Hell’s Kitchen gets gooped in Daredevil #26. Written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Mike Hawthorne & Marco Checchetto, inked by Adriano Di Benedetto, colored by Marcio Menyz, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, this twenty-sixth installment finds Matt Murdock and Elektra’s lives interrupted by the God of Symbiotes. Inside Matt struggles to survive a Knull-infested Rikers while outside Elektra fights to keep Matt’s city under control. God help them both.
Justin Partridge: WAIT, MORE GOOP?! But I cover Daredevil to get AWAY from the goop! VISHAL, WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR SAD GINGER?!
Vishal Gullapalli: Sadly Justin, it seems that there are three constants in life. Death, taxes, and goop. Now, I’m not necessarily complaining about that last one, but we might be getting a bit of an overload here.
JP: It’s funny, you and I have talked off-page (JEALOUS?!) about how goofy it is that of ALL BOOKS, Daredevil got a “King in Black” tie-in, but all told, it’s actually a pretty solid little tie-in! One that not only neatly folds the ongoing event into the narrative, but also keeps up its OWN energy and plot threads as a solo title. The Ol’ Al Ewing Special, we like to call that. Even more hilarious that I genuinely like THIS more than I like the actual Venom and King in Black titles overall.
But that’s a whole other column, let’s talk some Matt.
Goop Event
JP: So we open Daredevil #26 pretty much where we left it. Matt Murdock is still languishing inside Rikers Island, having given himself up and planning on serving out his two-year sentence. While on the outside, Elektra, having taken up the cowl of The (Wo)Man Without Fear, is bucking against Matt’s brand of heroics with more tensely engaging narration from Chip.
Then fetish dragons start showing up.
Absolutely your mileage is going to vary on these sort of event tie-ins, especially ones that are preempting an already pretty successful (and autonomous) solo title. And King In Black ain’t exactly setting the world a’light right now, either critically or financially (though I will have to take a longer and harder look at it’s sales figures later on when work is done for sure). BUT ALL THAT SAID, I was genuinely shocked at how good of a tie-in this was. It not only keeps it’s own flavor of storytelling, but doesn’t allow the encroaching slime of the Venom crossover event to cramp it’s style along the way. Instead it largely uses it to boost its OWN themes and plot turns! Best case scenario, really.
But how did you find all this, Vishal?
VG: I have to agree. I think this might be Chip’s first real event tie-in, and it’s such a strong showing because he figured out immediately how to incorporate the greater Marvel Universe into his own personal narrative. Chip’s mentioned in interviews that his run’s heavily inspired by Ann Nocenti’s run (the only major Daredevil run I haven’t read, for shame) and he specifically wanted to do a tie-in to an event because Nocenti killed it in her Inferno tie-in. And while Daredevil hasn’t started fighting a vacuum cleaner yet, this is easily just as good as that tie-in.
This tie-in, within the framework of “King in Black”, serves to show how the invasion is affecting New York at a level much closer to the street. We’re not really fighting goo dragons or the god of the abyss, we’re trying to save civilians and people without any sort of powers who are getting caught in a conflict that is so high above their pay grade that I feel like Marvel’s New York has to have an absurdly high minimum wage, or an absurdly low cost of living. And it’s really damn good.
JP: ABSOLUTELY IT IS! (And you should read Nocenti’s run, you would absolutely love it as it is amazing just like the Queen Nocenti).
And Daredevil already, both as a series and with this particular creative team, IS absolutely the book that DOES focus on these “people of the street” stories so it is nice to see that even when latex dragons start swooping down from space that isn’t getting lost in the goopy shuffle.
I ALSO think it’s a real credit to Chip as a writer that he is using the elements of the crossover to give a little extra narrative juice to his already pretty strong narrative throughlines with Matt and Elektra. We see Matt in the opening somewhat struggling with being a good person inside, despite his crimes, so what happens? Well, naturally he gets gooped and Knull instantly starts massaging his bruised ego (and martyr complex), offering not only absolution for his wickedness but even more power to drive Matt’s clarity of semi-righteous vision.
We see Elektra chafing somewhat against the reputation of Daredevil and how Matt comports himself as the Kitchen’s “Guardian Devil”, wondering how a killer like her can stand in the place of such a constant font of heroism in a forgotten neighborhood. So what happens there, of course, is she is pulled into a big, crazy alien crossover event and forced LITERALLY to be a hero in the face of unrelenting comic book insanity. It is Good Stuff, but Better Stuff in the sense that it doesn’t completely derail the title just because Daredevil is under the purview of the Spider-Office and they decided Matt needed that “Venom Bump” in sales that nobody talks about ever.
We’re Still Covering Daredevil
JP: But like we said above, though the sliminess of the Cates Era of Venom is crashing the party this month, Daredevil #26 still functions largely AS an issue of the Chip and Checchetto Era of DD which is…truly great to see.
All too often titles like this get just absolutely upended by events, either having to pivot away from it’s main action entirely OR crowbar it at the last minute, thus curtailing any real character development needed in the moment or ongoing serialized elements the book might have (which we know Daredevil is already dealing with).
But here, in #26, Chip and company still keep all the plates spinning! We get lengthy check-ins, pre-goop, with Matt and Elektra, both walking their own paths to redemption. And we also get a wonderful scene in which Mayor Fisk, Wesley, and new head of mayoral security Typhoid Mary react in real time to the coming of Knull.
Though all of these plot threads get Venomized eventually, I was quite struck at how much time Chip and the art teams spend WITHOUT dealing with King in Black, tending their own narrative gardens as much as they can before the slime starts to run in through the cracks. Did you respond to any of this, VG, or is it just more trademark Justin projection?
VG: No, I totally get what you mean. I think for me what clicked was how Chip used the tentacle nonsense to amplify what conflicts were already in the book. For example, Elektra’s struggling with having to deal with the problems of the little people to earn Matt’s trust. And Chip puts her through this emotional conflict by having Elektra have to deal with a venomized version of parental abuse. It’s not something Elektra would normally get involved with, symbiote or no symbiote, but she does it because she knows it’s what Matt would do.
And it’s the same on the other side of the prison bars, too. Matt’s dealing with his internal demons, the devil inside him. The darkness. And what better way to ratchet that up to 11 than to have the God of Darkness possess him? If Matt was guilty over inadvertently killing that guy in the first issue, he’s gonna be feeling a lot worse when he finds out what he’s done as a soldier in Knull’s army.
But there’s still so much meat before the symbiotes even get involved, like you mention Justin. The conversation between Matt and Marcus is really good, although there’s some bits I’m a little bit squicked about. Matt being called out for not having to actually serve his sentence is a fantastic bit that I hope gets picked up on after the goo-be-gone, but I don’t like that Marcus calls his release from prison a “fresh start” because functionally it won’t be, and we all know it. This is really just a complaint with semantics, though – I love the overall message of this scene, especially because it’s continuing the active criticism of privilege and the justice system that’s made this book so distinctive.
JP: OH, BIG TIME. And this stuff especially really continues to make good on our thesis that Chip and company are fully and intentionally facing Matt with real-deal consequences and fallout of his actions, up to and including his own unchecked white privilege as a costumed (but still white) hero. I only hope that this stuff doesn’t get lost in the goop of it all.
Styles Clash
JP: All this said however, if there is a misstep for Daredevil #26, it is the dual art teams of Mike Hawthorne (returning from the Mike centered Annual) and regular series artist Marco Checchetto. Though the action they are handling is pretty evenly distributed between the two, Hawthorne handling the action inside Rikers while Checchetto beats the pavement with Elektra on the outside, the disparity between their two styles is…pretty obvious.
And while this might sound like a dig, it absolutely isn’t! I actually quite like Hawthorne’s artwork and I always find him a treat when he pops up in titles nowadays. But putting him next to the hyper details and kinetic pencils of Checchetto is really unfair, especially when Checchetto is coming to the party with details like Elektra’s hair being so unruly and hot that it can’t be contained by the Daredevil cowl and the tremendous design of the Venomized Typhoid Mary.
Is this mean, Vishal? I feel like this might sound a little mean.
VG: I don’t think it was mean! Honestly, it was nicer than how I’d have approached it if I went first.
Hawthorne’s style is a bit more on the cartoony side of things, especially compared to Checchetto. And I definitely don’t mean that as a dig! I like cartoony art a whole lot. But it stands out significantly when he’s drawing the portion of the book that’s a kind of grittier look inside a prison, compared to the more superheroic happenings on the outside. That’s not to say that Checchetto and Hawthorne should have switched, though – I don’t think anyone should be drawing those Elektra scenes unless they can guarantee her hair will look just as incredible as it does when Checchetto draws her. But either way, Hawthorne sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison.
I actually liked his work at the very beginning of the issue – opening on Hawthorne definitely made him look better because he didn’t have to follow the stronger artist, but because the book shifts back into the prison after some Elektra scenes, we still have to deal with that jarring shift in style. Honestly, I’d compare Hawthorne’s work in this issue to Juan Gedeon’s work on “Venom Beyond”, because while the cartoony style does work for a lot of the book, it just didn’t really fit the tone of the story. And compared to the regular artist on the series (Stegman for Venom) it just makes things look less dire. Matt getting all Knull’d up honestly felt a bit comical, even though it was clearly supposed to land differently.
I’m also wondering why this issue was delayed – if they needed to get a fill-in artist to get it to come out on time, I’d understand but the issue had a fill-in artist and was still delayed. It kind of feels not worth it to me.
Okay, I’ve been complaining a lot, so let me re-center. Marco Checchetto had better go down as one of the best Daredevil artists of all time. Everything he does in this book is so textured and stylish that it makes nearly every other book at the company look bland in comparison. His design work, his layout and sense of storytelling, and just the quality of his lines all come together to make Daredevil one of the best-looking books on stands whenever it comes out.
JP: AB.SO.LUTELY.
It is like I said the other day while bugging Cori McCreery on Twitter about Superman artwork, I don’t understand how someone can look at something as good as Checchetto’s work here and not think “Greatest of All Time”. But I also think you are right on the money as to your assessment of the two’s clashing styles (a hearty 2 sweet to all the rest of y’all in The Gay Community?!).
Hawthorne’s is far more broad while Checchetto is more focused on the finer details and expressionism of comics. It doesn’t mean either one is BAD perse, but seeing them kind of sectioned together in a double-feature like production of this issue (which I genuinely DIDN’T know was delayed, which is very interesting) is a bit jarring. Doubly so since this volume of Daredevil has had a fairly cohesive visual look and tonality from the jump.
But even with this quibble, I think Daredevil #26 is a pretty fine example of event tie-in storytelling. One that doesn’t sacrifice it’s own visual language and narrative flow just for the chance to play in the sandbox of a big event. It makes me really happy to know that Chip pushed for this simply because his hero Nocenti did a fantastic Inferno tie-in issue. That just makes me love this volume all the more, knowing it’s being helmed by someone with a genuine investment in the title overall.
People that make superhero comics with this level of intention (and stake in the “fandom” of comics as a whole) just really inspire me and that’s always how I feel talking about Daredevil with you, Vishal. Inspired. Comics make you feel things, who would have guessed?
MARVELOUS MUSINGS
- No Mike Murdock this month, but I have a feeling we are going to be seeing his cunning mug sooner rather than later.
- Also, just to mention it again, wowie zowie, is Elektra’s Daredevil costume gorgeous. The detail with the hair and the mask is one thing, but the way Checchetto has melded elements of her normal togs (the sais, the armwraps, and her cinched waist scarf) into the overall new design is just…one million chef kisses.
- Weird we don’t get any check-ins with Foggy or Kirsten either…
- Remember when Matt was an Avenger? That was weird, huh?
- Typhoid Mary’s “civilian” look was tremendous. It’s just her normal facepaint with her hair up and in a sweet black suit, sans shirt, Emma Frost style. More villains in formalwear, please.
- My reading comprehension and memory may be totally off, but was Alice someone we were supposed to recognize? For some reason that name and look felt familiar.
- THIS actually is a good question. She is certainly framed as such but I don’t really remember her explicitly as a side character before now. MAYBE that means we gotta do a reread!
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
Justin Partridge has loved comics all his life. He hasn't quite gotten them to love him back just yet. But that hasn't stopped him from trying as he has been writing about them now for a little over a decade. With bylines at Newsarama, Shelfdust, PanelXPanel, and more, Justin has been doing the work and putting in the time! Comics have yet to return his calls. Usually he can be found on Twitter screaming about Doctor Who.
