Daredevil

Daredevil: Cruel and Unusual
$14.99
After the bouts of hallucination and its after-effect damage wrought upon DD and Milla in the Dr Fear episode, this collected series moves on to featuring Dakota North in the main role and has DD playing a secondary role. Dakota comes across as an interesting creation, probably equalling Ben Urich and Foggy Nelson in character development.

The dockyard tag will always feature Eric Slaughter (created by Frank Miller) so I was not too enamored nor surprised by it.

The final explanation for the convicted Donovan's predicament was a little lame. Donovan was the fall guy for the real murderer working for Eric Slaughter who had to be protected at all costs in order to protect a govt sting operation. Thus Donovan agreed to face the death penalty in order to ensure regular payments to a trust for his estranged son. There must be easier ways to reach out to estranged kids???

The setup for this was delicious. The conclusion was disappointing. I would give this a 3 star. Again Lark does a great job illustrating DD. I didn't like the other artist's work which was featured in the first part of this comic.

Daredevil: Hell to Pay, Vol. 1
$14.99
The opening Milla love story is okay as a standalone effort. however, it has too many flaskback sequences of DD childhood, Battling Murdock, Karen page, Yellow costume etc. It is starting to feel like a typical Batman comic where every issue has his parents killed over and over again. The storyline is not connected to the main plot. It is a filler story, period.

There are just too many artists working here. The main plot has Dr Fear spreading chemical neurosis to Melvin Potter and Milla Donovan to create insanity streaks in their behaviour. Even DD is affected and the sequence where he is drugged involves a legion of artists to do their own guest panels on DD's hallucinations is quite jarring with disparate artistic styles. and my hat's off to any writer who thinks that he can coordinate an effort like this but it is a mess. Even Gene Colan's work on the Black Widow was badly drawn.

Then there is the limited palette of players. Dr Fear knew Milla. Hence he is working on her to get to DD (or is it Matt Murdoch)? I am unclear whether Dr Fear also knows that Matt is DD.

Re-enters Lily Lucca stage left because she is promised Matt Murdoch as a prize by Dr Fear for inciting Milla to violence. Why is a blind man soo desirable to a rich girl who has inherited all her murdered father's wealth? She doesn't know Matt is DD.

It doesn't add up and hence, the weakness of the plot is starting to show itself. Brubaker needs to improve the plotlines to save this series and his reputation.

Daredevil: Lady Bullseye
$16.99
Brubaker and Lark's Daredevil has been a consistently solid read, and this volume is no exception. Brubaker knows his noir, and there have been several devastating turns throughout the run that have cemented Matt Murdock as The superhero version of the doomed protagonist that genre is known for. That he continues to fight in spite of the tragedies that his life mounts on his plate is essential to the character, and Brubaker knows that. What irks in this volume is that he comes across as whiney and psychologically unsophisticated - there's making bad decisions and feeling the inevitable consequences, and then there's being an emotional masochist. Matt leans too far to the latter for my tastes in this volume, and that makes him hard to root for or empathize with.

My other knock on this volume is that it feels like part of a story. That's the name of the game in comic book collections from Marvel and DC these days, I suppose, but as it's unclear why the "villian" is operating against Daredevil's interests - and since he seems to be really good at doing that without any help - the ending of this book seems a little more unsatisfactory than most.

This all sounds more negative then it should. I hold the creative team to high standards. Lady Bullseye is above average superhero comics with a strong crime fiction influence. Michael Lark is one of the masters of the comic book form, and his dynamic layouts never get in the way of his impecable storytelling. Not as strong as their work on Gotham Central for DC (for example, Gotham Central Book One: In the Line of Duty), and those who like this or want to see them at their best should definitely check that out.

Marvel Universe 3 3/4" Series 2 Action Figure Daredevil
$8.49
Hasbro's Marvel Universe action figures bring characters from throughout Marvel Comics history to the popular 3-3/4" scale (like the Star Wars and DC Universe: Infinite Heroes figures) in their classic visual designs. The figures pack a lot of posability into a small package, but that often leaves them less durable. Still, it's fun to be able to collect your favorite heroes and villains and piece together your own superhero collection.

This Daredevil action figure is nothing special. Daredevil comes in his red outfit with a nunchuck accessory. Unlike other Marvel Universe figures, my Daredevil figure is made of a seemingly more brittle plastic. And there's something not quite anatomically right with the figure's neck/shoulder region.

The figure has posability in its ankles, knees (2 joints each), hips, torso, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck. The joints were all pretty stiff when I got the toy, and it's not as dainty feeling as a few other Marvel Universe figures I've seen. The figure poses decently enough, but I worry that in less delicate hands (say, a child's) the figure may come apart.

So the toy may be nothing special, but it could be a nice addition when building a superhero team. Throw him into the mix with Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Punisher, Hulk, etc.

NOTE: My figure was #008 and part of Wave 1 of the toys, although this product is listed as "Series 2". Might be slightly different product. (?)