Born Again (Again)

All the way back in August (man, was it really that long ago? It feels like it was yesterday), I was impressed by Jock's cover to Daredevil Reborn #1, but nonplussed by the mini's upcoming existence. Daredevil had, for years, quietly been one of Marvel's best books, and I was worried that, with the upcoming (and ultimately disappointing) end of Shadowland, we would also see the end of Matt Murdock, of Daredevil, and of Marvel's best (read: only) crime comic.

Shadowland ended, the Black Panther took up the mantle of the Man Without Fear and began protecting Hell's Kitchen (and you can read how I feel about that here and here, but let me tell you: my fears about Marvel giving up on crime comics were... unfounded), and Matt Murdock headed west. Way west: New Mexico, where he encounters a mysterious town, with a secret, a diner, a corrupt police force, a gang of miscreants and one poor blind kid, stuck in the middle of the whole thing.

If you think you've seen something like it before, you probably have; it's about as straight up a "stranger comes to town" story as has ever been told. Cliches pile upon cliches, too- Matt leaves the poor kid to fend for himself! He lets himself get beat up by the miscreants! He's on his way out of town and smells trouble at the last minute!

If we can accept that there's nothing groundbreaking about the plot and get past the fact that there's a half dozen Twilight Zone episodes with plots resembling this, though, there's something worthwhile here: maybe, every once and a while, a straight up redemption tale is good for the soul.

It helps that David Gianfelice draws the hell out of the book. There's some odd, otherworldly clarity to his compositions, something remarkable given how sketchy and fuzzy Daredevil art has been over the last decade or so. Not that that's a bad thing- Alex Maleev, Michael Lark, and Roberto de la Torre are some of the best artists in the business and they were perfect for the way ol' Hornhead was being portrayed back then, but Gianfelice's clear pencils and inks are a refreshing change, and I think it really does signal a brand new Daredevil on the horizon.

That's not to say I don't have complaints about the art as well as the story: sometimes the faces get a little squishy, particularly when the figure is at a distance, but I think this is a symptom of the mid-width black line that serves him so well everywhere else. There's something so appealing about this inky definition that it's easy to forgive that little issue, particularly when the whole thing is served so well by Matt Hollingsworth's colors, which really do make the book feel like it's set in the Southwest, but not at the expense of having some fun and making it look like a comic book. Together, Gianfelice and Hollingsworth are working on something great and, if you aren't convinced by page 21, the final, thrilling, splash will seal the deal.

This move away from a grim 'n gritty style for DD is a good sign; maybe there's something to this rebirth other than just a marketing ploy, something worth sticking around for. I certainly hope there is; despite my adoration for the last half-decade or so of Daredevil, maybe it really is time for something new.

Too Bad "Born Again" Was Already Taken

Jock's cover for Daredevil: Reborn #1 (which debuted earlier today over at Robot 6) is just killer. I love pretty much everything about it.

What I don't love so much is this whole Reborn idea. It has long been my belief that Daredevil is, quietly, one of the best titles that Marvel puts out. It seems to me that a solid run like that, unbroken over a decade plus and through three writers, is a terrible thing to cancel. One wonders if the title wasn't selling as much as Marvel would have liked for an ostensibly A-List character, but even if that were the case why put Daredevil through this again? He's already been born again once, right?

My problem with Shadowland isn't that it's bad (in fact it's pretty good), nor is it with the concept on its own merits: a small-ish event featuring street level characters, particularly the often overlooked ones, is a pretty fantastic idea. Mostly, I don't like that Daredevil doesn't seem to play a part in his own story, that all these things happen to him and we don't really get to see how he reacts or understand what he's thinking- ol' hornhead is just a fascist, and that's all there is to it. The logical conclusion to this, of course, is the end of Daredevil, and then perhaps a phoenix-like rebirth.

And we've never seen that before, have we?

It would be nice to get some good swashbuckling kung fu crime comics again. That's all I really want. Is it really so much to ask?

The Devil You Know...

As always, here there be spoilers, so watch out if you haven't read any Shadowland yet.

I've really, really enjoyed Daredevil, recently. When Ed Brubaker's run was finishing up last year, I wholeheartedly believed that it was the best comic that no one was reading, the one really great comic that no one ever wrote about, that no one ever read about, that no one ever heard about. When Andy Diggle took over for Brubaker last fall, I figured there was going to be a drop in quality but it turned out that Diggle's writing wasn't any worse, just sort of different. The fact that the new writer took the old writer's toys and made me think we were playing a whole new kind of game was really an impressive feat and his Daredevil remained the best book that no one was reading.

I suppose that Shadowland aims to change that, to make the 'Devil' one that we know, and, although my first impressions of its first two issues (Shadowland #1 and Daredevil #508) were rather negative, I think the story so far reads a lot better the second time around. Shadowland #1 goes like this: Daredevil's gone all fascist in Hell's Kitchen and has built a huge pagoda to remind everyone who's in charge, the leaders of the Avengers aren't happy, send the leaders of the New Avengers (read: Luke and Danny, who, lets be honest, I'm always happy to see together in print) to talk to ol' Hornhead. That, of course, ends in an homage to one of Frank Miller's most famous Daredevil moments- which is, in and of itself, a clue to just how much different this Daredevil is to the Daredevil we're used to. Bullseye's moment of realization just before that homage is really clever, as is Diggle's Alan Moore-style arrogant-gods-above-the-fray portrayal of the big three Avengers and if nothing else, those moments are proof that Diggle is a master plotter in the old Marvel style, constantly building off old stories while also setting up new ones and, even if these ideas aren't exactly fresh, Diggle is building his tale and tackling his characters in a way that incorporates ideas that we've seen before and makes them feel new and interesting. My only major problem with what's here is that it feels like a prologue- there just isn't enough meat to it, despite the strength of some of the storytelling. It's definitely part of something bigger, but what it isn't is satisfying in and of itself, which is too bad- this stuff really is pretty good, and it would be a shame if it gets ruined because Diggle doesn't demonstrate an understanding of serial storytelling.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel, though; rather than telling the next part of the same story in Daredevil #508, Diggle and his co-writer Andy Johnston are writing a parallel story, equally as important but not necessarily contingent on having read the first. This seems to be where Marvel is headed as far as event storytelling is concerned- tell a bunch of stories, all of which work on their own but add up to something greater and, as far as I'm concerned, it works. It means I can buy the parts of the story that I want, and not the parts that I could do without- hello Fred Van Lente's Shadowland: Power Man, see ya later Moon Knight one-shot- without missing a beat.

As for the issue itself, it's pretty good- it feels like a more complete story than Shadowland #1 and manages an equally compelling ending, which is another reason to write-off the incompleteness of that other issue as fluke rather than pattern- but I wished it focused more on Matt. We get a lot of what's going on with the people around the title character, but don't hear very much of his internal dialogue, which is a fascinating choice given how important narration has been in the character's past. What we get instead is an idea of how Matt's choices affect those closest to him: Foggy, Dakota, etc, those people that he's recently shut out and the manipulations that are really behind what's going on- that is, we see the Hand behind the curtain and the people of Hell's Kitchen, but nothing of the Devil himself.

Whether or not this is an effective storytelling technique remains to be seen, however, given the crossover so far, I have faith in what Andy Diggle has planned. I'm just hoping that it's as far-reaching and well told as it has the potential to be.

A quick note about the art- both Billy Tan and Roberta De La Torre do good work here, although the latter isn't quite as good on Daredevil as he has been in the recent past and neither did anything that really blew me away. What's really disappointing, though, is looking at their art in comparison to the killer John Cassaday covers (you can't see me, but trust me when I say my hair is windswept)- here's to hoping we get to see something sequential from the Drummer soon.

Already Tired of, uh, Monday....

I know I'm way early this week, but I'm procrastinating on a paper, and this seemed like a perfect way to do it. Also, there's a lot of really great stuff coming out this week, stuff I'm really excited for.

First, and foremost (perhaps even foremost of any comic being released this year) is the grand finale of one of the greatest comic stories of all time- Planetary. The long awaited issue #27 of the Warren Ellis penned and John Cassaday illustrated series comes out this week and I'm really, really excited. If you haven't already checked out the preview pages Jon posted about earlier in the week, well, you should. They're pretty fantastic, as is the rest of the series.

And that's just the start of the barrage of the comics on the imprint front this week. From Vertigo we get the second issue of Jeff Lemire's fantastic Sweet Tooth and the Bill Willingham penned Fables novel Peter and Max (although I'm hoping to win a copy through this contest over at Graphic Content). What's really exciting me this week, though, is an imprint release from Icon: Criminal: The Sinners #1. The dynamic duo of Ed Brubaker (who, lets be honest, turns whatever he touches into gold) and Sean Phillips (who, aside from David Aja, might be my favorite illustrator in all of comics) proved themselves once again with the conclusion to Incognito, and I'm ready to return to the tale of Tracy Lawless- and this one sounds like a killer. Brubaker's crime stories are the best in all of comics, which is why I was sad to see him leave Daredevil...

But the new writer, Andy Diggle, seems to be planning some cool stuff- after buying the Daredevil Dark Reign one-shot, I'm convinced that Matt's life is about to get really difficult- and that makes for great Daredevil comics, so I'm pumped for #501 to come out this week. I'm also pumped for the X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas mini to get started- although I was disappointed by the last issue of the AoA ongoing a couple of weeks ago, I think the manic energy that Jeff Parker brings to his work is perfect for a short series like this and I'm curious to see which X-Men he's going to use (hopefully Nightcrawler is going to be one of them; the blue elf has been criminally underused by Matt Fraction in Uncanny). Strange Tales #2 comes out this week too, as does the new issue of The Torch, but I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the latter- I think I might trade-wait it. As for the former, well, I think Jon and I are going to take another shot at reviewing it jointly and seeing what happens. And then, of course, add Batman and Robin #5 to the list and, well, I've got a huge week to make up for last week's tiny little one.

It's going to be a good Wednesday.

Cheap Week- Pull List 08/19/09

Daredevil #500
-Ed Brubaker ending his run on one of Marvel's best, if least often seen, titles? What happens now? How is Andy Diggle going to ruin Matt's life when Ed is gone? Is the next artist going to be as good as Michael Lark? Why the hell isn't it David Aja? What does Lady Bullseye have to do with all of this? Does Foggy Nelson survive? Does anyone survive?

I'm excited. Can you tell?

X-Men Legacy #227
-Rogue, Gambit, and the sentient Danger Room are in San Fran, and the solicit promises a "dramatic new direction"

One wonders how many "dramatic new directions" this title is going to take before something finally sticks. This book is odd like that; every so often something fantastic happens inside here that gets ignored or undone by the next guy, or even by the same guy. Using this book as a Professor X solo title was one of those things.

Let's hope this is good enough to stick, because it wasn't the last time Cyclops asked Rogue to do something.

Wednesday Comics #7
-Everybody (everybody who isn't Jon, anyway) is buying this title.


It's a cheap week- I'm going to have a wander around my store and see if there's anything I missed, or anything else I want to review.