Marvel Mondays: "Daredevil" #102

Hey folks! I now know why there was so much stuff posted yesterday on Wizard Universe...I had posted stuff stretching TWO days! Well, there's quite a lot more stuff today, so enjoy!

Have I mentioned that Daredevil is now one of my favourite characters in the Marvel Universe? Ever since Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada relaunched the title as part of the Marvel Knights stable, the book has gone from strength to strength. Then Brian Michael Bendis started his legendary run and Ed Brubaker now carries on that legacy.

It's remarkable, considering there's nothing really special about Daredevil. Sure, he's got pretty unique powers. But he can't shoot lightning bolts out of his arse or anything fancy like that...he's just an expert hand-to-hand combatant with a radar sense and enhanced senses...and those enhanced senses are sometimes more of a disadvantage than an advantage!

So why do I like the character so much? Perhaps it's because he's a flawed hero. He makes bad choices in his personal life (some of which he's been pushed into) and his interaction with his supporting cast makes it one of the best reads right now. Daredevil, the hero, isn't anything special, when you're talking about superpowers. Matt Murdock, the CHARACTER though, now there's someone unique and special.


MARVEL MONDAYS: 'DAREDEVIL' #102
A glimpse at Mr. Fear and a look at Daredevil’s most vicious vendettas throughout history
By Brian Warmoth

Posted November 26, 2007 5:10 PM

Daredevil’s long history with Mr. Fear dates back for decades, but the masked villain crossed a new line when he sent Murdock’s wife Milla over the edge into a drug-induced psychotic rage. Now, Milla sits in a mental institution and things are very personal for the Man Without Fear. Mr. Fear earned a slot on top of an elite list of villains to land on the wrong end of one of Daredevil’s grudges. Alongside a preview of this week’s Daredevil #102, here are the worst of Daredevil’s rogues and what happened to them.

FIXER
The Grudge: Roscoe Sweeny had Matt Murdock’s dad Jack killed after the veteran boxer refused to throw a fight. If that wasn’t bad enough, he slipped right through the legal system and back onto the streets. The crime inspired Matt to take on his identity as Daredevil.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Daredevil not only managed to track down his father’s assailant Slade, he also found the Fixer in a subway and scared the life out of him—literally, the old man had a heart attack and croaked.

MICAH SYNN
The Grudge: Synn beat Daredevil to a pulp and then not only got a restraining order filed against him, but also tarnished his image in the media and kidnapped Murdock’s secretary. Synn also messed around with Foggy Nelson’s wife and used her against both Nelson and Murdock.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Daredevil teamed together with the Kingpin to completely dismantle Synn's crime syndicate and reduced the bare-chested pile of machismo to a groveling, begging embarrassment to supervillains everywhere.

KINGPIN
The Grudge: The Kingpin outed Daredevil as Matthew Murdock to the F.B.I. and got him thrown in jail. Then he had Murdock's partner and pal Foggy Nelson brutally stabbed. Unfortunately for him, the F.B.I. threw the Kingpin for a loop and tossed him in jail as well, right along with Murdock.
Daredevil’s Revenge: When a prison riot broke out and Daredevil and the Kingpin were forced to look out for each other momentarily, Murdock let the Kingpin catch a crippling blow from Bullseye and jumped out of jail with the big criminal Kahuna still behind bars in a world of pain.

OWL
The Grudge: The Owl got way out of line and teased Murdock about Foggy’s stabbing. The crude comments hit a nasty chord with the recently arrested hero.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Murdock slammed a few fistfuls of hurt into the Owl in response to the taunt and left him with a few bruises to remember him by.

MR. FEAR
The Grudge: Murdock’s law school classmate Larry Cranston carried his own grudge into a career as the third Mr. Fear. Partnering with chemist Dante Govich, Cranston lashed out at Milla and drugged her into a psychotic stupor.
Daredevil’s Revenge: Daredevil’s out for blood now, as well as an antidote for Milla’s condition. As history shows, messing with Daredevil’s loved ones rarely ends with a slap a on the wrist.

---

[PREVIEW] Daredevil Annual #1

Seems like Brian Michael Bendis' and Ed Brubaker's arcs on Daredevil are linked so closely that everything seems interconnected. I'm really loving reading Daredevil when I pick up the TPBs...so much so that I want to pick up the HCs and preserve all those awesome stories!

The Daredevil Annual #1 is coming up:


[PREVIEW] DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1
An under-the-weather Matt Murdock comes face to face with Black Tarantula—is he friend or foe?

Posted October 29, 2007 3:55 PM

Daredevil’s having a tough week. A flu bug has rendered his radar power useless, a Yakuza gang is trying to reclaim its power in Hell’s Kitchen, and there’s a murder to be solved. Now, he has to deal with a visitor from his time in prison—Carlos LaMuerto, aka the Black Tarantula. Carlos has been released, and he’s looking to Matt Murdock for some help in setting up a new life on the outside. Will Murdock and LaMuerto end up as allies, or foes? Will Black Tarantula really go straight, or will his inner demons lure him back to his crimelord past?

DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1
Written by ED BRUBAKER & ANDE PARKS
Penciled by ROY ALLEN MARTINEZ
Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Rated T+…$3.99
On sale 10/31/07

Alas, poor Yorick, the last man on earth.

Second day in a row and almost no updates that interest me from Wizard again! What gives man? I guess they give equal coverage to DC and Marvel...and I really don't give two damns about DC's shit most of the time. And some Marvel stuff just doesn't really pique my interest all that much.

So I finished reading Dr Strange: The Oath yesterday and boy was it good! It just cements Brian K. Vaughan's reputation as a stellar writer (with brilliant comedic timing and humour!) and while he's already one of my favourite writers, he's quickly moving up a notch or two. I think at last count, he was my 3rd or 4th favourite writer...he's easily just behind Brian Bendis and Alan Moore now, with Ed Brubaker moving to 4th and Mark Millar just a tad out of touch at 5th.

Was desperate to read another TPB yesterday but I couldn't decide what I wanted to read: Astro City? XXXenophile? Captain America Omnibus? I didn't want something too heavy or something too light. And though I know I'm probably going to regret doing this (because I've only at the moment got Vols.1-3 and 8-9), I started Y - The Last Man...by a certain Mr Vaughan. Might have something to do with the fact that I wanted to read something written by him after reading the goodness that was Dr Strange: The Oath.

Now I've read all the TPBs of Y - The Last Man published so far...heck, I own ALL of them, though most of the TPBs are back in Singapore. Trying to rebuild my collection here a la the Preacher series, since it's just so good. The premise is simple: something happens that causes every human, foetus and mammal with a Y chromosome (that's the one that's in the MALE gender for those of you who never studied genetics) in the world to just die at the same moment. The gendercide is complete worldwide...all except for one man and his pet monkey.

Cmon...if that premise doesn't get you hooked, what will? It's the last man on earth! With his monkey! As the last man and the only one with a working...er...set of tools, doesn't that automatically make his wang hot property? Shouldn't he be some sort of Wilt Chamberlain/Hugh Hefner hybrid when it comes to number of women bedded?

On the contrary. Life isn't that rosy for the last man on earth. It's a brilliant examination of the human psyche, and everyone knows I love reading about stuff where a human (or bunch of) get thrusted into extreme situations and we get to see how they react. Yorick, our hero, doesn't quite become the love machine that one automatically assumes he would be. There are a whole bunch of femi-nazis gunning for him. Heck, seems like a LOT of people are after him, either to kill him or to sell him off in the sex trade, or to try and protect him so he could one day jumpstart humanity again.

It's a fascinating read and it's a shame the series ends with #60, which I believe is out in stores this month. I'd love to read this series back to back just like I did Preacher, though it'd take me a couple of days...at least a week, what with my working schedule. But having read the first three issues in the first TPB yesterday and this morning, I've already discovered a whole lot of other things that I didn't know about previously. It's one of my recommended reads...try it!

On another note, it's also a title published by Vertigo, the mature-readers-centric line of titles published by DC comics. Some of my FAVOURITE titles and series have been published by Vertigo. While I generally shun the DC stuff (because I just don't relate and care for the superheroes in the DC-verse...I'm a Marvel man after all!), Vertigo stuff is just so awesome.

I've got Preacher, Y - The Last Man, Ex Machina, Fables, Jack of Fables, 100 Bullets (though I've never had the time to read them...have the TPBs at home)...and then there are titles like Bite Club that they publish that I have. I'm also interested in Loveless and American Virgin and a whole lot of other titles published. Not to mention that Neil Gaiman's famous Sandman series was a Vertigo series and a lot of the popular mainstream writers all got their start on that imprint, like Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Brian Azzarello, Ed Brubaker, Warren Ellis...and Alan Moore too!

Vertigo: A font of creative goodness.

By the new Ross costume's early light

As posted last week, Captain America is going to have a new costume! But with a twist...and one I do not enjoy.

BY THE NEW ROSS COSTUME’S EARLY LIGHT
5 burning questions with writer Ed Brubaker about Captain America’s new threads

By Brian Warmoth

Posted October 12, 2007 11:30 AM

Yesterday, Marvel premiered Captain America’s new, shinier Alex Ross design for the coming year, and the American hero looks like he’ll be entering 2008 with guns a-blazing. Writer Ed Brubaker talked about the gun and a few other key points about the design and the future of his blockbuster series’ lead character.

WIZARD: What do you like the most about Alex’s design work?

BRUBAKER: He’s got a classic sense of heroic costume design. His design work reminds me in some ways of the work John Romita did on new designs in the ’70s.

Who’s behind the mask?

BRUBAKER: Like I’m going to tell you. It’s Gwen Stacy’s clone.

Is this the first time since Dick Purcell in 1944 that Captain America has wielded a gun?

BRUBAKER: No. In the late ’60s there was a Cap novel called The Great Gold Steal where he carried a gun, I believe, and I think he’s used a gun a small number of times since then. But this is the first time it’s been part of his uniform.

What does this image say about the story you’re writing?

BRUBAKER: It’s a costume design. It doesn’t say anything. Hopefully it tells you to read the comics, if anything.

Did you have any input on this costume?

BRUBAKER: Yeah, I was there the whole way through, giving input, as was Steve Epting. Ultimately, though, the original and final designs came down to Alex’s handiwork: taking his original concept sketches, incorporating the ideas we all could agree on and just making it look good.

I wanted a belt buckle, but everyone else shot me down.


A GUN!? A fricking gun!? Ugh, no!

Captain America should be like Batman: he don't need no stinking guns to get the job done. In fact, I'm a bit perturbed about the whole black colour element added to the costume. Why black? What is he mourning? What is he symbolising? Is the black for added stealth, and if so, why continue having the blue, red and white then?

Ugh, no guns please. :( I realise that Captain America is a soldier and he probably has been trained in the use of firearms (and possibly used some against the Nazis in World War II), but this is Captain frickin' America! He doesn't need a gun! All he needs is his trusty shield and he'll mow down enemies faster than any gatling gun could ever hope to achieve without jamming!

Catching up on reading TPBs

No new updates from Wizard Universe today, unfortunately...nothing that really interests me much. There's an interview with Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey and Chris Yost about the latest storyline, Messiah Complex, that's going to be the prevalent storyarc in the X-Men titles, but I've been weaned off the X-Universe for quite a long time now that it doesn't really interest me much anymore. The last real storyarc/series I read was Morrison and Quitely's run on New X-Men...and not only was that ages ago, but I didn't even get the single issues and resorted to purchasing the HCs and TPBs to read the entire storyline! Oh yeah, must remind myself to save up for that New X-Men Omnibus...I really love those Marvel Omnibuses which are something like the DC Absolute Editions, though with less extras but more issues collected.

I'd finished reading Preacher Vol.7, so I'm about 70 to 80 per cent through the entire series. Jarrod from Classic Comics rang me yesterday evening to inform me that Preacher Vol.8 is in store now, so once I get it, just another two more TPBs to read and I'd have read the Preacher series for the third time. It gets better everytime I read it...learn so much more! I'd really love for one day to have loads of free time to read the entire series from cover to cover in one go. Would take me a good portion of the day methinks. But hell, it'd be worth it.

Obviously, I needed something else to read in the meantime, since I didn't know when Preacher Vol.8 was going to be available, so I started on Brian K. Vaughan's Y - The Last Man Vol.8. I've got the seven previous volumes back in Singapore and I THOUGHT I'd remember enough of the story to make reading the latest TPB worthwhile...but alas, it felt like just jumping into the series midway with not much of an idea what had happened previously before! That's one of the reasons why I decided to get the ENTIRE Preacher series again here...I wanted to have the whole collection to read in the one go. Y - The Last Man is absolutely brilliant as well and well worth getting the entire series too. Hmmm...priorities.

I started on the Ed Brubaker run of Daredevil as well last night, which is kinda nice because while it was good to have some previous idea of what happened in the past in Brian Michael Bendis' run, it certainly wasn't necessary to know ALL that had transpired. Got through the first three issues in the TPB and it's as good as the critics have said. I really love the whole notion of Daredevil's secret identity being outed in the press, then everyone looking at him as if he's this street urban vigilante who fights crime at night but fights evil in the court of law in the day. Which is exactly what he does...but now with the added "twist" that people know and shoot accusatory glares at him!

It's funny seeing how Murdock keeps denying that he's Daredevil, but then proceeds to prove that he's anything BUT a blind man. Take for instance: Murdock is thrown in jail and he keeps telling the prison warden that he's not Daredevil. So the prison warden, who's been bought off, sets a trap for him in which a group of superthugs all jump Murdock, hoping to shiv him. A couple of panels later, the prison guards bust in and they find everyone bruised, bloody and down for the count...all except Murdock, who's ATTEMPTING to hide in the corner, completely unharmed. Murdock's excuse? That the thugs (who ALL work for the same person) just started beating up on each other and in the panic, he was trying to find some corner to escape the violence. Yeah, I'm sure they'd believe that.

There are too many incidents in the prison where the prisoners all start heading to the infirmary, one by one. And is it a massive coincidence that these prisoners all have had run-ins with Murdock BEFORE being sent to the hospital? It doesn't look good for Murdock's secret identity, but I love the way that it's playing out this way. Oh! In the last panel of the third issue, we see a man snapping the neck of a wannabe rapist. A bunch of cops see this happening and they rush up to arrest the man. The man opens up his trenchcoat and then puts his arms up in the air, asking for the cops to arrest him and take him to prison...the same prison that Murdock is in.

All this is well and good, until they focus in on the man's chest and there's this eerie huge fricking skull on his chest. You guessed it...the Punisher wants to go to prison! Does he want to save Daredevil, his one time ally? Or does he want to kill him, since Daredevil has been his long-time nemesis...not nemesis in terms of "I want to kill you because you're my enemy", but nemesis because both of them don't agree on the way to deal with villains. Daredevil wants villains to go through due process in a court of law, while the Punisher, well, he wants to punish them by killing them all and letting God sort them out.

I can't wait to read the rest tonight!

I want want want (but can't have all at once)!

Back this week for more comics and pop culture shenanigans! Aeris and I went to Classic Comics on Friday, so I could see whether my ordered copy of The Complete Bite Club was in yet, but the stupid Connex train and Yarra Trams tram services conspired to get me there AFTER 7pm, when the shop was closed.

I think I also want to purchase the entire run of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher, which has been one of the most awesome series I have ever read. Nine books in total, so it will cost a fair bit...I really need to work out my budget over the next couple of months, because I also want to get Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Captain America Omnibus which collects, in HC, the first 25 issues of their run, plus two other related comics. And then we've got the move as well, which has eaten into my finances...need to prioritise what I want to get.

And the Marvel Zombies Vs Army of Darkness HC will be released sometime next week too, which is something I want to get as well! So many choices. Not enough money. Grah.

Captain America Omnibus

Didn't come to work yesterday and thus, I wasn't online...because I went and got a new Wii and spent some time breaking it in! :) You can read all about that here.

So anyway, just trying to catch up on posting the latest news and stuff from Wizard Universe now, plus my little commentaries, insights and random (and totally useless) remarks. ;)

First off, something new to add to my wish list!


[PREVIEW] CAPTAIN AMERICA BY ED BRUBAKER OMNIBUS
Experience the Eisner winning life & death Of Captain America like never before!

Posted August 13, 2007 11:00 AM

Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils by STEVE EPTING, MIKE PERKINS, MICHAEL LARK, MARCOS MARTIN, &
LEE WEEKS
Cover by STEVE EPTING
Rated T+…$74.99

FOC—8/9/07, On Sale—9/19/07

Experience The Eisner Winning Life & Death Of Captain America Like Never Before!

Marvelites, you had better face front for this one, because you can’t miss the mind-blowing Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus Hardcover! This jam-packed deluxe oversized edition features the first twenty-five issues of Captain America written by the Eisner Award-winning Ed Brubaker, the Captain America 65^th Anniversary Special and Winter Soldier: Winter Kill one-shots, a brand new cover by fan favorite Steve Epting and over 70 pages of extras! These phenomenal stories feature the art of top industry talent including: Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Michael Lark, Marcos Martin, and Lee Weeks!

This seminal compilation contains one of the most controversial Marvel storylines of all time: “The Death of Captain America,” reprinted here for the first time! If that isn’t enough, then be prepared for the return of Cap’s partner, Bucky Barnes, as the deadly Winter Soldier! No Captain America story would be complete without an appearance of his arch nemesis, the Red Skull… but you won’t believe what happens when a new villain is thrown into the mix!

No super hero fan can afford to miss the Eisner-winning Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus Hardcover and experience one of the most acclaimed chapters in the history of Captain America!

Hot damn! Just about everyone knows how big of a Captain America fan I am, so I guess it's only appropriate that I'd be uber-excited about this Omnibus. I've read the first couple of issues of the new Captain America series by Ed Brubaker and have heard how critically acclaimed his entire run is. What a perfect opportunity to jump onto the bandwagon, seeing as how I don't own a single issue of this new Captain America series, save #25 when he died.