Another volume of Daredevil comes to a conclusion, marking the culmination of a lengthy story arc written by Saladin Ahmed. This run has undergone a thorough examination of Matt Murdock after his resurrection, including his confrontation with the Seven Deadly Sins and his current quest for reconciliation. These issues have made up an interesting era for Matt under the authorship of Ahmed, offering in-depth character development and trials. When the series began, Matt was fresh from the dead and had a chance to start anew. He had walked “through the valley of the shadow of death” and, for the most part, “fear(ed) no evil.” Now that we’re on the other side, do you like the journey?
Marvel
This issue’s art team consisting of Jose Luis Soares, Oren Junior, and Jesus Aburtov presents beautiful, consistent work. Their figure designs for Matt Murdock and Elektra as their respective Daredevils are instantly iconic. I will admit their version of Wilson Fisk is very over the top – he’s practically on par with the Incredible Hulk size-wise, but I know some folks don’t mind the oversized stature. There is one scene where Fisk moves in a way that I didn’t understand, but luckily, the speech bubbles helped convey the movement. Overall, the action and drama scenes are well-structured.
The script fell short, in my opinion. There are times where Matt Murdock is present as very violent and bloodthirsty, and then wants to crawl back into his guilt to suffer. The voice of Matt in the last two issues doesn’t live up to the voice that Ahmed helped to create in the other issues; the growth and journey seem to have fallen. I don’t know if there were plans for the story to continue, and then the series was just canceled, but it has felt rushed to meet a conclusion. I’m sure the opening arc, being 19 issues, led to a quicker conclusion, and sadly, the provided ending feels like it has dragged Matt backward. While there is an ending, it just seems to serve as a way to reset the status quo for the next creative team. I hope that with Daredevil’s newfound popularity on both big and small screens, the comics don’t fall victim to being stuck in a “mopey character trope” that prevents growth.
The current Daredevil series concludes, and doesn’t seem fit for trial. Daredevil comes across as out of character and appears to have not learned any lessons from his journey, which is a disappointment, as the ride was decent overall. The status quo is mostly restored for the next creative team, while the issue goes through the motions with pleasing art. If you’ve made it this far, I would recommend finishing things up, just to keep the collection complete.
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