Reading Through 2021 41: Daredevil by Bendis and Maleev, vol 2

Daredevil by Bendis and Maleev, vol 2

2010

I read volume 1 for the first time in years last month, and, with caveats, I liked it a lot. I plan to finish off the third volume this spring. It's a series worth reading or rereading.

This volume is much like the first volume, but it is more. It is more confident, more loose, more Bendis. Brian Michael Bendis is a really interesting writer to me, not always for the books he makes, but his approach to writing and his enthusiasm for working in comics. He's not someone obsessed with a golden age of comics, but he still stays true to the characters, in my experience with his work. With volume one, he did a noir, mafia-heavy take on Daredevil, and it was a good read, but in this collection, he gets into one of the key character traits of Daredevil/Matt Murdock: he's horny, often for unstable women. 

Milla's main character trait is that Daredevil turns her on

Milla Donovan is a good addition to the book, and Bendis writes her character. She's saved by Daredevil at the start of the book, and as a blind woman, she instinctively feels his face. Upon meeting him as Matt Murdock, she knows he's Daredevil because she's not relying on her eyes. Bendis gives her reason to find Matt attractive, and within a dozen issues, they are married. The only weakness here for me is that in the story, Matt is called out as having a nervous breakdown and marrying her for those reasons, but the the story doesn't criticize her at all. She's a woman who chooses to chase after a guy who goes out superheroing and decide to marry him, then has buyers remorse. That's not healthy. It's passionate and understandable, but it's not healthy.

This is such a good scene, but the clip art quality just jumps out

The book also gives Daredevil a leading role. In the first book, he was a background character in the first arc, and most of the second arc featured him as Matt. Here, he has a lot to do in costume. This book shows the ramifications of the Kingpin being removed from New York and the vacuum that pulls in wannabe crime lords like the Owl, Jigsaw and the yakuza. Bendis introduces MGH, mutant growth hormone, a party drug that makes you mildly super powered for a short time. They don't go into detail about it, but it sounds like when Viagra was going around as a super-sex party drug that let functioning people last for hours. it's a good concept, which Bendis runs with into his X-Men run, but it's not something explored very deeply. 

One of the major plots is that Daredevil decides to take over Hell's Kitchen, declaring himself the new Kingpin. It's explored somewhat, as other street level heroes like Luke Cage and Spider-Man take issue with him pushing crime in their direction as opposed to stopping it, but it's a storyline that seems to fizzle out. The last storyline of the book is a Black Widow arc which doesn't address it at all. I just read it and can't remember how it ends.

I also wonder about Daredevil wanting the drugs and the "whores" out of his neighborhood. Of course crack and heroin are damaging to communities, but is he is going after dime bag dealers too? As for "whores", er, sex workers, again, I think Daredevil could spend his time making things safer for them rather than going after them. It's one of the difficulties of writing a crime comic in the 21st century while applying the values of the 20th century.

This is a double page spread, to be read across two pages

The following two pages are single page spreads. See that bar in the center? That's how you know. You have to pay attention to that bar in the middle

The art by Maleev still frustrates me. In the course of the book, I can enjoy the tone and the coloring, but he does a lot which yanks me out of the experience. Number one is reusing the same pics over and over. His individual images are fine; seeing them across a few pages makes the image effectively dead. It's not cinematic. It's not dramatic. It's a still image. He can't even be bothered to adjust a hand or add a blink. 

He does a lot of double page spreads which aren't obviously double page spreads. Multiple times, I read down a page before realizing I was supposed to be reading across the page. If you aren't using long, widescreen panels, why make it a double page spread? I'm curious to see what he is doing now. Is he still doing stuff like this in his work? Because it's poor comics making. 

"Aaiiee!!"

Generally, he gets away with his photo reference. It doesn't disturb the book too much. Sometimes though, it makes pages pretty sterile. A character like Typhoid Mary, who is meant to be sinister and sexy, comes across like an office lady playing dress up. His version of her was definitely the worst offender. Maleev's best villain work is with the Owl, who appears reliably angry and unstable across his short arc.

Now that's a face which tells a story (art by JR JR)

Like with volume one, Maleev's art doesn't break the book for me. He can create mood really well, and he is doing clear storytelling. There are just a lot of moments where I have to stop when reading and wonder why a page passed editorial (answer: Marvel was recovering from bankruptcy and didn't know who it was, so they were willing to try anything, and people were excited by Maleev's art).

Other notes: Bendis tries to use some Japanese, and I'm sure that it reads to most people like it does when I see Spanish used in a comic: simply like foreign writing. As a Japanese speaker, it's a little cringe. English people like Japanese stuff. I get it, I moved to Japan 20 years ago. I like Japanese stuff too.

”Stupid"

I noted it in volume one, all the Maleev issues there were in caps, and the final guest drawn arc was in lower-case. Here, the book is all in lower-case.  The Bendis age of comics has arrived!