i remember the Daredevil reboot back in 1998 (when i started semi-collecting again back in Orlando) and it was such a big deal because they were getting Kevin Smith to write it. Frank Miller raised the bar so high that the succeeding writers had to make it work (Ann Nocenti) or else (D.G. Chichester's 2nd run, anyone? but i confess to liking "Tree of Knowledge").
that being said, let's take a walk in the park that is Daredevil version 2.0.
"Guardian Devil"v3 #1-7
Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti
DD enters a new chapter in his life by having ... a baby! dumped by perennial girlfriend Karen Page, Matt seems lost and even his attempt to confess to a priest is interrupted by criminal activities. a Mexican Virgin Mary leaves her baby to him and all sorts of mysterious (hint, hint) things occur. partner Foggy Nelson is charged with murder. the child could be the risen Savior ... or not. Matt is confused like a teenage girl who can't choose. then Karen discovers she has AIDS and is used against Matt, furthering his confusion. not knowing whom to trust, he approaches Dr. Strange and Mephisto himself. turns out he got injected with some kind of drug which made him open to certain suggestions ("stab yourself in the eye! wait, that'd be useless!"). Matt's been played like a yo-yo, he should have just checked in at Toys R'Us - i heard they have a shortage of those toys. i guess being blind isn't all that cracked up to be.
not knowing what to do with a baby, he even enlists his always-available-booty call Natasha Romanova (the Black Widow) for baby duty, resulting in some of that patented Kevin Smith brand of humor ("he's got your grip.")
taking shelter with his long-lost mother in a church, he finds Karen in there as well. not to mention notorious assassin Bullseye (like Smith was going to write a DD story arc without him)! though we have to mention the fact that Colin, i mean ... Bullseye only misses with Daredevil, he hasn't missed when dealing with DD's friends. let's just say a church is not the safest place to be, if you have someone like Bullseye walking around.
this perhaps results in the best death in Marvel at that time - the demise of a whiny ex-hooker with AIDS. so far, they haven't resurrected her yet.
turns out everything - baby, AIDS, Bullseye, Foggy murder, etc. - was engineered by Mr. Special FX man himself, Mysterio (a.k.a. Bubble Head). a third-rate Spiderman villain, Quentin Beck couldn't find Peter Parker to star in his swan song (brain tumor and lung cancer). so he picks ... Matt Murdock. thanks to the Kingpin (who was then no longer the big Kahuna, but he appreciated the irony of helping Mysterio), Beck builds a Jerry Bruckheimer vehicle and almost drives Murdock to the edge, costing him Karen.
"i ... hate ... fishbowls!"
notes: reading the whole 7 issue run again, after all these years, still confirms what my friend Jego said when i lent him the whole shebang back then - "Kevin Smith has a diarrhea of the typewriter". man, the guy is wordy. and Mysterio? i applaud Smith's efforts to make a C-list villain go out on top. but fishbowl head ... ehhhh. not to mention, Smith's wrestling efforts with the keyboard seemed to contribute to the lateness of the title, and with the other political shitstorms going down in Marvel at that time, Mysterio was well and alive at the same time he was supposed to be dead. talk about Marvel's policy on killing!
"Parts of a Hole"v3 #9-15
David Mack, Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, David Ross, Mark Morales, Rob Haynes
with Joe Q establishing himself as a power broker within Marvel (due to the success of his handling of the Marvel Knights division - never mind the lateness of some titles), he brings in David Mack, otherwise known as the Guy Who Draws Kabuki, to write the next story arc. thankfully, we aren't subjected to too much of Mack's philosophizing and subtext analysis, although there is enough not to leave a doubt that it is Mack steering the ship.
the arc introduces a female character who isn't in control of her destiny and spends most of her screen time confused (a Mack specialty?), or exhibiting behavior driven by her misguided state. especially if the misguiding is being done by the Kingpin. Maya Lopez, gifted pianist, dancer and boxer, is being set up by Wilson Fisk, her guardian, to ultimately cross paths with Daredevil. she believes that Daredevil killed her father years back, and now, payback's a bitch. by the way, did i mention that Maya is deaf?
DD and Kingpin are opposing magnetic forces, both ultimately drawn to each other for yet again another conflict. this time, it starts with a Nelson/Murdock client who wants to spill beans on Fisk, being murdered right in their offices. Matt knows who ordered the hit; the Kingpin, right in the middle of rebuilding his criminal empire, dangles Maya in front of Matt to provoke an appearance by Daredevil. when Maya - now sporting the fitting nickname Echo - finally tangles with Daredevil, he fails to enlighten her as to his identity (lip-reading can be so confusing when you're being kicked in the face).
quick note: the playground mano-a-mano between Ben "I'm an Oscar Winner, Dammit!" Affleck and Jennifer "I Can Kill You With Just My Cuteness" Garner in the Daredevil movie was taken from the fight sequence in this storyline. although obvious changes have been made, the least of which is the female character.
if you think about it, this sequence does not make sense, position-wise*
* wait ... Maya lifts one end to whack him in the face, DD flails to the opposite end, just in time to meet the onrushing plank thanks to the dynamics of the see-saw. got it.
their second encounter results in a wounded ex-girlfriend, the Black Widow. by their 3rd, DD knows that he has to finish it once and for all. Mack hits the right notes with their duel in balletic grace, interspersed with flashbacks of Wilson Fisk growing up as bullied and ultimately the bully. conflict and isolation shapes his 'vision' on how to get far in the world, while Matt's loss of the same (literally) defines his destiny.
Matt reveals his identity to the ... oh, make that the 32nd girl in his life
the best and the worst parts here is seeing the Kingpin bite the dust twice - once from being shot several times and falling over to the East River, and the other taking point-blank shots from Echo herself. and each time, just like any fiendishly and deliciously annoying villain worth his salt, he rises from the dead.
what are they shooting him with? pellets???
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