Big revelations and bigger set-ups abound in Daredevil #34. Written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Stefano Landini, inked by Adriano Di Benedetto, colored by Marcio Menyz, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, Daredevil #34, part 4 of “Lockdown,” sees Matt getting out and Elektra gearing up – but they’re both just getting started.
Anna Peppard: Welcome back to… whatever it is we call this column! (Do we call it something? We should call it something.) In any case – it’s another issue of Zdarsky et al’s Daredevil, with lots of fisticuffs, some important revelations, and Kirsten McDuffie tenderly stroking Matt Murdock’s cheek. I’m eager to talk about all of it, but my heart would like to spend the entire review talking about that cheek stroke, because I am the world’s biggest sucker for superhero romance, even (or especially?) when it’s a fleeting moment sandwiched between fight scenes.
Justin Partridge: We used to be called “Speak of The Devil” but I propose “The Devil and Doctor Anna w/ Justin”. BUT once again we have come to my favorite time of the comic reading month! Talkin’ Daredevil with Anna! I tell Ritesh it’s when we talk about Spawn, but it’s REALLY Doctor Anna.
Nobody tell him.
But another oddly compelling issue I think! But one not without faults either. Let’s crack on before the (Devil’s) Reign falls.
Anna: Wait, back up. How am I not reading your Spawn reviews with Ritesh? That’s appointment reading right there. But first! We’ve got our own hellscapes to hash out.
Good Evening, Detective North, I’ve Been Expecting You
Anna: We pick up right where we left off last issue, with Detective Cole North confronting new prison kingpin Daredevil, who is perched atop a stack of chairs in a fiery-smoky haze of destruction and dissipating super-science gas. DD cocks one of those crooked, toothless smiles as he welcomes North to his lair so you know his supervillainy is ON. North and DD argue and fight, verbally and then physically, with DD knocking off North’s gas mask, exposing him to the drugs still lingering in the air.
But the most important bit of this sequence is the revelation about the drug they’ve been developing in the prison lab and testing on prisoners. It goes by the very-on-the-nose name of “Re-Cid,” and it’s designed to amplify violent and antisocial behavior. It’s given to prisoners upon their release to help ensure they won’t stay released for long. Basically – it helps the for-profit prison system maintain its population of prisoners, and so, continue making as much money as possible from incarcerating people.
I’m a bit wary of this reveal. Obviously, fantasy and sci-fi stories often employ fantastic metaphors to help us see things in a new way, and the Re-Cid drug does that a little. It literalizes the ways capitalism, the criminal justice system, and the prison industrial complex are stacked against certain people. And yet, there’s also some victim-blaming, sidestepping, and unproductive simplifying going on here.
If Re-Cid makes people more violent and antisocial, it suggests people targeted by the police and mistreated by the justice system actually are behaving badly. It means their bad behavior isn’t their fault, and yet – this framing also lets cops off the hook, because it suggests they have valid reasons for all their arrests, traffic stops, and violence. By now, we should all know – America’s problems with policing and justice run much deeper than that. Blaming violence and antisocial behavior on drugs also neglects the complexity of disenfranchisement, which is at once economic, social, and cultural, as well as the ways capitalism intersects with bigotry. Who gets arrested and sentenced and how is about more than just money; it’s about identity, power, and politics.
I’m hoping Matt’s characterization of Re-Cid and its social impact is going to get questioned later on, maybe by Cole, maybe by someone else who doesn’t have Matt’s white privilege, which could be manifesting, in this instance, in Matt continuing to presume he can use superhero tactics to fix complex inequalities. Maybe Matt figures – if I can just get Re-Cid off the streets, everything will be fine. But of course, it wouldn’t be. Society would still be racist and classist and sexist, and people would continue suffering because of it.
The final meaning of this development depends a lot on where the story goes from here, and whose perspective gets prioritized. So I’ll reserve further judgment for now.
Justin: No, I absolutely understand where you are coming from. And I think the script especially tries to give us the reader a little bit of a buffer between what we know of Matt’s “trip” in this arc; being infected by the drug and steadily succumbing to it. And what we, as readers, also know of what Matt believes in his heart of hearts. Like, yes, he would be justifiably angry at the churn of the prison industrial complex. But he would also be somewhat more aware of himself, as a white, Catholic, inner-city lawyer, that it’s not so simple to boil an entire population down to the broad specs he sketches here.
I think we are further supposed to clock this by the comical level of “@$%#” cursing both Matt AND Cole North engage in throughout the sequence. I tell ya, I was like kind of vibing with the sequence and starting to understand how Chip was trying to differentiate this from the Shadowland heel turn and then he would drop another “^#@^&” into it and it just took me right out.
But as broad as this is, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if later on either Cole or Love of Our Law Hearts Kirsten McDuffie (who makes a quick re-appearance here for the first time in a bit) calls Matt to the carpet for this kind of incendiary wide brush painting. Chip, as a writer, seems very focused on how each of these issues are tracking amongst the characterization, so I think either during the next event or maybe in the direct lead up to it, I am sure we will start to see those threads getting pulled together tighter. I at least HOPE we do.
Team Ups and Blow Ups
Anna: Elsewhere, Elektra, her stab wound almost totally healed by Tony Stark’s nanites, is putting together a similarly risky yet considerably more thoughtful scheme, to take down Bullseye once and for all. Before putting her new repulsor sais (!) into action, she confers with her ward Alice, perhaps Elektra thinks, for the last time. Then, it’s on to Times Square, where Elektra has her image projected onto every screen and billboard, making herself a big, bold, irresistible target. It doesn’t take long for Bullseye – or, more accurately the Bullseyes – to show up. But Elektra’s not alone – Typhoid Mary has arrived to help!
Justin: NOW THIS, I am way, way on board for. So as Matt generalizes and speechifies at the prison, Elektra is still Bullseye hunting. And she’s got a sure fire way to draw him out into the open. Give him a target. Namely HER.
But turns out, Mary’s got the same idea. Adopting her own “Daredevil” cosplay and taking to the rooftops to draw him and the errant clones into an open fight.
I think some of it is kind of muddy for sure. There is a panel in which a Bullseye (presumably the “Prime Bullseye” clone) is hauling forward a bunch of faceless people on a chain and it gets lost amid the whole geography of the scene.
But I think beyond that, the sequence is REALLY strong. It’s adding a nice bit of proactive movement on Elektra’s part and forcing her to confront the problem. Both in the most direct way possible (aided by some choice new upgrades from Tony Stark) AND in a way that’s making her face the world outside the Woman Without Fear. Meaning she provides her new young ward the keys to the apartment they share, Foggy’s number, and an inexhaustible trust that will keep her comfortable forever.
I also REALLY love the parallel thinking of Mary and Elektra here. What’s the best way to get Bullseye in the open? LITERALLY wave a red flag of a Daredevil costume in his face. He’s only a man, after all. A stupid, murderous, and easily provokable man.
Anna: Yeah, there’s some interesting gender stuff going on here, where it looks like the battle between Bullseye, Elektra, and Mary is going to come down as much to who has the best fighting skills as who’s better at productively channeling their emotions.
Of course, this is true of superheroes in general; one of the ways superheroes are differentiated from supervillains is that superheroes typically have superior emotional control, while supervillains typically self-sabotage by descending into hysterical monologuing and revenge schemes. There’s some less-than-positive gender connotations to how this trope usually plays out, since it means supervillains are symbolically feminized relative to superheroes. Here, though, the trope is being messed with, at least a little. Two women, Elektra and Typhoid Mary, who have historically been associated with emotional instability (Elektra with her “Daddy issues,” Mary with her Dissociative Identity Disorder), are scheming to defeat a hypermasculine dude by baiting his hypermasculinity. I’m not mad at that.
Also, we haven’t yet talked about the stylings of fill-in artist Stefano Landini. Landini does a bit of a Marco Checchetto impression in this issue, which isn’t a bad thing; I like that the series feels visually consistent even though we don’t have our usual penciler. But there are, as you mentioned, some moments of muddiness. Neither of us was initially quite sure what we were looking at with Bullseye’s chained up hostages, and the reveal of Mary threw me a little; I had to double-check the text to make sure it was her, since her appearance felt a little off-model. That said – I did really like some of the things Landini and colorist Marcio Menyz did with Bullseye, simplifying his silhouette and making his white-and-black color scheme very flat and vivid. It makes the character feel properly threatening and iconic heading into the showdown to come.
Justin: TOTALLY and I also very much enjoyed the expressionism of Mary and Elektra sans their masks. Elektra, obviously, covers her face again before she can betray any more open emotion to her ward and to the outside world at large but I really appreciated the art team moving Mary more away from this kind of emotional obfuscation. Simply by allowing her to talk to “Lady Daredevil” both without her face paint or a mask. It’s a nice bit of grounding that I would like to see more of.
Escape to New York
Anna: The set-up of what will surely be a truly epic showdown between Elektra, Typhoid Mary, and the Bullseyes is interwoven with setting up Matt Murdock’s new status quo, leading into the recently announced “Devil’s Reign” event/era. During his fight with DD in the prison, North tells him about Bullseye’s killing spree, which Matt, who’s been spending a lot of time in solitary confinement lately, was previously unaware of. This revelation inspires a brief moment of clarity within Matt’s Re-Cid fueled rage, before inspiring a new plan – Matt decides to escape from prison to stop Bullseye. This is fairly easily accomplished amid the chaos and confusion of the police storming the prison.
But once he’s out, Matt still needs a getaway driver. Enter Kirsten McDuffie. Matt, still masked as Daredevil, appears in the back of Kirsten’s car, saying he needs her to drive him to Manhattan because he “needs to save the city.” Kirsten is… skeptical, as she should be, since DD told her a moment before that he’s also been doused in experimental mood-altering gas. But she can’t disguise how happy she is to see DD, as evinced by that tender cheek stroke, which Matt clearly craves as well because he covers her hand with his to keep her close. There go my heartstrings…
I’ve been kidding around about the importance of this moment, but I think it actually is pretty important. Kirsten falling for Daredevil – who, keep in mind, she still doesn’t remember is actually Matt – could introduce plenty more drama to this story. Plus, whether, when, and how Matt finally decides to tell Kirsten the truth could be a crucial emotional turning point for his character. Will he finally be able to admit how much pain his selfish pursuit of justice has caused the people who love him, and ask for help? I kind of doubt it; my money’s on Kirsten putting it together before Matt tells her. But I’m living for the romantic tension right now.
Justin: NO ABSOLUTELY and I also think this might be Chip and company starting to thread through that the Re-CID is either starting to dissipate in Matt’s bloodstream or he’s fighting more against it. Thanks to Kirsten providing him a solid emotional bedrock through his drug induced rage.
And I’ll also agree that the small bits of tenderness between the two are going a long way. It hasn’t crossed fully into full-blown Romance again but I do very much love that Chip and company AREN’T letting their connection fall to the wayside.
It’s just different now. And immensely complicated by the Client/Lawyer relationship they now share alongside Matt’s incarceration. But those feelings and their dynamic tension isn’t just gone. It’s just different and recognizably so by both characters.
Who would have thought? All it took for Matt to start shedding his fuckboiness was another stint in prison. I just hope he doesn’t torpedo it again too.
Marvelous Musings
- When I saw in the credits there was a Rob Liefeld variant cover for this issue, I had to check it out. It’s very Liefeld; Daredevil has far too many individually articulated teeth in his grimacing face, and that’s not how hands work at all. Apparently, all of Matt’s fingers are the same length? Is this a secret new superpower???
- Justin did NOT know about this variant and also doesn’t know why The Rob drew blood on Matt’s face like it was five o’clock shadow.
- Also when the hell has Matt EVER hung out with Deadpool? Just sloppy stuff all around.
- Repulsor Sais. Christ, we love comics.
- This month’s issue includes Joe Quesada and John Romita Jr.’s 8-page backup feature commemorating 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The feature itself is fine, but has some additional, unexpected resonance given what’s currently going on in the country the US invaded in the wake of those attacks. Here’s some suggestions of organizations currently accepting donations for Afghan refugees and those left behind.
Anna Peppard
Anna is a PhD-haver who writes and talks a lot about representations of gender and sexuality in pop culture, for academic books and journals and places like Shelfdust, The Middle Spaces, and The Walrus. She’s the editor of the award-winning anthology Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero and co-hosts the podcasts Three Panel Contrast and Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow!
