written by Chip Zdarsky
drawn by Marco Checchetto
colored by Sunny Gho
This one's a little late, but I liked the issue so much I'm posting a review anyway, the only one I'm posting even though I had quite a few comics on my pull list the last few weeks. This is basically the only comic I'm reviewing on an issue-to-issue basis these days for lack of time, and I picked it because of the recent batch I've read, it's easily the most engaging.
This issue, Matt finds himself frantically trying to find out who framed him for the death of a thug he fought last issue. The problem is, however, that unbeknownst to Matt but known to us readers, no such setup exists; a weakened and careless Matt, at least based on the events in issue #1, knocked the thug into the wall and apparently caused him to die without anyone else's help. Matt doesn't know this, and probably wouldn't believe it if he did, and so even as the police dragnet, led by the dogged Detective North, tightens around him and Kingpin, who freely admits having nothing to do with Matt's misfortune, rubs his hands with glee, Daredevil strives in vain to find a way to prove his innocence, and is really up a creek this time without a paddle.
Zdarsky and Checchetto continue to turn the heat up on Matt Murdock, and I'm honestly hard-pressed to imagine how they intend to undo what they've done here, though, this being a comic book, a last-gasp retroactive twist is never out of the question. Until this is actually undone, though, this presents great opportunities for some genuinely fascinating narrative. Particularly interesting is the conversation Daredevil has with the doctor who attended to the deceased thug; realizing through his heightened abilities that the doctor is telling the truth when he says there was nothing he could have done to save the man, Matt relents in his attempt to shake him down for information, and the doctor, in turn, realizes what has happened. He calls out Matt on his addiction to violence, describing his talents as "surgical" but also telling him it's time to stop. As someone who has enjoyed reading Daredevil for most of my adult life, I have to say, I really enjoyed that exchange of dialogue and that one line in particular. I also think it opens up an interesting can of worms, given that the doctor alleges that everyone that Daredevil puts in the hospital gets better. Does that imply that somewhere there's a quadriplegic ex-crook who lost his motor functions tangling with Spider-Man? That would be an interesting story.
Checchetto's Daredevil is a bit less awkward this issue; I was really perplexed by how he seemed to have forgotten how to draw him last issue after having drawn him quite well back during the DD/Spidey/Punisher crossover some years ago, though I wrote it off in part to the fact that Matt is not in the best of shape. Based on his past work, though, I feel he can still do better, and I remain hopeful that he will.
I quite like the work of the new team so far, and I hope they are able to maintain a reasonable standard of quality while they're around.
8.5/10
