You know, i was reading ign.com's review of shadowland and they trashing this whole event saying "Matt Murdock is painted as a cheap, one-note villain with no real point of emotional resonance.". Don't people realize Matt is being brainwashed? He's not acting on his own free will, which makes this book all the more interesting. Matt bit off ore than he could chew when he became leader of the Hand and now its biting him in the ass. How is that not great story telling?
It's not just IGN, either. I've seen people on boards all over the web who are
still in denial that Matt is possessed. As if the last issue of
Daredevil wasn't enough to convince them, you'd think the
October solicit for the
Moon Knight tie-in would tip them off. Of course, not everyone reads solicits, and I'm sure more than a few aren't currently reading
Daredevil, but I'd nevertheless think it would occur to the critics that maybe there's a reason Matt isn't acting like Matt beyond "crappy" writing, especially when this is Diggle we're talking about.
Anyway, I thought #2 was a step up from #1, both in terms of art and story. I think a lot of people are down on this event because it's such a departure from the way
Daredevil has been written over the past decade. Personally, though, as someone who's been reading
Daredevil since the late '80s and has since read every issue of the series, I'm really enjoying it. I liked Bendis and Brubaker's
Daredevil as much as the next guy, but I also liked the stuff from Nocenti, Kesel, Kelly, and even Chichester's earliest work on the title, and
Shadowland's tone very much reminds me of those more traditionally told super hero stories. It's less about Matt's personal problems--although that's obviously still a factor--and more about standard super hero fare, with men and women in flashy outfits duking it out with one another, and I see nothing wrong or bizarre with that approach to a Daredevil comic; there are far more written in that fashion than Miller, Bendis, or Brubaker's take, after all.
On another note, I also really liked the
Bullseye one-shot. Totally superfluous, but a very enjoyable read, all the same.
awesome
is a one-shot deal in SA
I thought Shadowland #2 was excelent. It's really building things up nicely.
Cool artwork nonetheless.
