written by Chip Zdarsky
drawn by Rafael de la Torre and Marco Checchetto (pencils) Elisabeta D'Amico (inks)
colored by Matt Wilson
Over the course of these three issues, Matt Murdock aka Daredevil and Elektra Natchios, also aka Daredevil, have made their plans, as the leader of Fist, clear. To take the fight to the Hand, who is now led by Frank Castle, they will need to build an army. While many of their soldiers come from all around, interestingly, Matt gets some of his most important recruits by springing them out of the super-criminal prison the Raft, of all places. Meanwhile, Elektra embarks on her mission to see just how high up the Hand have infiltrated the corridors of power, and the answers she finds are frightening indeed. Notably, Matt isn't just recruiting super-criminals for their muscle, but rather in order to offer them a chance at reform and redemption that they couldn't possibly get in the prison system. Meanwhile, the Hand makes its own moves, seemingly a step ahead of Matt and Elektra.
I'll admit I was a bit impatient with Zdarsky over the first four issues of this new iteration of Daredevil, but over these past three issues I've come to understand what he's really writing about, and it isn't just some hackneyed "ultimate fight between good and evil" plotline that will probably be undone or retconned a few years from now. If I recall correctly, Zdarsky's predecessor Charles Soule also had DD and some of his superpowered buddies take on the Hand as they tried to take over New York, so I really can't help but roll my eyes at this declaration that the Fist will take down the Hand "once and for all."
What really interests me is how under Zdarsky's tenure, Matt Murdock, a licensed attorney, has done time as Daredevil, and, having seen how broken the penal system is, has lost faith in its ability to reform super-powered criminals. He has effectively taken it on himself to be that agent of reform, in part through his supernatural quest to vanquish evil, but also by directing them at some decidedly more mundane threats. Matt has recruited some pretty nasty types like Bullet, who nearly beat him to death some years back and Speed Demon, who almost killed the Hulk...and pits them against the unlikeliest of villains; a real estate developer who buys up apartment buildings and turns residents out on the street using contrived lease violations. I'm less interested by the actual confrontation than the thinking behind it; Daredevil isn't getting the bad guys to lay down their proverbial guns, but rather to point them where they need to be aimed.
Of course, reformed criminals becoming heroes are nothing new in the Marvel Universe (heck, one of them is about to have his third film adaptation in a few weeks). But I'd argue that this is the first time the hero has identified the actual penal system as the reason why most criminals never really reform. Chip Zdarsky may not be a lawyer like Charles Soule, but he has clearly given this point of advocacy quite a bit of thought, and I'm interested to see where he goes with this.
It helps that Zdarsky has some pretty solid visual continuity with Rafael de la Torre and Marco Checchetto sharing art duties. I normally do not like artists sharing art duties in the course of a single story, but it works here given that the two artists' styles actually match.
I think it's pretty fair to say that whatever the outcome of this "war" will be, the Hand will survive in one form or another, and even if they're all wiped out, some new creative team will come up with some way to resurrect them somehow, years from now. What I'd like to see, however, is what will happen to all of the criminals that Matt has set free with the hope of reforming them himself.
8.5/10
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