Chip Zdarsky has taken this series in an intriguing direction as Daredevil, not Matt Murdock, has been placed on trial for murder. This is a trial that could have large impact on the Marvel Universe for multiple reasons. For one, we’ve seen in both Daredevil and Amazing Spider-Man that Mayor Wilson Fisk has a big anti-vigilante agenda as part of his administration. Then outside of this series we’ve seen a larger look into the actions of Marvel’s heroes and their impact on the world. How will Zdarsky handle the current trial of Daredevil? Let’s find out with Daredevil #24.
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Mike Hawthorne
Inker: JP Mayer
Colorist: Mattia Iacono
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: On a rooftop Matt Murdock reams Foggy Nelson out for having Mike Murdock pose as him. Foggy says he had to do it since Kirsten McDuffie has been asking where Matt has been with this trial involving Daredevil. Matt is unhappy and puts on his mask to take off as Daredevil.
Elsewhere, Typhoid Mary appears before Mayor Wilson Fisk while he is taking a shower. Typhoid Mary offers Fisk her services as a bodyguard in his upcoming appearance at Daredevil’s trial since she took out his current bodyguard.
At Matt’s apartment Matt thinks over his current situation and decides to give Tony Stark a call. Tony confirms his bid in the property auction for Hell’s Kitchen was accepted since the Stromwyns would not match his offer. Matt thanks Tony for his help as it makes his next move an easier thing to do.
Elsewhere, “Matt” (Mike Murdock impersonating Matt Murdock) meets with Robert “Goldy” Goldman. After some small talk “Matt” reveals he is representing Daredevil and has a proposal for Goldy.
After the meeting, “Matt” gets called out by Kirsten for not acting in a way that he shows care for Daredevil. “Matt” says that he has just been thrown off by working with Kirsten again and asks to go for drinks. Kirsten says he is pushing his luck and walks off.
While walking alone Daredevil corner’s Mike Murdock and immediately calls him out for how poorly he is doing trying to act like Matt. Mike flips out saying he was just trying to cover for his brother in rehab and says Daredevil has no place to be calling him out. Mike walks off and tells Daredevil to visit Matt in rehab.
Daredevil gets a call from Tony, who informs him that someone outbid him. Tony says that he tried to put in a counterbid but his servers crashed so he couldn’t do anything.
Daredevil knows that the Stromwyns are behind this and now is not comfortable with going to prison with all this going on.
The next day Daredevil, in a full suit, gets in a car with Kirsten. While they drive to the courthouse Daredevil admits to Kirsten that he believes he should go to prison to pay the price for killing someone. Daredevil then says that given the situation in Hell’s Kitchen he can’t afford to go to prison right now and needs Kirsten help. Kirsten is happy to hear that Daredevil wants to fight his sentencing.
They finally make it to courthouse where they are met by anti-Daredevil protestors.
While walking to his seat Daredevil notices Steve Rogers, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Elektra are all in attendance for the trial.
Mayor Fisk walks in and Daredevil is shocked to sense that Typhoid Mary is with him.
As the judge walks in and tells everyone to rise Elektra starts whispering to Daredevil while standing near the exit. Elektra reveals to Daredevil that she was actually the one who outbid Tony for Hell’s Kitchen. She goes on to say that Matt is now free to make his sacrifice as Hell’s Kitchen is safe.
As everyone is about to make their opening statements Daredevil interrupts and says that he is willing to accept the oppositions deal as he pleads guilty to second-degree manslaughter
The Good: Chip Zdarsky keeps the momentum going for the “Truth/Dare” arc without missing a beat. At this point we know that Zdarsky is going to deliver the goods in this series. To that point, Daredevil #24 did come across more as a set-up issue for what is to come then a full resolution on what has been built.
The internal struggle that we see Matt Murdock go through during the course of Daredevil #24 is what made this entire chapter in “Truth/Dare” so fascinating to read. Zdarsky does a masterful job in framing everything we see go on through the perspective of Matt. Even in scenes that he is not in Matt Murdock’s presence is felt as each move a character makes can tip the scales in what our lead character is doing.
We see that with how Zdarsky immediately throws a wrench in Matt’s planning by having Typhoid Mary force Mayor Wilson Fisk’s hand in accepting her as his new bodyguard. This entire scene played in well for continuing to position Typhoid Mary as a wild card in Zdarsky’s run. That is a role that Typhoid Mary excels in and the way Fisk makes sure to always keep an eye out for her after she first appears furthers that.
Typhoid Mary’s appearance worked in how through the course of Daredevil #24 there was a feeling that something unexpected was going to happen. Which is feeling that ended up becoming reality as the bid Tony Stark made for Hell’s Kitchen was outbid by someone else who also stopped Tony from doing anything. When Tony tells Daredevil all of that there is a sense that something is not right. Especially with the fact that the Stromwyns are not the type of characters who would not boast to Tony about how they outbid him.
All that along with Daredevil’s sudden sense of dread that he can’t go to prison with how his plan turned out worked in well with Elektra’s big reveal that she was the one who outbid Tony Stark. Zdarsky masterfully works in all the tension he built in this “Truth/Dare” arc to make Elektra’s reveal have the greatest impact. You could see from Daredevil’s expression the sense of relief he felt as things didn’t go completely the wrong direction for his vision of Hell’s Kitchens future.
Which all built in nicely into the ending of Daredevil #24 having Matt plead guilty to second degree murder. Having Steve Rogers, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones in the courtroom along with Foggy Nelson and Kirsten McDuffie really added to the shock that was felt in Daredevil’s announcement. The fact that Daredevil did not let Foggy, Kirsten, or the opposition make their arguments made this an even more dramatic way to end this issue on.
Now with Daredevil pleading guilty we are left with so many questions as to how this decision will impact everything else going on. Because as I previously mentioned we’ve see how Fisk since becoming Mayor of New York City that he has pushed an anti-vigilante agenda on the public through his administration. Daredevil admitting full guilt in his second-degree murder case can add to the bigger plans Fisk is developing as mayor we’ve seen play out in both this series and Amazing Spider-Man.
Having Steve Rogers, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones in the courtroom also reminds us that Daredevil’s decision can impact the Marvel Universe at large. Especially with the current situation with the younger Marvel heroes, Krakoa’s status in the world, and general big events impacting Earth the hero community has been on shaky ground. Daredevil’s decision can have larger ramifications on all of that going on as we have seen Zdarsky showcasing how connect Daredevil is to the superhero community throughout his run.
This also adds greater interest for whatever Elektra’s future plans are. While she was the catalyst for Daredevil’s ultimate decision we are still left in the dark about what Elektra is planning. All we know is that she has this new fortune that has allowed her to outbid the likes of Tony Stark and Stromwyns. Outside of that we don’t know what Elektra’s endgame is and if it’ll be a good or bad thing when all is said and done. But it is that sense of unknown that makes Elektra’s future development one of the more intriguing stories going on at Marvel.
In the middle of all this going down Zdarsky continues to do a great job seamlessly bringing Kirsten McDuffie back into the fold. Kirsten is such a great character and we see that throughout Daredevil #24 as she does not take any shit from Mike Murdock while he is posing as Matt and honest with Daredevil. She brings great credibility to every scene she is in. With Daredevil decision we’ll hopefully see Kirsten stick around this series as she has as much at stake with this new development.
Mike Hawthorne delivered solid artwork throughout Daredevil #24. With this being a talking heavy issue Hawthorne did a nice job in having the characters expressions match what they were saying. The range in emotion we see everyone go through built in well with the final shocking moment Daredevil #24 built up to.
The Bad: For as much as he has been developed Mike Murdock continues to be a character that has fallen flat. This is just one of those times whenever Mike is on screen that you don’t feel he is adding anything to the story. There is just something about the character that he is just not connecting to us as readers. While I would like to say that could change over time we have now spent enough time to know that Mike is a character that adds nothing to what is going on other than eating up page space.
Overall: Daredevil #24 delivers on the impactful result that Chip Zdarsky has been building his run around. Daredevil’s ultimate decision and how other Marvel characters factored into that made the ending of this issue create even more interest in what will happen in the future.
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