There are very few titles as consistently enjoyable as Ed Brubaker’s Daredevil. Luckily, for me, Daredevil has been free of craptacular Civil War tie-in issues. Just another reason why I always look forward to reading Daredevil. I’m sure that Daredevil #91 is going to be another excellent read. Let’s crank out this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Penciler: Michael Lark
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with recalling how he gained his incredibly heightened senses and his radar power. Daredevil explains how he had to learn to control his heightened senses in order to keep him from going crazy. Daredevil recounts his father and his father’s death. Daredevil mentions how scents can trigger thoughts things in the brain that you can’t control like certain feelings and memories.
Daredevil thinks how Lilly Lucca is somehow using the scent of Karen Page to drive Daredevil crazy. Daredevil thinks how Lilly has played Daredevil for a fool this entire time. Daredevil also wonders how Lilly is using Karen’s scent against him to cloud his judgment.
However, Daredevil thinks that Lilly couldn’t know enough about him to know about Karen or to know about his heightened sense of smell. Daredevil figures that Lilly must be working for someone else. The same person that Alton Lennox was working for. The same person who had Foggy Nelson killed.
Daredevil follows Tombstone taking a “kidnapped” Lilly to a midnight meeting with the Matador. Tombstone drags Lilly out of the car and makes it look like he is going to hand her over to the Matador and his thugs. Lilly continues to pretend that she is kidnapped in order to draw out Daredevil.
Daredevil then makes his appearance known. Daredevil takes out the Matador’s thugs and attacks Tombstone. Lilly thanks Daredevil for rescuing her and Daredevil responds by telling Lilly to shut up.
Daredevil then squares off against the Matador and Tombstone at the same time. Daredevil takes down the Matador and then proceeds to have a serious brawl with Tombstone. Daredevil ends up using a sledgehammer to take down Tombstone.
The Matador gets back up and grabs Lilly and threatens to kill her. Daredevil doesn’t believe the Matador. Lilly screams to Daredevil that this isn’t part of the plan. The Matador begins to cut Lilly’s throat and then stops. The Matador tells Lilly that he was supposed to kill her, but he can’t do it. The Matador tells Lilly that he loves her. Lilly tells the Matador to get away from her. Daredevil then steps in and takes down the Matador with one punch.
Lilly then confesses to Daredevil that they would have killed her if she hadn’t played Daredevil for the fool. Daredevil tells Lilly that she killed her father in order to inherit his empire. That she then killed Alton Lennox in his bed. Daredevil tells Lilly that her scent was in Lennox’s room. And now the person who Lilly was working for has turned on her.
Daredevil says that the person Lilly is working for wanted her killed in front of Daredevil because she reminds him of someone (Karen Page). Lilly tells Daredevil that they gave her some type of perfume that has no scent but that is supposed to have some influence over men. That it has something to do with pheromones. (Ha! I guessed the source of her power correctly after all.) That she was told it would work more powerfully and effectively on Daredevil than your normal male.
Daredevil tells Lilly that she has no friends or allies. That Lilly should go ahead and tell him who she is working for. Lilly tells Daredevil who she is working for, but we don’t hear the name. Daredevil says how once he hears the name he can almost feel a knife twisting in his back. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Daredevil #91 was another solid read. It is very impressive how steady Brubaker is on this title. Brubaker continues to employ a moderate and deliberate pace in unfolding this highly interesting mystery. Very few writers can pull off this style of pacing and plotting and still make each issue an interesting read rather than a boring one.
Brubaker serves up his usual excellent dialogue. The dialogue is natural and has a good flow to it. Brubaker also delivers a nicely crafted inner monologue by Daredevil that runs through out this entire issue. Not many writers can pull off an inner monologue that runs the entire issue and have it a compelling read. Brubaker can do this thanks to his crime noir background that lends nicely to this style of writing.
I loved the outstanding character development on Daredevil that Brubaker conducts in the beginning of this issue. We get to hear from Daredevil’s own perspective how overwhelming his heightened sense can be and how he trained diligently to control them in order to keep himself sane.
I liked how Brubaker explained how Daredevil’s heightened sense of smell evokes strong memories in his mind. That after Daredevil’s father died, that his scent was all over their apartment. I thought it was very touching seeing Daredevil sleeping in his father’s closet just so he could that his father was still close to him.
Brubaker also delivered an enjoyable fight scene. Brubaker does a nice job mixing in a little action into his monologue heavy story. It is nice to see Daredevil taking on two bad guys at the same time and showing off that he is one serious bad-ass.
I thought the source of Lilly’s powers was pretty interesting. Clearly, whoever Lilly is working for they definitely know all about Matt’s personal life and his powers. Couple that with the fact that Daredevil could feel the knife turning in his back once Lilly told him who she was working for and you know that this mysterious adversary is going to be someone very close to Daredevil.
And how cruel is this mysterious adversary? They kill Foggy Nelson causing unbearable torment to Matt. Now, they planned to have Daredevil overwhelmed with the scent of Karen Page and associate Lilly with Karen and then kill Lilly in front of Daredevil causing even more damage to Daredevil’s fragile psyche. Vicious and heartless. I love it.
I thought this was a great way to end the issue and hook the reader into wanting to get the next issue. I am absolutely on the edge of my seat and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next issue and discover the identity of this mysterious adversary.
We also get supplied with plenty of solid artwork by Lark and Gaudiano. Lark’s style is a perfect match for Brubaker’s tone and mood on this title.
The Bad: No complaints with this issue.
Overall: Daredevil #91 was another solid effort by Brubaker and Lark. They consistently deliver a good read each and every month. Things are starting to come to a boil with this story arc and we are in treat for an exciting finish. Daredevil is definitely one comic book well worth your money.