Customer Reviews

Daredevil: Father

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

 

 

First of all, let me state that I am not a Marvel fanboy, but this month I had some extra cash on hand and it's been a long time since I've owned a Daredevil comic, and I actually really used to love Joe Quesada's art way back in the nineties, so it was with some hesitation that I ordered this comic. Why the hesitation? Well, simply because great artists rarely make great writers, and this proved to be the case with NYX, a series written by Joe Quesada that had great art by Joshua Middleton but pretty crappy writing by Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Given that, I was really pleasantly surprised by Daredevil: Father.

I have to say, two of my favorite comics from the nineties had Joe Quesada Art - Batman: Sword of Azrael was simply gorgeous, and Ray: In a Blaze of Power, had a wonderful dynamic energy. Certainly, that was a long time ago, so Quesada's style has changed over the years, but Daredevil: Father, did not disappoint in the art department. There are gorgeous splash pages, wonderfully dynamic and energetic layouts, and great action sequences that are as clear as the best Hollywood movies. The art gets an unequivocal A+.

As I had mentioned though, going in, I had some reservations about the writing, and some of it turned out to be true. There's some retconning with Daredevil's childhood which some people will likely find to be problematic. (I always consider Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. to be the definitive Daredevil origin, and the retelling in Daredevil: Father is a little bit different to say the least.) However, the main problem I have with the book is the tone. It tries to be epic in scope, but is just parochial in execution - a lot of the elements that the writing seems to want us to think is important simply doesn't come out that way. For example, a big deal is made with the heat wave in NYC, but this is only through exposition - none of the narration (or the art even) or the action really conveys that oppressive heat. The writing told us there was an oppressive heat, but did not show it. On top of that, whereas the writing intends Daredevil and other characters to be internally conflicted and disturbed, a lot of the time their internal monologues and conversations with each other just make them seem childish and whiney, which is not the same as good drama. There's angst, but teenage angst, not adult angst (which is the same problem as NYX). So yes, some of the writing is lacking in that department. If Quesada were only as capable with writing as he is with his pencils, this would have been a great book. Given that, I would give this a lower grade in the writing department, but ultimately it is redeemed by a wonderful twist and surprise ending that was unexpectedly powerful and dramatic. Certainly, I think the writing overall could have been tighter, and the dialog could have used some (maybe a lot of) polishing, the inventive plot and reveal at the end make up for it. Well, just to manage expectations, it's not super super great, but it's still pretty good. So ultimately, I give the writing a B+ and borderline A-.

Overall, I'd say that if you got some easy cash on hand, go for it. It's not a must have, but it's still plenty good.

I've always thought that one of the key characteristics of a good movie was that you found yourself thinking about it hours, if not days, after seeing it, pondering various plot points and replaying various scenes in your head. In that respect, Daredevil: Father is a heck of a movie.

The series (collected in this nifty hardcover) is certainly cinematic. The essential components of the story (heat wave, serial killer, daddy issues) are enough to set up a decent movie, and Joe Quesada's art, which has always had a cinematic flair, is even more dramatic here. You can tell that Frank Miller's visual storytelling in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was a major influence on Quesada.

Quesada dedicated the series to his late father, and it is obvious throughout the series that this was more than just another writing assignment. Quesada obviously put plenty of heart and emotion into this story, which helps offset some of the story's weaker elements. Aside from a very tenuous connection to Daredevil, the introduction of a new team of heroes (the Santierians) doesn't seem to serve any purpose, unless Quesada just thought the Marvel Universe needed a more ethnically diverse mix of characters. The group's encounters with Daredevil definitely made for good cinema, but were not really relevant to the story at hand. A casual encounter with Spider-Man or Luke Cage could have accomplished the same objective, though in a far less spectacular fashion. There are also scenes where Daredevil's dialogue just doesn't fit with the character. In fact, I often found myself thinking that Father would have been a much better Batman story.

I hate to sound like I'm bashing the writing, because with a few exceptions Quesada did a solid job. After several years of Brian Michael Bendis Daredevil issues though, I tend to set the bar pretty high for this character.

I have absolutely zero complaints about the artwork. It's gorgeous, dramatic, cinematic, and probably the best work Quesada has ever done.

Daredevil: Father gets a 4-star rating (3/3.5 stars for the writing and 5 stars for the artwork). Daredevil fans will no doubt enjoy it, if perhaps a bit less than the recent Bendis run, and it makes a nice, albeit darker, companion piece to Loeb & Sale's Yellow (Daredevil Legends, Vol. 1).

Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada took a bit of a departure with Daredevil: Father, and that's a good thing. Though it suffered a very long delay after the first issue was released, Daredevil: Father finds Quesada departing from his usual art style in favor of a much darker, more cinematic approach that is very reminiscent of Frank Miller's classic work. That in itself is saying something, and is the sole reason to give Father a look. The story finds a very hot summer in Hell's Kitchen as Matt Murdock takes on a new and strange case, but things get even more heated when a wave of murders begin to shake the city to it's very core. In between all of this, Matt has flashbacks about his late father, and Quesada does a nice job of tying everything together as Father winds to a close. The only real downsides of Father is that the dialogue and Matt's text boxes feel a little out of place and maybe a little too gritty for their own good in spots. Not to mention that Father is over way too quickly. Despite all that though, Daredevil: Father is still a fantastic Daredevil story that proves Quesada's term as Marvel's EIC hasn't done him any bad in terms of his passion (he also made the story a tribute to his late father) for his work, and his excellent artwork alone is reason enough to give Father a look.

The artwork here is beautiful. It's an unsettling crawl through some of the darkest parts of Hell's Kitchen, and Quesada is producing at an impressive level. The layouts are inspired, the figures are just exaggerated enough to unsettle, and the visuals on the new superteam are spectacular.

The writing, though, fails to impress. There's a heat wave hitting NYC, which does a little to increase the dramatic tension, but nothing like the garbage strike in Ann Nocenti's original Typhoid Mary stories, and this story suffers for the obvious comparison Daredevil fans will make. Nevertheless, during the heat wave, Daredevil tries to track a serial killer in an uninteresting mystery that pays off with a silly revelation that, while audacious in its attempts to explore legitimate questions about some of the key figures in Daredevil's ancient history, is simply implausible in its execution, even by comic book standards.

Quesada also uses this book to introduce a new superteam, the Santerians. I applaud his efforts to tap into this previously unexplored element of Caribbean culture that seems ripe for comic book action, but the scenes with these characters are nearly incomprehensible until the reader scans the page at the end of the collection that explains who each character is. I would like to see the Santerians again, but I would like them in the hands of a writer who is capable of clearer definitions of the characters within the story.

This collection is worth a read for the artwork, but not the writing. Enjoy it for what it is.

I feel that the rating for this comic is way too high and perhaps this was due to the fact that (i) Quesada was formerly top gun at Marvel, (ii) Quesada was a terrific artist and (iii) some sympathy for Quesada who dedicated this comic to his father.

The plot is good - demented cancer-stricken woman connives to get back at Murdock who she imagines had rejected her in childhood by doing a series of brutal murder in which she blinds her victims before killing them off. Great. But what has all this to do with DD's father? The flashbacks to DD's father are running parallel to this other plot and there is no connect.
The artwork here is not to my taste. The figures are grotesquely and disproportionately drawn. There are too many single panel splash pages which take up space (especially if you don't appreciate the artwork).

This book it's the las t from Joe Quesada, and it's so great, you can make a awesome movie with this book, and the art it's incredible, this guy it's a genius.

Despite the praise I summed up in the title, I do not have much more to say on the good side.
As Damon Lindelhof pointed out in his introduction, everything is in service of character study here, and all main characters' motivations stem from their relationships to their fathers, or the way their fathers treated them, even though the plot has nothing to do with it.
The plot is actually pretty silly and pointless, and it cannot be described in a straightforward way without giving too muc away or breaking out laughing. Let's just say it involves: New York's deadliest serial killer ever, New York' worst heat wave ever, New York's bigges rap star ever (is there a pattern of astounding excessive coincidences here, or is it just me... ?), a woman in distres and a case of corporate waste disposal malpractice possibly leading to a class action suit (note: the legal action blows away from the book's plot like a candle in the wind pretty soon), a super-team of cuban loa as new York's newest vigilantes.
The script handles all this pretty bad, making Daredevil/Matt Murdock sound bossy and bully-like (unless it has to do with the continuity of the regular book, it seems awfully out of character and it is very badly written), and making him act stupidly because of a woman in need (hint: Matt has a past history of extremely bad judgment as far as women are concerned...).
Where Quesada excels, though, is in the two points hinted at above: His characterisation is subtle and deep, fully supported by his extremely expressionistic artwork, from pencilling to layouts to storytelling. Quesada pretty much carries the book on these strenghts, with only a fw missteps, but whenever the main characters are concerned, he reminds m why I miss his creator-owned book Ash so much!
I wouldn't pay full-price fo this if I were you, but if you can get this cheap, it will definitely look wonderful in your collection.

Father could be defined as a crime fiction graphic novel. A good mixing of three main themes: the hunt for a serial killer (apparently unstoppable), the briefings between Murdock and a woman who got cancer to prepare her line of defense, and the flashbacks on Murdock's father.
the more reader gets into books, more these three main themes get related. Great art of Quesada, with the yellows and reds more evident respect to other colos (just like Daredevil: Yellow by Tim Sale) and his usual great perspectives and detail.