Daredevil Dark Nights 4, Deadpool Kills Deadpool 3

Daredevil Dark Nights 4
D. Lapham (w + a) and Loughridge (c)

Our first of two creative team changes in Daredevil Dark Nights as David Lapham takes over writer and artist duties for the next two issues. This issue is more the feel of current Daredevil than Weeks' arc was, which still felt like Daredevil but not Waid's. Where Weeks' was more gritty and tense, Lapham's is, first and foremost, set around the time of Waid's run with Matt advising people in their own legal defenses. It's perhaps set a little earlier than we're set with Waid's run currently as Matt is also dating Kirsten McDuffie in this issue. Anyway, that's enough set-up. Currently, Matt is providing the defense for small-time mob member Michael Rochelle. Using his lie detector hearing senses, he's already determined that Rochelle is innocent of killing the councilwoman he's accused of killing but it's not really helping Rochelle's case, which is predicated on a gun probably used to kill the councilwoman with Rochelle's prints on it. Daredevil thinks it could actually exonerate Rochelle but it's stolen away by a tiny man (ten inches tall) named Buggit who seems to secrete oil from his pores, making him extra slippery in addition to extra small. Daredevil chases Buggit throughout the city, never really managing to get more than a slight grasp of him. Finally he manages to get his hands on some flour (thanks to a  woman who finds herself rather interested in the superhero climbing her building) and coats Buggit in it, allowing him to get a hand on the man. It turns out Buggit is Rochelle's cousin and wants to save him from jail time, not knowing Matt could possibly save Buggit. Also, the gun being lost means that whoever Rochelle was the patsy for now thinks they're being double-crossed. Daredevil finds himself up against Shocker (easy) and a giant monster (harder), which manages to distract him from Buggit long enough for Buggit to make it to Rochelle's apartment, where he finds him, shot to death.

There's more of a sense of fun to this issue than the last three issues, which is what I was, in an extremely roundabout way, getting to up above. Even with the dramatic ending, the idea of Buggit by itself is a more fun one than a girl who needs a new heart in the middle of a devastating snowstorm. On top of that, Daredevil runs into several women who he flirts with, harkening back to simpler days for Matt, who was always something of a womanizer. It's a nice little touch for the character and it fits well with Waid's approach to the character, which has been so successful. The fun of the issue is definitely well received as it does serve as a nice break from the tension of the last arc. Weeks' arc was solid and the art particularly was gorgeous but it did kind of break from the newest characterization of the character. Still, obviously a very heroic act in that arc and a nice follow-up here from Lapham. The match-up against the somewhat ridiculous Buggit was nice, as well as the match-up between Daredevil and Shocker, among other things. Good issue.

Deadpool Kills Deadpool 3
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c)

The good Deadpools still have to deal with the bad Deadpools but now they have Galactuspool to deal with on top of everything else. The good 'pools manage to pretty handily defeat the bad 'pools and Lady Deadpool leads the others to an extensive armory hidden underneath what had been their base not too long ago. She tells Deadpool that he'll need these weapons in the times to come. She then promptly drives the Bea Arthur into face of Galactus, which proves to be just enough to knock the head off though it comes at what seems to be the cost of her life. The Watcher, now firmly on the side of the good 'pools, tells them they need to head to the nexus of reality in this dimension to root out the bad 'pools at their source. The nexus in this world is located in the Savage Land, where the remaining good 'pools run afoul of some more bad 'pools, this time in the form of Deadpool the Duck, Deadpool Dinosaur and the murderous Moon Boy, and DEADPOOL (a MODOK 'pool).

Again, the ideas of this series don't hold the series up as much as the ideas behind the Deadpool Killustrated series. Still, it's fairly fun to see all the various Deadpools from different realities. There is something of an emotional core as our Deadpool has to struggle with the weight of killing Deadpools across reality and what the fight makes him. However, this emotional core comes even as he obliterates his enemies so it's a little hard to make out how much it's truly impacting him. If you're not looking for a serious series or a hugely characterization or plot heavy book, you could do worse than this one. If you're not in the mood for fun or jokey books or if you hate Deadpool (who features in this book rather a lot, keen-eyed readers might note), this one's worth a miss. Could be worse, maybe could be better (hard to argue that definitively; maybe this is the best of all possible Deadpool Kills Deadpool series).

This week's picks

Tough picks to make this week with two sure bets and one that could go a couple different ways. On the plus side, it's pretty much just those four or five that I'm debating, everything else is significantly behind.

Avengers AI 1

It was between this and Iron Man (and a little bit Venom but not that much) and I'm still not sure which was the right one to choose. I think Iron Man may have been the actual better comic but this one's worth checking into for the feel of the comic and the nice way it's set itself up. Iron Man continued its great pace and its stellar story and writing but my recommendation, I think, goes to Avengers AI because I think it may fill a role in the Marvel Universe that isn't filled yet so I think people should be keeping an eye on it. No guarantee that it will all pan out but there seem to be places to go with this story and these characters and the book was fun overall. Read it, enjoy it, maybe pick up the Skottie Young variant if you can find it.

Red She-Hulk 67

I would be lying if I said that this wasn't always going to make my final pick. Bear with me, though, it's my last chance to be able to pick it. On top of that, it delivered an end to a good story and gave us some nice character resolution bits, including Red She-Hulk figuring out both worlds were real and choosing her world and X-51 learning that, although he's a machine with specific coding, he can still be an individual in the way he manipulates that coding. I'm particularly sad to see the main duo of Red She-Hulk and X-51 disappear for at least a bit because their relationship proved to be one of the most enjoyable in the Marvel Universe at current. It developed very naturally and improved along the way and became an incredibly fun and dynamic friendship. It's not easy to do that and it's especially not easy to do that in as little time as Parker had to set it up and build. A satisfying ending to a regularly pretty great title.

X-Men Legacy 13

Very interesting to see Spurrier switch narrator from our main character over to Pete Wisdom. It's rare to see a solo book (especially one as decidedly solo as this) take the focus off of that character and place it on another, particularly another established one in the Universe. I feel like most books that switch narrators for an issue or two will put it on someone who hasn't been developed enough to give the audience a sense of who they are. Wisdom is more developed though certainly I'd say he still fits that bill. Even more interesting is how defined David's voice has been, meaning that the decision to switch narrators isn't so simple. David's voice very much drives this book. Taking that away is a risky play but it worked out very nicely here and keeps us in the dark about whatever David's plans are, be they righteous or nefarious. More so, as I think we can fairly safely believe his motives are righteous at this point, we don't get his opinion on whether what he's doing, which is pretty clearly nefarious, is worth the righteous ending. Lot of questions opened up here and really should push this arc and this book as a whole to another new interesting place.


Best Cover

As I said in my review this week, Daredevil Dark Nights' art felt a little like cheating because anything set on snow is going to be pretty gorgeous (unless it's crazy hectic snow, like we've seen in Astonishing X-Men; interesting question, why does this, which is set up to be a huge and impenetrable storm, seem so much calmer in the images? Oh well, not what I'm getting at here). However, I also said that the art is pretty great in this book overall and this cover is no difference. It's maybe a little heavy-handed but that doesn't mean it's not still pretty great looking. don't miss the forest for the trees and all that. If that applies. I'm going to say that it does and I run this blog so no one is editing me out. Fantastic work again, Tim.