Customer Reviews

Daredevil Vol. 5: Out

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Be warned: This collection may cover Daredevil #32-40, but Daredevil hardly appears at all. There's only a brief appearance by a super-villian, and that's by the fourth-string Mr. Hyde. There are cameos galore, but of the appearances by Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Elektra, Jessica Jones and the White Tiger, only Spider-man does any real "super-heroing". The story doesn't advance or conclude with a big battle royale and a resolve where our hero saves the day and the world is put right, but with...well, find that out for yourself.

This is the best Daredevil storyline since Born Again.

Read Underboss before this to get the full story. In breif: Daredevil's secret identity has been outed by a tabloid newspaper (whose source is also an unconventional surprise). The repercussions are real and, no, there won't be a resolve with both Matt Murdock and someone else disguised as Daredevil appearring in the same place at the same time.

Bendis' strength as a writer of dialogue and creating memorable, vital characters is at its' peak here. Matt Murdock creates his own problems and ruins good opportunities because of his own flaws, not some super-baddie vowing revenge. Maleev's artwork is dark, gritty, moody and somber: an ideal match for Daredevil (and the colors by Matt Hollingworth and even the lettering by Richard Starkings are also well-suited and noteworthy).

Bendis and Maleev as a creative team for daredevil is so effective and evocative because they were both clearly influenced by Frank Miller. However, they are are not just aping Miller, they're embellishing. Their vision for Daredevil will forever change the character and in time may be remembered as just as important as Millers'.

The only drawback is the artwork in the last White Tiger story. It's okay, and it's a good story but without Maleev, it's just not the same, and it would have been really interesting to see what Maleev would have done with the story-line.

Pick this up. It's not just the best mainstream comic today, it may be the best thing in the entire field.

Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, faces the worst nightmare for masked adventurer when the front page of the tabloids proclaim to the world that he is Daredevil. His life is upended, the media is camped outside his aprtment and hounding his every mood, and Foggy tells Matt that maybe he should quit. This story plumbs the depth of the character, Matt not Daredevil, and what compels Matt to put on the costume. Very few baddies in this volume, it's all about Matt and Foggy, which isn't a bad thing. Guest appearances include Luke Cage, Jessica Jones (ALIAS), the Black Widow, and Spiderman.

The pencils by alex maleev are incredible. His work constantly improves with each issue of Daredevil he draws. Buy this book. Bendis' best Daredevil story so far.

If this is your first Daredevil book, I suggest picking up "Underboss" before you read this book.

In his first story, Underboss, Brian Michael Bendis told a riveting tale of a young gangster trying to usurp the Kingpin's crown. After his plan was ruined, Sammy Silke turned himself into the F.B.I. In exchange for protective custody, he gave the feds some serious information: Daredevil's secret identity! One of the agents sells the story to the tabloids, and pretty soon Matt Murdock's world is turned upside down! Bendis pulls out all of the stops for this one, cementing him as one of the best writers to have ever worked on the title. And this was only his second arc! He takes a very realistic approach to this story, showing how being outed to the public affects not only our hero, but his friends as well. The other great thing that Bendis addresses here are the legal ramifications of this outing. Think about it: a lawyer by day, and a vigilante by night. Yup, horn-head is in deep doo-doo! Maleev continues to impress with his dark and gritty style, which is pitch-perfect for Bendis' stories. I highly recommend this one!

DD is outed- his secret identity has been revealed in a tabloid. Bendis is really throwing everything at DD now, who faintly resembles Job in his daily travails. Other reviewers here have indicated that the second story on the "Trial of the White Tiger" was let down by plot and drawings when compared to the first story "Out".

I actually think that this second story was just as well presented - the court room drama and subtle dig at Murdock's identity by the prosecuting lawyer and the layering of drawings linking the White Tiger to the scene of the crime was excellent. The rather dramatic ending resulting in the White Tiger's death was a little melodramatic but overall, worth reading over and over again.

"Out" is the second volume of the Bendis/Maleev run on Daredevil and its great. This story follows up on the conclusion of the previous volume of the book, when Silke outs Daredevil's secret identity.

This story arc shows how messed up Matt Murdock's life, there is very little in costume action here, only a fight with Mr. Hyde, most of the volume just focuses on how Murdock's life is falling apart. The characterization is great for both Matt and Foggy and the developments the character goes through in this book sets up interresting ramifications for future Daredevil stories.

Bendis' writing is as crisp as ever here, as he sets up his Daredevil run as something, which is not ur normal superhero book. Bendis' talking heads style plays a large part on the developments in this book, and Bendis also shows he gets Matt Murdock's character and why he does what he does. The story feels very realistic due mainly to the fully fleshed out characters. Bendis' dialogue is also crisp, one line that strikes me is the internal monologue by Murdock "I know before I wake up...I know my life is over" absolutely brilliant

Maleev's art is great, he stepped his game up a bit with this volume, making the art here even better than it was in "Underboss". His layouts are great and his gritty and noir pencils give a grounded feel to this story and fit it perfecty.

When you end the main part of "Out" you'll most definately be left wanting more of the Bendis/Maleev ongoing story. So the three issues that follow may be somewhat of a disapointment.

The trial of the century three-part arc, despite being well written, it falls short of the brilliance that the 5 parter before this story was. The main plot consists of Matt Murdock defending a fellow super-hero in court, if your interessted in lawyering, you may get a kick outta this story, but me, not so much.

A lot of the failure in the back up is due to the sub-par artwork, after being treated to Maleev brilliance in the previous 5 parts, Gutierrez' and Dodson's artwork, is ok in their own right, but they dont really match the feel of Daredevil taht much, I still have to say it is nice tho, just no where near as good as the interiors Maleev produced earlier in the trade.

Despite a somewhat disapointing back story, "Daredevil: Out" is most definately worth reading for the main story, the back story, despite not as good, still manages to be entertaining in its own mertis. This book is worth every cent you put into it, but if you haven't read "Underboss" yet, I'd most definately recommend you to read that before coming to read this book, since the plotlines in that book are what moves this one forwards.

As the title implies, Matt Murdock is about to experience one of the worst days of his super hero career. In one of the crowning moments of Brian Michael Bendis' run on Daredevil, Daredevil's secret identity is outed by the press as the FBI and criminals alike gather around to make their move. Out is where Bendis really hits his stride on the title and takes Daredevil to heights that haven't been seen since Frank Miller's last runs on the title. His Hell's Kitchen is a gritty, dangerous, dark spot on an otherwise shiny Marvel-ized New York City, and his depiction of Matt Murdock/Daredevil is the most human the character has been in years. Later on, we see Murdock embroiled in a trial as he defends a low rent super hero who was at the wrong place at the wrong time; which plants seeds for further, bigger developments in Bendis' celebrated run on the title. Alex Maleev's artwork is spectacular as well, which has come to be expected if you've read Daredevil at any great length over the past few years. All in all, mainstream super hero comics rarely get any better than this.

Just a quick glance at the myriad of Daredevil trade paperbacks out there will give some indication of how many permutations this character has gone through. Unfortunately few truly understand the intricacies of the character who can turn into a third-rate ninja in one writer's hands and a cut-rate Spider-man in another's.

Luckily Brian Michael Bendis "gets" Daredevil - much as Miller and Smith have before him. As others have said in their reviews before this one, this is certainly not a conventional superhero tale as it focuses more on Matt Murdock and less on his costumed alter-ego. What appearances there are from the spandex set are limited but very effective. And you have to give credit to ANY writer who can make Mr. Hyde interesting, if only for a few panels.

Two disapointments: 1) The conniving Mr. Silke, who basically sets Murdock up for much of the misery he experiences in these issues, essentially becomes a castrated character barely even appearing in these pages. Perhaps Bendis has something up his sleeve for Silke. I hope so, as this story really wastes his potential.
2) The final third or so of the book is taken up with a White Tiger storyline that is moderately good, but certaily nothing like the Bendis/Maleev stories that precede it.

Bottom Line: The Hollywood screenwriters could learn a LOT from Bendis and Maleev. This is a worthwhile read!

For the record, I've never read anything by Bendis that was as good as Alias, which was fantastic, all the way through. I read "Wake Up" first, and I was very impressed, although I wasn't sure that I was getting a clear idea of Bendis' Daredevil, or of Daredevil himself, for that matter, as I have never read a Daredevil book. I picked up Underboss, then, and I enjoyed it enough to want to pick up the next volume.

This trade contains two stories: "Out" and "Trial of the Century." "Out" is fantastic. The idea is daring as hell, and it's handled perfectly. The characters are all completely believable and compelling--particularly, Matt Murdock, Foggy and Ben Urich; the dialogue is fantastic, the story is engaging and Alex Maleev's artwork is perfect. It has the same gritty feel of Michael Gaydos' artwork, and it looks great; figures and facial expressions are all natural, too.

Then there's "Trial of the Century," which was fairly poor. The main problem with it is the artwork, which is ridiculously poor for all of Manuel Gutierrez's issues (parts one and two). It is distorted and ugly; the way that Murdock's hair sticks up alone shows that Gutierrez doesn't have a basic understanding of how gravity works--or how hair works. Murdock looks very much like an alien in some panels.

The third issue, illustrated by Terry Dodson, is much better. It's nowhere near Alex Maleev's artwork, or David Mack's, but it's nice and stylized, and it does have something going for it.

That said, the writing on this one was okay. It wasn't as good as "Out," I think, although I'm sure that the artwork had something to do with how little I enjoyed it, but it wasn't wonderful, either. One thing that I really enjoyed in Alias was the way that Bendis could makes ridiculous characters like Speedball, or Mattie Franklin (Spider-woman III) believable, or even idealized super-heroes like Captain America or Ant-Man (Scott Lang) feel like real, relatable characters.

That doesn't go over with the White Tiger, who seems like a stereotypical hero, most of the way through. The opposing lawyer and the judge both seem like charicatures; there's nothing really impressive here. Still, it's Bendis, and, really, the artwork is probably what hurts the story the most.

Still, four stars because "Out" is so good.

Kingpin has known Matt murdocks secret since the Born Again series. But now a tabliod has found out and told everone and now the daredevils enemies know. what is next

Kingpin has known Matt murdocks secret since the Born Again series. But now a tabliod has found out and told everone and now the daredevils enemies know. what is next