Hey guys! I bet you’ve missed me, huh? I’m finally back after a two-week absence, and am excited to get back to blogging. Before getting to the other things I have lined up this month (we’ll continue to look at the history of The Hand, for instance), it seemed appropriate to get to a brief update post. Let’s get on with it.
News
I usually check sales stats religiously, but haven’t been able to this month due to being on vacation. However, I did stumble across Kuljit Mithra mentioning a recent dip in numbers on Twitter a couple of days ago. According to ICv2.com, Daredevil #504 sold just over 37,000 issues. This marks the first time Daredevil dips below the 40,000 mark in quite a while and this is not good news. However, I can’t say that I’m all that surprised. I’m enjoying the new creative team quite a bit (as you all know), but I can see why others might jump ship with the jarring changes in status quo. I’ll return to this topic in more detail in a separate post tomorrow.
Links
What Daredevil does have going for it is an enthusiastic fan base, and its presence online is growing constantly. I’m happy to say that this site is just one of the many relatively new Daredevil-related projects on the Internet. Below, I’ll just list some of the latest examples of Daredevil love you’ll find online.
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The guys behind the Legion of Dudes podcast have started a Daredevil-specific podcast called Speak of the Devil, which is available for free on iTunes. Since I’ve been back home, I’ve only had the time to listen to the first of these shows, but it’s really good stuff so go check them out!
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At this point, you probably all know about Robert’s blog The Matt Murdock Chronicles. Well, Robert has continued to work his way through the Daredevil archives and has reached the respectable number of 150. Upon reaching this landmark, he offers a list of ten things he’s learned as well as a list of his ten favorite stories so far.
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As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve started contributing regularly (though at a measured pace) to The Weekly Crisis. Well, fellow TWC contributor and Daredevil fan Ryan K Lindsay gave us a look back at his favorite ten Daredevil covers earlier in the week, so have a look at those as well!
Well, that’s about it for now! Thanks for being patient with me while I’ve been gone this week. Oh, and before I forget, the email subscription sign-up form stopped working with my latest Wordpress update. I will fix that shortly, but be advised that if you are an email subscriber, you will not be getting any more updates, but will have to sign up again. If you wish to get information on when this feature will be operational again, send a message to theothermurdockpapers@gmail.com.
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These last couple of weeks have been very busy at work for me, so thank you for your patience while I’ve been doing things other than blogging. Mind you, I would much rather be blogging, but it doesn’t exactly pay the bills. 
Not much news to report this time around, but let’s get to it, shall we?
Links
Obviously, the preview for Daredevil #505 is up, at Comic Book Resources and other places. The only other link I would offer on a day like today is my Valentine’s Special from last year when I took a look at the women in Matt’s life. Also, my fellow Swedes might be interested in reading my guest post on the Swedish comic book website Shazam.se, where I talk about my view on how Diggle has been handling Daredevil so far.
Blog Updates
On Friday, I’m going on vacation for a couple of weeks. I’ll try to update as much as I can, but if I’m not around as much as usual, you know why. However, before then, we have a new issue coming our way, so this week I’ll be looking to do a review of Daredevil #505 on Thursday. Before that, tomorrow or Tuesday, we’ll take a look at Matt’s earlier trip to Japan. Bring the sushi, and I’ll bring the action.
Have a great week everyone!
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The news of an upcoming Daredevil movie broke Friday, and I certainly would have commented on it sooner if I didn’t have to work all day yesterday (ah, how I hate when real life gets in the way of blogging…). Discussing this piece of news also bumps my intended first look at the history of the Hand back a day or two, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me. Because this is big. There have been rumors of a Daredevil reboot for some time now, but we now have the studio moving ahead with the intention of making a new movie. There is even a screenwriter attached to the project.
Image from the Daredevil (2003) movie
So, what do we know at this point? Actually, very little. Sources report that David Scarpa has been hired to write a script for Fox/Regency, and The Hollywood reporter names Peter Chernin as one of the producers. David Scarpa’s claims to fame are The Last Castle and the new adaptation of the 1950’s sci-fi flick The Day the World Stood Still. I haven’t seen either of these movies, but it seems that reviews of The Day the World Stood Still, at least, have been lukewarm at best. I have no opinion on the choice of screenwriter, but it should be pointed out that whether David Scarpa will remain the person attached to the final project is contingent on his being able to come up with something the studio will want to go ahead with. The fact that he’s been chosen obviously means that the right people think he’s got what it takes, but it seems a little early to try to guess what the end product will look like and whether it will be any good.
As you can see, I’m putting this post in the news category, and I’ll return later this afternoon with a more personal post of Dos and Don’ts about what I’d like to see and what I think needs to be avoided. Save your comments for that one or fire away below!
Off-topic, but I also wanted to let you know that I’ve posted my first entry on the Weekly Crisis, a review of Siege: Embedded #2.
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The movie(s)
Hey there everyone! Let’s dive right in, shall we?
News
As some of you might already know, the Daredevil #504 preview is now up, and it’s very revealing. All I can say is: I was right! You’ll know what I mean when you take a look at it…
Links
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Marvel.com has a short spotlight story about the Hand and its history in Daredevil, including a list of key issues.
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If you want to listen to me ramble on about Daredevil (as well as give reviews of Spider-Woman #5 and Thunderbolts #140), check out my guest appearance on the Monkey on My Back podcast yesterday. The “monkeys” are a nice group of people from Southampton who run a comic book blog and comics podcast. It’s two hours long (and worth listening to in its entirety, of course), but if you want to cut ahead to my Daredevil talk it’s starts a little after the halfway mark. There were some sound problems due to us recording via Skype, but it’s okay for the most part.
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Cover to Daredevil #506
Looks like today is another good day to be a Daredevil fan. Not only have the solicits for Daredevil #506 come out, giving us a glimpse of a stunning cover, Daredevil editor Stephen Wacker also gave us a very cool-looking preview – yes, that’s Matt Murdock sans costume – of some interior art by Marco Checchetto from Daredevil #505. If you’re losing count, that’s the first issue from the Left Hand Path arc co-written by Antony Johnston and Andy Diggle which is set to hit the shelves in February. Daredevil #505 will also have a Deadpool variant cover which is currently on display at ManWithoutFear.com. With Daredevil #504 coming out next week, we have some additional preview pages to look forward to in the coming days.
If you need a refresher on the slightly erratic shipping schedule, the dates to look forward to are January 27 for Daredevil #504 (the last of the current arc), February 17 for Daredevil #505 and April 7 for Daredevil #506. So, while there is no Daredevil in March, at least we don’t have to wait a full two months for the next issue. That’s good news to me!
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preview
Cover to Daredevil #100, vol 2, by Marko Djurdjevic
Today marks the 14th anniversary of Kuljit Mithra’s award-winning Daredevil website ManWithoutFear.com. The site, as all of you know, is the go-to resource for all things Daredevil and the given hub for the Daredevil fan community. It may sound silly to call it a community, but it really does feel that way sometimes.
To celebrate the anniversary, Kuljit decided to, among other things, add a new feature to the page called the Man Without Fear Blog Network which lists the latest feed items from The Other Murdock Papers, The Matt Murdock Chronicles, and Daredevil-A-Day. It’s a great honor for me to be a part of this initiative, and I’d like to take the opportunity to welcome everyone who may be new to this site, as well as wish Kuljit a very happy anniversary!
If you haven’t been here before, and feel a little lost, let me help you out. If you’re curious about the site, and the story behind it, check out the About page. For a list of all (300+) past entries, check out the complete archives. For something silly and whimsical, there’s my (currently on hiatus) Daredevil parody web comic Hell’s Kitchen. For everything else, use the search box, browse the categories or send me a message!
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Well, while Andy Diggle wouldn’t go so far as confirming his own involvement in this event, he did reveal that Shadowland is indeed in the works at Marvel and that Daredevil will be involved. He talked about this and much more in a podcast interview with New York-based Midtown Comics yesterday. I say this is great news for those of us who would like more Daredevil in our daily diet, so go check out that podcast and throw in your two cents in the comments!
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Shadowland
Hey there, everyone! This is just your friendly neighborhood Daredevil blogger dropping by to give you the latest news. Not that much to report this time, but let’s get on with it, shall we?
News
As many of you may already know, it was just announced yesterday that Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff will be getting her own ongoing series. The book will premiere in April, and the creative team attached is writer Marjorie and artist Daniel Acuna. This news was originally mentioned on IGN, and Marvel later put up an interview with Marjorie Liu.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Marvel is hoping to capitalize on Natasha’s appearance in the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie, and chances are low that we’ll be seeing very much of Daredevil in the book anytime soon. I’m a Natasha fan, however, and will definitely add this title to my pull list.
Links
I have two new Daredevil blogs to plug today. Well, one of them is a few months old, but I only discovered it the other day.
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First off, we have the one that really is brand new. It’s Alice’s (the “Darediva” herself) Daredevil-a-Day blog which sees her posting daily pictures from her extensive collection of Daredevil items. If you’ve ever want to see a Daredevil action figure do some pole dancing, you know where to go.
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The second site I’d like to plug is Sympathy for the Devil, which is a “chronological review blog” similar to The Matt Murdock Chronicles (though the two were conceived independently and have very different tones).
I wholeheartedly endorse all of these blogs, of course, and am happy to be a part of such an active community of fans. Daredevil may not always receive all the respect he deserves, but there are a lot of us out there who feel passionate about this character.
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Remember the Marvel project Shadowland? It was mentioned by Joe Quesada back in August (see my post about it), and since then we haven’t really heard anything about it. Yesterday, the ever vigilant Kuljit Mithra posted the following on Twitter:
“Marvel editor Tom Brevoort hints at why there’s no DD 506 in March http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=301708“
Next thing you know, regular visitor Andrew brought the subject up in a comment to my old Shadowland post. I think Andrew is on to something here, and I even have some additional evidence to add to this fun bit of intrigue. In mid-November, I tweeted the following:
“To those in the know: What happened to the Marvel project Shadowland (working title)? Will it tie into Siege or something?”
Andy Diggle gave me an enigmatic reply, complete with mysterious smiley:
“@Chris_TOMP All good things to those who wait… ; )”
And, a couple of weeks before that, he gave us this tease:
“Plotting out a big top-secret Marvel project, I just invented the word ‘explodapalooza.’ I’m quite pleased with it.”
I know a lot of people don’t exactly love Twitter, but this is the kind of thing it’s great for. With this, I think we’ve pretty much cracked the case. Whether the name of the project is still Shadowland remains to be seen, but it looks clear to me that Diggle will indeed be writing it and that this is what’s affecting the Daredevil schedule. Comment away good readers!
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Shadowland
As reported previously, Antony Johnston will be co-writing the next arc of Daredevil, “Left Hand Path” (is it just me, or does that title sound a little… weird?). He talks about this collaboration, and other things he has going on, in an interview with Comic Book Resources. Here is some of what he had to say:
“In this arc, Matt goes to Japan for a summit of the Hand, to ensure its ‘five fingers’ – the regional directorates of the organisation – are working together harmoniously,” Johnston said of the arc on which he is collaborating. “And, naturally, things don’t go quite as planned. I can’t really say much more than that, I don’t want to give anything away.”
Read the whole interview on CBR.
In case you’re wondering, I will keep blogging over the holidays. My first order of business, however, is to catch up on all the comments you guys keep leaving (me like!). I will also be back tomorrow with the long overdue review of What If? Daredevil vs Elektra. I will see you then!
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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