Woah! Is Daredevil really turning himself in? And here we thought everything came to a head in the last issue. Stellar creative team Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Mattia Iacono, and VC’s Clayton Cowles bring us a whole new bombastic arc in their Matt Murdock saga.
Vishal Gullapalli: Wait, what’s this? A new column? I’ve been excited to start covering this book for a while, as it’s been Marvel’s best proper superhero book since it began. We’ve missed the first big climax of the run, but honestly I feel like it’s only going to get bigger and bigger as we go. I can’t wait to jump in!
Justin Partridge: I’ve finally done it. I’ve finally infiltrated the prestigious XavierFiles Underground Secret Base. I can’t wait to see what they get up to behind closed doors and…wait, DAREDEVIL?! That weepy Catholic idiot in the leather? Well, I suppose. It isn’t like the WORLD is ending or anything.
The Story So Far…
VG: Okay, so we’ve had twenty issues going into this one, and I think before we dive in here, it’s worth talking about everything so far. Because it rules. Seriously, if you’re reading this column and you haven’t read the previous twenty issues of Daredevil? Do yourself a favor and go through the whole thing, because good Lord (Ed. Note: I do feel we should be capitalizing “Lord” in a Daredevil piece) is it incredible. With the generic praise out of the way, I just wanna say I’m so enamored with how deeply Chip is delving into all the various conflicts of Daredevil – his faith, his belief in justice, his self-hatred, everything. Justin, what have you thought of Zdarsky’s Daredevil so far?
JP: Not to sound like I am stealing your bit, but I largely agree? With…most of that? I have been (weirdly) a Daredevil fan for a while, as Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s years long tribute to the works of David Mamet and the Tensile Strength of Word Balloons drew me into Marvel and kept me touching base with Ol’ Hornhead for years in their wake. I had been largely cold on the Charles Soule run, mainly because of its following the Holy Waid, but Chip and Checchetto (Vishal LITERALLY just looked at me Googling that in real time, y’all) have brought me back in a BIG way. And I also feel like they are giving us a nice cover of a largely recognizable song, right? In that they are “breaking Matt down” again but in a much more compelling (and realistically thought out) way. Is this just me projecting?
VG: I think it’s definitely a continuation of the Bendis line rather than what Waid and Soule were doing, but honestly I find so much originality in what Zdarsky’s doing here. A good friend once told me that the best Daredevil stories are bad Batman stories, and based on everything in this run I have to agree. Starting the run by having Matt accidentally kill someone because he was rusty as a hero is a story that I don’t think would work for any other street-level hero, but in this book it’s been the driving conflict and it’s been incredibly gripping every issue. I was hotter on Soule’s run than you were, I think, but Zdarsky has just made it look so much worse in hindsight – not through any fault of Charles Soule’s but because I genuinely feel like Chip’s writing what is maybe the best Daredevil run ever? He’s incorporating Matt’s religion into this in a way we haven’t gotten since Ann Nocenti (and the TV show, but I digress) and it’s led to such a fascinating character study of this utterly broken man who hates himself, and trying to be a good person but not knowing how.
JP: Absolutely, and it’s funny you and your immensely smart and not at all jealousy-inducing friend compare him to Batman, because I feel like this run attains a sort of special grace in that it’s allowing Chip and the team to look at Daredevil as an abstract and “symbol” more than Detective Comics Comics would EVER let someone do to Batman. And you absolutely nailed it! This also is tapping into a larger well of characterization and introspection precisely because Chip is folding Matt’s Catholicism deeply into the narration (examining the way he’s laid out the narrative as a whole, if the “episode” titles are to be taken at more than face value). It is very, very Nocenti-esque and it absolutely works to the title’s strengths. I also feel like this might be Chip at his most…visceral maybe? That may not be the best word to choose at the moment. He’s not an “action” writer, per se, but the way he’s handled violence, starting from the inciting incident, which I STILL think is so bold and daring (made even more so by Matt and Chip explicitly reminding readers that Spidey has ALSO likely been through this exact same hell, but Matt is actually choosing to face it). I don’t know. This book is SO good, it makes me feel insane to talk about because there is just SO MUCH beyond “Red Batman”.
VG: It’s WILD to me that this run’s not just dealing with your standard superhero fights, or even street-level superhero fights. We’ve gone past Miller-era “grounded” comics, Chip’s writing about gentrification and police brutality and classism and so much that’s so familiar to the world at large in a way that I don’t think any book but Immortal Hulk has come close to touching. The last issue was literally about willful negligence on part of the rich elites to ensure that Hell’s Kitchen (still a lower-class area in Marvel’s NYC) didn’t receive the help it needed to survive an onslaught of death and destruction. We’re dealing with a criminal as the Mayor of New York City, but even he’s powerless against the even wealthier elites that truly run the city. It’s eerie and real and a fantastic read month in and month out – this week’s issue is no different.
JP: Big, big time agree. And this series does stand well alongside Immortal Hulk in that all the tools and materials are there for them to work, but Chip and the art team have just found such a way to make them both sing so well. This issue in particular I think is a great example of how they are condensing all that stuff down into a wonderful single issue of an ongoing comic. Just in case you DIDN’T get it before. We both super enjoyed Daredevil #21. I guess we have to talk about why now? GOD, so needy. At least at Newsarama we get to talk about DRACULA.
The Devil Went Down
VG: I think Matt’s faith would disagree rather violently with Dracula, but what it doesn’t seem to disagree violently with is the law. At least for now. Because Matt, after twenty issues, has finally turned himself in for murder after negligently resulting in the death of a… I want to say store burglar? In the first issue of this run.
JP: Yes, in the opening issue Matt is stopping a group of robbers taking down a pawn shop and in the resulting struggle, severs a man’s spinal cord with an errant kick. This leads to a prolonged “wait” throughout the opening issue as Matt struggles with the act (and Chip starts to sloooooowly draw out that he’s taking this all DEADLY seriously), and culminating in the man’s death. And it’s funny, you mentioned before about how this series has been dealing with larger issues of police corruption and gentrification, but also, have you EVER, like truly ever read a comic that would do this? Moreover, then spend the subsequent TWO (or three, I think it may be three arcs) DEALING with it? It’s the old screenwriting adage that “an ending is good if the ending both surprises you and couldn’t have turned out any other way.” That ending was a real shock to me, but the REAL shock is that the book then DEALT with it. Obviously I think this issue has more power to those of us that have been keeping with it as a serial, but can you imagine if this was someone’s first Daredevil? How insane and engaging that would be? “Wait, Matt KILLED someone and is now COPPING to it?” Like, that’s crazy ambitious, yes?
VG: It’s incredibly ambitious, and I want to point out that not only is the book dealing with the consequences of its titular character killing someone who very much did not deserve to die, Matt himself is dealing with the awful, awful grief that comes with it. I don’t just mean internally, either – Matt’s been representing the brother of the man he killed, and just this past arc he talked to their mother, which did nothing but make him feel even worse about it. I’m still in shock that we’re dealing so heavily with a SUPERHERO killing someone. The Avengers movies don’t really bring up any collateral damage or the fact that their main characters are killing people (especially in the first batch of films) but Daredevil quits being Daredevil, takes up the mantle because other people were trying to replace him, interacts heavily with the family of the man he killed, and ends up turning himself in to the police because he believes he belongs in jail. I also absolutely adored that Chip brought Spider-Man back in this issue, to follow up on his very heavy conversation with Matt at the end of the first arc of the book. We’re not just getting Matt dealing with the consequences of killing someone, but the entire New York City street-level superhero community dealing with this. It’s enthralling.
JP: ABSOLUTELY IT IS! That conversation with Spidey is such a gut punch, even with just a few words as the scene itself isn’t that terribly long, because he’s not only playing with our established history and connection with the Spidey/DD team-up. He is ALSO explicitly restating his OWN thesis about the collateral damage that every single one of these street-level characters have experienced and then shrugged off on the way to the next team up. It’s also amazing that Chip has made this ENTIRE story so uniquely and unquestionably MATT’S FAULT. We have seen this sort of crumbling of Matt’s social standing, both as a lawyer and costumed adventurer, but the circumstances have always been external. Miller, most famously, does it in “Born Again” and a bit again in “The Man Without Fear”, but it was always outside forces trying to topple Daredevil. HERE, it’s ALL expressly on Matt’s head and hands and being the good(ish) Catholic boyo that he is, OF COURSE he would want and have to take the heat for it. You nailed it by saying that it’s so bracing seeing a book explicitly deal with this, but I think Daredevil #21 gains the edge by just doubling down on the fact that this is on Matt and he can’t and won’t try to say otherwise.
VG: Matt being the one explicitly at fault is absolutely the highlight of this story. I always love stories of genuinely broken people doing bad things and having to deal with the consequences, and I feel like this is a step up from what Bendis was doing where Matt spiraled further and further into darkness – he started this run at the bottom and is doing everything he can to not sink directly into Hell. And as always with Daredevil, despite all the terrible things he has done to everyone around him (including the District Attorney, who just had the shock of a lifetime), he still has people there to pull him up when he needs it – like one absolutely incredible Franklin Nelson.
A Supreme Callback
JP: SPEAKING of REALISTIC FOLLOW-THROUGH, this turn might be one of the title’s greatest feints. As Detective Cole North commiserates with Matt on the way to 1 Police Plaza, Daredevil’s counsel Franklin “Foggy” Nelson races to intercept them to have a word with his masked client. He then proposes a few terms to the city’s District Attorney. Per a statute in Marvel Supreme Court Law, costumed heroes can testify as witnesses. Therefore their nomme-de-hero can be considered a legal identity. So Foggy proposes that “Daredevil” be allowed to be tried as “Daredevil” but ONLY as “Daredevil”, allowing Matt Murdock’s trial record to stand and keep the court’s decisions standing. I mean, that’s just…the freaking GREATEST, right?! And better still, the District Attorney, showing a quiet dignity and decency as a lawyer (which I think Chip has been kinda nailing these little moments throughout), implores Daredevil to reveal his real face to him and only him, stating that he has to “see the face” of the man he is about to put away. WHICH THEN leads to an entirely DIFFERENTLY AMAZING payoff of Matt having WORKED FOR THE CITY (back in Soule’s run) and now RUINED the professional relationship he had with this DA I mean COME ON, that’s just the STUFF, right?! I mean, some of this kind of gets caught up in “comic book logic”. Worse still “comic book legal jargon”, but just as a set up for the incoming arc, that’s kind of a monster one. One that also further continues the team’s choice to commit to realistic consequences for the actions they are taking in character.
VG: I’d argue that this isn’t any more comic book legal jargon than Soule’s run was prior, since the Supreme Court ruling referenced was introduced in the grand centerpiece of Soule’s run on the character. Supreme’s my favorite arc of his run, and this callback had me squealing in joy. Seriously, this isn’t the most deep dive of continuity, but it just helps to make the Marvel Universe feel that much more cohesive and connected. I love the idea that a law that Matt himself worked to introduce into courts around the country is what saves him his secret identity here – it’s both a fantastic bit of fortune and brings in the ethical quandary – is this a legitimate law if the person who fought to get it introduced was directly affected by it? (The answer would be no, since if Matt was unmasked literally every court decision he was ever a part of would be immediately overturned and he would be permanently disbarred and a whole bunch of other things.) Is Matt ultimately just serving himself even in his attempt to bring himself to justice? I love when books raise questions I don’t know the answer to, and I definitely don’t know the answer to this one. Matt Murdock’s life is a twisted, messed up tangle of bad people and bad decisions.
JP: Absolutely and it’s nice to see Chip starting to address stuff early that the reader (or at least, I AS the reader) more than likely started to think about as the concept was introduced. How could Matt even be TRIED as Daredevil? Would his contact and affiliation with certain teams be subject to court examinations? I am also glad he took into account the question of Matt’s trial history. Again, it’s just this intense but longer game Chip seems to be playing. I am very glad you are as into it as I am. Also, just as we start to wrap, can we just appreciate the silent power move that is FOGGY bringing this to the table? Oftentimes poor Franklin comes out looking the rube in these stories, or even worse, is brought into the story as some sort of bleating lamb just ready and waiting for Matt to have this brilliant moment or idea that saves the day. But Chip says NO to that junk and allows Foggy the time in the spotlight to not only have this idea, but to then use his own good standing as a NY Lawyer to then sell it properly. That in particular, made me very happy about this issue. People forget that Franklin is a pretty formidable and capable Avocado-At-Law himself so it was nice to see #21 reminding readers of that. As the opening of this arc, what an AMAZING place to start this column. Shades of both Ed Brubaker’s tenure and Bendis’ hyperverbal plotting, topped off by the promise of some more street-level scrapping in the meantime. We may have picked the best possible place to pick this up..
VG: I’m so curious about how many favors Matt’s calling in – be they deliberate or otherwise. We’ve reached a point where Foggy deciding to stop helping Matt wouldn’t really work, but he’s got the DA working with him out of nothing but guilt and a promise to a man much better than Matt. This all has to backfire at some point, right? I can’t see Matt going the rest of this run without getting legitimately unmasked. More importantly though, I’m so curious how much of this run will end up getting tweaked to fit the world we find ourselves living in now in 2020. Not just because of the pandemic, but the entire premise of Detective Cole North being “one of the good cops” does not work the same way it did in 2019 – not through any fault of Zdarsky or anything, but still. I am fascinated to see how Matt’s view of justice deals with everything going on – he turned himself in despite one of the worst men in the country taking credit for his capture as Mayor, so at what point will he decide that “official” justice just doesn’t work? Are we going to get Radical Daredevil? Daredevil in a t-shirt and jeans dangling a CEO off of a balcony? Okay, maybe my intense love for Morrison’s Action Comics is bleeding through a bit, but still.
JP: HEY SAME HAT! The idea of a Jeans-And-Boots Matt Murdock is…a lot. But you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. On the surface the plot itself is very interesting and a very novel twist on the “Matt Gets His Life Ruined” song we have all known and loved, but once you start to think about it, even just a LITTLE, the seismic implications of this and where it could go could shift the title as a whole. And better still, it seems poised to have repercussions throughout the whole of the main current cast. How does Cole move on from this? Will Foggy become a target for defending Daredevil? Can Wilson Fisk find a way to somehow play to his base, appease his masters in the 1%, AND not be seen as “standing” with his sworn enemy? I feel like the title could be struggling with this for many months to come, because like you said, where is the turn of this? What could POSSIBLY be the endgame now, and will Matt and Foggy come out of the other side of it the same people? I haven’t the slightest idea, but I’m way, way jazzed to dig into it all with you and all you lovely X-hungry Marvel Zombies out there. I think, if anything, it’s gonna be some damn fun comics.
Marvelous Musings
- The cop claiming he doesn’t wear a mask because he’s not a coward really hits different than how Chip probably intended it.
- Oh, BIG time, I was actually going to bring that point up here, but it’s a…real stab of the nightmarish “world outside your window” that Marvel butts up against sometimes. It’s also a nice continuation of the throughline of the “good/bad apples” he has been showing through North. I think that moment could have hit a BIT harder had he have Cole speak to it a bit, but that’s surely something we will see down the line.
- We don’t get a mention of exactly WHERE Matt is to be incarcerated but it’s got to be one of Marvel’s “supermax” prisons, right? Bru already stuck him in Rikers so I’m guessing while the trial starts Matt will be spending time at The Raft maybe or the recently renovated and then vacated by Frank “The Tank” Tieri, Ravenscar Asylum.
- Also, we didn’t mention it much, but we are treated to a Full Costume return for Matt which is really played up by the creative team for the “Big” moment that it is. Despite really being into the fun ways they have futzed with the costume, it was nice to see him back in the full togs and hoppin’ around.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
