You might remember my complete confusion after reading Daredevil Noir #3. In my review then, I hoped for a satisfying ending that tied everything together. With this issue, that’s what we got. My feeling is that this whole story will read even better in trade, due to the way the story goes back and forth between two different points in time – the conversation between Daredevil and the Kingpin that frames the story, and the sequence of events that lead them there. Reading it all in one sitting will lessen the slightly jolting experience of doing so in short installments over three months.
The strength of this particular issue, aside from the art (do we really need to mention the art again?), is that it focuses so much on character. Despite a really tantalizing fight scene involving sharp silverware and a dive through a window, it’s Matt’s internal monologue and his conversations with Foggy and the Kingpin that really stay with me. Alex Irvine really gets Matt’s character, and he takes us on an interesting personal journey for Matt, as he is robbed of both his arrogant belief in his own infallibility and what little remains of his innocence. The ending will probably seem sudden to most readers, but it fits the story and the premise of Daredevil’s character perfectly, as well as being emblematic of his relationship with the Kingpin. I could absolutely see Alex Irvine writing a longer arc of the main book.
For anyone who hasn’t followed this mini-series in singles, I absolutely recommend picking up the trade. One might argue that the “noir” version of Daredevil isn’t that different from the character we know from the main title, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This is just a good Daredevil story, plain and simple.
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One-shots and limited series,
Reviews,
Tomm Coker
You know how some people can’t watch a movie for even ten minutes without asking anyone who happens to be around: “Who’s that guy and why did he do that?” I’m not one of those people. I will patiently sit through the inevitable confusion of the beginning of most stories which begin in medias res, knowing that things will clear up eventually.
The first two issues of Daredevil Noir featured quite a bit of going back and forth in time, which was a little challenging at times but not more so than many other stories worth investing your time and interest in. This issue, there’s only one time line to keep track of, but with the twists and turns and layers of deceit where everyone seemingly has a catch on everyone else, I’m left feeling… stupid. I’m not used to feeling quite this bewildered reading a story which leads me to suspect I’m not the only one feeling this way. It’s quite possible that this story is getting a little too complicated for its own good.
If I were to carefully reread each issue and take out a pen and paper and make notes, I’m sure I could make everything match up, but the problem is that I shouldn’t have to. There is also a particular reveal at the end of the issue that, while hinted at previously, feels a little far-fetched and failed to make perfect sense to me. That is a shame since the mood and style of this series feels so real you can almost taste the rain that threatens to drown Hell’s Kitchen throughout the series.
The highpoints of this series continues to be the art and the poignant, almost poetic, writing. There are scenes in this issue that show movement in really interesting and stunning ways , such as having a train interrupt a scene that gives us a clear before and after, and Irvine writes in a way that sets the mood perfectly and gives us a wonderful window into Matt’s perceptions. And I’m open to the idea that next issue will be a great one and really make everything fall into place, but for now I remained just a little bit too confused for comfort. I hope it will pass.
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One-shots and limited series,
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Tomm Coker
No “regular” DD this month, but at least there’s Daredevil Noir, and that’s not a bad consolation price.
While this issue failed to completely floor me the way the first issue did a month ago, this continues to be very high quality writing mixed with incredible art. The pace feels just a little bit slower due to this being more of a middle of the arc issue. Introductions are over, and chess pieces are starting to move around the board as the plot advances.
One thing I sort of skimmed over in my last review, but which continues to impress the heck out of me is Irvine’s knack for what I generally just label “senses writing.” The writers who’ve worked on this character throughout his history vary in how much they will reference his unique perspective, and those who try to include it vary in just how well they do it. There’s a thin line between poetic and insightful, and pretentious. Irvine does it so well, that it’s almost like you can taste the filth and gunpowder in the air. Of course, Tomm Coker’s art doesn’t hurt. When Daredevil descends on a crime scene and the bullets start flying, he thinks to himself: “But gunfire is all around me, every ricochet like a needle in my brain … it’s about control. I can dodge a bullet. I can’t dodge the sound.” That single statement says a lot about the character and how he operates.
In this issue, Daredevil gets his first “look” at the work of the Bulls Eye Killer, a mysterious assassin working for Halloran, the new gangster going after the Kingpin’s turf, and he also learns about Halloran’s connections to his own past. Matt’s relationship with Foggy gets a little more depth and we also have a scene between Matt and the mysterious Eliza,* whom Matt is clearly getting attached to. She has revealed something of great importance to Foggy, and does the same to Matt when she meets him, but all the details are kept hidden from the reader, forcing us to keep guessing. There are also great connecting opening and closing scenes with the Kingpin who is written as every bit the great manipulator he should be.
This is a great issue, and I recommend this mini series to everyone who likes the character because whether you consider a noir take on Daredevil to be superfluous or not, this is a great story. Go pick this up if you haven’t already.
*(I must comment on one thing here. In this scene, Matt touches Eliza’s face, presumably to see what she looks like. This seems very common in popular culture, but is not really something the vast majority of blind people would actually do in a social situation. This is little more than a nitpick on my part, and has no bearing on the story, but I’m sort of wishing that scene could have been done without this feature.)
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One-shots and limited series,
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Tomm Coker
As reported elsewhere, a few newsworthy items popped up around the Internet today. There’s a preview up of Daredevil #118 on IGN. In it, we see great-looking snow, and some more snow, and perching on roof tops and a certain early villain, and… well just go have a look.
Newsarama also has an unlettered preview of Daredevil Noir #2 which makes me think that my previous post titled “Daredevil Noir and blind sex” might not just have been a case of reporting two different things in one post. But, that’s still just speculation. 
Last, but certainly not least, is a podcast interview with Ed Brubaker on iFanboy. The Daredevil stuff starts at roughly 24 minutes and 50 seconds in, but I recommend listening to the whole thing. It’s a good interview.
Speaking of Brubaker, I just picked up the first volume of Criminal at the comic book store I discovered a few weeks back (a stone’s throw away from work, yea!). I really liked it a lot, so check it if you haven’t already. I think I’m going to wait to get my paycheck before I go back though. Maybe being that close to the comic book store isn’t such a good thing after all.
Another thing, I’ve just started posting a “Daredevil panel of the day” link on Twitter, where I go back through the archives of some of my favorite panels from this blog. So, if you’re on Twitter, come by and say hi (link in the sidebar). I’ll try not to spam your feed if you decide to follow me, at the most you’ll get a strange update about my cat liking wildlife specials.
Tagged as:
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Ed Brubaker,
Links,
Michael Lark,
Tomm Coker
Wow… How’s that for a short review? These pages do something very powerful. They take the reader back in time and into the place that’s being depicted. And that’s as much the art as it is the writing. Or maybe it’s the fact that the writing and the art are such a perfect match for one another that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins because each scene seems to take on a life of its own. If you can’t tell already, I’m a big fan.
I will keep this short in terms of commenting on the story, because this first issue is very much a set-up for the events to come, but as far as set-ups go, it tells us everything we need to know to be able to enter the world of these characters and identify the main players. It’s been my impression from reading interviews with Alex Irvine that he did a lot of research for this story, and it shows. The re-imagining of Matt’s origins and adult life, though the reasons for his blindness and heightened senses are not revealed, show an amazing understanding of the era the story is set in. Matt Murdock is not a lawyer in this story, having three strikes against him (being a blind orphan raised in Hell’s Kitchen), which make that kind of success improbable. But he is still teamed with Foggy Nelson, here a low-end private investigator with at least some knowledge of Matt’s extraordinary abilities and extra-curricular activities.
Irvine also introduces two villains, the familiar Mr. Fisk and an Orville Halloran, who (if memory serves) was based on an actual Hell’s Kitchen criminal. There is also a damsel in distress in the shape of Halloran’s reluctant girlfriend who is looking for a way out. But is she who she appears to be? That is one of the questions we’re left with as me move forward.
Irvine and artist Tomm Coker give us a Hell’s Kitchen which is a little harsher than we’re used to, a little dirtier and a little rainier and where the main character’s morals are perhaps a little more compromised, though appropriately so. The pain, violence and corruption drip from the pages without taking over, and I just can’t wait to revisit Irvine’s and Coker’s Hell’s Kitchen again a month from now. I’m sold.
Tagged as:
Alex Irvine,
One-shots and limited series,
Reviews,
Tomm Coker
