David W. Mack

This book was literally all over the place. It has some of the best artwork I've seen in DD, as well as some of the most average. It had some of the best writing I've read in DD, as well as some of the most laboured. Overall, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and giving it a four, but...

First, the art. Joe Quesada can be a wonderful artist...I mean, just look at that cover. But he's also wildly inconsistent with characters' faces, often too cartoonish, while imbuing the rest of the page with gritty realism. There's times when it feels like he's learned to do faces from Berni Wrightson, only not as well, or as consistent. The problem is, I don't know if it's the issue with Quesada, or his inker, Jimmy Palmiotti. Regardless, when they're good, they're phenomenal. But when they're off, they're really bad.

Then there's the two story arcs presented here. The first is by filmmaker Kevin Smith and, while it starts out quite strong, in fairly quickly devolves into silliness, and the villain's multi-page monologue explanation of what happened behind the scenes and why he did what he did? Cringe-worthy. Just...terrible.

And yet, Smith also get some stuff in there...sub-plots and observations about life and law and being a red-suited superhero...that are just gorgeous to read. Overall, I've heard other complain about the wordiness. That doesn't concern me...this is a book...it's meant to be read, as well as to see all the pretty pictures. Just, make those words count. That's all I ask.

The second, shorter arc gives us a different writer, David Mack (who's art I adore, and really wished he'd drawn the thing too) presenting us with the first appearance of Echo, who is an extremely interesting and multi-layered character. And Mack utterly sells the blossoming relationship between her and Matt Murdock. However, the difference between Mack and Smith's writing is jarring in their differences. On the plus side, Quesada even rises to the challenge here and gives us some very Mack-like pages of art that were really strong.

Have to admit, I also enjoyed all the Jay and Silent Bob references that Mack and Quesada dropped into the narrative. This arc, just because of a stronger plot and art, and likely because it was shorter, is far better.

Overall, there's a lot of life-changing events mashed into these pages, and both stories are worth the read.… (mer)