Good plot twists, and maybe Matt's final decision has something to do with the good ole Gatholic Guilt? it certainly has a degree of self-punishment (or self-fullfilment? We shall see…)

I bet Bru had some cool stories to continue the plot as it ends in #500. It's a pity his other work keeps him from going on. Let's hope that Diggle keeps the good level!

I like how Izo is left inscribed within the DD mythos, and the greatest thing is, that Bru does so without changing noticeably the known story (unlike Quesada's "Father" *cough*… BTW, Why Does Quesada draw DD as if he were suffering from piles?)

Another good thing is that Matt's status quo is canged, but without playing havoc with the pre-existing entourage: the other characters keep on with their lives (and possibly we won't see Dakota, Milla or Foggy in quite a while, or maybe ever again), which allows them to be "frozen" in case some writer in the future wants to use them again: it certainly leaves room for Diggle to manoeuvre as he pleases with the new Matt.

To end my comments, I must say that this is a WAY COOLER way to end a run… Brubaker's decision, as it is left, opens a lot of new doors for the character: Bendis end of run left DD in a dead-end street

I like the idea of Matt as leader of the Hand and based on the preview, Diggle may do a good job and as I was sad to see Bendis go, I eventually ended being very happy with Brubaker's work so I will give Diggle a chance.

So yes. Brubaker/Lark has come to an end, and can finally say that yes, I DO think this is better than Bendis/Maleev. I MUCH prefer Lark to Maleev, and I think Brubaker was more consistent in quality, while I felt Bendis run went downhill after Murdock becomes the Kingpin. I will miss these guys ;_;

Everything gets tied up pretty well(Milla, Lady Bullseye, Kingpin, Owl for better or worse, Izo, White Tiger/Black Tarantula, etc), and yet I still want to know what happens next. Thats what a great "end-of-the-run" issue in a continuing series should do. Give a sense of conclusion and a new beginning.

AND, going by that preview, I think this series is in good hands(although WTF @ Murdock's ninjas hacking people up. I didn't know he'd be ok with that, but after seeing what he did with the Owl, IDK anymore.).

Daredevil, on the other hand, completely delivered. I have to be honest, despide Brubaker being one of my favorite comic book writers, I haven't really been religiously following his run on DD. I simply missed the beginning and felt I had to go back to know what was going on, and kept putting that off, and so on. I have, at least, tried to keep up with what's going on, particularly this last arc, with Fisk being back and all. I have to say, even with minimal knowledge of the storyline, the plot of #500 was really engaging and left me really excited for Diggle's run because of, like you said, the fallout.

The art was gorgeous, the cover was absolutely stunning, and I particularly enjoyed the pin up gallery.

So, yeah, this was definitely the best #500 issue of the lot.