written by Charles Soule
drawn by Stefano Landini
colored by Matt Milla
Daredevil comes back from his adventure in China that spanned three issues and an indeterminate period of time, only to find that his arch-nemesis, Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin has been elected mayor of New York City. It's not a trick or a magic spell; it appears that Fisk, despite his past as a notorious crime lord, has tapped something primal in the public consciousness and has run on a single platform: to bring order and accountability to New York City. Still incredulous, Murdock, fresh off his victory for superheroes in the Supreme Court, is now looking at the prospect of his hard-won victory coming undone. As ever, though, Murdock is not about to take this revolting new development sitting down, but this may be a fight too big, even for Daredevil.
It is with cautious optimism that I approach this new story line, which has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Its reference to the global rise of populism is so blatant that it couldn't possibly be more on the nose if the villain had been named Donald Trump or Rodrigo Duterte. And I have to say, if that story arc ended with Daredevil punching the lights out of either of those people I certainly wouldn't mind. I have no issue with the politics of this issue.
What I do have some concerns about is that this is not the first time a major comic book publisher, or even Marvel Comics, has had an outright villain occupy a legitimate position of power. Lex Luthor was "elected" president of the DC comics universe in the year 2000, around the same time George W. Bush, the man previously known as the worst America president in history, was elected to the first of two terms, coincidentally or not. Just under a decade ago, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, was appointed head of H.A.M.M.E.R., an organization created to replace S.H.I.E.L.D. in the wake of the events of Secret Invasion. In comparison, Wilson Fisk taking over a city, apart from being nothing new, is small potatoes, and I'm sure Soule, who I'm pretty sure is part of Marvel's brain trust with Brian Bendis flying the coop to DC, knows this all too well. I'm sure Soule also knows that both of those extended story lines ended with the super villains in question basically getting a punch in the kisser (more or less) and the balance of power shifting back to the good guys with Pete Ross taking over from Luthor and Captain America taking over from Osborn.
That kind of resolution to this story won't work anymore; the rise of today's populists today is so much more nuanced than a case of "the bad guys taking over." It's definitely unpleasant and difficult to stomach, but it's a conversation that cannot, and should not, be reduced to a case of discrediting and then punching out the villains of the story yet again. In deciding to take this issue on, Soule owes us readers better than that.
The thing is, after delivering his thoroughly readable "Supreme" arc, I feel reasonably confident that Soule has something much more interesting up his sleeve than another prosaic "good guy takes down the bad guy in power" shtick. Soule has rarely disappointed on this title since he took over two years ago.
I also take encouragement from the fact that, even though series regular Ron Garney has taken this arc off, his replacement for the moment, Stefano Landini, is not only both a capable artist and a good fit for this story line, but based on future solicitations, will apparently be sticking around for the duration of this story. "Supreme" was hamstrung by having more than one artist, and not particularly good ones either. Landini still isn't quite the A-lister this title deserves, but he is at least on par with Garney.
The good news is that this arc is off to a reasonably strong start even as it feels all too familiar. The real question is whether or not Soule can give us readers a truly exceptional ending.
8/10
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