written by Charles Soule
illustrated by Goran Sudzuka, Alec Morgan (issue #23)
colored by Matt Milla
In "Running with the Devil" Charles Soule reconciled the ending of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's bright, cheery run on "Daredevil" with his gritty, noir-inspired status quo, even if it did involve a somewhat liberal interpretation of Purple Man's mind control powers and a fairly convenient plot device (i.e. a power amplifier), and delivered the best story I'd seen from him since he started his run on this book.
Little did I know, however, that he was just getting started.
"Supreme" sets out to answer a series of related questions that I am certain many comic-book fans with even just passing interest in the criminal justice system have asked: what happens after the superheroes have left the crooks with the cops? How are the crooks convicted in court? Do the superheroes testify during the trial? How does the court appreciate their testimony? These are the kinds of thoughts that could even arise from watching the new Spider-Man movie considering (mild spoiler) that after a bad guy is captured, it is mentioned that he is scheduled to go on trial.
The question is also posed in this very story line, and who better to approximate an answer to a hypothetical question that will, of course, never be answered in real life than an actual, honest-to-goodness lawyer? Yup, Charles Soule's legal background is an advantage he has over just about every other prominent writer in DD's history, and he puts his knowledge to good use here writing a storyline which, if Soule's dialogue for Matt is to be believed, has been percolating in the writer's mind since the very beginning.
To make a long story (one that's spanned three issues so far) short, Matt has a grand plan, which he shares with his colleagues and superior at the District Attorney's Office, to make it possible for superheroes to testify in court as to the criminals they've captured...without ever having to unmask and expose themselves. Their test case involves, as a witness, no less than Daredevil himself. The outlandish plan gains momentum by hurdling the trial court and is elevated on appeal. Suddenly, criminals with a lot to lose if this case establishes doctrine, take notice, specifically DD's longtime nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin.
It's kind of tragic that, even as one of the most interesting superhero stories in recent memory is playing out, Marvel seems unduly preoccupied with yet another line-wide reboot to pump up flagging sales. They couldn't even be bothered to hook Soule up with an A-list artist. I mean, with all due respect to Goran Sudzuka and Alec Morgan, who are entirely competent, this story, at minimum, merits the work of the series' mainstay Ron Garney, and would be much better served by the work of an even higher-profile artist. At the very least they could have stuck with one artist instead of rotating these two. Such an uneven experience with the art really doesn't do the overall story any favors.
Still, the writing is riveting, and the pacing impeccable. Soule walks a tightrope here; it's easy for the storytelling to be dominated by talking heads, which is really the meat and potatoes of the story, but he injects the right amount of action into each issue, with the latest issue featuring a fight with the gangster and Spider-Man bad guy Tombstone and an appearance by no less than She Hulk.
Given the length of the story arcs this series has had so far, this one probably only has two more issues to wrap up, but however this plays out it will have lasting ramifications for the Marvel Universe, and not in some hopelessly contrived, cosmic kind of way but in a very practical, down-to-earth manner. I honestly cannot wait to see how this ends because I don't see any cop-out endings working here.
8/10
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