Customer Reviews

Daredevil: Hell to Pay, Vol. 1

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

 

 

I can't believe no one has reviwed this item yet, this story is gold! Ever since taking over from Bendis/Maleev, the creative team of Ed Brubaker (writer) and Michael Lark (penciller) has pushed this book to new heights. Before going on, I just have to say that people need to be reading Daredevil. This is as good as it gets!

This TPB collects the team's third story arc (Daredevil vol 2, issues #95-99) as well as the one-shot issue Blind Love (#94). #94 actually serves as a good jumping-on point for people who haven't been following the book for a while, as the last few years of Daredevil history are retold from the perspective of Matt Murdock's wife Milla. Her story makes being married to an inner-city cop look like a breeze by comparison. Being married to a superhero certainly isn't as glamorous as it sounds...

In issue #95, we meet a happy Matt Murdock who is just getting used to having his old life back when disaster strikes again. Persuaded by new legal partner Becky Blake to take the case of Melvin Potter (the Gladiator) who stands accused of heinous crimes which he claims not to remember, Matt realizes over the course of the arc that something big is brewing behind the scenes. Strings are being pulled in ways that affect him and his loved ones in profound ways, and turns his life into a living nightmare once again.

Listening to Matt Murdock is really driving me insane. This book is good, don't get me wrong but his constant whining, especially from a guy who's gone through so much, is tedious. The villains and plot are upgraded from the last trade and that's definitely a good thing. Once again, the sketchy art took away from some of the climatic moments. Overall, a decent read.

If you've been reading Daredevil for any length of time, you know Matt Murdock's life has been moving pretty fast and furious for literally years. I like this volume in particular because it gives the audience a chance to recalibrate and get a feel for where Murdock has been and where he's going.

Overall, this volume works to reestablish Murdock's relationship with his wife, Milla. Milla's been in this book for some time, but with everything else going on it was easy to put her on the backburner. Writer Ed Brubaker uses the issues comprising this volume to get everyone on the same page about Matt and Milla's complex relationship as well as set up some conflict involving the two.

It's not all romance, though. Brubaker also has a new enemy (sort of) for Daredevil to combat, one who is going to give the Marvel Universe as a whole some fits. Before we discover this villain, though, Daredevil must get to the bottom of the Gladiator's atypical return to mindless violence.

The art by Michael Lark fits the tone of the book perfectly with a great mix of super heroics and crime noir. And the original covers by Marko Djurdjevic are literally breathtaking.

In summation, this volume was largely a chance to reacquaint the readers with Daredevil's personal life as well as set up some major conflict to come, but at no time did it feel like "filler" material. Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark continue to make Daredevil a must read.

~Scott William Foley, author of Dr. Nekros: Phantasms and Chicanery (Volume I, Episode II)

Brubaker took a serious risk 'resetting' Murdocks life from the hell that Brian Bendis turned it into during his amazing run on Daredevil. With Bendis, it was exciting reading Daredevil because the stakes always got bigger, the danger got higher, but Brubaker stopped all that after his second arc. Through a series of events, Murdock was cleared of all charges, and is somehow allowed to practice law again. So basically, Daredevils life is completely back to normal. This is like being on a roller coaster that stalled.

This arc isn't bad, just not up to speed with the rest of the series. The big plot is that someone has driven Melvin Potter "The Gladiator" insane, and he once again has it out for Daredevil. Also, the same person has driven Milla, Murdocks wife, insane as well. This is all fine and dandy, if it were the first time it had been done. Potter hasn't been a real villain since, come to think of it, was he ever a real villain? I mean Frank Miller toyed around with Potter but he's never been a scary villain at all.

This arc shows Murdock as happy, calm and even though trouble arises, its next to nothing compared to what he's been through in the first 90some issues. The stories decent, but the best part about it is that it sets up an exciting new storyline for the next arc. Of course, Larks artwork is very much appreciated, and a slow Daredevil book is still better than most.

After "The Devil Takes a Ride" (The Devil Inside out vol.2) took place in Europe, it was time for Daredevil to go back to Hell's Kitchen.

There is a big crime spree in the Kitchen and everyone seems to have lost control, some of this seems to have some relation to the Lilly Luca's perfume, which even decieved Daredevil's senses. In this arc Melvin Potter goes crazy as well, but its different, this time he is denying his acts as the Gladiator and well hes gone CRAZIER! If you thought Matt Murdock's life was a bit too easy for his standards at the start of the arc, dont worry, Brubaker manages to make it just as bad again. The reveal of the villain who is behind the lot makes a lot of sense as well as this arc ends in a cliffhanger for the currently running "Without Fear" (Hell to Pay Vol. 2 in TPB).

We know Brubaker is a capable writer and his work in Daredevil is nothing short of great, he manages to make a compelling story and keep us guessing until the end about who the villain behind it all is.

Lark's art is great too, it gives the book the perfect atmosphere. The moody and gritty pencils are essential to the overall quality of the book as well.

Very good story arc, just doesnt get a full five star review, because at one point or another the story just feels a bit dragged out, despite this, the book is well worth your money.

The opening Milla love story is okay as a standalone effort. however, it has too many flashback sequences of DD childhood, Battling Murdock, Karen page, Yellow costume etc. It is starting to feel like a typical Batman comic where every issue has his parents killed over and over again. The storyline is not connected to the main plot. It is a filler story, period.

There are just too many artists working here. The main plot has Dr Fear spreading chemical neurosis to Melvin Potter and Milla Donovan to create insanity streaks in their behaviour. Even DD is affected and the sequence where he is drugged involves a legion of artists to do their own guest panels on DD's hallucinations is quite jarring with disparate artistic styles. and my hat's off to any writer who thinks that he can coordinate an effort like this but it is a mess. Even Gene Colan's work on the Black Widow was badly drawn.

Then there is the limited palette of players. Dr Fear knew Milla. Hence he is working on her to get to DD (or is it Matt Murdoch)? I am unclear whether Dr Fear also knows that Matt is DD.

Re-enters Lily Lucca stage left because she is promised Matt Murdoch as a prize by Dr Fear for inciting Milla to violence. Why is a blind man soo desirable to a rich girl who has inherited all her murdered father's wealth? She doesn't know Matt is DD.

It doesn't add up and hence, the weakness of the plot is starting to show itself. Brubaker needs to improve the plotlines to save this series and his reputation.