Customer Reviews

Daredevil: Return of the King

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Ed Brubaker arrived on the "Daredevil" title with issue 82 of the present volume, following a mammoth run by Brian Michael Bendis that lasted for some 60+ issues and, with Brubaker's consent, ended with Daredevil in prison awaiting trial, his identity having been exposed. Brubaker took this extremely difficult spot and ran with it, ran with it for around 40 issues of his own. This volume, which collects the final five issues of his run (#116-119, 500; the series resumed its old numbering), endeavours to leave his successor (Andy Diggle) in a similar predicament. Some spoilers follow.

This is the second trade in a two-part story ("Lady Bullseye" being the first part; for whatever reason, Marvel has ceased renaming Brubaker's trades into multi-part volumes, which was done with the first four collections, "The Devil, Inside And Out" and "Hell to Pay" vols. 1 & 2), as Brubaker revisits the Hand, the ninja clan introduced during the Miller era who have been reliable opponents for Daredevil ever since. In the preceding trade, they aimed to make Daredevil their leader, which he declined: now their gaze turns elsewhere, to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. With his return, Brubaker's Daredevil comes full circle. The Kingpin was a major figure in the first arc, but, apart from a one-issue appearance at the end of the second, he has been off the board for the next two years' worth of stories, while other villains occupied Matt's attention. This arc is an absorbed finale to many of the themes that Brubaker has been working on since he started on the book.

At the same time, Brubaker conducts some of his own revisions of the Hand's mythos, largely through the introduction of Master Izo, a multi-centenarian ninja who was, we are shown, the original founder of the Chaste, and sensei to Daredevil's sensei, Stick. The final revelations in the climactic issue #500 suggest a completely new spin on the purpose of Daredevil's life, which gives Andy Diggle quite a bit of new ideas to work with. Izo is one of the most interesting additions to the Daredevil mythos in quite a while. Likewise, Brubaker's creation Lady Bullseye gets more of her history filled in here, and the character ends up in a situation that has me eagerly awaiting her next appearance.

Looking over the whole of Brubaker's run from the vantage-point of the end, I think it's very clear how much of it is a treatise on the consequences of his identity having been revealed in Bendis' "Out". Matt got out of jail fairly quickly, but this earlier act was far harder to escape. The middle period of Brubaker's run documents Matt's attempt to get his life back, but the grinding resolution requires him to accept that he can't. This reaches its apogee in this arc, where he stops hanging on to his mentally-crippled wife Milla and more or less leaves his civilian life behind to take the Hand's leadership. He leaves his most stalwart civilian allies, Foggy and Dakota, a note telling them to put his stuff in storage, and just leaves, the better so they can't follow.

That, I think, is what Brubaker is arguing with this run: that Matt Murdock, lawyer, can't exist anymore. The new trials ahead he will face as Daredevil. Given the crushing angst of his reality over the last decade, that might be a welcome new challenge. We will see where Andy Diggle takes it.

There's not too much to add - if you're a fan of Brubaker or the character of Matt Murdock, you're going to want this book.

I wanted to be sure to chime in on this volume, though, as I was a little critical of the preceding one, Lady Bullseye. While I still question the marketing decision to split the two books, the plot points raised in LB are quite satisfactorily resolved here. The promise of a new status quo and supporting cast is exciting, and there is even an in-story verbal jab about DD being a little too mopey that I enjoyed. Not the best of Brubaker or Marvel's critical flagship book, but pretty darn good.

Michael Lark and David Aja do great work here, as well. Until Aja gets another assignment, this is a good fix for those jonesing for more of his gorgeous art after his Immortal Iron Fist wrapped.

"Daredevil: Return Of The King"
Written by Ed Brubaker
(Marvel Comics, 2009)
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In the years-long run of authors Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker, the Daredevil character has gone through a remarkable revitalization. The Bendis/Maleev stories were a singular experience, a long story arc that made a major superhero character more palpable and real than ever before, in which DD's personal life was torn apart, his secret identity publicly exposed and his security thrown into question. Ed Brubaker followed with a similar intent, but gradually moved DD back into more conventional terrain, particularly in the last dozen or so issues, in which the bad-ninja secret society called The Hand made its resurgence and once again became more central to the Daredevil mythos. In part this may be because Brubaker was positioning the character for another writer to take the reins, and wanted to leave him on familiar footing.

Nonetheless, this final collection of Brubaker-penned episodes has both a return to the past and a sense of "jumping the shark," and while it was an engaging and exciting read, with a few intriguing surprises, it also felt forced at times and not always true to form. The ending, although rushed, opens a big can of worms for future issues to explore -- I'm skeptical about a new writer being able to sustain the moodiness and stylishness of the Bendis/Brubaker years, but I'm certainly willing to give it a try. No other character in the Marvel universe has had such a strong transformation into something close to "adult" literature, and several characters in DD's world have emerged as worthy of deeper exploration. We'll see how the new guy does, soon enough. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

Ever since Miller introduced Stick, Elektra and the Hand in the 80s, they kept popping up now and then into DD's life. But that was then when even Wolverine was dabbling in samurai ninja stuff.

That was why Bendis' run on DD was so refreshing - he took it in a totally different direction. However, Brubaker seems determined to reintroduce ninja-mojo back into DD life with master Izo and Lady Bullseye. This issue sees DD giving up his civilian life and taking over the Hand.

The interesting bits about this is Kingpin's brief fling with a doomed Spanish family, and Matt's ambiguity over his relationship with Dakota.

Ed Brubaker is one of my favorite writers. His run on Captain America has been excellent, I love Sleeper, Incognito, Criminal and essentially anything I read by him. Daredevil is no exception. He started Daredevil in issue #82 with a fantastic storyline and while the middle of his run wasn't stellar, his last two story arcs have been fantastic. From the beginning of Brubaker's arc, Kingpin has been a main character. This story arc starts with a Kingpin centered issue that is absolutely heart breaking. It leads to the Kingpin coming back to New York and making a deal with Daredevil to do something about crime in New York City.

The art in Daredevil is fantastic. Michael Lark is really good at drawing things in the night. David Aja came on board for a bit too and he was also excellent, being a very good artist for movement.

The conclusion to the story was amazing and it got me interested enough to continue reading the title even though Brubaker is no longer at the helm.

Finally, Brubaker and Lark have produced a collection of Daredevil stories that lives up to the hype surrounding their run. I have been unimpressed with the series since Bendis and Maleev moved on, as Brubaker and Lark have taken Daredevil and entangled him with ill-advised adventures in Europe, a new character with an embarrassingly bad costume (Lady Bullseye wears a light coating of body paint while she flits about NYC doing ninja moves, and it's even closer to tasteless porn than most women's costumes these days), and a depressing affair with an otherwise uninteresting supporting character. In this arc, though, Brubaker is delivering solid material that stands up well alongside his legendary work on Criminal. From the prologue, with a tense and chilling tale of the Kingpin that breathes a bit of extra menace into what could have been a tired "Just when I thought I was out.." story, through the main story's betrayals and surprises, Brubaker churns out a real page-turner that both honors and expands Daredevil and his most important supporting cast members. I loved this collection more than any Daredevil story I've read in years, and I highly recommend it for fans of the character.

I admire courage in writing, and there's plenty of that here. While each individual chapter may not be the best, the overall arc in this graphic novel is superb and ends in what some may see as a surprising new development for the future of the Daredevil books. I think it's the most exciting direction I've seen the books take since Miller's run lo these many years ago.

This book takes suspension of disbelief to all new levels. Kingpin survives having two swords buried half way into his back, two blows by the way, meant to paralyze him, why not just kill him and get it over with. Master Izo, a supposedly blind man jumping from roof to roof. The Death worshiping Hand trying to recruit Daredevil, implausible in the extreme.Where does it all end?