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A review by joshbriggs
Daredevil Collection Vol. 5: Battlin' Jack Murdock by Carmine Di Giandomenico, Zeb Wells
3.0
I got this book in single-issue form for $0.25 per issue, for the grand total of $1, and even then, standing in line at the comics shoppe, I almost put it back in the sale bin from whence it sprang. I had never heard of it, never seen it nor smelled it. But it was in the Marvel Knights prestige format - heavy, glossy card stock binding, cover priced at $3.99 each - which I just read in an interview with Marvel EIC himself, Joe Quesada, that the extra investment is a sign from Marvel of a story worth paying a little more for. And so why shouldn't I then pay the tiniest fraction of the intended sale price of ONE issue for all four? I gave in. I purchased. And finally, last night, I read.
And I tell ya, it was pretty good.
There is a constant barage of Marvel origin retellings littering long boxes all over this great land, and I'll say this is one of the better ones. I had never heard of writer Zeb Wells, nor artist/co-plotter Carmine Di Giandomenico before (and it turns out, at least in Zebby's case, with reason - it looks like he writes origin retellings, team-ups, B-list minis and other comics poison almost exclusively), but I was surprised by both. the art was cool-looking: Somewhere between Ed McGuiness and Brian Wood,a little cartoony, but a little dirtier, but still easy to follow and realisitic. Good-lookin'!! Zeb's formatting and dialogue was very admirable. I liked the concept - 4 issues, 4 rounds til Battlin' Jack Murdock is supposed to throw what is famously his last fight. 4 rounds to work over his whole life. We get some insight into him as a man, and we see the stuff we know from some new angles.
Sounds like this should get a better review, doesn't it? Well, the problem's when Daredevil enters the picture. It's when we see that young, "helpless" Matt Murdock is actually going to kick some ass, and maybe even save his father's life. A masked, stick-weilding man beats the crap out of some goons who beating on Jack. In his last minutes alive, Jack Murdock puts all the pieces together, and realizes that this is his son, and spends his last breath laughing maniacly, knowing that his son will destroy the Fixer, and all of his goons. Then, he gets his brains blown out.
I just that was a little silly. And maybe it wouldn't have been, but also, the "stick" he finds at the gym that the mysterious assailant left at the scene, is a billy-club, with a trigger that extends into a staff. Seems like a lot of tech for an 18 year-old WITHOUT a vendetta (yet) to fabricate in his spare time. That's all. Just a couple of really weak links in the chain of an otherwise really entertaining, compelling story.
And I tell ya, it was pretty good.
There is a constant barage of Marvel origin retellings littering long boxes all over this great land, and I'll say this is one of the better ones. I had never heard of writer Zeb Wells, nor artist/co-plotter Carmine Di Giandomenico before (and it turns out, at least in Zebby's case, with reason - it looks like he writes origin retellings, team-ups, B-list minis and other comics poison almost exclusively), but I was surprised by both. the art was cool-looking: Somewhere between Ed McGuiness and Brian Wood,a little cartoony, but a little dirtier, but still easy to follow and realisitic. Good-lookin'!! Zeb's formatting and dialogue was very admirable. I liked the concept - 4 issues, 4 rounds til Battlin' Jack Murdock is supposed to throw what is famously his last fight. 4 rounds to work over his whole life. We get some insight into him as a man, and we see the stuff we know from some new angles.
Sounds like this should get a better review, doesn't it? Well, the problem's when Daredevil enters the picture. It's when we see that young, "helpless" Matt Murdock is actually going to kick some ass, and maybe even save his father's life. A masked, stick-weilding man beats the crap out of some goons who beating on Jack. In his last minutes alive, Jack Murdock puts all the pieces together, and realizes that this is his son, and spends his last breath laughing maniacly, knowing that his son will destroy the Fixer, and all of his goons. Then, he gets his brains blown out.
I just that was a little silly. And maybe it wouldn't have been, but also, the "stick" he finds at the gym that the mysterious assailant left at the scene, is a billy-club, with a trigger that extends into a staff. Seems like a lot of tech for an 18 year-old WITHOUT a vendetta (yet) to fabricate in his spare time. That's all. Just a couple of really weak links in the chain of an otherwise really entertaining, compelling story.