Matt prepares for his trial with the help of an old flame in the form of Kirsten McDuffie, as the Kingpin reemerges into crime in this tale written by Chip Zdarsky, Art by Marco Chechetto, Colors by Marcio Menyz, and Letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles.
Vishal Gullapalli: Chip does it again! Every issue I wonder if he’ll finally lose a bit of this incredible momentum, and every issue he slaps me in the face and tells me to never doubt him again. You’d think I’d learn by now…. I’m also thoroughly enjoying Checchetto’s return to this series, as my eyes are genuinely incapable of comprehending the beauty before them.
Justin Partridge: Matt’s boyfriend is here! And it’s Johnny Storm’s Boyfriend, Spider-Man! My shipping preferences aside, we are given another very strong issue of Daredevil. One laser focused on the ongoing repercussions of Matt’s surrender to the police and following through on Chip’s mercurially entertaining take on Hell’s Kitchen crime politics. If I had access to gifs, I would drop my favorite Michael Sheen one.
With Enemies Like These…
VG: So, this is a Daredevil comic, and if there’s one thing Daredevil’s known for it’s his villains. Well, it’s also his catholic guilt and self destructive tendencies and… okay fine but his villains are very good. This arc throws the supervillainy aside to focus on the real enemies of Hell’s Kitchen – the rich people taking advantage of the location and gentrifying the hell out of it. Wilson Fisk, the somewhat legitimate Mayor of New York City, is unhappy with the way the criminal underworld has handled itself without a Kingpin, and so has finally decided to choose a successor. Justin, what’d you think of this whole setup?
JP: I think it’s tremendous!
We have talked a bunch in this column about how seriously Chip is taking his plotting and I think these ongoing check-ins with Fisk and his meetings with the “bosses” of the Kitchen speak really well of this. Moreover now that he HAS named a successor Kingpin and it’s Izzy Libris, one of the first main antagonists of the title from the first arc.
Not only is this just a cool development (literally hammered home by Fisk as he makes the point in the blood of Hammerhead, who forces Wilson’s hand to make a decision), but it just further speaks to Chip’s keeping the narratives “in-house”. Instead of just bringing back another DD staple or burning off a cameo for this scene, he just “elevates” a side-character to this new position of power, giving Izzy more agency in the story, but also setting up another SUPER fun and interesting avenue he could sprint down later on. I think it gives the plot so much more teeth now that it’s someone we “know”.
VG: It’s a really satisfying move to position Izzy as the new big bad for Hell’s Kitchen – in the current state, I think it’s really poignant to have the new Kingpin of Crime be someone who isn’t a supervillain but instead is just absurdly rich. Izzy Libris can’t go toe to toe with Matt in physical combat. But what she does have is the money to put as many hurdles in between her and any sort of real justice, making her a villain that really reflects the times we live in. She’s also ruthless, just based on how she dealt with the Owl, making her more than a match for our beloved remorseful redhead.
I’m also intrigued by some information we got – The Hand is back. We saw a bit of The Hand in the Logan chapters of X of Swords, so I’m curious if there’s going to be any crossover between what we saw there and what Elektra is building towards.
JP: Ah, yes, The Hand. Because what is a Daredevil comic without some blood-magicks obsessed death ninjas.
But you are absolutely right, the real “get” Libris. And you are ALSO right in that she continues the awesome tradition of DD baddies being slightly left of center what you would expect a more “muscular” and action-driven character like Daredevil to have. It’s great stuff. And Izzy is not without teeth as we have seen. Lest we forget, she has taken life before so we know that (in Chip’s hands) when the chips are down for her, maybe later on in the title, we might see her make the shift from regular criminal to super-criminal, making her taking on the mantle of Kingpin complete.
Matt Definitely Needs Friends
JP: But the REAL marquee scenes of this issue are Matt conferring with his legal team, which now includes his ex, San Francisco lawyer Kirsten McDuffie, as well as his costumed BFF Spider-Man, who tags along for an intimidation team-up aimed at the bosses of Hell’s Kitchen (one of Matt’s “loose ends” he is attempting to sew up).
We talked a bunch about how excited we were for Kirsten last column and she just pays out like a slot machine in her scenes in #23, calling DD and Foggy “lightweights” for not wanting to keep working through the night and later commiserating with Foggy over drinks as they discuss the case.
Peter’s inclusion in this issue as well delivers some wonderful moments, like the above sudden hug from Matt to Peter and their very sweet “brothers in street-level heroics” montage that sends us into the next issue. Chip I feel like really gets the sweetness and vulnerability that stems from Peter and Matt’s relationship and it’s nice to see that at play here in the pages.
How about you, Vishal? Did Peter and Kirsten’s scenes tug at your heartstrings as much as they did mine here?
VG: Oh, absolutely. I don’t think there’s a reality where I won’t get really happy just seeing Kirsten back in ongoing Daredevil comics. And something that I’ve really appreciated since the first arc of this run is that Chip’s been making it clear that despite his own antisocial tendencies, Matt has a lot of friends and people who care about him, both in and out of costume. She’s one of Matt’s biggest personal failures, but more importantly, she’s one of the best people he’s ever known.
Spider-Man, on the other hand, has had a pretty rocky relationship with Matt throughout this run – starting off with literally threatening to beat him down and take him to prison if he didn’t quit being Daredevil. But Chip being Chip has shown us once again that this all is true to who Peter is. I loved seeing Peter back Matt up while he was intimidating Fisk’s business partners, but the real highlight of the issue was the touching heart-to-heart we got from them immediately after. Matt and Peter are messed up in their own different ways, but more than anything they both need a hug. And you’ve got to give the people what they want.
But Kirsten and Peter weren’t Matt’s only friends to show up here. There’s also his ex? flame who always seems to make his life more difficult. What’d you think of Elektra’s brief appearance, Justin?
JP: I will say, I WISH I was more into Elektra’s scenes. And I LOVE Elektra. I especially love Chip and Marco Checetto’s Elektra. I mean just…C’MON. The hair and the new costume, God it’s just so GOOD.
But in terms of narrative, I was left a bit cold with her inclusion. Especially when stacked against the rest of the issue and the real deal emotions at play with those character pairings and ensemble work. She kinda just pops up in this issue to keep nudging Matt to admit that his idea of “keeping people safe” always is at the cost of own freedom and well-being and then to reveal that the Hand is making more moves. I don’t love when Elektra pops up to JUST expositorily talk about a bunch of stuff happening off-panel that might come back later (I call that The Bendis Syndrome).
But the stuff with Kirsten and Foggy and Peter is so strong I’m not REALLY mad at it. I just wish she had a bit more to do, since she’s so beautiful and I want to see her kick some people (and me) apart.
VG: I’m less of an Elektra fan than you so I also had a little bit of disappointment in her scene. It felt more like it was setting up plot than any juicy character drama, which is especially disappointing considering her appearance is literally as Matt’s wallowing over his ex-girlfriend. It’s a moment rife with drama potential, and it feels like we didn’t get what we could have.
Catholic Guilt, Part 3789452
VG: Of course, we can’t have an issue of Daredevil without some amount of Matt wallowing in self-pity due to actions he chose to take. In this one it’s Matt’s guilt complex manifesting due to how he treated Kirsten. Matt made the choice to break up with Kirsten and leave her in the dark regarding his nightly escapades rather than include her in his life, despite the fact that at one point she was included and involved. And when Matt starts wallowing over this, Foggy rightfully calls him out – because he was not the victim of his own choice. I love when Matt’s forced to reckon with his own choices and accept that his life is his own damn fault. How’d Matt’s neverending guilt hit you this time around?
JP: Ya know, you can always count on two things in a Daredevil comic. 1. Hot ninjas and 2. Matt flogging himself over something or another.
I feel like THIS effort in particular though, REALLY holds Matt’s feet to the fire for it and doesn’t just allow it to BE the story, which is something OTHER runs have absolutely done in the past. Having Foggy, Peter, and Kirsten (kinda, to a point on the outside of it) explicitly tell Matt in one way or another that he’s being a tit for beating himself up for a decision that he largely made in the heat of the moment, aided by the extranormal circumstances of the Purple Children, is Very Good.
And something that also sets this Chip Era apart for the moment. That again he’s not just having Matt act and then having to deal with, he’s having Matt act and then having MATT deal with it, hauling the story along with him to all sorts of crazy interesting places. It’s the reason he can get away with the slightly hand-wringy narration and dialogue from Matt about how “heart-broken” he was to leave Kirsten behind and how his superhero life always takes more than it gives (which…Matt you once had a room in Avengers Mansion, you can chill a LITTLE, man. That’s pretty sweet). He’s tempering it with actual emotion and text on-panel of characters actively commenting on the behavior which is always a win in my book.
VG: Speaking of guilt, though, Matt wasn’t the only one feeling remorseful for the events of older comics. In what was a genuine jaw-dropping shock to me, Chip has Spider-Man bring up the events of the… unique Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one-shot, which ends on Peter accidentally killing a woman. I’m really not a fan of this story, but Chip manages to weave it into Peter’s motivation in Daredevil so seamlessly you could almost think it was really good. It was also delightful seeing Matt try to comfort someone else dealing with their own guilt. Love a good hug.
JP: I will also say, I think this stuff ALSO speaks to how awesomely Chip has adapted to a more ensemble based take on Daredevil, which is a title that ALWAYS thrives with an ensemble. He kept it kinda close to the vest in the first arc, keeping it largely contained to just Matt and Detective North, but now we got Foggy and Wilson Fisk and Kirsten McDuffie and Elektra and Spider-Man (kinda). He just bounces back and forth between all these character sets and vignettes so effortlessly (and a LOT better than some of this earlier Marvel efforts, which were fun, but not as solid as you would have wanted them to be, usually in efforts of a gag…but ehh…yeah. HE’S REAL GOOD, guys. I don’t know how much longer we have to convince you, he typed sarcastically).
Marvelous Musings
- Still no mention of who Fisk’s “investigators” are for sure, but I am guessing we will know who they are sooner rather than later.
- Chip continues to write a fantastic Spider-Man. It’s honestly unfair how good he is.
- Marco Checchetto is too good at this art stuff, this is one of the best looking issues of the run.
- GOD THAT ELEKTRA HAIR. I will seriously never be over it.
- Speaking of “Super Hot Women Who Can Kill Me”, no Typhoid Mary this issue. I don’t know if that worries me or not…
- Also no Cole North this issue. He should be the Perry Mason to Nelson & McDuffie & Associates.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
