Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios got a big win in the war between The Fist and The Hand. This is after working with their backs against the wall as they seemed to be several steps behind what Punisher and Aka were doing with The Hand. But now with such a big win where they claimed The Lunate Talisman what is going to happen next? Let’s find out with Daredevil #9.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Manuel Garcia
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
SYNOPSIS
Aka meets with the Stromwyn siblings to discuss putting an end to the Daredevils and The Fist.
Meanwhile, Elektra Natchios commences the ritual to destroy The Lunate Talisman.
Matt Murdock finds out Doc Sampson is taking Bullet and his son home as he does not believe Daredevil is helping anyone.
In his frustrated state, Matt hears a jet dropping something on a mountain nearby. Matt climbs the mountain and finds a package with a cell phone in it.
Quinn Stromwyn calls the phone to tell Daredevil he is going to get revenge on Daredevil for destroying the plans he and his sister made with The Hand to control the world.
Another jet suddenly flies by and drops bombs that contain ReCid in them.
In all the chaos Matt and Elektra are confronted by Foggy and Stick, respectively. Both Foggy and Stick reveal that they have been dead the entire time and their bodies have been used by The Hand as their secret operatives.
As both Foggy and Stick’s bodies disintegrate the Spider-Man and the Avengers show up to confront Daredevil. End of issue.
REVIEW
Having a singular focus on what your goals are can lead to many mistakes made in order to achieve what you want. That is something both Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios learned with how quickly everything they have built when forming The Fist was destroyed in Daredevil #9.
In this particular direction for Daredevil, we’ve seen Matt Murdock become much more narrowly focused on his perception of how to save the world. In having such a concentrated focus Matt has taken a perfectionist attitude to its greatest extreme. Even when characters like Elektra Natchios and Cole North try to get him to look at things from different perspectives they fail. Matt is so homed in on what he feels is necessary that nothing but getting things done his way will suffice.
With Daredevil #9 we see how that is all coming back to bite Matt in the butt. Throughout this issue, we are shown how Matt’s singular focus did long-term damage to not only his war with The Hand but his personal relationships. We see this in both the interactions with Cole North and Doc Sampson. Both characters directly call out the way Matt has gone about things.
What made these two scenes stand out is how Cole and Sampson had similar approaches. Both Cole and Sampson started by trying to get Matt to see why they no longer bought into his mission. They brought up direct examples of what recently happened. But they quickly understood by how Matt was responding from his words and body language that they would not get through to him. This is where Manuel Garcia excelled in the artwork for this issue. Matt was in an uncontrolled state even when he was trying to preach his view on order.
This development with Matt’s arc made how Aka, Stromwyn siblings, and The Hand moves hit even harder. Zdarsky continues to do a fantastic job in developing both Aka and Stromwyn siblings to fill the hole left by Kingpin, The Owl, and other villains that Daredevil has recently beaten in a definitive manner. The opening of Daredevil #9 sets that tone well as we see how these three characters are more than set to challenge both Matt and Elektra in ways they couldn’t imagine. It’s all done in a way to get over how we don’t need to go back to the well of the same Daredevil rogues’ gallery members.
In elevating Aka and the Strongwyn siblings Zdarsky and Garcia are able to deliver a powerful blow to what Matt and Elektra have built with The Fist. The twist that both Stick and Foggy Nelson’s return was not a blessing but rather a curse as it was revealed they have been The Hand’s puppets was executed perfectly. We’ve seen in past issues of this volume of Daredevil how well The Hand can pull off using reanimated bodies of people as their puppets. Because that was established early on the reveal of Stick and Foggy being The Hand’s puppets was a payoff to this development by the antagonist of the story.
What made it all the more effective was the pure shock in both Matt and Elektra’s reactions when this was revealed. Garcia nailed how personal of a blow this was as Foggy and Stick were the two people that are closest to Matt and Elektra. This is a blow that can have long-lasting consequences for both characters as individuals and pairs while dealing with The Hand moving forward.
If that wasn’t enough Zdarsky has positioned another major obstacle in front of the Daredevil pair with a Spider-Man-led Avengers coming to confront them. It is great that there is no time being wasted in having the clash between Daredevil vs Avengers happen for a later story. By doing this right away it shows the urgency there is in responding to how Daredevil has gone about his business since leading The Fist.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Daredevil #9 is an excellent comic book that builds on everything established before it. Chip Zdarsky and Manuel Garcia deliver multiple character developments and twists around Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios that leave you wondering about the endgame for this story. Ending with the appearance of the Avengers and you have a comic book that just leaves you excited to find out what happens next.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10