Daredevil 29, Indestructible Hulk 11

Daredevil 29
Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez and A. Lopez (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Daredevil's newest client Nate Hackett has been shot by a judge loyal to the Serpent Society and no on in the courtroom besides Matt Murdock seems surprised or worried. Police rush in and are told that the shooter fled the scene, ignoring Matt's pleas for help. Matt realizes that the Serpent Society has somehow infiltrated pretty deep into the justice system he's dedicated his life to supporting. Not knowing who he can trust and unable to prove the judge and his cronies are guilty, Daredevil takes to the scene and discovers why they wanted Nate dead and how they plan to get away with it. Will Daredevil be able to expose the Serpent Society, rescue the innocent people inside, and save Nate's quickly fading life?

The story here is pretty fantastic, leading Matt to a whole new sense of paranoia. It worked really well for Waid and company throughout the Ikari arc, this idea that he can't trust anyone, and it's looking to work well again here. It's certainly a different sort of paranoia as this one enrages Matt more than worries him but it's a perfectly structured story in that respect. After having his actual loved ones in jeopardy (as well as his own life) last arc, he now has the institution he's always trusted at stake. The writing for Daredevil continues to be amazing and the art continues to be among Marvel's best. Even with Javier Rodriguez taking the reins from Chris Samnee for a bit, the art style fits exactly with the style Samnee's given this book. On top of that, Rodriguez's colors remain consistent with his work on the rest of the series, grounding any difference in art style between he and Samnee and making the book feel exactly the way it's always felt. This issue's not necessarily as emotionally stirring as some of the other work we've seen in Daredevil or in something like Hawkeye or Young Avengers but it's a near-perfect book anyway, one with a great plot and a great examination of Daredevil int he window we see him in. We get the cleverness of Daredevil, the nice problem-solving skill set he brings to the table, as well as his concern for innocent people and his hatred of corruption. Great plot, great character, great writing, great art, great book.

Indestructible Hulk 11
Waid (w) and Scalera (a) and Staples (c)

Time and space are broken in the Marvel Universe and it's slowly beginning to impact multiple books. We saw it a little in Guardians of the Galaxy this week and it seems to be the hinge of the upcoming Infinity event but we get a slightly more personal look at it in Indestructible Hulk as Banner is contracted by SHIELD to enter the broken timestream itself to see what he can do about a series of strange and dangerous (strangerous) chrono-happenings as reported by SHIELD prisoner Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man. Zarrko has apparently been warning Maria Hill about the threat the superhero community has posed to the timestream and, when he wasn't immediately right about his predictions, Hill ignored him. However, now he's proving to be spot-on and he claims to only want to help repair the timestream. His idea is to send Hulk directly into it with a suit he himself constructed (and has proven too dangerous for normal men, hence why Hulk needs to go in) and sic him on the time-hopping Chronarchists, who are using the breaks in time to commit atrocities and change the world in different ways more befitting them. The catch? Other than that they're sending the Hulk into an already broken timestream or, as Banner calls it, operating on the timestream with a chain saw instead of a scalpel? If Hulk reverts back to Banner, he likely won't survive the transformation.

Another really interesting book from Waid as this is the first time that the breaks in the timestream have seemed worthwhile as opposed to a bit of a reach in the hopes it will provide a great event. Also, why are the original X-Men still in the present? Wait, back to this book. On top of sending Hulk into the timestream to try to stop the Chronarcists (which, even at the end of this issue showing a dinosaur attacking in the 1800s, will certainly lead to some neat bits), we have some of the ramifications of a broken timestream. When Banner puts his foot down to letting the Hulk go into this situation, he recommends they use Red She-Hulk, as she has similar power/durability, more intelligence in Hulk state, and would love the job. However, Red She-Hulk seems to be one of the first casualties (or causalities. Get it? Timestream, causalities? Ah, whatever) of the Chronarchists plot and she's slowly fading from the timestream, causing Maria Hill to be unaware of her existence as she fades from Bruce's mind. There are a lot of really interesting ideas, which culminates in the neat idea of teaming Banner (in the form of a robot with Banner's knowledge and personality infused) with Hulk for the mission. There's a lot of good stuff coming from this issue and it'll be neat to see how it all plays out.