only the shadow knows

this summer, the pages of Daredevil explode as his very own event, Shadowland commences. that's good news for Foggy because he's kinda missed being the collateral damage in his pal Matt's everyday adventures with the Hand and the Kingpin and your everyday street crime.

Marvel has been releasing teaser images in recent weeks, and we would be remiss (oh, you can't imagine how much we've been remissing) not to take a look at them. and praise them. and make smart-ass comments. minus the 'smart' part.

right off the bat, we're suspicious of this cover (let's assume it is). how many times have we been scammed, bait-and-switch tricks pulled on us, with such fantastic-looking covers depicting events that never really happens in the actual book? i mean seriously. if you're making a cover, we expect it to be a snapshot of what's going on inside. for all we know, the story's about Spidey and the Punisher holding hands, hopping along Ninth Avenue while eating Italian ices. WTF, dude.

speaking of the Punisher ... does this mean some magical event is going to restore Frank back to his original human dick self, completely eradicating Frankencastle from our memories? definitely, this isn't the Punisher MAX version. maybe he makes a deal with Mephisto too? or maybe kill off the useless Parker (Robbins, The Hood) and comes back to life. i want a rematch with Daken!!!

one more thing about that cover: hope Pete had Reed and Tony make him some bulletproof duds (passphrase is "unstable molecules"). that's easier than Spider Armor eh?

how much you wanna bet there isn't much of a throwdown here? unless Cage and Fist are still thinking "you're a goddamn Skrull, lady, and we're taking your head off!", this is one of those scenes where they preen and posture, and then decide to work together. The Heroic Age: Back to Status Quo.

Clayton Crain's bombastic covers doesn't always translate well to interiors, and there are days that the black ink threatens to cover everything just like that Gulf Coast oil spill. see Necrosha.

Ghost Rider's hasn't been back to the Big Apple since World War Hulk by my reckoning, so not sure what he's doing here. maybe its to test the mettle of the newest Secret Avenger, Reverend Syung Mun Moon ... i mean Moon Knight. after all, its a battle for the soul of Khonshu. what? its a battle for the soul of New York?! bummer.

i immediately recognized the cover, and it should have been re-done by somebody else - Clint Langley, Alex Maleev, Marko Djurdjevic, even Clayton Crain. if you're going to ape someone else's cover that previously signified heartbreak and loss, i don't think anime style is going to cut it. not Niimura's style anyway. maybe he could have done it in black and white?

so what is the point here? Elektra's mourning the loss of Matt's soul, right when he took the leadership of the Hand, promptly joining the Dark Side? doesn't look like she's mourning though. maybe she's pissed because she was supposed to be the Hand boss. then that whole Skrull thing happened ...

now these are the coolest teasers of them all: Wolverine holding up two trophies - one's Bullseye and the other a Hand mask (or maybe that represents Daredevil - who hasn't had a good night's sleep since Bendis started writing him). the ace of spades in his neck is a nice touch, though it shouldn't appear on the second image. not unless Bullseye got his mask ripped off (first image), takes a fallen Hand ninja's mask and tosses another card at Logan's neck, and ending with the same disastrous results (second image).

should be a very interesting summer for DD and his fans (of course i'm in!).