Daredevil #14 // Review
Matt Murdock is dead. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is in Hell. It’s okay...that’s what he wanted. It’s been six months, and the world is trying to move on without him. Foggy is coming to terms with working without Murdock. Another devil patrols the Kitchen. Different people do this in different ways as the story draws to a close in Daredevil #14. Writer Chip Zdarski and artist Marco Checchetto conclude a story with colorist Matthew Wilson that ties things together for various members of the extended ensemble as Zdarski and company move things in a new direction at the end of a horror fantasy adventure.
Elektra finds some comfort in taking on the role of Daredevil. It’s a bit frustrating. She and her support were tailing a van that should have been full of illegal arms. Make the strike. Scare the hell out of the people driving the thing. Put the fear of the Daredevil into them...and then find out that the van is empty. So she heads off to Fisk (Kingpin’s kid) to ask him what happened. He claims he was taking the weapons out of the city. She knows better. She didn’t get to be an assassin-turned-hero without learning to know when someone wasn’t being truthful. The question is: is he lying?
Zdarski makes Elektra seem like a much more interesting Daredevil than Matt Murdock. Matt’s been fun in the horns. Really. He’s had a lot of different angles that have all worked with different writers and artists over the decades, but Elekra seems like an interesting turn in the red mask. A reformed assassin fighting crime is a concept with a lot of interesting edges and points and things. Even when Frank Miller introduced her back in the 1980s, she really seemed a lot more interesting than Miller’s Murdock.
Checchetto brings the shadow and mystery to the page with a steady hand. Elektra Daredevil comes across with stark confidence and swagger that feels endlessly appealing. The backgrounds are all very well-rendered architectural backdrops that firmly place the action in the classic confines of Daredevil’s home. Checchetto also has a firm grasp of the kind of physical action necessary in a Daredevil book. The specifics of very intricate, balletic aggression slickly glide across the page.
It’s inevitable that Zdarski is going to have to bring Matt back into the mask, but Elektra continues to be really, really appealing as the title character in the book. The darkness in her tragic backstory and the loss of love feels like a very, very strong and intense dramatic anchor for all of the violence and action. It’s really fun to see it play out the way it does. But then there’s that last scene...and a coming video serial with Charlie Cox...so it’s inevitable that he’ll be back. With any luck, Zdarski is able to take his time with the brooding former assassin as Daredevil. She’s really cool.
