The Daredevil relaunch is part of a Marvel initiative entitled Big Shots. That’s a label that could just as easily be attached to the art we’ll be looking at in this post.
Both artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martín have received a lot of praise for the Daredevil artwork we’ve seen so far and I agree that it’s well deserved. It’s also been clear that the Daredevil relaunch is a true collaborative creative effort at an even deeper level than you’d normally expect, with Rivera and Martín obviously being just as ambitious as writer Mark Waid when it comes to getting into Daredevil’s head, in terms of his unique view of the world.
While their art styles are otherwise quite different, the pages I’ve included here have both qualified for inclusion on this list for some of the same reasons. They’re big, wide shots, from an interesting perspective with tons of little details, and they both show characters moving relative to the same background in a way that makes your eyes linger a little longer on the page. They’re not only beautiful to look at, they also make sure that we can cover a lot of story in one scene without sacrificing the space that makes both of these scenes really pop. (Note: As will all images on this site, these will pop to full size when clicked.)
Aside from all the positive traits I’ve already mentioned, Martín’s art (above) also showcases his take on Matt’s senses by highlighting various sources of information and giving a different “color” (so to speak) to each sense modality.* This is very cool, and the specific examples also insert some humor into the scene.
The scene above, by Paolo Rivera, is from Daredevil #2 and existed only as a penciled, unlettered piece of preview art until Ryan Penagos (a.k.a. Agent M) posted this beautiful updated version on his Marvel.com blog yesterday. I’m very happy for that since the script is pretty darn sizzling, but it’s the art that really got my juices flowing. Heck, if this page was a guy, I’d make sweet love to it all night (I’m Swedish, I can say that). On a more serious note though, what’s not to love about it? The almost dizzying perspective is outstanding, and the way Matt just dives off the side of the building is so elegant. Now, don’t ask me how he’s supposed to latch on to anything while holding Cap’s shield, but I’m sure that will sort itself out on the next page. 
This is shaping up to be a great-looking book, and with both of these guys delivering such fun and exciting art, I’d bet that the issues coming out will stand up well to being read a second, third and fourth time as well. It’s a good thing Daredevil #1 is now only one short week away!
*) Some of you (or possibly only regular commenter Aaron – hi Aaron!), might wonder why I can be so enthusiastic about the radar sense being depicted as its own sense when I’ve previously made a strong case for why I think it could – and should – work as an advanced form of echolocation rather than the slightly loony “rays shooting through the skull” explanation. Well, here’s my answer for that (and I know that only Aaron might care, but that’s the level of reader satisfaction I’m committed to): It has been shown that distinctly spatial auditory information is not only processed by a different part of the brain than other types of sound – in highly proficient blind echolocators this job even falls to the visual cortex – but that this type of information has a very different feel to it and might not be experienced as sound at all. One might even call it its own sense. Sort of.
4 comments
Aaron K says:
Jul 13, 2011
I find it difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that Rivera can give us that Cap piece from DD #2 and the very cool Spot from #1 and then give us such a stale, bland Matt and Michele Gonzalez. (E.g., HERE) Perhaps Rivera is one of those artists who simply cannot do folks in repose well? Whose talents really shine with action? That Gonzalez piece is jarringly cartoony (and the death by pastel doesn’t help, but that’s not Rivera’s fault). Compare THIS with the more alive THIS. Perhaps I simply find it a more appropriate style in the world of Spider-Man than here. Perhaps that tells us a great deal about Waid’s DAREDEVIL.
@Christine – Thanks for the attempt at reassurance. While it certainly could be considered its own sense, is it RADAR?
Ok, I’ll relent now, especially since the theory behind Matt’s senses seems to affect what he can and can’t do to a surprisingly small extent when actually written.
Christine says:
Jul 14, 2011
I agree that the more static conversation scenes fall short of what we’ve seen here (and that I’m mildy disappointed with the coloring, especially when it comes to Matt’s skin tone – he’s an Irish-American redhead!), but overall I’m still very happy with the art.
I’ll be perfectly honest and admit that I had some reservations when I initially heard about the art team. Not because Rivera and Martín aren’t very good artists, but because I wasn’t sure that their respective styles would fit Daredevil. I’ve always been a fan of more realistic art for Daredevil, but with everything we’ve seen so far, I’m getting used to this look fast and find myself being more and more of a fan. There are a couple of scenes where Martín’s art gets a bit too cartoony for my tastes (case in point being when Matt pulls Foggy out of their office by the crook of his cane – which shouldn’t even be there, but that’s a different point entirely – leaving a flurry of papers behind).
On the whole though, I find much more to like than dislike.
And, regarding the radar, no I don’t think it’s RADAR.
In fact, I have a problem imagining any kind of physical wave (electromagnetic or otherwise) emanating from inside his skull, then going on to reflect off things that are less dense than bone, only to return to where it came from and once again passing through bone to be received by the brain directly. For me, it makes no sense at all.
PS. I edited the formatting of the links you supplied since your comment otherwise bled into the side column.
AP says:
Jul 14, 2011
Count me as enthusiastic about how the “radar sense” is depicted! The idea of it being advanced echolocation is way more appealing. But that enthusiasm makes it hard to thumb through some of the old DD stories from the 60′s and 70′s (though I still love those stories) because of the inconsistent and mostly ridiculous applications of his “radar sense.” Just have to grit my teeth and work through it.
I don’t mind the more cartoony art. Miller’s was on the cartoony side when he was on the book and it never detracted from the story so I’m not worried. Though the panel with Matt pulling Foggy out of the office with his cane did make me pause. I don’t know; used sparingly, stuff like that’s not that bad. If you look at Miller’s work he did little gags with a similar tone pretty often and it worked (Foggy eating Luke Cage and Iron Fist’s pizza in #178, DD leaning against the bar and tripping Turk in #176). A little humor is good in a superhero book.
I’m also not wild about the pastel coloring they have going on. I’m guessing since the tone will be a little more swashbuckling like the book was in the 60’s, they went for a coloring that’s reminiscent of or reminds one of that era at Marvel. I don’t hate the coloring, but it’s a little much I think. It sticks out too much and perhaps doesn’t totally suit DD. I was MUCH more impressed when I saw the unfinished pencils than when I saw the final with coloring. I felt the same way about the coloring in Brubaker’s first few issues. Remember, everything had a shine to it, like someone polished everything? They ditched that coloring style pretty quick so maybe that will be the case with the pastel coloring.
Bee Clayton says:
Jul 18, 2011
It’s bright, coloful, fun, like you said, it POPS! A wonderful compliment to the apparent lighter mood and texture of the stories. Brilliant!