Tag Archives: Daredevil

Daredevil by Zdarksy & Checchetto

I guess I have become Idle Time’s Chip Zdarksy mouthpiece as I’ve written about my love for his work a lot. That hasn’t changed with his debut issue on Daredevil with Marco Checchetto on art and Sunny Gho as the inker.

Daredevil has always been a comic character close to my heart. When I got really into reading comics in high school, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark’s Daredevil was my entry point and I fell in love with the character. From there I went back to read the Frank Miller and Bendis runs which cemented the character in my mind as a favorite. I’ve always stuck with the title since then through its ups and downs (that time Matt was possessed by a demon of the Hand and became evil was rough).

The thing that has always fascinated me about the character is inner conflict. Unlike some of the other heroes who suffer from this, like Batman, Matt’s whole deal is that he is a lapsed Catholic boy, something I identify with far too well. As someone raised in that environment, and who then left without looking back, I still find myself dwelling on what I learned for eighteen years.

That being said, Chip does what he does best and distills what makes Daredevil great into a perfect entry point. Sure a lot of this stuff is pretty by-the-book for ol’ Hornhead, but Matt’s personality is in full force with Zdarsky at the helm.

Continue reading Daredevil by Zdarksy & Checchetto

The Defenders

Last month, Marvel gave us our first look at the new Defenders series as a back-up feature to the Free Comic Book Day edition of Secret Empire. And this week, Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez introduce us to the full cast of this street-level vigilante superteam. Marvel Studios continues to hold sway, which is why this Defenders squad is unlike any team of that name that we’ve seen in the comics (a Defenders team with no Strange seems odd). But right away, you can tell that Bendis is driven by more than just the typical company mandate that resulted in phoned-in Guardians of the Galaxy comics or the tedious Civil War II. Bendis is here because he loves these characters. And if the story doesn’t convince you, his afterword says, in no uncertain terms: “I love Daredevil so much.”

He also reminds us that he created Jessica Jones, has had a perennial crush on Luke Cage, and even took an opportunity to develop the Iron Fist mythology when Brubaker and Fraction weren’t looking. So this is clearly something he’s excited about. Marquez is onboard too; those bold, logo-draped character entrances give Bendis’s quick cuts and fluid dialogue a 70’s-style cinematic beat. You can almost hear the horns and bassline when Luke Cage strolls up carrying five dozen sandwiches.

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Ranking Marvel NOW! 40 – 26

40
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows

Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman

So much fun! This book has everything I want from a Spider-story, slice-of-life Peter Parker mayhem, wisecracking Spider-Man, dinosaurs! Oh yeah, it also has this excellent new Spider-team consisting of the Webhead, Mary Jane, and their daughter Annie. Great writing, great art, great all-around. I loved this book, and will absolutely be reading more. – IP

I’m glad they have the Earth-2 stuff still going (been around longer than the Ultimate U!) but I’ve never been into it, and this book isn’t changing my mind. – MMDG

First collection: Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol. 1: Brawl in the Family (June)

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39
Kingpin

Matthew Rosenberg and Ben Torres

Good, not great. Still a big fan of Rosenberg’s work, so, even though I’m not partial to the “other side of villainy” tales, I trust that this writer – especially with the titular character – can make it work. – MMDG

First collection: Kingpin Vol. 1: Born Against (September)

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Continue reading Ranking Marvel NOW! 40 – 26

New Comics: The Accused

File_001This week’s The Accused fills in the gap between issues 3 and 4 of Civil War II. Specifically, we are in the gallery and behind closed doors for all the conspiratorial intrigue that takes place during Hawkeye’s month-long trial. There’s no drama in the final verdict: that was revealed two weeks ago (Clint walks!) but this one-shot puts a very different spin on the hero vs. hero conflict that is at the center of the Civil War event. By now, in Week 45 of All New All Different Marvel, readers know that Matt Murdock has returned to New York and is once again practicing law. This time, however, he’s sitting at the other table, as one of the prosecuting attorneys tasked with convincing a jury to convict Clint Barton of murder. And sentence him to death.

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New Comics: The Punisher

Fuck me, it’s Frank Castle.

A few days after Marvel announced that Jon Bernthal would be reprising his role as The Punisher in a new Netflix series, Frank makes his All New All Different Marvel debut in the pages of Becky Cloonan and Steve Dillon’s The Punisher #1. He gets right to work doing what he does best, killing fools and blowing shit up. And he does it without saying a single damn word.

Becky Cloonan is a badass. Already well known for her artwork, collaborating on books like Demo with Brian Wood and American Virgin with Steven Seagle, this time she gets bloody with the typewriter (I like to imagine her scripting this book on a cranky Smith Corona, filling up an ashtray and smashing down on the carriage release with the bottom of her whiskey glass). She’s got Frank chasing the distributors of a dangerous new street drug, while the DEA tries to keep above the tide of dropping bad guy bodies.

The DD/Punisher Infinite comic gets a physical re-package
The DD/Punisher Infinite comic gets a physical re-package

Steve Dillon is a professional. You loved his brutal realism on Vertigo books like Hellblazer and Preacher, and you were happy to see him dip his toes into Marvel’s capes-n-tights pool over the last decade. Then you were thrilled when he teamed up with Jason Aaron on The Punisher. He hasn’t half-assed a spray pattern since, and there will be plenty of eyes rolling back into victims’ skulls. Nobody does it better.

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Ranking the All New All Different Marvel: 20 – 11

20
Uncanny X-Men

Cullen Bunn & Greg Land
An X-Book that is straight to business from the get-go. This is the classic X-Men premise of mutants protecting the world, and protecting themselves from the world. Except now Magneto is at the center, and he doesn’t seem as peaceful as he’s been in previous conversions. Once you get past the roll call in the first few pages, the real plot picks up, and I’m into the Inhumans/Mutants race war. The “Dark Riders” don’t seem to have a lot of allure outside of being mutant-hating Inhumans, but I’ll look forward to seeing this badass X-team go off on chumps. On a Greg Land note, outside of the cover, it seems he’s stepped back a little from his signature photo-realistic style, and I still think it looks crisp, but now it’s got grit. Also: What happened to Angel? Can we stick a mutant’s brain in there or something? – RF

First collection: Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 1: Survival of the Fittest (July)

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19
Squadron Supreme

James Robinson & Leonard Kirk
Awesome. Both James Robinson books are must-reads for me. Feels like one of the early Millar/Bendis Ultimate U books. Maybe it’s a bit confusing with all the references to the Incursions and the atrocities committed by Namor and The Cabal… but I think the shock value is intact. Plus, I freaking hate Namor. – MMDG

This is easily gonna be one of my favorite capes ‘n’ tights books of this ANADM. I have liked the alternate realities of Squadron Supreme that I’ve read, and seeing them combined permanently in the Marvel U (not just an Ultimates crossover) is exciting. I think Marvel is pretty excited too because they’re letting Ross do the covers. The Squadron I’m familiar with has always been about gritty interpretations of classic hero types (Superman, Batman, Flash Wonder Woman, etc.) and the less sentimental Squadron will easily clash with the moral stances of many classic Marvel heroes. I’m surprised this cover doesn’t advertise the Namor fight; that seems like kind of a huge deal. Next issue they face one of the oldest MU characters ever, as well as their newest, strangest Avengers team, and as long as this book can maintain it’s “MAX-line” quality, I think I’ll keep reading. – RF

First collection: Deadpool, Vol. 1: By Any Means Necessary! (June)

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Continue reading Ranking the All New All Different Marvel: 20 – 11

All New All Different Marvel – Week 9

This is the biggest week yet in Marvel’s relaunch initiative. Seven premieres, combined with the same number of continuing books, account for fourteen four-color forays into the All-New, All-Different universe.

Among the new series making their debut in week nine: Dan Abnett returns to the cosmic team book he helped make famous with Guardians of Infinity; Frank Cho is illustrating the hell out of a legitimately new and different Hulk (who also goes by Cho, as a matter of fact) in Totally Awesome Hulk; and Charles Soule and Ron Garney bring Daredevil back to the grim and gritty world of Hell’s Kitchen while also bringing Matt Murdock back to the bench, this time as a prosecutor.

All New All Different premieres
All New Inhumans #1
All New X-Men #1
Daredevil #1
Guardians of Infinity #1
Red Wolf #1
Spidey #1
Totally Awesome Hulk #1

Continuing and related titles
All New All Different Avengers #2
Doctor Strange #3
Extraordinary X-Men #3
Howard the Duck #2
Invincible Iron Man #4
Nova #2
Vision #2
Continue reading All New All Different Marvel – Week 9