to do with the story itself and very little to do with any kind of notion that Daredevil really needed to be fixed.
I have to say that I’m very impressed. This story featured one huge twist most of us saw coming (but one which I’ll refrain from mentioning outright to keep the spoilers to a minimum), and which Brubaker managed to make more palatable than I would have thought possible. It also featured several smaller twists that actually retroactively make the events of the last two arcs much more interesting. Some of you may remember my past complaints about Lady Bullseye’s lack of motivation or the absurdity of what she wanted from Matt. All of those pieces of the puzzle fall into place here, and at the end of the issue, we are indeed left with a new status quo. The way Brubaker makes this happen is pure genius and he really does manage to end his run on the high note we’d all wished for.
The fall-out of this issue could end up being the best thing to happen to this book in years. It could also end up falling completely flat. It all depends on what Andy Diggle chooses to do next. It’s going to demand a high level of familiary with the character to pull this off with Matt “intact,” and time will tell if Diggle’s instincts in this department are on par with his ability to write seriously intriguing plots. I will discuss the new status quo in a separate post tomorrow, where I will also talk about the Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil preview. For the purposes of this review, I’m not going to concern myself with what comes next, but about the merits of the particular issue.
Brubaker goes all out here. He ties up every single plot strand, answers every single one of my questions, and even manages to insert new fan favorite Mr Izo into Matt’s past. I was concerned that there was going to be some pacing issues here, and while some events might seem a little rushed, it’s not to the extent where it ruins the big moments in any way. The most positive thing for me was that Brubaker managed to surprise me even when I thought I’d figured out pretty well how this arc was going to end. I also didn’t think there was any way I was going to be happy with that ending or find it logical. I underestimated Brubaker. I guess this is why he makes his living writing comics while I make my living writing press releases. Amazingly, he also manages to leave the book giving Matt a most unlikely feeling of freedom and optimism, the latter being something that’s been sorely missing from this book for a long time.
Michael Lark turns in a stellar performance, as usual. The scene with Matt and Milla is gorgeous, and I’ve never seen Milla quite so beautiful. Kudos to Matt Hollingworth too for giving just the right tone to moments like these and many others. I’m so grateful that he’s staying as the colorist on this book. There are also pages of the main story by fill-in artists Chris Samnee and Klaus Janson. Both do a great job, and while Janson might be much more of a legend than Samnee, I must admit I’m a die-hard Chris Samnee fan (take a look at his blog).
Among the back-up features is a neat little story by Ann Nocenti that I really enjoyed, even though it is a tad morbid, with some great David Aja art. There is also the reprint of Daredevil #191, which I will have to review separately some time, because it is perhaps my favorite issue of all time. I will get to the Dark Reign tie-in preview tomorrow, so last, but not least, are the pin-ups and the cover gallery. First of all I want to congratulate the webmaster without fear Kuljit Mithra (of manwithoutfear.com fame) for getting his name in the credits by helping out with the covers! I only wish they were just a little bit bigger, but I guess that’s all on Marvel. The pin-ups are also a fun addition and feature some artists I haven’t seen take on Daredevil before. It was also a real thrill seeing Bendis try his hand at drawing Daredevil. I’m relieved that he left those duties to Alex Maleev during his Daredevil run, but he’s not a bad artist at all.
All in all, a very good 500th issue, and one that seems mostly well-received by the critics. I hope that Diggle will be able to fill those shoes, because, with this issue, Brubaker just made them a whole lot bigger.
So, waiting to pick up that issue, are you? I know the feeling, and I have to wait until tomorrow. To keep yourself entertained you can either do what I’m doing right now (yes, multi-tasking, it’s a woman thing), that is listen to this podcast interview with Michael Lark. When you’re done with that, take the quiz below. If you like seeing all the questions at the same time, click this link instead. Have fun and don’t forget to report the score!
While I always tend to write about things I want to write about on this blog (with the odd exception of some mandatory news reporting), this series of posts – more so than others perhaps – is one I’m putting together knowing that many of you might find it a bit anal. Not all of you – judging by the decent number of people who land on this blog after searching for “Daredevil radar sense” on Google – but probably a majority. And yet, I keep at it. Call it self-indulgence or the simple curiosity to try to understand how writers and artists imagine Daredevil’s most exotic trait, his unique window on the world.
In the last post of this series, I quoted an excerpt from an old Miller interview where he was able to talk about his take on the radar sense, putting words to the ambiguity I know many fans, and presumably a fair share of writers, feel about the radar. I’ve seen some people refer to it as a cop-out, and I’ve seen others who have wanted to see it removed altogether and replaced with something more subtle. What I think Miller was striving for with his talk of a “proximity sense” was to portray the radar sense as something that performs some of the functions of vision, while also being something quite different. He also added his own take on the origin of the sense, seeing it as an innate ability that could be unleashed, or possibly enhanced, but a far cry from Stan Lee’s all-purpose radio-transmitter and antenna set-up. An ability brought out by radioactivity and mysticism while also being rooted in human biology.
Below, I’ll just post some panels that highlight Miller’s take on the radar sense, offering some brief comments when necessary. Feel fee to provide your own comments on how you view Miller’s work in this regard, and how you’d like to see Daredevil’s radar sense portrayed. All panels below are written and penciled by Frank Miller, except Daredevil #185 (penciled by Klaus Jansen) and Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1 (penciled by John Romita Jr).
All of us Daredevil fans know that this coming Wednesday is no ordinary Wednesday. For that same reason, this is no ordinary week here at The Other Murdock Papers. With a big anniversary issue just two days away and a new creative team taking over in September, I’m expecting an unusual number of readers who may be looking into Daredevil for the first time (or looking to get back in the game) finding this blog while trying to look for relevant Daredevil information.
In this first post of the week, my goal is to provide links to all information related to the anniversary issue and the creative team hand-over in one handy location. I’m also going to give you links to some of my previous posts that provide good starting points for people who wish to know more about Daredevil and don’t know where to begin. And, do check out my guest post at The Weekly Crisis, published earlier today.
Tomorrow, I will be posting a regularly scheduled post as we look at the next chapter in the history of Daredevil’s elusive radar sense (look HERE for previous posts in this series). On Wednesday, everyone will get the chance to test their knowledge of Daredevil trivia with a one of a kind Daredevil quiz. On Thursday, I will be posting my review of Daredevil #500, which will lead into Friday’s post about the new status quo (whatever that might be) and provide solid information for everyone who wants to get cozy with the blind guy in the devil pajamas.
Ah, yes, just when I thought we would have a nice smooth ride until Wednesday, Marvel decides to do a sort of countdown of the pinups that will be in the next issue and some background information. They will continue to post these until the issue comes out, but here is Daredevil Behind the Scenes, Day 1.
This news is also featured in Marvel’s Weekly Watcher video segment, included below. Not a whole lot of extra information in it, but have a look if you want!
Select images from past issues are used without permission, for commentary purposes. Daredevil and associated characters are the property of Marvel Entertainment.
Christine is a thirty something Daredevil fan from Sweden who spends way too much of her free time writing posts for this blog. Check the
Daredevil’s new status quo
by Christine on August 23, 2009 in Commentary
If you read my review of Daredevil #500, you know that I enjoyed it a great deal, and as a whole, I’m very excited about where the new direction might lead. Before I get to that part, however (hidden under a cut for those who haven’t read the issue yet), I’d just like to talk a little bit about the old status quo. You know, the one that has Matt Murdock being your good old-fashioned low-powered superhero next door with a somewhat normal professional life and ordinary friends. It is oftentimes a very shitty life, but still fairly grounded in the “real world.”
Matt has left the default status quo before at various points in the history of the book, and usually with interesting results, but I would still say that the basic premise of Matt being a blind lawyer who fights crime at night is insanely interesting in and of itself. Where some people might consider that well to be completely dry, I’m going to go in the opposite direction and say that it’s under-explored and has never really been used to its full advantage. Television and movie action-dramas involving cops, lawyers and criminals are everywhere, and part of the reason they’re everywhere is because there is a demand for them. And why is there? Because there are tons of ways to make them interesting. This basic storytelling engine combined with a superhero element is even better, and while this well is visited on occasion (the Cruel and Unusual and Trial of the Century story arcs for instance), there really haven’t been that many stories that treat Matt’s job as more than just another job. I’m not advocating Daredevil going full legal drama, but I would like to see someone do more with the lawyer angle when Matt eventually returns to the default status quo. That might be a year from now, two years from now, or even further down the line, but it will happen eventually. And I would love to see it done right. Currently, with the new shake-up, we are possibly farther away from the default status quo than we’ve been in decades. It looks like it’s going to be a very interesting and exciting ride, but my reason for feeling that way has everything to do with the story itself and very little to do with any kind of notion that Daredevil really needed to be fixed.
Read more under the cut –>
Tagged as: Andy Diggle, Billy Tan, Commentary, Daredevil #500-current
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