Here are cover scans and issue summaries for the Jeph Loeb-Tim Sale miniseries from Marvel. Thoughts on each issue are courtesy of Jared Michalski, who goes by obiwanjm on the DC message boards.
Book One: THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
Summary: As Matt Murdock swings through the New York sky in his bright red Daredevil costume, his thoughts are of Karen Page, his former girlfriend who has recently been killed. He expresses in his thoughts how difficult it has been for him to overcome the great remorse he has felt since her death. His good friend Foggy Nelson then suggested he write her a letter to get his feelings out, and that's what he's decided to do (this letter format will serve as the narration of all the Daredevil Yellow issues). As he swings through the streets, he comes to an old abandoned building that once was the home of Fogwell Gym, where Matt's father Battlin' Jack Murdock used to train for his boxing career. Now it is a burned-out shell, and as he enters and finds an old poster with his father on it, he is drawn back to his youth.
Flashback to a young Matt Murdock studying for a college exam as his roommate Franklin "Foggy" Nelson reads from the newspaper highlights of Battlin' Jack's latest bout. The boxer has won his last ten fights and is being touted as in line for a chance at the championship. But in his narration Matt tells us that these ten bouts that Murdock has won have come since he signed on with a new manager named Sweeney, who is nicknamed "the Fixer." That night Matt and Foggy go to dinner with Matt's father (who is wearing a tie that is yellow with black stripes, his "lucky colors") who tells the boys he will get to fight in the championship if he can beat his next opponent, Creel. When Jack's vivacity at dinner gets the better of him and he accidentally spills ketchup on a nearby woman, he pays for her dinner with a roll of money that Matt says smells like the cheap cigars Sweeny smokes.
At the fight Battlin' Jack is getting pounded by Creel, and when he falls, Sweeney is there at the side of the ring telling him to stay down and take a dive. He says that Murdock agreed to take a dive, and that he never would have gotten this far without his opponents also taking dives. But Jack gets back up from the canvas and takes Creel down with a hard right to the jaw, winning the match. After the fight, Foggy and Matt meet Jack in the locker room, where Jack announces he is quitting and hands his bright yellow boxing robe over to Matt as a memento. As Foggy and Matt leave, Sweeney and a man named Slade, who has a penchant for pistachio nuts, are waiting at the door for Jack.
Later that night Matt (now wearing his father's tie) is sleeping in his apartment when he hears a gunshot. He races outside, with Foggy trailing behind, to find his father murdered. At the trial both Sweeney and Slade have a slick, high-priced lawyer who gets the charges dismissed due to lack of evidence. Matt is outraged and accuses the judge of taking a bribe, but is held back by Foggy. Time passes and on the day of his graduation Matt can only think about his father's stalled murder case, even while Foggy talks to him about his plans for them to open their own law firm together (including his thoughts on their search for a secretary). That night Matt decides that if he wants his father's killers brought to justice, he will have to take the law into his own hands. He sews his father's boxing robe into a costume, the famous yellow-and-red original costume of Daredevil.
Thoughts: I'll start with the art. What can I say? Simply phenomenal. I dare say that Tim may trump his work from Superman For All Seasons with this wash technique he's using. The colors were phenomenal too, and I simply loved how Battlin' Jack's Trunks (and soon to be DD's costume) really stand out against the muted down blues and grays. It's brilliant work to say the least. My favorite page was the one where Matt leaped out the apartment window, with the 3 vertical panels. But those last 2 pages, where he pulls on the costume and we catch our first in costume glimpse were truly awesome as well. It also appeared that Tim cleverly linked this series to past DD artists. The multiple DDs swinging through New York (pgs 2-3) were very reminiscent of Scott McDaniel, who worked on DD for a while, and if you look at DD's legs on the last page, there's a bit of Quesada there as well.
Furthermore, page 17 is a masterful lesson in composition. Notice how Tim leads us into the page with Battlin' Jack in color, dead center in the page, and then uses perspective to pull us back to Matt, the only other figure in color and central to those events. Marvelous. Simply Marvelous. (Pun intended.)
And what can I say about Jeph's writing. His dialogue was wonderful, and loaded with subtext. As with much of his work, real emotion shines through and becomes an integral part of the magic behind his collaborations with Tim. And for my dollar, emotion is what it's all about, whether in comics or any other storytelling medium.
I loved everything about this first issue. The retro feel, the explanation of why a Yellow costume, the use of the letter to Karen, everything. It was well worth the wait, only now I have to patiently and anxiously await next month's installment. Marvel has pulled off a real coup by getting these two on board.
As I went over the issue again, more things really stood out as extremely thoughtful and well executed. The first six pages are fantastic. Rather than just a cool picture/pose, the opening splash page makes it seem like DD is trying to hide himself and his emotions from us the reader, trying to block us from seeing him, since he can't ‘see’ us. Very cool. Then four pages of very muted gray tones of empty streets and an abandoned boxing gym serves to complement Jeph's words and show us just how alone DD is and feels. Then on page six, the flashback begins, the muted gray tones aren't as prominent, and Matt is with Foggy, not alone, with that brilliant yellow background color. Tim visually implies the happiness that Jeph has said they wanted to come through in this series. Yellow, as a color, signifies brightness and happiness, so it stands as a wonderful metaphor for the message Jeph and Tim want to give about DD's early days.
(Steve's note: The scenes of Foggy reading the newspaper, the fight, Jack's death and Matt making the costume all originally appeared in pages 11 through 14 of Daredevil #1.)
Book Two: THE MEASURE OF A MAN
Summary: Matt Murdock, now dressed as Daredevil, bursts into Fogwell's Gym, where a group of hoods are gambling, in search of "the Fixer." When the hoods laugh at him, he shows them he's to be taken seriously. When Sweeney and Slade arrive moments later, they find Daredevil working over the hoods and they open fire on him. Matt dodges the bullets with ease and corners Slade, taking his gun. As the Fixer flees, Matt holds the gun towards Slade, asking him if it's the weapon he used on Battlin' Jack. He says that he knows that Slade killed Jack from the pistachio nuts at the scene, and with the gun to Slade's head, Matt tells him to testify.
"The Fixer" had run to a nearby subway but Daredevil easily trailed him, and when Sweeney runs onto the tracks to escape, he collapses, gasping for breath and clutching his chest. The police soon arrive and find Daredevil standing over Sweeney's dead body, but Daredevil tells them what happened and leads them back to Fogwell's Gym to Slade.
Back at the law offices of Nelson and Murdock, Foggy interviews possible legal secretaries all day long with no luck. He is tired when the last applicant comes in, but she manages to catch his attention. When Matt Murdock arrives later, Foggy tells him he has found them a secretary and introduces him to Karen Page.
Thoughts: I feel that, so far, this series has had great art and great writing, but the plot has been lacking. Actually, it's not so much that I didn't like the plot, it's just that I've seen DD's
origin done before, so a re-telling of it, no matter how well done it is,
seems to me to be a waste of two issues of a six issue mini. I understand
why Jeph's doing it, what with the context of writing the letter that starts at the beginning (although technically, it's only the beginning of his DD career),
but after reading about how J&T were going to show the Owl and how he once
rivaled the Kingpin, I was excited about seeing that, because it was a
character/time I'm not familiar with. J&T have always managed to tell great
Year One stories without doing origins, so I just feel that the last 44
pages could have been used differently. Now there are only four issues left to
tell a new story. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed their version of his
origin and the reason for why the Yellow costume. And while it may have
modified Frank's telling of it a bit, since I've never seen early DD issues,
how do I know Frank didn't modify Stan's original telling of it.
Enough with the origin stuff. On to the more technical aspects of my
review. I'll start with the writing. Fantastic. I love all the boxing
metaphors Jeph is throwing in. I think they fit the tone of the series
perfectly, and what's more, they are loaded with subtext, which is
practically a lost art in today's comic landscape. The subtext was
particularly brilliant when DD leaps a turnstile and descends into the
subway to chase after the Fixer as Jeph wrote "It was all about knowing
that on any given night, no matter how unevenly matched, two men go
in.....Only one comes out a winner." I also particularly like how Jeph is
showing how much father and son loved and respected one another, and that
while they were very different from one another, they were also more alike
than either would have liked to admit. It’s so true to life, especially in my
family. Jeph has a knack of getting right to the emotional point, and clearly
voicing what we all, or at least I feel, and that's one of the main reasons I
worship at his shrine. :)
The art. WOW!!! Truly fantastic. I am in awe of Tim's skills, and the
wash technique he is using is beautiful. Furthermore, I like the way his
Daredevil moves. It's not that it's new or different from the way other
artists have had him move, but rather that it's so different from the way
Tim his drawn Batman or Superman. Even his body posture is different, and
that's the sign of an artist who is truly in command of his craft. And
before I leave the art, I should say that Matt Hollingsworth (the colorist)
is doing a fantastic job. While the colors are not quite what I envisioned
when I first heard how they would approach the series (I expected almost
strict black, whites and gray tones and the only color used would be Yellow,
which would have been visually interesting too), they are a wonderful
complement to Tim's wash technique. I loved how he subtly changed the colors
of the room to show the passing of the day as Foggy searches for a secretary.
There were other cool things I won't attribute to a particular individual, but to the team in general. In Dark Victory I was of the mindset that Jeph and Tim used too many splash pages. I'd guess this was a result of two things. One,
how well they were utilized in Superman For All Seasons (best use of splash
pages, in any series, EVER!), and two, because Jeph wants to let Tim's art
shine. But despite how well they fit SFAS, I'm of the mindset that splash
pages should be used sparingly. So I was amazed that the best page in the
book was the splash page of DD's head with his lone utterance "Testify". And
the reason it was so perfect was the set-up. Three identically sized panels,
all long shots, serve to detach the viewer from the violent nature of the
action. However, Jeph's dialogue keeps us emotionally involved in the
action, and sets us up for the pull in to the extreme close-up on DD, which
literally brings us face to face with the action. DD's declaration that
pounding Slade as if it were his father doing it was thrilling, and that single
word on the page, "Testify", actually had me believing that DD could
pull the trigger. Superb work. I would kill to have the original art from
the "Testify" page.
Other cool things. DD's entrance to the subway. Besides the points I
mentioned above, his sliding down the pole on his club and leaping over the
turnstile reminded me a lot of the way Tarzan moved in Disney's animated
version, only in this case, DD was surfing through an urban jungle. I wonder
if Tim used that source as inspiration?
Also, I loved how the calm, cool, and collected DD diverts the subway
train with barely an effort, while standing right in the middle of the tracks. It personified his 'daredevil' nature, for any mistake would have cost him his life. What's more, the double page spread of the subway going by was gorgeous, and what was even better about it was the way DD calmly 'holsters' his billy
club like a lawman holstering his gun, completely unfazed that death
narrowly passed him by at 50 mph.
Other than the re-telling of the origin, my only issue with the series
so far is that we've now had three splash page hero shots of DD in costume.
I thought the one on the last page of the first issue worked perfectly, but
starting out the next issue with the same type of shot was an interesting
decision, and the full page shot of him when the cops asked him who he was
supposed to be had the exact same feel as the aforementioned last page of
issue one. Three in two issues seems like a bit much. But then again, they
don't pay me to write comics, so what do I know.
(Steve's note: The aspects of the story taking place at Fogwell's Gym occur in the original issue #1 of Daredevil on pages 1-5 and are continued on pages 15-20. the Fixer died of a heart attack on page 22 of the original issue #1, and Karen Page was hired on page 14 of that same first issue.)
Book Three: STEPPING INTO THE RING
Summary: The issue opens with Benjamin Grimm, a.k.a the Thing, crashing through the wall of the Nelson and Murdock law office in search of the legal team. It seems the Fantastic Four want to hire Foggy and Matt (mostly due to Matt's rep as graduating top of his class from Columbia). Matt's cool demeanor as he speaks to these heroes impresses both Reed Richards and Karen Page, who joins Foggy and Matt for a celebratory drink that night at their college watering hole, the Marlin Cafe.
That night Matt, as Daredevil, swings through the streets on his way to the bar, musing over how happy he is that Karen expressed how proud she was of him as well as thinking of his newfound hero role. When he arrives Matt joins Foggy and Karen in the pool room, where some local sharks think Matt is easy pickings, but Matt and Foggy hustle them easily. At the night's end, Matt allows Foggy to escort a hiccuping Karen home, saying his goodbyes to her in the form of a sure-fire hiccup cure. Alone on the street as their taxi disappears, the young sharks close in upon Matt, accusing him of cheating. But again they get more than they bargained for, as Matt deftly fights them off.
The next day before going into the office, Matt visits his father's killer Slade on death row. Slade taunts Matt, calling his father a bum and telling him details of how he killed Jack. Matt wants to know who he and Sweeney worked for in exchange for leniency from the judge, but Slade won't do it, fearing for the lives of his family. Back at the office, Foggy is interviewing a client named Grace as Matt arrives. She says that she is being blackmailed by someone who found out that she had done something terrible to protect her husband. When Matt asks her who it is, she runs out afraid. Matt has the feeling she wasn't being truthful about her story, a feeling that pays off later that same day when the man who she claimed was blackmailing her appears at the office. His name is "The Owl," and he brushes past Karen to barge into Foggy and Matt's office to tell his side of the story and hire the lawyers himself.
Thoughts: For some reason, DD:Y #3 wasn't shipped to my comic store this week. So I went to pick it up at another store, and when I got there, I caught sight of the Marvel Masterworks DD Hardcover. Unfortunately it was shrink-wrapped so I couldn't flip through it, but I flipped it over and caught my first glimpse of The Owl. Now, I was expecting him to be a costumed supervillain, with a costume something along the lines of Nite-Owl from Watchmen. So I was a little disappointed when I saw a fat man in a suit with a funky hair-cut. He just looked, well, lame. So bravo to Tim for bringing him alive with such an evil rendition on that last page. As he did with the Batman villains, he found a way to bring a more twisted and menacing vision to the character. (On another interesting note, DD first met Electro in issue 2. I wish I had the extra $35 to spend on the Masterworks edition, just to see where the little pieces J&T come up with fit in.)
Good call VB on the Thing/Owl comparison. I didn't pick up on it, but after I read your comments, it became pretty obvious with the added comparison between their two heartbeats. (Steve's note: The comparison I pointed out to Jared involved the fact that the Thing opened the issue and the Owl closed it. Both had full page close-ups, and in both pages the eyes of the character were large, round and slightly bent in anger. The contrast is that the monstrous looking Thing is more amiable in his picture, whereas the Owl looks sinister. The Thing's heartbeat is loud (similar in a way to how loud Battlin' Jack's was in the first issue) while the Owl's is a flutter.)
Anyway, Jeph continues to impress with the dialogue and captions. There were so many great lines in this issue I couldn't single out just one. I think my favorite though had to be when Matt writes "But, with you on my mind, I thought I could fly.", as DD is leaping around, smiling all the while. Good stuff. But let me start at the beginning.
First page. Couldn't stop laughing. The look on Thing's face is priceless. Jeph's dialgoue only added to the humor, while the caption to Karen belnds humor with emotion. Already a great start.
Pages 2-3. Following up the opening splash page with a double splash page worked in this situation. The FF were NYC's new darlings, and the double page spread exemplified what an event it would have been if they showed up at your door. The expressions on the onlookers faces were great.
I loved the whole "It's Matt" "It's Reed" repartee, and Foggy horning in on the limelight was a great bit of characterization. And the hesitation panel at the top of page six was classic, as neither Matt, Karen or Foggy are sure how to react, and then boom, Foggy starts swinging Karen around in dance, another nifty bit of characterization which also showed a glimpse of Foggy's feelings for Karen. And that close-up of Karen. Wow, what a beauty. Good call on the captions there De. (Although, how does your teenage self remember the old EC romance comics from the 40s?)
Great spread of DD jumping around, while smiling, showing him "flying" through the air while his emotions are "flying" high.
I loved Matt touching the bar as he entered the Marlin, one to soak up the atmosphere, and two to perpetuate the idea to everyone else that he is a helpless blind man. It's a small touch, but an intelligent one. Kudos to Jeph or Tim for coming up with it.
The pool playing scene was well done. Matt's calm demeanor as he deflects the Helen Keller jokes with more of the same was great, as was his interaction with Karen. And look at the different expressions on Foggy's face throughout that scene. They tell a story all themselves. And the braille joke was delivered so dry and nonchalant that I couldn't help but laugh. And when they leave the bar, that first panel was wonderfully done, Karen carrying herself like a drunk princess mirroring the dialogue. Good stuff.
Page 14 was great, as Matt checks around and takes the brawl to the alley, once again to avoid the chance anyone may see him. And as in the first two issues, I love how Jeph brings his father to mind, which only makes sense considering the physical nature of the action.
Page 17 started great with the slight de-glorification shot of Slade, emphasizing that 1) the powerlessness of his current predicament and 2) just how small he turns out to be in the grand scheme of things, which was furthered by the dialogue on the next page.
Finishing up, Grace's retro style of dress only furthers the flashback feel. While the original DD issues took place in the 60s, the style does look even further back than that, making it hard to place a time frame and giving the series a timeless feel.
And then there was The Owl. Great introduction, both in Jeph's captions and Tim's eerie representation. That hair, those eyebrows, the cock of the corner of his mouth. I was wrong. It's much cooler than a costumed supervillain.
Can't wait til next issue and Tim's rendition of Electro. (I've just got to find the money for that Masterworks edition to see how the pieces of the J&T's puzzle fit with Stan's old stuff.)
(Steve's note: The bit with the Fantastic Four occurred originally on the second and third pages of issue #2 of Daredevil, and The Owl hired Nelson and Murdock as his attornies on page 4 of issue #3.)
Book Four: NEVER LEAD WITH YOUR LEFT
Summary: Matt Murdock, on the way to the Baxter Building to look over the lease for the Fantastic Four, stumbles upon Electro, pilfering some top secret documents. As Daredevil Matt tries to stop Electro but he clocks Matt with an electric punch and flees. Matt gives chase and catches up with him at Radio City Music Hall, defeating the villain by activating the sprinklers and shorting him out. As the Rockettes swoon over their savior, Matt's thoughts turn to the beautiful woman in his life, Karen.
Foggy is dictating a letter for "the Owl" to Karen, but she interrupts him excitedly when Daredevil swings by. Foggy is unimpressed but Karen is still swooning over Daredevil when Matt walks in, playing dumb to the identity of the hero that had just gone by. Foggy suggests going bowling that night, which both Karen and Matt quickly agree to. At the bowling alley, Foggy is exuberant over getting a strike, but Karen is paying more attention to Matt. Matt throws a ball directly into the gutter, all the while thinking to himself about how his father held back in the ring to win over the crowd. Karen then steps up to help him, taking his hand and guiding him. Together they throw the ball down the lane and, upon hitting one pin, Karen joyfully gives Matt a congratulatory hug.
But the happiness soon fades as Matt attends the execution of his father's killer Slade. Matt had planned to eat pistachio nuts in front of Slade as an ironic twist, but he couldn't do it once there. When the switch is thrown, he is spared the horror of watching Slade die in the electric chair due to his blindness, but still he focuses on the smell. Matt returns home to his father's apartment that night, sits in his father's chair and cries. The next day Matt goes into the office hoping to see Karen and take his mind off the night before. But Karen is gone on an errand to deliver some papers to "the Owl," and while they are alone Foggy confides in Matt that he intends to ask Karen to marry him.
Thoughts: WOW!!! This was the best issue of the series so far. Jeph is doing great things here. The plotting and events have been great, but the captions and dialogue has been even better. He has established a real tone for this series by juxtaposing the serious, emotional captions of the present day Matt Murdock with the campy dialogue that took place in the past. That whole "I've got a cousin who's a cop. He says he's called Daredevil" is the perfect example, as that was how the old school comics would spell it out for you. And the emotion continues to shine through, and increasingly so. The electrocution scene and Matt's return to the apartment were particularly well done.
Before I get into the art, Matt Hollingsworth deserves a lot of credit for his colors. They are fabulous and varied, and greatly enhances the intended mood. I hope he gets nominated for an Eisner for his work here.
For the first time ever with J & T, I found myself a bit disappointed, and it was the opening three pages that did it. The theme of opening splash page, followed by double page spread (along with a closing splash page) is obviously a look they're going for in this series, but these three pages add to my feeling that ever since SFAS, J & T are using splash pages a bit too frequently. There were some great uses of splash pages in this issue, which I'll get to later, but opening with a full page splash of DD smirking has been done already. It worked here because of the dialogue, but seemed a little repetitive. But it was the double page spread that got me. It was just, well, I hate to use this word in reference to Tim, but it was lame. Now, I don't know if they were trying to say something about Electro, a villain typically portrayed as lame, but there was just no oomph to these pages. I'd rather they went with a close-up that really pulled us into the action, because I felt very detached, and in turn uninterested in the spread.
Enough of that, because the rest of the issue was Tim at his best. Page four was great. I loved Electro surfing the electricity, and the DD shot of him plunging after. (Too bad Tim didn't have DD break the panel border, because it practically looks like he's jumping off the page as is, and I think that would have cinched it. But they haven't been doing breaking of the panel borders in this series, as they didn't utilize it much back in the day, so I can understand why he didn't.)
DD swinging by Radio City on page 5 was a great touch, highlighting with landmarks DD's arrival as NYC's newest hero. And page 7 was great. Between Tim's pencils and Matt's colors, the atmospheric effect of Electro being doused with water really hit home. And the splash on page 8 was a worthy splash page. Once again, it looks like a character, this time Electro, is coming right at us, and the way the water flies off him as DD connects his punch was very cool.
The top panel of DD on page 9, with the shadow hitting the back curtain at Radio City heightened the theatricality of the events, and helped to further emphasize the point Jeph was making with the captions. And the rockettes surrounding DD!?! SEXY!!! I was just talking with someone the other day about how I caught some of Madonna's HBO concert, and she has this muscular, sexy back, and Tim definitely was echoing my sentiments here.
Page 10 was another page where Tim shows what a master of body language and facial expressions he is. And I loved the coloring of DD swinging by outside the window, and Karen's visual reaction to it.
Wonderful give and take between Karen and Foggy on page 11, and Foggy's disappointed expression in the third panel only added to the humor. I think it's interesting that Tim chose to position Foggy slightly out of the panel, which may speak to his role in the whole triangle.
Page 12. "Amazing what an afternoon with the Rockettes will do for your self-confidence." Funniest bit in the book, and Matt's smug, relaxed lean against the desk with arms folded is another example of how Tim's pictures combine with Jeph's words to only increase the overall effect on the reader.
Page 13. "Strikereeno" HA! The bowling was great, like the billiards from last issue, as it really gives you a sense of the people involved and not just the hero. Tim's layout and execution on these pages were fantastic, highlighted by the silhouetted hands and Karen's anxious anticipation, which paid off with a great use of a splash page on page 15, as Karen's elation and subsequent hug speak volumes, especially with Foggy's angry expression as he marks down the score, which despite what the bowling sheet says, Foggy knows is definitely not in his favor. (Great work on the bowling shoe colors too. Karen's were particularly tacky, as all bowling shoes should be.)
Chilling! That's the only way I can describe Slade's execution scene. Tim's heavy blacks were back to set the mood, and the captions were very telling, dark, and moody as well. Kudos to Tim for his execution of that sequence, only showing the hands when Slade is strapped in and lathered up, and especially for using Slade's shadows during the death knell. Much more haunting and memorable that way.
I love how everything keeps coming back to Matt's relationship with his dad, and page 20 and Matt's return to the apartment was no exception. The single tear spoke volumes, and it was another touching page.
And what can I say about Foggy. His pacing around the room, and his long, dragged out soliloquy (sp?) perfectly led up to the final splash page reveal of the diamond. Great composition on that page Tim.
Look at that. I've run on again. Well, these guys are MASTER storytellers in the comics medium, and deserve to be analyzed and have praise heaped upon them. Before I sign off, I just want to make mention of Jeph's caption talk about how costumed super-villains never killed anyone back then on page 3. Great stuff, it really reached out to the reader as do a lot of Matt's other reminiscings in this series, and now that I think about it, maybe that's why J & T wanted to detach the reader from the proceedings on the double page spread, to show what little effect those fights actually had back then. If that's the case, the theory is sound, but when put into practice I don't think it worked.
(Steve's note: Electro and Daredevil fight in issue #2 of the original (the Radio City stuff is specifically on the last four pages of the issue), and at the end of that issue Matt's inability to look over the lease for the FF had lost them as clients for the firm. )
Book Five: AGAINST THE ROPES
Summary: Karen Page is missing, having never returned (either to the office or to her apartment) after having run her errand to "the Owl's" office. Eventually Matt discovers that the Owl's office is an empty building and he promises Foggy he will find Karen and bring her back safely. As Daredevil, Matt goes to the highest point he can find and listens to the sounds of the city until he can pinpoint Karen's voice. As "the Owl" tells Karen he has kidnapped her to gain ownership of Matt, Daredevil follows their voices to an old abandoned bank building.
As he arrives, "the Owl" is gone and Grace is fleeing for her life. From her cage hung high above the ground, Karen asks Grace for help, but Grace says that the secret she has (which "the Owl" uncovered) is too valuable. She has been allowed to go free now that she has played her part in luring Karen there, and so she runs away. Karen feels dejected, but Daredevil arrives and sets her free from her cage. Matt almost slips and reveals his secret identity to Karen then, a fact that he looks back upon and cannot help but wonder what might have been had he told her right then and there who Daredevil really was.
But Karen and Matt are distracted by "the Owl," who swoops down and scoops Daredevil up, carrying him up to Karen's cage. Daredevil lands a good kick on "the Owl," but he in turn distracts Daredevil by calling a flock of owls to attack while he flies away. Daredevil, worried that Karen might still be a target if "the Owl" escapes, catches him with his billy club as he flies away and grabs hold, pulling him down into the nearby harbor. Underwater, the two struggle and Daredevil eventually reaches the surface, but "the Owl" is nowhere to be found.
The next day a jolly Foggy Nelson heads for the office with a bouqet of flowers and his engagement ring in tow. But in the office, Karen is relating for Matt the adventure of the night before. When Foggy walks in, Karen is in Matt's arms and so he leaves, unnoticed by Karen and Matt who continue to flirt and joke with each other.
Thoughts: The art, as always, was beautiful. The scripting, as always, was fantastic. However, I'm still trying to discern if there is an overall story that connects the various issues together, but with only one issue to go, I'm left to believe that the whole series has been a bunch of flashbacks to early events in DD's career, and the only thing connecting it all together is that Matt is flashing back to certain events that pertained to his love or his father as he writes his letters to Karen.
My problem with that approach is that there is no real meat to this story. Certain critics of this series have called it fluff, or eye candy, a series with no real substance. Now, I wouldn't go that far, but I do wish that there was more of an overall story here. TLH and DV both had events from the Bat mythos play a large role in the proceedings, but it was in the service of weaving an overall story, and for me really grounded the story to something I could relate to. There really hasn't been that feeling in DD:Y IMHO, plus I, and I would venture to guess most readers don't know early DD continuity, and I do think the overall story has suffered somewhat from that. The events have all been handled masterfully, by both Jeph and Tim, but, without knowing for sure if all these events are strictly taken from the first six issues of the original DD series, it just seems like this is a retelling. And regardless of the fact that they are being retold beautifully, I'd rather have an original story. With the recent announcement of Spidey:Blue, and the acknowledgement that it will be done in a similar format, I hope Jeph and Tim decide to tell their own Spidey story and weave in events like they did in TLH and DV, rather than have Peter write a letter to Mary Jane, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, or something of that nature.
That being said, I thought that issue five was enjoyable, and some of it was real brilliance.
The opening splash page didn't really grab me in terms of composition, but you definitely get the feeling by the angle of his body that he's leaning out. I thought the subtext Jeph creates by intertwining the dialogue with the captions on this opening page was great, and Jeph definitely excels at this.
But if the opening page left me wanting, all those wants disappeared when I saw the two panel, two page spread on pages 2-3. I thought the dialogue was perfect, and kudos to Richard Starking for using a large word balloon and leaving a lot of white space in it. Those three balloons gave me a feeling of whispered longing, which is only emphasized by DD's stretching out to grab on to some glimmer of hope. And the composition of the second panel was brilliant. Jeph's caption about New York quieting down around midnight was brilliantly emphasized by Tim's use of a de-glorification shot. By placing the camera angle looking down over DD's shoulder and making the city seem so small and distant, you really get the feeling that the city is not the imposing place we know it can be, and that DD has some power over the city.
Couple that feeling with Jeph's closing caption box on page 3 that emphasizes listening, and you have the perfect set-up for page 4, which was very cool, and maybe my favorite page of this issue. As if Page 3 wasn't enough of an example about how well these two work together, this page was another phenomenal example of that. The slow pull in from close-up to extreme close-up coupled with the slow pull in from background noise to singleing out one conversation were in perfect conjunction with one another, and really spoke to me. It epitomized DD's intense concentration, and as I read it, I couldn't help but picture a radio dial, and someone tuning in just the right frequency. Bravo to Jeph and Tim for this sequence of pages.
Pages 5-6 really demonstrates how DD gets around the city, and I was struck by how much his billy club line stuck out against the moody backgrounds, especially on the top of page six. I don't remember it looking as vibrant in previous issues, but I much preferred this new found vibrancy. It really draws the eye in. Also, another interesting use of camera angle on the bottom of page 6. Although we catch our first glimpse of Karen, and find out she's caged, another de-glorification shot shows Grace as the one who is truly powerless.
Page 7. I didn't know Gilda Dent was in DD:Y??? Sorry, but that shadowed close-up of Grace was just so reminiscent of previous Gilda panels that I couldn't resist. (Steve's Note: It IS interesting that Grace mentioned in issue three that her husband "was a GOOD man, an important man," and that she did some "terrible things" in order "to protect him." also figure in that Gilda's middle name IS Grace and... well...) I liked the large panel on the bottom left, and the distance it showed between the characters. It added to the ominousness of the dialogue by illustrating how far apart Karen stared from that statement, even though we know how tragically she approaches it. I also thought by not centering Karen on the last panel and placing her towards the bottom, that her sense of despair was exaggerated to excellent effect.
Page 8 was classic, and although he's wearing Yellow, it had such a white knight coming to the rescue of the princess locked away high in the tower feel. Loved it, and the ominous outline of an owl on the ledge was a great, if small (I just noticed it now), touch of foreshadowing.
Page nine was also a great page. The top two panels were perfect, with Karen's eyes playing the perfect foil to her words. I thought her bending steel with your bare hands line was hysterical, but was quickly topped by her reaction to DD actually doing it and DD's witty comeback. Classic superhero action, made easily believable by Jeph's explanation behind the feat.
Pages 10-11 were fine, and I especially liked the dialogue in the first two panels of page 10. It was cute to see Karen zing DD like he just did to her.
The action sequence that followed started with a bang. Once again Tim makes the Owl eerily close to his namesake, as that first panel where he swoops in and snares DD in his claws was very birdlike. It reminded me of how Tim made Catwoman move and pose in feline ways. The shots of the Owl framed against the NY cityscape were wonderful, and the two page over water shot on 16-17 had great atmosphere to it. However, I noticed that Tim broke panel borders here, which I found surprising, because he hasn't done that yet in this series to my recollection, and there have been better opportunities than this spread to break borders with. Therefore, this seemed out of place. Furthermore, IMHO, DD shouldn't have broken the borders because it separated the characters from the background. If Tim had wanted to do that, then the third DD's feet should have broken the panel as the first and last did. As is, DD comes from off the panel, goes completely back in for two movements, then comes back out for his final movement. IMHO, that didn't work, and it should either be the whole sequence done that way or should not have been done at all.
I liked the continuing references to his father's boxing advice, and as it has throughout the series, it's subtext helped pertain to the events taking place in the panels. These were some of the best captions in this issue.
I thought there was great use of colors on page 20, as the brightness of the page, along with her movements, emphasized Karen's casual attitude towards the events, which transpired on fittingly dark pages. Foggy's whistling, Karen's determined retelling, and Matt's amused expressions perfectly set the tone, and were fine examples of Tim's ability to use body language to great effect. He has really excelled at body language throughout this series when these three are in the room together. Then, by placing Foggy into a small portion of the bottom panel of page 21, it emphasized his feeling of inferiority or possibly inadequacy in comparison to Matt, who to Foggy appears to have taken his girl.
Page 22 was in the same vein of great storytelling as the two pages that preceded it. Foggy's body language was perfect, and I liked the panning effect Tim created. I also think it's curious to note how this is the first closing page in the series that hasn't been a splash page. Whether that will have significance in the future remains to be seen.
Like I said, I love the nuts and bolts, as the storytelling is masterful. It's just my perceived lack of an overall story that has me hung up.
(Steve's note: The bits of this issue involving Karen and Daredevil in the giant birdcages and the defeat of the Owl were depicted on pages 16 through 22 of the original Daredevil issue #3.)
Book Six: THE FINAL BELL
Summary: Karen Page is reading of Daredevil's exploits against the Matador in the Daily Bugle while the phone rings unheeded. Foggy answers the phone while Matt and Karen discuss Daredevil, and when finished, he fumes over having been appointed the attorneys to a villain named Killgrave, who goes by the moniker of the Purple Man. Matt heads off to visit their new client, and when Karen suddenly decides to join him, Foggy's anger grows.
When they arrive at the courthouse, both the guard and Karen fall victim to the Purple Man's power; controlling them with his aura, the Purple Man has the guard set him free and leaves with Karen as his companion. Daredevil appears outside the courthouse to stop the villain, but the Purple Man creates a diversion by making some nearby police officers open fire on him. Escaping unscathed, Daredevil catches up with the Purple Man at a suite he has rented at the Plaza. Karen is being forced to undress when the room service Killgrave ordered arrives, but the cart is being pushed by Daredevil.
Daredevil attacks the Purple Man, but again he creates a diversion by ordering Karen to jump out the window. Daredevil rescues her and as they swing down to safe ground, Karen asks him why he wears yellow when devils are red. When they reach the ground, Karen asks Daredevil for a date and the hero accepts. Secons later the Purple Man appears again but Daredevil neutralizes the threat by covering him with a flag from the side of the building, thus making it impossible for him to use his purple aura to control anyone. Daredevil swings away just as Foggy Nelson arrives, but Foggy's words to Karen fall on deaf ears as she watches Daredevil swing away. Back in the office the next day, Foggy and Matt have a heart-to-heart, and Foggy tells Matt that he can have Karen. But when Karen arrives, she can only speak of her date that evening with Daredevil.
Back in the present, Daredevil is again swinging through the city as he finishes what he says will be his last letter to Karen Page. He is finally able to let go of the guilt he has felt over her death, and he is also ready to honor his father's memory in a new way. He has bought the old gym seen in issue one and had it fixed up. One of Daredevil's old enemies the Gladiator has reformed and is now managing the gym under his given name of Melvin Potter, but the gym will always be called "Battling Jack's."
Thoughts: Nice opening page. I like how Jeph begins the last issue of the mini by saying "...it's time to let go". Nice use of subtext to start some closure. Great body language on Tim's part, especially Karen's dangling shoe. Such a small thing, but it added so much to the page's sense of realism. I only wish he kept the computer out of the picture, because it somewhat dates the image. The series in general has a timeless, if not retro, feel to it, so the computer seemed slightly out of place to me.
Pages 2-3: Another example of Jeph and Tim working in complete unity. Jeph's passage "...I'm beginning to realize that my greatest fear is living in a world without you" is beautifully illustrated by Matt adoringly looking on as Karen is totally ensnared by the latest exploits of DD. I also liked how the dialogue slowly plays across the page, and how the ringing phone sounds show up spaced apart from each other, but both on the left side of their respective pages. Those were great visual illustrations of Matt getting to enjoy the slow passage of time at a quieter moment in his life.
Tim displays a nice use of body language and facial expressions on page 4, which really adds a sense of mood and emotion to what would otherwise be a fairly static page. It serves as a good demonstration of how body language in the hands of a great artist can make or break a page.
LOVE the small head tilts as Matt and Karen whisper to each other on the top of page 5. Jeph paces this nice, and Foggy's exasperated dialogue and actions work in harmony with the captions to really give us a feel for the tension building in the office, which pays off later this issue.
Pages 6&7: This was my first introduction to the Purple Man, and he intrigues me on visuals alone. That purple coloring rendered by Matt Hollingsworth pulls you right in. The whole team did a great job of introducing a character who most people would probably consider lame (and probably haven’t heard of) in a very quick manner, without forcing a drawn out explanation of his powers. The visuals and Jeph's small caption worked perfect for that. And I laughed out loud when Karen said "I heard the suites at the Plaza are very nice" and the Purple Man called her "A little minx."
Pages 8&9: WOW!!! Need I say more than that???
Page 11: Jeph’s captions and dialogue turn what at first glance seems an innocent page into a chilling look into just how dangerous the Purple Man really is. And Tim captures our fear with that wonderful bottom panel where the horizon line is set at ankle height, leaving our imagination to fill in the rest of the picture he chose not to show.
Page 12: Classic incorporation of the “Here comes Daredevil! The Man Without Fear” line, which I believe graced the very first DD cover, and possibly even more of those early covers. I also loved the sense of movement Tim created by placing the thrust of the action on the horizon line, drawing our eye right in.
Page 13: My only real problem with this issue was a fully clothed Karen preparing to take the plunge off the building. The previous page makes it perfectly apparent that Karen is still in a state of relative undress, but all of a sudden she has her blouse and skirt back on. It’s a minor point, and didn’t affect my enjoyment of the issue, and I’m sure this decision was made to keep the tone of the issue light and carefree.
Page 14: The last panel made this page, both in art and dialogue. The eyes of both Karen and DD speak volumes, echoing both Karen’s hanging question “Are you always going to be there to save me?” and Matt’s knowledge that he couldn’t rescue her the last time she needed him.
Page 15: I like the close in from long shot to close-up. It pulls you right into the budding romance and affection between Matt and Karen and highlights the flirting that takes place here.
Pages 18&19: Karen looks wrapped in her own little world of happiness on the top panel, and it is probably the single image of her I’d like to keep in my head from this series. Furthermore, it served to once again show how oblivious she was to the interests of both Foggy and Matt, as they humorously and emotionally discuss her. And the “Good morning Matt. Good morning Foggy” lines, and their reaction on the subsequent panels was too funny. Another great pairing of body language and dialogue by J&T. Furthermore, I thought having them close the door behind them was a brilliant move, as it metaphorically closes the door on that part of Matt’s life. Excellent decision there.
Pages 20-22: I LOVED how DD stood out against the colorless NYC!!! This is how I originally thought the yellow costume would be portrayed, very That Yellow Bastard-esque against a colorless background. However, I think it works better like this, as the colorless NYC stands as a metaphor for Matt’s current world, a world without the love who brought color to his life. The color scheme was very eye-catching, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them do something like this in the future.
I thought the first panel of page 21 worked very well as a mirror to the opening chapter panel where DD watches over the old gym. It brings things full circle, and if the closing door didn’t end that portion of Matt’s past, then the renovation certainly does. And as DD swings away to start a new chapter in his life on the final page, Jeph’s captions hit home in an extremely simple yet extremely truthful manner. As someone who has been deeply in love with the same girl for five years, those sentiments truly hit home, and were a fitting end to an enjoyable series.
(Steve's note: The fight with the Matador actually happened in issue #5, AFTER the events with the Purple Man had in issue #4.)
