running with the Devil

"Trial of the Century"
v2, #38-40
Brian Michael Bendis/Manuel Gutierrez/Terry Dodson/Rachel Dodson

with the pressure of being outed hanging on his shoulders, Matt Murdock tries to live a normal life, but the average superhero life will always suck him back in. its probably easier if he was just a bum or a coffeeshop barista, but he's one of the best lawyers in New Yawk.

after getting sued previously and winning the ensuing much-publicized case by mistrial, you'd think his phone wouldn't stop ringing:

"hello, Matthew, its Stephen ..."
"hey, Doc, what can I do for you?"
"well, Dormammu and I had an argument, and we managed to wreck the apartment next door ..."

"hey, Murdock, its Ben ... what does a civil tort mean? this guy's suing me for slamming into his car. i mean, he should sue Dragon Man! can we sue Dragon Man?"

"hi, Mr. Murdock ... its uhmm ... my name is Robbie Baldwin ... Speedball to some, heh. ahh, we were shooting for our TV show, and we ... ummm ... we kinda blew up a school."

well, this time, its that allegedly-retired Bronx superhero, H-Ay (Hector Ayala, a.k.a. the White Tiger), who's had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time (well, he was trying to prevent a robbery!). Latino, dead cop on floor, TV in hands ... nu-uh. you're on Page 1. they don't care if you're wearing a costume.

"and this was not even an HDTV! caramba!"

this should actually the stuff that Matt should be doing (but i guess Foggy would raise a stink); he's been beaten in that area by the resident slut, Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk). but kudos to Bendis for getting DD involved more in the dynamics of superhero vis-a-vis the common joe.

not to say he didn't have his objections to taking the case:

but his pals Luke Cage and Danny Rand (Heroes for Hire) push him to take it, despite Foggy's best resistance. since his own nature prevents it, Matt takes pity at an innocent man and accepts the seemingly open-and-shut case. the judge, on the other hand, has no patience for circus trials.

Matt's opponent on the prosecution is Al Roker. seriously. Atty. Delacourt looks like Al Roker on 'roid rage and plays a Heel manager in the WWE (remember Paul Bearer? Delacourt is kinda like that.). Bendis probably has an issue with the Today Show weatherman and voracious cake eater.

throughout the course of the trial, we see how doggedly determined Delacourt can be (as well as salivary gland-challenged). well, he's going up against Murdock - betcha he already envisioned Matt's scalp on the wall in his office.

in one brief moment, i even thought Matt was gonna toss his billy club at Delacourt's fat smug face. was he wearing the thights then? what happens when someone like Bullseye smashes through the windows?

Al Roker has too much sugar

but back to the case: aside from being caught by the cops at the scene of the crime, Ayala can be blamed somewhat for putting himself in that position because he took up the costume again against his wife's wishes, and he already was on shaky ground with his marriage. on the plus side, he has no prints on the gun nor powder burns on him, and he has a hero rep in the barrio (kinda like this guy). Matt debunks every theory the prosecution has, like activating the gun telekinetically, as well as getting support from the superhero community (those with publicly-known identities at least) to stand as witnesses.

but then Delacourt harangues Ayala when he is put on the stand and he loses it. and despite Matt's best closing argument, Delacourt's seems to resonate better with the jury (a few whom slipped through Matt's lie-detecting radar), and provides a whiff of the public mood for the future Civil War. sneaky, sneaky, Bendis.

and the poop hits the windmill as the jury decides Ayala is guilty. Ayala goes berserk and fights the bailiffs. once he gets his hands on a gun, you really know this is not gonna end well at all.

in effect, this is not one of Matt Murdock's finest moments. we should blame Luke and Danny for this.

Matt tries to make amends (making him put on the costume) by locating the perp (one of two, because the second one allegedly OD'ed). and forces him to do the right thing. we don't see what the after-effects are (yet), but i sure hope that slightly removed the tarnish on Matt's rep.

not for casual DD fans (yes, you, the ones who watched the Daredevil movie because of the hype). i like the way Bendis was building up his own DD rep. i normally like the Dodsons, but somehow this issue was lacking. but then Alex Maleev's art might not be the right fit here either.