Daredevil #20, 21, by Mark Waid (writer), Chris Samnee (art), Javier Rodriguez (color art), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Ah, Paolo Rivera covers. I especially like #21. It's a very well done coyote skull, plus the little strain lines above the billy club to show it bowing under the force of the jaws. Nice touch. Plus, it's damn creepy.So Matt's head has been separated from his body by the Spot, in his new identity as the Coyote. Neither part is dead, and Matt can still give his body orders, he just isn't physically connected to it. He learns Coyote's been using his power to run guns at first, but has moved to abducting people and selling them into slavery, using the same method he's applied to Daredevil. Most people, with their heads in a closet somewhere, while their bodies are somewhere else, are completely helpless. Daredevil is not one of those people, and chats up Coyote while his body roams the complex, finding (though he doesn't know it at first) the Spot?! Wait a minute! Yep, Coyote is not the Spot, but he has noticed something's up. Not in time to stop Matt from getting his head reattached, or from snapping the collar responsible around Coyote's neck. Well all right, he's got the guy who committed all the murders, got his head back on his body, everything's groovy.
Except when he freed himself, he freed all the other people, too, and they're just a little mad with, well, rage. At everyone. Including Daredevil. His attempt to create distance does seem to startle them enough to concentrate on escape, rather than revenge, but there are a couple of problems. One, it damaged the machine that powered the collars, which artificially replicate the Spot's powers, and are messing with Coyote's. The collar stops working, Coyote bolts. Two, he freed the Spot, and if you thought those abducted people were pissed, you haven't seen anything yet. At least he's only after Coyote. Except Matt can't let him kill Coyote, so Matt's still in the line of fire. He does use Coyote's terror to get his origin out of him, and a confession - in front of all the abductees, who found no exit - to all the crap he did to mess with Matt. Matt lures the Spot into contact with all those collars, which begin to drag him somewhere, but he's not going without the Coyote. And so Matt is left stumped as to who sent Coyote after him, though I imagine it's the same person who approached the echo of Klaw to kickstart the first arc.
Back in New York, there were two developments. One, Kirsten McDuffie's attempt to get her boss to send out warrants for a possibly unstable Daredevil went horribly, as her boss acted entirely unprofessionally by suggesting it was a lover's spat. And here I thought people became D.A.'s by being good politicians, rather than good lawyers. This guy is clearly neither one. Two, Matt and Foggy have it out, as Foggy apologizes a bit, Matt bitches a lot, and Foggy admits he still has doubts. Primarily, he isn't sure this is even the real Matt. Oh Foggy, Secret Invasion is long gone. I'm not sure whether I would say "thank goodness", since it was followed by Siege, Fear Itself, and AvX, all gigantic loads of crap themselves. Anyway, Matt storms off pissed and self-righteous, as Kirsten, not realizing Matt wasn't nuts, enlists the help of, sigh, the Superior Spider-Man. Oh joy. At least it isn't a crossover.
I love Samnee's design work on both the villains for these issues. Coyote has that sort of classic scary, where there are all these aspects that are a little strange, but combined, work. The oddly shaped head, coming to a ridge at the top. The exaggerated canines, the three diamonds on his face we assume are eyeholes. The Spot when he breaks out, though, is a more obvious "this is wrong". It's one thing when he creates a portal somewhere else, like a wall, and his hands emerge. But not his hands and arms are emerging by the dozens from his own body. He's so enraged, it's like he's tearing himself apart to get at Coyote. The last panel before he goes into the collars, it looks like the arms are carrying him forward over the ground, rather than his legs. He's a guy completely out of control, his or anyone else's.
Have to talk about Javier Rodriguez' work, too. The page where the Spot finally gets a hold of Coyote, the moment he grabs him the background is a bright blue flash. The next three panels, as Daredevil tries to hold on, the background gets steadily darker, shifting through different shades of green. Matt's losing another lead, and by the end, he's left alone with the empty colors, shadows all around. Works very well with the gritted teeth and clenched fists Samnee gives him. Also, how he draws Spider-Wannabe almost entirely in shadows on the last page, helps sell there being something wrong there. Spider-Man wouldn't lurk like that when someone comes to him for help. Combine it with his stated goal to crush Daredevil, and the clenched fist, and the fact everything is slightly titled, off-kilter. Everyone's working to show this isn't the right Spider-Man.
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