Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez (p and c) and A. Lopez (i) and Caramagna (l)
Daredevil hitches a ride with SHIELD to Wakanda, which SHIELD isn't willing to fly over because they're not entirely stupid. DD drops down into the most technologically advanced nation on Earth and is quickly captured, which, of course, turns out to be part of his plan. Instead of hoping to fight his way through Queen Shuri and the rest of Wakanda, he aims to lawyer the nuns out of jail, which he does by revealing that he's brought the corrupt army general to Wakanda and made his disappearance known, which will certainly get people looking and checking into his background and likely lead them to Wakanda. Shuri's only option is to release the nuns and separate herself from the general before things start to look ugly for them, which she does. On the way home, Maggie explains to her son that she had severe postpartum depression and it caused her to attack her husband and, nearly, her infant son, which led her to leaving the house and the family and taking up with God to protect her loved ones. With Jack proven innocent and a relationship with Maggie rekindled, Daredevil gets to return home happy.I'm fairly pleased that this didn't end up being a "I have daddy issues" sort of revelation. Instead, it's far more nuanced and a bit more interesting as we learn a good deal about the rarely seen Maggie and get to see Daredevil spend some meaningful time with his family, who were misunderstood and not abusive after all. This one, as opposed to, say, ORIGINAL SIN: HULK VS IRON MAN, paints someone as a villain then reveals them to be a hero...but I found it interesting as opposed to somewhat predictable and boring. Javier Rodriguez does pretty phenomenal work here. I'll certainly miss his contributions on the book, though I look forward to colorist extraordinaire Matt Wilson's take on Samnee's art starting next issue.
Total Score: 4/5
Elektra 5
W.H. Blackman (w) and Del Mundo (a) and Del Mundo w/D'Alfonso (c) and Cowles (l)
Cape Crow fights with Elektra and reveals that he was able to beat all of his previous attackers because he has extremely limited pre-cognition. It's maybe only half a second, but it's enough for him to use his instincts and win each fight. Elektra, armed with this knowledge, manages to clear her head and fight on pure instinct, defeating him in a close fight. With Cape Crow down and his helmet removed, she learns that he is, in fact, her dead father. But not really, that's just some psychic image put there by Kento, who has some amount of psychic power. She's super mad but agrees to continue to help them assuming Kento never does that again and that they still pay her. Bad news, though, Bloody Lips has arrived, still desperate to eat Elektra. Having a pretty tough day already, Elektra cuts herself and drips blood onto Bloody Lips' lips, giving him a full range of her memories and experiences, which breaks him and he stumbles off a cliff. So long, Bloody Lips! Anyway, Lady Bullseye is back and vows revenge on Elektra.Lots of really great stuff here, including Elektra's bio-signature-based sai (nice try using them against her, Cape Crow), a great taste of her fighting prowess and strategies, the demise of Bloody Lips after a really impressive and very cool if mildly horrific double page spread detailing Elektra's memories, the promise of more assassin fights, and the promise of more Matchmaker, who, if I haven't said it enough, is the best. I really like this book and I think Blackman has plenty of ideas for this book and Del Mundo is an unbelievable artist who really brings this book alive. Just really fun stuff with lots of upside.
Total Score: 5/5
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