Daredevil #18, by Mark Waid (writer), Chris Samnee (artist), Javier Rodriguez (color art), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - That is an extremely creepy cover. Especially the capillaries traveling into the horns. I notice Rivera didn't get a credit for it inside the book, which is odd. I know his name is on it, but still. I wonder if he colored it himself, or if Rodriguez did it. It's highly effective. The red stands out against the black backdrop very well, and the black "DD" stands out against the red, and then the bright white of the billy clubs pops against all of it. The clubs especially are almost like two lit fluorescent bulbs.So we start with a new client visiting Foggy Nelson, attorney at law. Mr. Santiago hopes to be taught how to defend his sister in her upcoming murder trial. He insists she had nothing to do with the death of her patient, noted Syndicate man Victor Hierra, found drained of all blood in a locked room of which she was the only other occupant. Foggy explains that they no longer teach people to defend themselves, since they can actively take cases with Matt no longer around to be a distraction. However, Foggy believes him, and takes the case himself.
Matt, meanwhile, is on a date with Kirsten McDuffie, only to cut it off abruptly because his ex-wife Milla is in his apartment. Even though she's supposed to be mad as a hatter in an asylum. But it's her, and Matt doesn't know what to do, so he calls Foggy. That's awkward, but they agree to a trade. Foggy will go check the hospital to find out how Milla got out, Matt will investigate Hierra's boss, Jardiem Salazar. We also learn Matt's made no progress in learning how his father's remains landed in his office. While Matt's dealing with Salazar's goons, the man makes for the elevator. And promptly falls down the shaft. Matt levers the door open, preparing to make the save. . . and steps into the elevator car. Just as Jardiem should have. That's disconcerting, and it gets worse when Foggy calls to say Milla's still at the hospital. Never left.
Hoo boy.
Yeah, this is creepy, but in a good way. As opposed to the first volume of Amnesia Labyrinth I read last night, which was creepy in a way that put me off the series entirely. A lesson about reading up on things before I buy them, not that I'll learn from it, I'm sure. Back to Daredevil. I like the idea of taking someone who normally has absolute trust in his sense - with good reason - and forcing him to doubt them. I think because Matt's senses are so much more acute, and bring in so much more information, the impossibility of what he's detecting has to be even more disorienting for him than it would be for us. I appreciate the quick primer on Milla that Waid gave us. I knew basically all of it, in that way you pick this stuff up without realizing it by reading about it on blogs, but I still appreciate Waid taking the time to catch people up.
Chris Samnee's art was full of things I loved. Foggy's expressions throughout the book were gold. His look of disdain and irritation at having to be reminded of Matt, that almost pouty look on his face when Matt calls, the resignation when he realizes he's going to take the case. Also, all the little traces of Matt's presence he's removed. The dummy head with dark glasses and a hat he threw in the trash. "Murdock" crossed out on the office stationery. There's a bag of chips in the background in the first panel of page 2, a sign Foggy's gone back to his old junk food habits now that Matt isn't around to harass him about it any longer. And the significance of the picture Foggy left up: him, Matt, and Karen Page (though you can hardly see her).
Also, perhaps because it takes place at night, or maybe because he's fighting thugs with guns, but the panel of page 14, as Sardiem enters his office to see Matt crouched on the desk, Daredevil had a little of the old, grim menace to him. I like cheerful, witty Daredevil, but like with Spider-Man, I don't mind it when he gets to look kind of badass. Rodriguez' colors help there, too, this time with the black on the chest, so the red "DD" stands out, the same with the eyeholes. And the city behind him is mostly black and deeper blues, which doesn't hurt for contrast either.
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