Brief thoughts on Echo, Daredevil: Black Armor, and the town of Sintra, Portugal

Daredevil: Black Armor #1

So, over the weekend I read a newly released Daredevil comic for the first time in almost two years. Daredevil: Black Armor #1, by D.G. Chichester and Netho Diaz is the first issue of four in a mini-series set during the "armored costume era" of Daredevil that takes us back to the 90's. Or does it? While this story takes us back to Chichester's first work on the character, I can't help thinking that that sliding timeline Marvel is working with probably works both ways, placing the events of this issue at some non-descript time in the general past.

Either way, there's a lot to say about this issue, which means that I will definitely have to return to it in a proper review in a few days. I really enjoyed it overall, including the interesting way it incorporates some elements from the television show (without it seeming weird), the relaxed "day in the life of" feel of it all – aided in great part by the generous page count – and the way the main mystery is brewing in the background. And then there's the nostalgia of the setting as well as Chichester's distinctive writing, and the bonus points I will always award to anyone remembering that Matt is blind. Diaz's art is solid too, and captures both the more intimate settings and expansive street scenes well. To be continued!

Echo is coming!

The last few weeks have also given us our first real look at Echo, which drops – all five episodes at once, offering another slice of nostaliga – on January 10. In the midst of ongoing talk about the overall state of the MCU, including its television lineup, it's been great to see the response to the Echo trailer and how widespread skepticism turned to excitement.

Even though I've been pretty stoked for this project all along, it was definitely a welcome development to see that this show will be rated MA (for mature audiences), and that Marvel is looking to highlight the more grounded characters under a new "Marvel Spotlight" banner that will indicate that these shows are less dependent on the overarching MCU continuity. (And to those among you who consider yourselves continuity conscious, I think the point here is less "outside continuity" and more "you don't need to watch every single movie or show to follow along.")

Oh, and speaking of Echo, I dusted off my ASL - I studied the language 23(!) years ago - for this trailer appreciation video for the #SavedDaredevil campaign. And I'm still looking for the answer to whether Daredevil has a name sign because that word is a bitch to fingerspell. Pardon my French.

Christine follows Daredevil to... Sintra, Portugal

So, I was with my family in Lisbon, Portugal a few weeks ago, and we ended up spending a day in the nearby town of Sintra. This was quite exciting since Sintra is not only a very famous tourist destination, owing to its many impressive sights, but one that has actually appeared in an issue of Daredevil! I even mentioned this scene in my book.

In Daredevil #90 (1998), by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, Matt has just begun this trek across Europe in the wake of Foggy's apparent death and this journey takes him to Sintra. Remembering this scene, I was curious to see whether I'd recognize any of the scenes depicted. The answer to that is mixed. I didn't see any place that looked like the square in the first panel above (though I'm sure there were many places I missed). I absolutely noticed the steep hills, similar to what's seen in the second panel. And while I didn't go to the Moorish caste, I did visit the Pena Castle from where I was able to spot the Moorish castle through one of the windows as you can see in my photo below. Well, sort of. And it does look similar to Lark's artwork!

In closing

Like I said, I will be back ASAP with a full review of Daredevil: Black Armor #1. In the mean time, I would direct you to this post by the late Aaron Kimel on his love for the armored costume. I will also be recording a reaction to the Echo trailer with a couple of other people on the #SavedDaredevil team this weekend, so look for that some time next week.

Oh, and at the time of this writing, Amazon still hasn't adjusted the Black Friday through Cyber Monday sale price from an insanely low $1.99 to the new permanently lower price point of $4.99 (used to be $9.99) for the Being Matt Murdock ebook, so if you hurry you might still be able to buy a crazy cheap digital copy!