This was Bendis’ grand finale. Overall, Daredevil #81 was a pretty satisfying issue. I give it 4 Night Girls out of 5.
I absolutely loved how Daredevil #81 opened with Matt’s arraignment hearing and then shifted into a wild escape by Murdock. Matt is then re-united with Milla and they go off to live in Paris with new identities. Matt then wakes up and sees the dreaded Ace of Spades sticking out of Milla’s neck. Bullseye kills another. And in a total “oh shit!” moment, Matt chases down Bullseye and snaps his neck.
On the run and nowhere else to go, Matt finds himself seeking sanctuary with the Hand and his old lover Electra. Then the comic snaps back to the courtroom where Matt has yet to plead guilty or not guilty! I loved it! Matt played out the sequence in his head and decided he had to stay and fight these charges instead of running. It was well done by Bendis.
But, Bendis wasn’t out of swerves just yet. Kingpin is outside the courthouse gloating about being a free man when the FBI director places him under arrest for the murder of one of the Kingpin’s subordinates. The comic ends with Matt being placed in his jail cell on Ryker’s Island.
I thought this was an excellent issue. I loved how Matt played out the end result if he decided to try and escape. I was satisfied that Bendis didn’t let Kingpin get away with his plan. Seeing the fat man back in jail was perfect.
My only complaint is that Bendis claims this is the end of the story when it clearly is not. Bendis leaves behind quite a mess for the next writer to try to clear up. Bendis is unfairly burdening the next writer causing him to deal with what Bendis has left open. A new writer should be allowed to the freedom to pursue whatever story he wants rather than what the past writer left behind.
So, with the end of Daredevil #81, so ends Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Daredevil. I’m pretty bummed about that. Daredevil fit Bendis’ writing style very well. This is exactly the type of title that shows off Bendis’ talent, unlike more traditional super-hero titles where Bendis comes off a little weak. I thought that Bendis brought a fresh take on Daredevil.
I collected Daredevil back when Frank Miller was the writer. Once he left, I left. I didn’t pick it back up until Kevin Smith came over as writer and then Bendis took over. Now that Bendis is leaving, I am probably going to drop this title.
At the end of the issue, Bendis shills for his new title that he will be writing, Spider-Woman. Ugghhh. No thanks. I have no interest in that character at all. I’d much rather Bendis stay on Daredevil than waste my time with Spider-Woman. I can think of a lot of characters (Hawkeye) that deserve their own title a hell of a lot more than Spider-Woman.