Purple Reign: A Review of Daredevil #10

written by Mark Waid
illustrated by Chris Samnee
colored by Matthew Wilson

The last issue had Zebediah Killgrave, a.k.a. the murderous Purple Man, standing over Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil after the latter had fallen off a bridge, having fallen prey to the overwhelming empathic powers of Killgrave's illegitimate children by several different women. Now, Matt must take on Killgrave and figure out how to deal with five kids with powers capable of crippling him with depression. Meanwhile, the father of Matt's current law-partner/squeeze Kirsten McDuffie, who also happens to be a successful publisher, continues to ask if he's interested in turning his life story into a book.

Waid wraps up a fairly compact three-issue arc with a healthy dose of action and Matt's trademark ingenuity in dealing with his adversary.  The manner in which Matt saves the day here is not quite as clever as the way he stopped a bomb from exploding in issue #1, but it is fun, and gratifying to boot. It's not quite what I'd call groundbreaking as far as storytelling is concerned, and while this may sound hypocritical of me, especially considering how much I complain about decompressed storytelling, there's a part of me that feels this story line could have benefited from one more issue. I would have loved to have seen more of Waid's and Samnee's take on Killgrave.

Ultimately, though, Waid and Samnee most certainly gave me my Daredevil fix with this issue, and this arc, and that's what matters.

I would especially like to sing praises for Samnee's inspired cover. This entire arc has basically been a sort of homage to Gothic horror stories, and it's a lot of fun to see Samnee really immersing himself in this particular brand of storytelling, particularly in terms of how he draws covers.

For me, though, the real treat in this story happens on the very last page, which is actually a surprise epilogue of sorts. I dare not spoil it, but suffice it to say that Waid and Samnee sell the readers a bit of a dummy as far as Matt's emotional state is concerned, only to trick us at the very last minute. It's a fitting ending given the light-hearted tone this series has had since Waid first relaunched Daredevil half a decade ago, and serves as a bit of a reassurance that Waid and Samnee still have several stories to tell without having to take DD down the "dark" path with which he is still most commonly associated thanks to the likes of Frank Miller.

Again, Waid, Samnee and Wilson have come up with a real winner here.

8.7/10