Daredevil #119 Review

So far “Return of the King” has been a solid storyline. Brubaker has done a great job re-introducing Kingpin into this title after being away for a while. The bad thing is that it has been two months since the last time we got a new issue of Daredevil. Still, I’m sure that Brubaker will make Daredevil #119 a solid read.

Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Michael Lark
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Story: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall: 7 Night Girls out 10

Synopsis: The issue starts with a couple scenes were we see a bunch of Hand members killing mobster leaders.

Detective Kurtz explains the situation to Daredevil, who he addresses as Matt. Kurtz says that everything happening is like a war between Kingpin’s old crew and the Hand. Kurtz mentions that the Owl has started to rise up again.  Daredevil is surprised. Kurtz then ask Daredevil were he has been.  Daredevil does not answer.

Over at Dakota’s place, Dakota and Foggy have a conversation about everything that has been going on with Matt and how Foggy fired Matt for what he has been doing with the Hand. Foggy starts to regret his decision.  Foggy feels like he pushed Matt away instead of helping him. Foggy than ask Dakota if she could find and talk to Matt.

Elsewhere in Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil is swinging around thinking about question Kurtz’s asked him earlier. Daredevil thinks how he has used the Daredevil persona to hide from the outside world. Matt then arrives at Master Izo’s place only to find it empty.

The scene shifts to Kingpin’s place were Kingpin is having a conversation with the ghost of his dead wife, Vanessa. Vanessa’s ghost tells Kingpin that he is a self-destructive failure and that he will never get control of the city again. Kingpin screams at her to shut up. (See this is why you should not piss of your ex-wife. They haunt you even in death.)

One of Kingpin’s men then walks in to tell him that the Owl is here to see him. The Owl tells Kingpin that the meeting between the Owl and Lady Bullseye is set. The Kingpin hands the Owl a list to give to Lady Bullseye.

At a coffee shop, Kingpin’s guy from the last scene is getting some coffee and donuts. As he walks down the street he does not notice that he is being followed by Dakota.

Over at a junkyard, the Owl starts his meeting with Lady Bullseye and hands her the list from earlier. Lady Bullseye takes a look at the list and hands it to Tarantula and White Tiger to handle what was on the list. They take off with some of the Hand members.  Tarantula and White Tiger reveal that their target: Franklin Nelson (Foggy).

Lady Bullseye and the Owl continue their meeting.  Lady Bullseye reveals that she knew that the Owl was working for the Kingpin and that she already had the Kingpin’s men killed.

Over at Kingpin’s office, Daredevil is kicking ass on all of the Kingpin’s men.  Daredevil is trying to find out where the hell Kingpin is hiding. Daredevil grabs the only guy that is conscious and asks him were Kingpin is but the guy does not know.

Before Daredevil can do anything else Master Izo shows up and reprimands Matt for being so stupid and not listing to him. Matt says he knows he was stupid. Izo seems to be satisfied by this and tells Matt to follow him to see what he has been up to.

Elsewhere, Dakota sneaks into a construction site where she continues to spy on one of Kingpin’s men in hopes of finding Kingpin.

In another part of the construction site, Kingpin and Lady Bullseye are having their meeting.  Dakota is watching from a distance. Lady Bullseye says that she is impressed with what Kingpin did to try and infiltrate the Hand.

Lady Bullseye says that she has a proposal for Kingpin to focus his rage on something else. Before she can give Kingpin the proposal, Lady Bullseye senses someone watching them.  Lady Bullseye throws her hair pins at the observer: Dakota.

Dakota gets hit in the arm with the hair pin and is knocked out by the Owl.  End of Issue.

Commentary
The Good: Daredevil #119 was good, not great, issue. Brubaker continues to deliver “Return of the King” in a slow, methodical pace which is both a good and bad thing.

The thing I continue to like about what Brubaker is doing with “Return of the King” is his re-construction of both Matt and Fisk’s characters. Since Bendis’ run on this title, as well as Brubaker’s current run, both Matt and Fisk’s characters have become more of a shell of what they used to be. It is hard to see two other characters that have hit rock bottom harder than Matt and Fisk.

Which is what makes this storyline such a fascinating read as both men are looking to get back the lives that they have lost. Throughout the story, Brubaker has emphasized that Matt and Fisk really are mirror images of one another.  Everything they do to try and make their lives better only makes things worse for themselves.

My favorite scene of the issue was the one between Fisk and his dead wife. The scene helped to re-affirm that for all that Fisk has done as Kingpin he is a failure. For all of his power, Fisk was unable to save his wife, or the other woman that he loved earlier in this story.

And, unsurprising, we learn that Fisk is looking to screw with Matt’s life yet again as he asked Lady Bullseye to send The Hand to kill Foggy. At the beginning of this story it looked like we were going to get a big fight between Daredevil, Kingpin, and The Hand. But now it looks like Fisk is being set up to lead The Hand with Lady Bullseye.  This is a surprising turn given how this story started.

Also, I continue to wonder what is Lady Bullseye’s ultimate goal. First, she wanted Matt to lead The Hand and now it looks like she wants Fisk to lead the group. It will be interesting to see what Lady Bullseye will do at the end of this story and what her goal is for everything that she has done to Matt and Fisk’s life.

I like that Matt is finally realizing how much he has missed considering the state of mind that he has been in recently.  And I can’t really blame Matt as his life is hell right now. The conversation that Detective Kurtz has with Matt and Matt’s later acceptance of all the stupid things he has done kind of gives Matt a bit of hope before his life goes to hell again if either Foggy, Dakota, or both die next issue.

Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano provide plenty of dark and gritty artwork to go along with the “Return of the King” story. Lark and Gaudiano do a great job showing a wide range of emotions from the characters involved in this story. From Matt’s self-reflection to Foggy’s depression for what he did to Lady Bullseye’s sinister look in every scene; all of the characters’ emotions are well illustrated.

The Bad: As I mentioned before, Brubaker continues to move this story at a slow and methodical pace. This is not a bad thing if it was a trade, but for a monthly title this issue felt like it was stalling for time before the big action goes down in the next issue.

While I am not saying that I just want some big dumb action scenes, I would like to see more forward progress being made.  With only one issue left in this story Brubaker needs to give the reader more than just set up. We already had four issues of set-up that we did not need more of it in this issue.

It does not help Brubaker’s style of storytelling that we had to wait two months for this issue to come out. I actually almost forgot to pick up this issue at my LCS because it has felt like it has been much longer than two months since the last issue. With Brubaker’s slow and methodical pace any sort of shipping delay hurts how effective each issue is as it is easy to forget what happened in the last issue.

I cannot say I am a big fan of the prospects of yet another one of Matt’s love interest kicking the bucket. The ending with the Owl looking to finish off Dakota is nothing new to this title.  Most of the time when something like this happens to one of Matt’s love interests she usually dies. Which is disconcerting since it has happened way too many times and I wish that Brubaker would not have done this so soon after making Milla go crazy. It just makes me roll my eyes as I wish Brubaker would have come up with a much better ending than this.

Overall: Daredevil #119 was a solid read. With how Brubaker has built “Return of the King” it is clear he is writing this story for a trade format and not a monthly title format.  Therefore, I strongly recommend this storyline when it comes out in trade format as I am sure Brubaker will turn in a solid end to this storyline with Daredevil #600.
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Kevin