Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Chris Samnee
Publisher: Marvel
With only a few issues left of the current run of Daredevil, we need to savour ever last issue as they come out. To this end, my experience with this issue was rather bittersweet; this was an absolutely perfect comic with the entire team firing on all cylinders, however I am reminded that it won’t be long until this level of quality is no longer on the shelves.
Waid left the last issue with an incredible cliff-hanger, leaving Matt with no choice but to perform a deadly stunt on the golden gate bridge with an innocent man’s life hanging in the balance. It’s an intense set-up for this issue and things only get more thrilling as the story progresses, including a chase scene that rivals Hawkeye #3 in its brilliance. It’s situations like this that make Waid’s run so brilliant; taking full advantage of Daredevil’s unique power set with also creating interesting ways to remove it. You’d think at this point he’d have run out of ideas, but it seems Waid is keeping up this creative streak right until the end.
Samnee too proves why he is quite possibly Marvel’s best artist by performing one of the hardest feats in comics; making a chase scene look exciting. As stated, only David Aja’s work on Hawkeye has managed to achieve this, but Samnee rivals this claim by presenting a fantastically fun chase scene done in the most Matt Murdock way possible. There are so many little touches Samnee puts into his art and page layout that could be potentially glanced over but add so much to the experience and give the action a fast paced and kinetic feel. The whole art team work perfectly on this issue, even letterer Joe Carmagna puts in neat creative touches, such as changing the word balloons to indicate texts are being sent. It’s these little details that showcase why this is the best team in comics, everyone is putting in 100% and their passion shows in the quality.
Outside of the incredible chase sequence, the issue actually contains some pretty nice twists that made a story I was already invested in even stronger. It really shocked me how much Waid was able to pull the rug out from under my feet, keeping me so wrapped up in the story that I didn’t see it coming while still making it totally plausible. While there seems to be more danger looming as we reach the conclusion, Waid chooses to give us a relatively happy ending in the meantime, giving long-time fans some nice pay off and suggesting that, just once, Matt might get a happy ending.
It’s this ending that leaves me feeling bittersweet by the end, it definitely feels like this series is wrapping up, the pieces are being put in place for an incredible send off to one of the best superhero runs in recent years. When an issue is this good however, it just stings to remember it’ll soon all be over.
