Daredevil 36
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)
Matt Murdock is up on the stand and he's man-without-fearing it as he reveals that he, in fact,
is Daredevil. The whole courtroom goes crazy, journalists book it out to file reports, district attorneys let him keep talking (it pays that he saved the man's life not five issues ago...probably, I'd have to look that up and do I look like someone who looks stuff up?), and racist cult leaders exchange dirty looks with corrupt judges. Everything is working to Matt's plan and he continues to confirm that he's Daredevil, giving his origin story and, in the meantime, figuring out who really committed the crime his client is charged with. He realizes just in time that the judge and Ogilvy have called in a Serpent strike team. While the strike team is assembling, Matt tells the audience why he's lied about not being Daredevil, even going so far as to sue people who claimed he was. It's a nice speech that hinges around the idea that telling this lie saved lives and hurt no one so it was well worth it, but suing the newspaper was giving power to the lie and so wasn't. Right before the Serpents burst into the courtroom, Matt reveals that the judge is vying with Ogilvy for control of the Serpents and so framed Ogilvy's son for the crimes committed and tried to kill Daredevil as he investigated. Matt changes into DD and brings down the strike team, managing to protect the DA (the real target of the attack) and Kirsten and expose the Serpents in the justice system of New York. Of course, after everything dies down, he's disbarred for the ethics of his vigilanteism as it ties to his law practice. With both he and Foggy disbarred, Kirsten reminds him that there's only one way it might be possible to be admitted to a different state's bar: if he's practiced in that state before. Daredevil and Foggy Nelson are OFF TO SAN FRANCISCO!
It's a triumphant ending to a really triumphant book for Daredevil, whose rebirth here is every bit as meaningful as his rebirth in Frank Miller's BORN AGAIN. This is a Daredevil who cares very much about what he does and who he is but also isn't willing to go as dark as he's gone in the past, to let the darkness that's surrounded him corrupt him. It's a major status quo change both in terms of where it's landed him and the tone that the book has taken. As cool as the courtroom scene and his fight with the Serpents is, the heart of the issue is in the very first scene of the book where we see Matt discussing his decision to go public with Foggy in his hospital bed. Foggy is entirely supportive of it and gives a really meaningful and heartfelt speech where, though he is certainly afraid of losing the health care coverage he'll lose when they're disbarred (as they both know they will be), he admits that Daredevil's integrity and strength inspires everyone it touches and that he refuses to be the conduit whereby Daredevil loses some of that integrity. It's really touching and it's a wonderful scene for the two of them. Very excited to see where they go next when Waid and Samnee rejoin...next month to kick off with DAREDEVIL 1.
Punisher 2
Edmondson (w) and Gerads (a and c)
Five months ago, Punisher had chased a drug trail to Mexico from New York only to discover that the trail ended with a whole slew of deaths from some untraceable weapon. From there, he ended up in LA going after Dos Soles only to find that the possessed the very same weapon. In his attempts to discover what that weapon is, his sniper's scope shorts out and he attracts some attention from the Soles. They fire on a coyote who leaps out at them and it gives Frank the chance to shoot his would-be attackers. He calms the coyote before quickly adopting it because what other kind of pet is Frank Castle going to have? Later, he dumps the coyote on arms contact Tuggs while he goes to stake out the Soles some more. Unbeknownst to Castle, Tuggs is now being monitored by the new Howling Commandoes, who are desperate to take Punisher down. It's not all bad for Punisher, though, as he manages to save his policeman friend Sammy Stone from death to the Soles' weapon as he raids their warehouse. He's stopped from pursuing the Soles by a lightning bolt and, later, when he's recovered and gotten back into his RV, he's struck off the road by another lightning bolt, landing him face-to-face with the Soles' weapon: Electro.
There's a solid idea here for Punisher as Edmondson defines the street-level hero by showing punisher as someone who handles the criminals, villains, and cases that are too dangerous for the cops and too small for the superheroes. Kind of the perfect embodiment of this is that the big bad he's going to have to face this arc is Electro, a villain who is far too dangerous for regular police but really doesn't register on the Avengers' scale (except for when he breaks other, more dangerous criminals out of prison). He's also a compelling villain because he's a lot harder to just straight up shoot and who can manipulate electricity, which Punisher enjoys using to punish. Hard not to notice here that Edmondson shows another somewhat involuntary pet adoption (to go along with Natasha's not-cat Liho in BLACK WIDOW) and shows Punisher silence and calm a wild dog in the same way Natasha had last BLACK WIDOW issue. This just after a week where he put Punisher up alongside some crocodiles at the same time Natasha squared off against some as well (they may have been alligators, I don't know, I just know that they're equally terrifying). FORTUNATELY FOR EDMONDSON, he's crafting two really interesting books and two intriguing characters in as little as five books combined so we'll let him slide on this limited bag of tricks.
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 10
Shinick (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)
It's up to Spider-Man, Daredevil, and a somewhat blind Punisher to stop the corrupted spider-henchmen who are trying to bring down Spider-Man's Spider Island from the inside but that doesn't mean that Spider-Man is ready to believe it wasn't Daredevil or Punisher who brought this upon him. After such a huge betrayal from what seemed to be his men, he is willing to trust no one and still believes he requires the help of no one, making it difficult for Punisher or Daredevil to actually give him that help. As they're beginning to get overrun, Daredevil assures Spider-Man that the only way out of this is to self-destruct the entire floor, leading Spider-Man to believe even more that this could all be Daredevil's doing. However, he also understands the trouble they're in and floods the lair, washing the rest of the bad guys out to sea. Suddenly everything becomes more clear to him and he, to confirm his beliefs, checks one of the betrayers only to find a Goblin tattoo on his neck.
Still a pretty strong issue out of another compelling team-up (featuring two characters who have since gone west and BOY I really hope that Punisher and Daredevil run into each other in California and both are really aggravated that the other came) and one that gives a pretty good look into the fractured psyche of Doctor Octopus, who trusts no one and does not believe in friends or help. Of course, some of that is explained as he thinks back to a time where bullies "befriended" him just to make it easier to torment him at school. I'm not saying that we can't understand why he doesn't believe in friends or in trust, but his madness here does start to feel a little forced. Then again, this is a Spider-Man who has upset the superheroes of the world with his sudden personality shift so I guess it's not hard for Doc Ock to make the leap that these would-be pals would turn on him, especially since he doesn't really have any recollection of what their relationships with Peter may have been. Fun stuff and Marco Checchetto's art continues to really shine just as Rachelle Rosenberg's colors continue to impress.
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