written by Charles Soule
drawn by Mike Henderson
colored by Matt Milla
After the infuriating non-ending of the landmark 600th issue of this title, Soule follows the story up with an issue that proves to be surprisingly satisfying, even as it also ends on a cliffhanger.
At the end of last issue, as a result of the Hand's deadly attack on former-crime-boss-turned-Mayor-of-New-York Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin found himself in the hospital fighting for his life, and due to an interesting legal loophole that nearly no one thought of, his Deputy Mayor, Matt Murdock became the mayor. The only problem was that, at the time this happened, Murdock was in the back of a police van, having been sucker-punched and then beaten by Fisk into unconsciousness. The Hand attack, however, provides Murdock the opportunity he needs to escape detention, and he reports to his new station, where he immediately takes action to save New York from the army of ninjas that currently threaten to overrun it.
Given how distinctly anticlimactic and unsatisfying the landmark 600th issue of this series was, I have to commend Soule on this pretty effective save, which sets up an exciting showdown even as it removes the bad taste in the mouth left by the developments of the last issue, specifically way that Wilson Fisk managed to get the better of Matt Murdock. Without giving away too much Soule appears intent to bring his story involving the adversary he re-introduced, "The Beast" full circle, tying up the loose ends he opened when he relaunched this title back in 2015. There was something especially satisfying about the newly-minted Mayor Murdock firing Wesley Welch, Fisk's right-hand man who was intent on challenging every single one of Murdock's moves. Of course, one can only imagine that Fisk will survive the multiple arrows in his body and will factor into these developments before all is said and done, but it was nice to see Murdock come out on top after the downer of last issue.
New artist Mike Henderson is a welcome addition to this title, even though his comic-strip style rendering, which is vaguely reminiscent of Skottie Young, seems an odd fit for this character. I'm pretty confident it can grow on me, though I wasn't happy that he brought back DD's ridiculous red trunks.
Marvel's keeping pretty mum on their plans for this book, i.e. whether or not they'll relaunch it with a new creative team, but if Soule can continue to keep the story interesting as he has done here, I wouldn't mind if he sticks around a bit longer.
8.7/10
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