Marvel’s Red Band gimmick hasn’t yet proven itself necessary. Billed as a place where comics can push the envelope of graphic violence, it most often feels as if the comics being produced are going out of their way to produce gore for stories that in no way necessitate it.
Daredevil: Unleash Hell certainly feels like a book that could have easily been produced without the label with very minor alterations to its content – aside from one horrific moment, the violence and gore of the book is minor. What’s more, the gore is presented almost as if the creators are hesitant to produce it – as if it isn’t a function of the story but a sorry addition.
Marvel
Unleash Hell is a book split between intent: there is the Red Band marketing, but there is also three characters struggling to find narrative purchase. A continuation of Erica Schultz’s ongoing Elektra story, the book deserves to further explore her role as Daredevil; meanwhile, the book attempts to put forward the villain Muse, a low-profile killer pushed to the forefront by this year’s Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+. Muse needed representation on the racks, and Unleash Hell was his outlet.
Finally – and somewhat confoundingly – this is a book with Ghost Rider energy, though Johnny Blaze’s inclusion feels more like a distraction from those prior engagements than it does a legitimate and exciting appearance. He arrives out of nowhere, does a little hell-traveling flim-flam, and provides little clarity as to the supernatural goings-on. A very strange late-series addition that, while fun, only serves to complicate an already cluttered book.
The highlight of the book is Schultz’s ongoing exploration of Elektra, who continues to struggle to be the hero that the title of Daredevil insists she be. Going up against a gruesome murderer like Muse could be rich grounds to highlight this inner struggle: once a killer, Elektra is now faced with the most extreme representation of her sins. The book insists, however, on taking the ‘battling her demons’ metaphor to its most literal extreme, introducing a ‘Helektra’, an actual demon.
Marvel
Unleash Hell does what it says it does: it’s full of demons, ghosts, and Hellmouths. But it struggles to find a reason for doing any of it. With the story so shakey and overburdened with juggled parts, the added stress of insisting the book contain graphic content seems like one ball too many. It’s an entertaining story, but it isn’t one that feels as if it has made any major impact.
