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A review by aceinit
Daredevil: Back in Black, Volume 1: Chinatown by Charles Soule
2.0
Review is for the single-issue comics contained in this collection. SPOILERS may follow.
There are some big changes in the newest installment of Daredevil. A new suit in a new color. A new job for Matt Murdock as he gives up life as a defense attorney and joins the DA office. A new (old) venue, that has our titular hero relocating from San Francisco back to New York City. A new apprentice in undocumented immigrant/superhero wannabe Blindspot.
There are also some very noticeable absences, and hints at larger problems to come. During the events of Secret Wars, Matt Murdock apparently made a deal. Of some form. With someone. The events of his life dating all the way back to Bendis’s run and beyond have been erased, as Matt’s identity as Daredevil has been forgotten by everyone. Several references are made to this mysterious deal, and our intrepid hero is already bracing himself for the fallout of this choice. To hide his identity as Daredevil, Matt has scarified a lot, including his relationship with Kirsten McDuffie and potentially his longtime friendship with Foggy Nelson (the fate and whereabouts of both remain unclear).
These aren’t things that happened as residual fallout from Secret Wars. These are apparently choices Matt made. Of a bargain struck to regain Daredevil’s anonymity. One that, ultimately, raises far more questions than I feel will be satisfactorily answered.
Who does he have enough pull with to strike such a bargain in the first place?
How badly thought-out was this decision that he chose only to hide his identity as Daredevil but not fix any of the other disasters in his life – erase his disbarment (it has been reversed, but still hangs heavily over his reputation), pick up his old practice where it left off, restore a few folks (Karen, Milla, make sure Foggy’s cancer never comes back). In short, why leave the rest of his life still in pieces in exchange for wiping everyone’s memory that he is Daredevil?
It is these missing pieces—Foggy and Kirsten and the inconsistency in Matt’s way of thinking—coupled with his willingness to abandon his old friend in anchors in favor of a new kid who’s Twitter famous, that soured me on the new Daredevil. There are a few too many unanswered questions after the first five issues, and they irritate more than intrigue.
And, of course the point of a good story is not to give us everything at once, but given the weight of Matt’s guilt and the sheer number of changes from where Waid’s run ended, I feel we should have been given more than we were.
I loved Bendis’s run, and Brubaker’s, and Waid’s. It hurts a bit to see so much of that story undone because Marvel felt it was time for a reboot.
Spoiler
There are some big changes in the newest installment of Daredevil. A new suit in a new color. A new job for Matt Murdock as he gives up life as a defense attorney and joins the DA office. A new (old) venue, that has our titular hero relocating from San Francisco back to New York City. A new apprentice in undocumented immigrant/superhero wannabe Blindspot.
There are also some very noticeable absences, and hints at larger problems to come. During the events of Secret Wars, Matt Murdock apparently made a deal. Of some form. With someone. The events of his life dating all the way back to Bendis’s run and beyond have been erased, as Matt’s identity as Daredevil has been forgotten by everyone. Several references are made to this mysterious deal, and our intrepid hero is already bracing himself for the fallout of this choice. To hide his identity as Daredevil, Matt has scarified a lot, including his relationship with Kirsten McDuffie and potentially his longtime friendship with Foggy Nelson (the fate and whereabouts of both remain unclear).
These aren’t things that happened as residual fallout from Secret Wars. These are apparently choices Matt made. Of a bargain struck to regain Daredevil’s anonymity. One that, ultimately, raises far more questions than I feel will be satisfactorily answered.
Who does he have enough pull with to strike such a bargain in the first place?
How badly thought-out was this decision that he chose only to hide his identity as Daredevil but not fix any of the other disasters in his life – erase his disbarment (it has been reversed, but still hangs heavily over his reputation), pick up his old practice where it left off, restore a few folks (Karen, Milla, make sure Foggy’s cancer never comes back). In short, why leave the rest of his life still in pieces in exchange for wiping everyone’s memory that he is Daredevil?
It is these missing pieces—Foggy and Kirsten and the inconsistency in Matt’s way of thinking—coupled with his willingness to abandon his old friend in anchors in favor of a new kid who’s Twitter famous, that soured me on the new Daredevil. There are a few too many unanswered questions after the first five issues, and they irritate more than intrigue.
And, of course the point of a good story is not to give us everything at once, but given the weight of Matt’s guilt and the sheer number of changes from where Waid’s run ended, I feel we should have been given more than we were.
I loved Bendis’s run, and Brubaker’s, and Waid’s. It hurts a bit to see so much of that story undone because Marvel felt it was time for a reboot.