Daredevil # 97 By Hervé St-Louis Jun 11, 2007 - 10:10:13 AM

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Marvel Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudino
Cover: Marko Djurdjevic

The Gladiator is on the run and it seems that he takes order from an unknown villain. Another femme fatale returns to Daredevil’s life, coincidently threatening the balance the Matt Murdock and his wife Milla are trying to get in their love lives. Will this new woman threaten the couple’s survival? Will Gladiator kill Milla in a fit of madness first?

The sensationalist marketing department has dubbed this issue the one where we find out if Daredevil’s wife, Milla is assassinated. They seem to want to play up every possible cliché that has befallen comic books for years. For one, they play with the death of another one of Daredevil’s true love. They also play with the assassination of another helpless woman in comics. They also hint that nothing but a major murder can make book like Daredevil interesting.

If Brubaker is any good, he will not give in easily to this obvious plot development. He sure can play with that and make readers worry for Milla’s sake, but to kill her would be a quick way of getting rid of one of Daredevil’s new appendage. The fact that so much time has been spent looking at Milla’s viewpoint on the relationship, signals that there’s a point of no return coming up. But it doesn’t have to be murder.

As for the plot, well, it’s a standard plot putting all the players in place, and leaving readers on a cliffhanger. I like the way Brubaker has been writing Daredevil, making his life proceed without after the turmoil Brian Bendis added for years. The writing has the same level of maturity to it, making Daredevil the most serious and developed super hero title at Marvel Comics. Let’s just hope Brubaker can resist pulling the plug on Milla, to please his sensationalist editors and Marvel Comics’ shareholders.

Lark and Gaudino offer visuals where the characters look consistent. They even look consistent to the work by Alex Maleev. That’s a great feat and I wish more comic book series spent time creating a uniform visual identity for their characters, than trying to feature the new hot head artist of the month. The story is just easier to read this way.

9/10

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