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andyshute 's review for:
Daredevil: Guardian Devil
by Kevin Smith
Daredevil has always been on my 'I'll get round to him one day' list. The Bendis and Maleev run interested me (though is harder to find these days) but I've never quite found the time. Too many other comics.
The "Kevin Smith Comics Debut" is pretty famous (and there are a lot of intros and post-scripts praising it collected within) and I was a big Kevin Smith fan (weren't we all at Uni?). Given my primary superhero love, I'm familiar with the story, mainly for the big reveal of the orchestrator of the whole shebang. I have to say - at the time, it was either really ballsy or really stupid. Bizarre either way and the explanation of why is both hilarious and deeply sad.
The story works well for the most part. Cue Kevin Smith: Catholic guilt, lots and lots of text, adult material/themes etc. And, you can just about feel how fresh it would have been, even if this style of story is now commonplace. Ultimately, it goes on a little too long and gets a bit swamped in the machinations. The penultimate issue with the big reveal is exposition the whole way and feels too much.
The art is a mixed bunch - I've never been a big fan of Quesada's art and the characters are pretty poor at times. Matt spends most the time looking pretty goofy and Black Widow is just wrong. Palmiotti is a strong inker though and the colour work is often quite nice if not a bit too bright and primary.
Plus, it doesn't matter how hard you throw a blunt ended billy club at someone, it's not going to magically penetrate their clothing and kill them. I really dislike this common comic book cop out. Like Ultimate Hawkeye killing people with his fingernails - doesn't matter how accurate or hard you throw them, they're not going to do anything. Rant over.
There's a lot to like and it works well as a (sort of) stand alone story, even if you're not familiar with the history or characters. It's not quite enough to make me want to pick up more of the character. Ultimately, I just don't find Murdock that compelling.
The "Kevin Smith Comics Debut" is pretty famous (and there are a lot of intros and post-scripts praising it collected within) and I was a big Kevin Smith fan (weren't we all at Uni?). Given my primary superhero love, I'm familiar with the story, mainly for the big reveal of the orchestrator of the whole shebang. I have to say - at the time, it was either really ballsy or really stupid. Bizarre either way and the explanation of why is both hilarious and deeply sad.
The story works well for the most part. Cue Kevin Smith: Catholic guilt, lots and lots of text, adult material/themes etc. And, you can just about feel how fresh it would have been, even if this style of story is now commonplace. Ultimately, it goes on a little too long and gets a bit swamped in the machinations. The penultimate issue with the big reveal is exposition the whole way and feels too much.
The art is a mixed bunch - I've never been a big fan of Quesada's art and the characters are pretty poor at times. Matt spends most the time looking pretty goofy and Black Widow is just wrong. Palmiotti is a strong inker though and the colour work is often quite nice if not a bit too bright and primary.
Plus, it doesn't matter how hard you throw a blunt ended billy club at someone, it's not going to magically penetrate their clothing and kill them. I really dislike this common comic book cop out. Like Ultimate Hawkeye killing people with his fingernails - doesn't matter how accurate or hard you throw them, they're not going to do anything. Rant over.
There's a lot to like and it works well as a (sort of) stand alone story, even if you're not familiar with the history or characters. It's not quite enough to make me want to pick up more of the character. Ultimately, I just don't find Murdock that compelling.