You Win Some, You Lose Some: A Review of Daredevil #10

 written by Chip Zdarsky

drawn by Marco Checchetto

colored by Matt Wilson

As a longtime reader of comic books featuring Spider-Man and Daredevil, I can't help but compare the way Marvel have handled Matt Murdock to the way they have handled Peter Parker, over the better part of six decades. They have quite a bit in common, like a dead father or father figure, a blonde lover who died at the hands of their greatest nemesis, or recurring personal tragedies. Over the years, it has almost felt at times as if they were in some sort of contest to determine who had it worse in life.

Even now, Peter Parker endures some of his worst torment ever at the hands of his creative team over in his book, Matt Murdock is also going through the wringer as his ultimate war against the forces of evil has taken a serious turn for the worse. After his army, the Fist, won an important but very costly victory over his arch nemesis the Hand, he learned that his oldest friend Foggy Nelson and his mentor Stick were nothing but simulacra planted in their ranks by the Hand, and now the Avengers have caught up with him, and they're hellbent on putting the army Daredevil busted out of prison right back where he got them. Elektra and Daredevil's allies have their hands full with Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther, while Daredevil faces off against no less than his longtime ally, Spider-Man.

To be honest, my only serious regret about this issue is that there have not been more like it in this run. After Zdarsky and Checchetto seriously impressed with their prestige format miniseries "Devil's Reign," I had high hopes that their climactic finale for Daredevil would have a similar standard of craftsmanship, but it's been a mixed bag over the course of the last ten issues, though this is certainly one of the better ones. The throw-down between Matt and Peter is well-staged, and doesn't crap on canon just for the sake of giving a good story. It is established that, for all of his training, Matt would not be a match for Peter under normal circumstances, and that's all I'll say lest I spoil the outcome.  Still, one can't help but feel there's a bit of plot armor involved, and that detracts from the smoothness of the storytelling. 

Zdarsky has promised yet more twists and turns in the remaining issues of his run, and this would pretty much be par for the course for the Man without Fear, so I just hope Zdarsky and Checchetto can end on a decent finale and leave Matt with a modicum of dignity, even if it's clear they have no intention of giving him any kind of happy ending.

 9/10