written by Chip Zdarsky
drawn by Marco Checchetto
colored by Sunny Gho
When I read that Charles Soule's run on Daredevil was coming to an end, I had hoped that Marvel would use the occasion of a reboot to bring to the book talent whose work I hoped to see, like Christopher Priest or Russell Dauterman. I was slightly underwhelmed by the choice of Chip Zdarsky and even more so the choice of Marco Checchetto, but I chose to remain optimistic, especially after previews for the new issue #1 came out not long before the issue's release.
Several months following the truck accident that nearly ended his life, Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, having fought his way back to health, no longer preoccupies himself with trying to unseat Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, from the mayoralty of New York City. He's basically just trying to get himself back into the superhero game, living somewhat recklessly, picking up a random girl at a bar, and later, picking fights with thugs even though his body is not quite up to the task just yet. All the while, he grapples with the dissonance between his Catholic faith and his addiction to beating up criminals. Things could get even more complicated as new detective moves to New York from Chicago one who is not at all fond of superheroes and would be only too happy to take Matt down.
While Zdarsky won me over with his highly entertaining take on half of the Fantastic Four over in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One last year, I still wasn't entirely sold on what he could bring to the adventures of my favorite lawyer/superhero. I was even less enthused about Checchetto coming onboard, considering that I had last seen his work in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man several years ago and wasn't particularly impressed.
Well, fortunately, the pairing works, as Zdarsky, picking up story threads from Soule, kicks off an engaging new arc that keeps the noir-ish atmosphere that Soule reinstated following Mark Waid's "swashbuckling" approach to the story. While Checchetto's is a step up from most of the artists Soule worked with, the one weak point of his art is how he draws old Hornhead himself; there's something gangly and awkward about his take on Daredevil. While this look kind of suits the narrative that Matt is still finding his feet again after months recovering from his injuries, it's not really something that suits the character overall and isn't likely to grow on me. This is a shame because I quite like almost everything else about the art here. Checchetto drew a decent, Spider-Man reminiscent of Joe Quesada's style back in the day, so I find it curious that he can't use the same approach on the character that launched Joey Q into super-stardom.
The issue is a decent read, and a four-page short story written and drawn by Zdarsky was a nice touch at the end, even if it was a bit of filler, and I remain cautiously optimistic for what this team has to offer, for now.
EDIT: It's frustrating to see Checchetto's Daredevil looking so awkward as I've only just discovered that he's drawn the character before, during the Mark Waid era of the book, in a crossover featuring DD, Spider-Man and the Punisher, and I have to say, his take on the character back then was significantly cleaner and much more athletic-looking. Basically Checchetto can draw a decent DD. I only hope he rediscovers his old form as his tenure on this series goes on.
8/10
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