Broken Frontier

Mark Waid is Daredevil.

This comic is ridiculously good. Mark Waid is Daredevil. Or at least he must be in order to write with such spot-on characterization. He has made Daredevil fun, clever, and undeniably entertaining. He has a smile on his face more often than not, and while that might be a far cry from the run-of-the-mill ultra-depressing Daredevil stories of years past, every bit of humor, style, and wit is still purely Matt Murdock.

A big part of what makes this comic work is Marcos Martin’s artwork. He has a clear, realistic style that does not skimp on the small details. Many superhero comics can get lost in the hubbub of fast action and muddled battle scenes, but here each and every panel has a specific focus. That focus works great for a Daredevil comic book because his super-sense powers are all about the specifics. A great example of this is when Daredevil is battling Bruiser. The fight focuses on key points of impact and how the characters move, which Martin features in several small super-sense panels that highlight the cracking of bones. He draws them in a grotesquely beautiful latticework of fractures, making the readers feel like they might have powers, too.

Last issue, Bruiser bested Daredevil in a fight. Anyone who has read Waid’s Incorruptible or Irredeemable series knows that he has a knack for unique and flavorful characters, and he does not disappoint here. Bruiser takes sponsorship from evil organizations and plasters their logo on his costume like a NASCAR driver. It is silly, yet it has a wonderful charm when you see Daredevil getting beat up by a guy with A.I.M., Hydra, and Serpent Society logos down his front. The fight is brutal and complex, and it is refreshing to see Daredevil solve a problem with his mind as much as his fists.

The overall plot has been a juicy mystery involving law firms, Latverian business men, and a young blind man not unlike Matt’s lawyer persona. The unveiling of a plot twist at the end is interesting, but hardly surprising. What makes the ending so great is what this plot means to Daredevil as a character. It is one thing to say that Daredevil is “the man without fear,” but it is entirely another thing to craft a nuanced plot that utilizes the character’s best qualities throughout a layered story, all resulting in a display of why he is the most dangerous man alive.