Daredevil #28

There's not enough praise you could give this series. Mark Waid and his amazing cabal of artist received three Eisner Awards in 2012, including Best Continuing Series and Best Writer, and that top notch work continues this year. Now Javier Rodriguez steps up to deliver a great character driven opening into this high flying book.

Despite Daredevil being named twice on the cover, this issue is all about Matt Murdock, and what makes him the hero. Childhood bully, Nate Hackett, is down on his luck and needs Matt's help to escape the Sons of the Serpent. With a refresher into Daredevil's origin from a unique character, this issue is a great starting point if you've been missing out.

Waid's run on Daredevil has been a delightfully upbeat approach to the character. For over a decade Daredevil was the gritty and dark street level hero. While Bendis/Maleev had an amazing run on the series, it locked the character into an overly shadowed downer. Waid's last two years of the book has turned it upside down.

The series has seen many artists, who all do an amazing job sticking to Waid's themes of the series. Paolo Rivera and Macos Martin launched the series with a bright, nostalgic illustrations of our horned hero. Chris Samnee's line work and Javier Rodriguez's colors have continued this approach keeping the book light and fun. While Samnee continues on covers, Rodriguez stepped up to pencils for this issue and he does not disappoint.

While Matt's life has been on the up and up, his best friend, Foggy, recently discovered he has cancer. The book opens up with Matt stopping in to cheer up his buddy after a chemo treatment. We soon see that super senses gets the best of our hero as he's over powered by the strong chemicals in the hospital. Like a true hero Matt overcomes this hardship, regains his composure, and joins Foggy to lift his spirits. This scene is another glimpse at the very human side of our vigilante. Foggy has always been a rock in the chaotic storm that is Matt's life, and now the tables have turned.

To keep it fun Rodriguez gives us an awesome page of Daredevil traveling in costume to the law office, with an armful of clothes flapping in the wind. One of the few reminders we get of the vigilante before we get to Matt Murdock at work at the law office. We're introduced to Nate Hackett, a boisterous man who brags about giving Matt the Daredevil name.

Matt quickly recalls his childhood. Remembering how his father pushed him to study and to ignore his tormentors. How a young Nate chased our young hero to the street corner where his tragic origin story would occur. Then, with the same nostalgic feel the series has had, Waid pulls out the classic bully trope. We see Matt's childhood from Nate's perspective. How a young arrogant Matt would brag about how his father could beat up everyone else's. A humbling moment that shows how human Matt is, and another example of him not being the perfect hero.

Nate blames himself for Matt's accident and falls in with the bad crowd. His downward spiral leads him to joining the Sons of the Serpent. When Matt Murdock was ousted as being Daredevil (the epic event of Bendis' run) Nate finds relief and turns his life around, leaving the terrorist group. Unfortunately his past catches up to him as he's falsely arrested for his association with the Sons of the Serpent. So now Nate need's Matt's legal help fighting these false accusations. This is such a fun group of pages, recapping Daredevil's history from the arrogant ox that once bullied him. Rodriguez's character design is stunning as we see Matt and Nate at different parts of their life. Waid once again reinforced Matt's relationship with his father and the long lasting effects it's had on his character.

After all that exposition, Rodriguez picks it back up with a two page spread of Daredevil fighting crime as he thinks through the Hackett case and if he'll take it. The panel placement with the bouncing of the baton controls the quick pace of the moment. This with the earlier page of Daredevil is all we see of the costumed vigilante, illustrating how the costume is just a thin layer of our character. After his brief moment of action Matt has made up his mind and catches up to Nate.

Ever since the tabloids ousted Matt Murdock as Daredevil our hero has lost most of his courtroom credibility. Matt took a positive approach to this and now trains people to defend themselves in their own cases. Another example of how Waid has turned a downward spiral into a spring board for our daring character. Matt catches Nate up to speed and we quickly cut to the courtroom. Nate bumbles through legal jargon while keeping his arrogant attitude in a light-hearted scene. Matt's super senses pick up trouble as we turn the page to the judge shooting down our new favorite character. An exciting end that's sure to make you race out and grab the next issue.

Issue 29 out now!

Rodriguez doubles the action in the next issue as horn-head has to battle his way out of a chaotic courthouse. Samnee returns to pencils with issue 30 which will soon be hitting shelves. This title has been spoiled with amazing artists, and it's awesome to see Rodriguez join that list of names. With Samnee and Rodriguez sharing the illustrations on this book we're guaranteed an amazing read every month. This has been one of Marvel's top titles for over two years, and obviously artist do not take that lightly, stepping up and keeping Daredevil a high flying, exciting comic.

After 2 years of amazing story arcs Mark Waid shows no signs of slowing down. Waid has simplified the character and demonstrates what makes a super hero comic truly entertaining. While Daredevil has taken on new and classic villains, there's still plenty of story in Matt's life. His new approach to legal practice and his friend's hardships show Matt's determination, dedication, and heroic demeanor. Daredevil is more than just a horned bogey man, but a rich character built off the cast around him. Without his father's story, or his best friend Foggy, Double D would just be another cape-less crimson Marvel hero. Now the Sons of the Serpent have snaked their way into our legal system and into the lives of both Matt Murdock and Daredevil. With this new enemy we get a great start into one of the best ongoing super hero series.

Secret Warriors 23

This title has been a favorite of mine since its inception. While this book doesn’t offer many jumping on points, it has provided many satisfying twists and turns for followers. Secret Warriors has always provided an espionage themed tour through the factions of the Marvel U. Even with the end of the title only four issues away theres plenty of excitement to come.

Back in 2008, during the Secret Invasion crossover, creators Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev introduced us to the idea of Nick Fury and his ‘caterpillars’, super powered youths that have yet to be discovered or compromised by anyone else. After the aliens the Secret Warriors got their own book, with words by Jonathan Hickman and art by Stefano Caselli. Recently Alessandro Vitti subtly stepped in on the art, and he’s dishing out some exciting climatic fight sequences. So how’d we get to this point in Hickman’s secret agent, super hero story?

***there’s totally SPOILLERS below***

But it’s just a comic book, so keep reading.

After the Skrull invasion Nick Fury still had plenty of wars to fight. His team of young warriors partnered up with what’s left of the Howling Commandoes, Fury loyalists and former S.H.I.E.L.D.agents, to take on Hydra, terrorist organization extraordinaire. Cold war Soviet espionage organization Leviathan recently resurfaced, but of course Nick Fury has planned for that. Now after meeting the key members from each of these factions, it’s boiled down to a battle royal between Hydra, Leviathan, and Fury’s forces.

Recently it’s been discovered that JT (Hellfire) has sold out his fellow Secret Warriors to Baron Von Strucker of Hydra. This betrayal coupled with the climatic explosion of Hydra headquarters led to young Phobos (that’s right, the god of Fear) being stranded and forced to duel Gorgon, a Hydra leader with an equally mythic epic katana. The Secret Warriors witness their team mate get struck down by the Hydra samurai. Caught in a secondary explosion from the chaos, JT’s life rests in Fury’s hands. A man who lives by a code, Fury cannot allow a traitor to live.

After the recent twists and bummers of the recent battles, this recent issue starts off with an uplifting fresh story of a forgotten warrior. Sebastian Druid was a pudgy slacker whose powers were but a weak flicker of what his father, the late Avenger Dr. Druid, once wielded. Well way back in issue 13 Fury gave Sebastian the pink slip due to ‘being a liability.’

Of course Fury didn’t give up on one of his caterpillars. When Sebastian was dismissed he was met by John Garret, one of Fury’s Howlin’ Commandoes. Garret was sent there to whip the young Druid into a self sustaining secret agent. After some pushups and pep talks, we get see the new and improved Sebastian on some solo missions of varying success. It all leads up to the two meeting up right where we left off with the rest of the Secret Warriors.

Sebastian saves the crew and they get a clean get away. Back at HQ Fury debriefs Daisy (Quake) on the recent events with her love interest JT. Enraged, she destroys the table in front of her in a super powered fit and Fury leaves the room. Can the Secret Warriors be over just as Sebastian has returned?

At last year’s C2E2 Hickman said there was an end game planned for the Secret Warriors title. Then he estimated 32 total issues, now it’s been released that it’ll be 27 issues all together. That’s alright though if it keeps producing gems like this. This series has slowly introduced the reader to a loveable new cast of Marvel heroes, and I’d be interested in anything these characters or creators spin off into.

Jonathan Hickman’s other works out on shelves right now are also amazing. The recent S.H.I.E.L.D. series has been an interesting journey through the history of the Marvel U’s most clandestine underground society. Hickman’s also been brewing up excitement with Fantastic Four, which looks to soon be the Fantastic Three! No news on what’s next from Caselli, but we’ve seen his pencil at the throat of many Marvel crossovers. Vitti obviously has his hands full with the remainder of this series, but after seeing his work in the Brother Voodoo trade as well as this book, I can’t wait to see him pen more characters.

There you have it. That concludes the long winded rant on another favorite of mine. As cheesy as it is, I find this story stirs up inspiration in me. It has perfect timing with all those New Year’s resolutions and what have you. I was trying something different with this long winded explanation of the whole series. Hopefully there’ll be more to come. More reviews. More changes. More comics!

C2E2 Aftermath.

It's been an exciting weekend full of panels, signings, and low priced loot. If you follow my twitter you were probably overwhelmed with the amount of updates that came in this weekend. It was an awesome weekend and I'd like to thank everyone involved from Reed Exhibitions, to the exhibitors, vendors, industry professionals, and anyone else who showed up.
Friday was a pretty casual day. This was my first time ever at this convention hall, but it was a pleasant experience. The night before my accomplices and me went to the midnight release of Kick-Ass. The movie was great, no complaints here. Over the top fun. To make things even better though Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz were doing a signing at the convention early Friday afternoon for the first 100 people to get a free ticket. My girlfriend managed to get a ticket and nab three awesome movie posters and get them to sing my hardcover of Kick-Ass.
The next few hours were spent criss-crossing the convention floor. Purchased a couple books from the Image booth, where Richard Starkings was generous enough to sign and sketch inside of each book. After exploring the web comics section and a few vendors, we made our way to the Mondo Marvel Panel.
The stage was crowded with Marvel talent, and they hinted and teased at the many fun things to come such as the Heroic Age and Shadowland. There was a lot of fun questions, but it felt like a fun introduction to the many Marvel panels held over the weekend. After the panel we explored artist alley thoroughly, and headed home to make plans for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday morning started off with 4 hours of different lines for signings. It was a great time getting to meet the Breitweisers, Khoi Pham, Adam Kubert, Joe Quesada, Peter David, Stuart Moore, the Dodsons, and the other creators signing around the Marvel booth. While hanging around I was able to watch Marvel Charades, and interesting game show style prize give away. I finally pulled myself away from the booth for my first panel, another Marvel event.
The Marvel Animation panel proved to be quite interesting, where Joe Q and Josh Fine showed bits of the many awesome things to come. The most exciting had to be the announcement of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, a cartoon coming this fall to DisneyXD. Also announced was an Ultimate Spider-man cartoon in the works, as well as a Marvel Knights series, and a second season of Super Hero Squad.
After a quick meal, it was back to the panel room for Cup O' Joe, which was full of excitement. Joe Q spilled a lot of neat stuff on the upcoming Secret Avengers, the return of Scarlet Witch in Children Crusaders, Quesada returning to Amazing Spider-Man concerning the events of One More Day, a few Icon announcements and some other news. You would think that'd be everything they'd have to offer, but even more fun came out in the questions, and there was still news for the next day of panels.
The night continued with more signings and purchases on the convention floor. I managed to catch the Marvel giveaway hour toward the end of the day, and it was an entertaining time. I managed to get a couple neat books to top off the end of a fun day.
After the show we took a cab to Three Happiness, an awesome restaurant in China town. I would recommend it to anyone near the McCormick Place. The fatigue of convention joy was setting in, so I called it a night early, eager for the next day.
Sunday started off fairly casual. Took advantage of the price cuts many of the vendors start on the last day. Met a lot of neat artists down in artist alley, got some signings, then made my way to the Hulk Smash Panel. It was a surprisingly awesome panel, but I've been knee deep in the Hulk series for awhile. The Intelligencia consisted of Jeph Loeb, Pelletier, Van Lente, Pak, and editor Nate Cosby. There were fun videos which can be seen at BannerKnows.com This summer will provide answers to all your Rulk questions, and smash up the status quo of the Hulk titles.
Hours later was the X-men panel, features x-perts Marjorie Liu, Peter David, Jeanine Schaefer and Dark Wolverine artist Camuncoli. Peter David stole the show, coming in with a Bishop style 'M' painted on his face. He then showed off his mutant ability to start and stop the applause of the audience. There was exciting images of what's to come, but Second Coming seemed to be in the way of showing off much more.
The day finished with some shopping, and a few more signings in artist alley. I felt reluctant leaving the convention hall, but I was more than satisfied, if not surprised by how fun the weekend had been. Since Sunday ended earlier than the previous nights, we met friends for a cook out, and shared our geeky stories of the weekend. Overall it was an amazing weekend and I can't wait for next year.
I hope this update doesn't seem too jumbled. I've been fairly tired due to the constant fun this weekend. Want other news on these events? I'd check out C2E2.com, Marvel.com, and the many tweets from con goers. Tired Fanboy, over and out.