Matt reckons with Foggy’s plan to temporarily replace him with his brother Mike, while the auction for Hell’s Kitchen proceeds, and Daredevil’s court case finally begins. All this and more written by Chip Zdarsky, pencilled by Mike Hawthorne, inked by JP Mayer, colored by Mattia Iocono, and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Vishal Gullapalli: This isn’t news at all, but honestly I have to say that Matt Murdock is potentially the most dysfunctional human being to exist in the Marvel universe. Like, seriously dysfunctional. When your best friend’s most logical solution to appeasing your ex is to bring in your twin brother who you accidentally brought into existence, something’s gone horribly wrong. And somehow, things always end up just barely going right for him. What a strange existence.
Justin Partridge: JEEPERS CREEPERS, VG. This one was…as you so eloquently just laid out, A LOT. But man, oh, man was it just another feast for us lovers of God’s Least Favorite Ginger. I don’t even want to wait a SECOND.
Family Matters
VG: Okay so this issue starts off with what is, to me, a hilarious reversal of the classic Daredevil scene where Matt’s friends yell at him for screwing everything up. Because this time, Matt’s yelling at Foggy for screwing everything up. And while I’m definitely critical of Matt and do believe that Foggy tried his best, I just cannot help but take genuine joy in Matt being wholly unaware that his frustration with Foggy is what everyone who cares about him feels constantly. Justin, how’d this opening hit you?
JP: Yeah, it’s oddly satisfying seeing Matt on the OUTSIDE of people making grand, sweeping decisions that alter their lives.
But you are totally right, it is a novel inversion of the sort of dynamic we are used to seeing with Matt and Foggy and Chip plays it like the real moment that it should be. Which is also an appreciated extension of his already pretty sterling character work so far. I was also fairly struck by this opening mainly because it’s a neat bit of pragmatism from Foggy. He knows they are about to face a pretty draining, uphill fight and they need everything they can get at their disposal.
And you absolutely nailed it. Just within the text of the scene Chip GIVES Foggy the stronger position and almost plays Matt like a bit of a bully. Blowing up about the “complications” Foggy’s actions have caused without taking the time to examine the actual benefits Foggy and Kristen’s actions could provide to their case. It is nice seeing Chip not only USE Foggy like this, but use him WELL.
VG: And it’s not just Foggy, either! Matt also has to confront Mike, because of course he doesn’t believe Mike is doing this out of any sense of goodwill or altruism. And he’s right, to some degree. Mike’s getting paid to do this and he’s getting to live out his fantasy of a calm life for once. And he’s hitting on Kirsten, because he’s Mike Murdock. But at the same time I am fascinated by the idea that Mike thinks that his brother Matt has become the screwup of the family, because Foggy told him that Matt was in rehab. I love the idea that Mike, in his own way, feels pity for his brother the same way Matt feels for him. It’s not at all rooted in the truth but it’s such an interesting dynamic.
JP: ABSOLUTELY, and again, it’s a wonderful inversion of the usual way we see Matt being a “screw-up” and which is really fun. I think if I was FORCED to give a note here, I would say that Mike doesn’t have a TON to do here yet, which is fine for the moment as he was just introduced, but the way Chip has been handled everybody ELSE’s characterizations have been solid enough to not make it more or a pronounced problem for me.
Furnishing the Kitchen
JP: But even beyond the sterling characterization we have, Chip and company provide us plenty of plot development too. Mainly focused around the trial and looming land auction to buy The Kitchen, which we saw Matt preparing for just a few issues previous.
Though I think this stuff is a little stuffy, I absolutely love love love the characters involved. As well as the truly soaring feint this plot takes in its final panels. What about you, V?
VG: The sale of Hell’s Kitchen properties for auction is something that I think any superhero writer would struggle to make compelling by itself. Chip does a really great job making the stakes feel important, though, and honestly I think that’s enough. Overall, though, I think it’s probably the weakest conflict in the issue? Like, Chip used this to have Matt lecture Tony about using his wealth responsibly, which was a good scene, and the idea that Matt will accept going to prison only if he can ensure that Hell’s Kitchen will be safe is equally good, but I think something about the way it’s placed in the story makes it land with a bit of a thud.
What doesn’t land with a thud, though, is Matt’s constant monologue guilt tripping himself over the fate of his beloved Kitchen. Chip has proven time and time again that he gets Matt’s voice, and the constant rising tension as Matt traverses the city before learning that Tony wasn’t able to get the deal done crescendos incredibly with a full splash page of Matt on top of a water tower trying to come to grips with what he’s done. It’s incredibly done, and while I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hawthorne throughout this issue, this scene hits really well.
JP: No, I absolutely agree. And I think Matt’s hair shirt donning through this narration is a bit of a step backward for Chip, putting him more in line with the maudlin Bendis era and a little Brubaker BUT like you said, the artwork kinda pulls it out of a nosedive and Chip REALLY is trying to jazz it up as much as possible.
And then the courtroom drama is kinda par for the course and very welcome in Daredevil as a title, AND Chip really does his level best to inject a real urgency into these scenes (usually centered around Fisk and Typhoid Mary and the driving way Matt speaks about it in the dialogue). But it really just isn’t enough to get me really jazzed about a plot about a land deal. Even Chinatown is kinda boring in parts, right?
This could just be my own fussy and slightly-too-old-for-my-age brain, but it just kinda seems pedestrian to me. Especially concurrently with the court stuff which DOES have a real natural urgency to me. This isn’t to say that I don’t CARE about the ownership of Hell’s Kitchen, nor her new owner with the incredible hair, but it just seems kinda blah amid the other character based stuff that I am really connecting with.
VG: Yeah I ultimately agree. I think this entire plotline actually gets a bit less compelling with more details added in. A vague description would be: Matt has an idea of how to save Hell’s Kitchen while he’s gone, using Tony Stark’s money. Matt discovers the night before his trial that the plan failed. Matt then discovers that the plan actually succeeded because of something he helped Elektra with a year ago. This is good storytelling, and it’s clear that Chip gets it. Tony being the deus ex machina to save Hell’s Kitchen is far less satisfying than Elektra returning the favor Matt did her. But something about the specifics of it being ownership of land in a district in New York just makes it feel lesser. Or as you so excellently put it, Justin, stuffy.
Order In The Court
JP: BUT even with the stuffiness, Chip and Matt are lighting some MAJOR drama off in the courtroom. Namely the introduction of a deal the prosecution and state have offered to Daredevil. A deal which is then REJECTED by Matt as he delivers a shocking plea of “Guilty”! And it happens SO QUICKLY too. Chip gives us a barely any room to breathe with it and we are just left in the dust of the revelation until next month!
It is a WONDERFUL bit of serialized storytelling from Chip and a genuine narrative bomb that I can’t wait to see dealt with. What about you, Vishal?
VG: I feel like we’d both agree that this run has far surpassed Charles Soule’s prior run on Daredevil, but something that I do miss from Soule’s tenure is the legal expertise he brought to the title. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this, because I did, but after getting an arc like Supreme I’ve kind of raised my expectations for legal drama in Daredevil.
Okay this small complaint aside (And legit, it’s a small complaint) I feel like from a lesser writer the whiplash in these last couple of pages would be too much and I’d be complaining about the pacing but it just works so well here. Matt’s decision to accept the deal ends up feeling impulsive rather than something he weighed the pros and cons of, and that’s something that’s important. I feel like it’d be less believable if Matt’s decision in the courtroom wasn’t made at the absolute last second because he suddenly got new information he wasn’t aware of. I am really fascinated to see Matt in jail next issue – I know that it’s gonna deal with King in Black (which you are getting a triple dose of, Justin) but I also really want to see the dynamic of Daredevil, with his mask on, in jail. I’m so curious how this is going to be different from The Devil in Cell Block D, because I love that arc but Chip has made it very clear throughout this run that he’s not copying anyone.
JP: God please don’t remind me that I still have Knull’s Coming looming over my head. BUT YOU ARE SO RIGHT! And even if one doesn’t consider the narrative implications of this, isn’t this just MATT all over? To throw himself upon his OWN sword to appease both God and his own personal Catholicism steeped ethics? And again, making HUGE life-altering decisions without nary a consideration for his legal team and erstwhile family or even asking them about their own take on the feint. It’s big stuff but it’s also big CHARACTER-BASED stuff. Stuff that fits in nicely not only with the established character we know from Matt, but also keeps branching out Chip’s own personal take on Matt in interesting and engaging ways.
VG: I hate to keep harping on the legal stuff, but honestly I’m so fascinated with where this is going to go. I think this will be the first time a superhero has gone to prison (not prison) without their mask being removed, and I want to see all the shenanigans over this both from the legal perspective and from the inmate perspective. If we don’t get a riff on that Rorschach “I’m not locked in here with you” moment… it’ll probably be better that way but I won’t complain either way! I swear I might be one of like 10 people who read Daredevil for the juicy legal trivia, but that doesn’t stop me from being hungry.
Marvelous Musings
- Honestly, Hawthorne was a lowlight on this issue, especially coming off of Checchetto.
- No, he absolutely was. It is far too blocky and stiff coming off the slick expressionism and kinetic nature of Checchetto’s stuff.
- Loving/very worried about the new Fisk/Typhoid Mary dynamic.
- So with Mike seemingly a longer term member of the cast, what do we think HIS main game is? Revenge? Payment? Maybe even just connection to his brother and his friends? Guessing that’s an emotional bomb on a longer fuse than the trial stuff at the moment.
- We’ve got some alien goo coming fairly shortly!
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
