Customer Reviews

Daredevil: The Devil, Inside and Out, Vol. 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not sure why only volume 2 is available on Amazon, but I'll just combine my reviews for both volumes and be done with it...

I have avoided Daredevil like the plague for quite a while, having been unimpressed with the work of Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada, Bendis, and others. Things just didn't seem right to me, so there was no way Marvel was getting any more of my money on this character. That changed when, on the frenzied advice of my local comic merchant, I picked up DAREDEVIL: THE DEVIL INSIDE AND OUT Volumes 1 and 2 - seems that the new creative team of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark were doing something interesting with the character that hearkened back to the days of Miller and Mazzuchelli. So I bought it and was knocked out of my seat. Finally, the Daredevil I knew and loved was back.

These trades collect Daredevil # 82 - 93, in which Matt Murdock has been confined to Rykers' Island Penitentiary. He's incarcerated until he can be brought to trial, accused by federal prosecutors of being Daredevil and acting outside the law. Folks both inside and out don't know what to think about Murdock. At first, he does everything he can to misdirect those around him, for how could a blind man really be the Man Without Fear? Represented by his longtime law partner Foggy Nelson, Matt does everything he can to stay isolated in the protective custody wing; however, a horrifying event leads Matt to welcome his move to general lockup, as he's ready to bust heads. After a prison break, Matt is off to Europe following a tip on who set him up, and what he finds at the end of the trail shocks him, leading him to a painful confrontation with his greatest foe.

This story is pure tension, from start to finish. I can't say when the last time was that I read a comic that made my pulse race. Brubaker masterfully captures the claustrophobia and helplessness of prison life and being on the run, and even though it's a good bet that Matt Murdock will be okay in the end, I still found myself fearing for his life. Michael Lark's realistic pencils are perfect for this gritty story. These books equal a home-run and are a welcome change of pace. So here's to Brubaker and Lark - thanks for making Daredevil exciting again!

I liked this. Really. I did. But sitting here thinking back to what I read seeing the Matador and Tombstone (In Europe for some reason) was kind of off-putting. It seemed goofy. Having Matt whine about long-dead Karen was also a little over the top. The art is exactly what you expect from a DD book but the sketchiness takes away from the reveals at times. But I liked it. Seriously. I guess.

I'm a tremendous fan of Brian Michael Bendis' Daredevil, so when the news arrived that he was leaving the title, I found myself distraught. Before Bendis' run, I'd never really cared much for the character. And though many criticized the level of deconstruction he brought to the line, I always found his work riveting and more than entertaining.

That being said, Bendis left Daredevil in enough of a predicament that I wanted to see how this fella--Ed Brubaker--tied up Bendis' loose ends. Brubaker's The Devil, Inside and Out Vol 1 impressed me, but Vol. 2 left me in awe.

Brubaker has somehow, somehow, tied up the many dangling plots left behind by Bendis (I believe they agreed upon this, by the way; Bendis wasn't leaving a mess for someone else to clean up) in a way that was both satisfying and quite cleansing. New plot possibilities have organically arisen from the old, and while everything isn't exactly back to normal for Matt Murdock (is it ever?), I do feel as though Brubaker has set the stage to move on with his own agenda for the character and has successfully exorcised the benign ghost of Bendis.

So, in summation, I would like to recommend the entire current run of Daredevil. Kevin Smith got us off on the right foot, Bendis brought consistent quality and depth to a character I had never before respected, and Brubaker seems to keep all of the best aspects of what Bendis did, but has now brought his own brand of action and noir, further enriching an already rich hero.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

A relatively new and critically acclaimed Daredevil series by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark which won the 2007 Harvey Award for Best Writer. In volume 2 we discover a secret or two that Daredevil doesn't know. Our superhero goes off to Paris and I kind of wonder why people can't see a guy going about in a red outfit but maybe it's a dark red but still. There's a nice payoff with the Kingpin and the usual action that is reflected as dark and gritty in the artwork. A few sub characters, including a villain named Tombstone and a woman with alluring perfume, show up to add to the Daredevil tale. ARTWORK: B; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B plus; STORY/PLOTTING: B to B plus; ACTION SCENES: B minus; WHEN READ: late February; OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.

it's a fun book to read, brubaker is a master in his art, and the art, awesom, michel lark is just great, his dark moody art, is perfect for this book. the colors are a perfect companion to his art. Miller, Bendis, Brubaker, Mazuchelli, Maleev, Lark, all these names mean Greatness for daredevil

This second collected volume of Brubaker/Lark's sojourn on the DD comics has DD going off on a European tour to look for some mysterious lawyer linked with Foggy's "death". Along the way, he falls in with a lady doused with pheromones that makes her persuasive and desirable to men. She fakes a kidnapping by a matador and the villain Tombstone that eventually leads DD to Vanessa Fisk, who makes up this grand charade just to get DD to see her.

Her motive? To explain to DD that she is taking revenge on DD for bring Wilson Fisk back into crime. Along the way, the lady's father, the lawyer and several henchmen are killed.

Her revenge? To give DD his life back again so that he can contemplate the errors of his ways.

Run that by me again? Couldn't Vanessa have just invited DD to come up and see her sometime?

I would have rated this below par but for the continuing great artwork by Michael Lark.

As Ed Brubaker's (Captain America, Uncanny X-Men, Sleeper) run on Daredevil continues, we find fugitive Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, on the run after making his daring escape from prison in the first volume of The Devil, Inside and Out. Daredevil's trek takes him out of the country and across the globe as he searches for the truth behind what seems to be an ever-growing conspiracy that hangs over his head. For Matt Murdock though, things are never as they seem to be, and soon enough, it looks as if things are starting to fall into place. What makes Brubaker's run on Daredevil so good so far is the intricate plotting and scripting he puts into every storyarc. He's crafted an action packed and enjoyable modern super hero romp that can make readers think Brian Michael Bendis never left the title, and that in itself is saying something. Michael Lark's artwork is still a noir-ish and well drawn style in the vein of former Daredevil artist Alex Maleev, and it still suits the title quite well. All in all, Ed Brubaker is slowly proving himself to be a worthy successor to Bendis, and the stage is set for the title to even go to a newer level.

In this second installment of Ed Brubaker's run on "Daredevil" (issues #88-93) the story settles into a more conventional mode. Free from prison, Matt Murdoch tours Europe, ninja-style, to find the identity of his recent tormentor, and runs afoul of a trio of baddies before finally piecing together whodunnit. At the end of the book, he has his life back and looks set for more-or-less business-as-usual superhero stories (although I'm sure Brubaker's future plotlines will be appropriately grim and dark...)

The return to normal may seem like a bit of a letdown, but considering how far back DD's legal problems stretch -- a couple of years, real-world time -- even though it's over, the recent story arc was quite an accomplishment. The "out" part of "Inside And Out" felt anticlimactic, but it's still a darn good read. Plus, what a great scene when DD decks a seemingly unstoppable tough guy (Tombstone) by smacking him across the jaw with a sledgehammer! Nice touch of realism there, Ed! (ReadThatAgain!)

Yes, yes. Daredevil is is really good, but that's not who I was referring to. I was talking about Ed Brubaker the writer of Daredevil since Bendis left. Unfortunately I missed most of Bendis' DD, but Brubaker has run with the ball admirably.

Brubaker loves crime fiction which is how Daredevil has been best written ever since Frank Miller. Brubaker's version is very gritty and realistic. You don't even see Matt Murdoch in costume for the whole first arc of Volume 1. Also Brubaker has brought in some of the classic villains in believable form in this volume. But this is definitely an ongoing mystery punctuated by some swashbuckling heroics. And the personnal life of Matt is just as intriguing and heart-wrenching as his vigilante life.