Reviews

Daredevil, Volume 4: The Autobiography of Matt Murdock by Mark Waid, Peter Krause, Chris Samnee, Marc Guggenheim

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captainnat's review

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

morgcxn's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

3.0

Was a nice little conclusion to this Daredevil series

Admittedly, I was skeptical of Waid at first. I thought that he was another one of those 'nerds who pretend to be writers' (ala Dan Slott), and certainly he can fall into those cliches at times. Yet I was surprised to see that he was capable of spinning a good yarn, offering a more optimistic bent to superheroes in Alan Moore's shadow without seeming contrived or silly with his seminal work Kingdom Come. But sadly, there comes an age where a creative mind reaches his peak, and Waid has clearly passed his.

I understand that Waid was attempting to bring a lighter tone to the Daredevil world, but so was Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale with Daredevil: Yellow, and I found that story was more heartfelt, while not losing the tragedy that defines Daredevil's world. Waid certainly attempts to achieve a similar effect, but he seems to have no understanding on what makes Daredevil so compelling, instead making him into a snarky, wisecracking jackass no different than Austin Powers. I found awkward jokes, cringey moments, and the contrived, hokey storytelling that he had spent his career quietly subverting.

Now one might think of me as one of those angsty fanboys who can't accept change to an established character that I like. But I found that Andy Diggle's run and Shadowland, which is quite the opposite of Waid's take on the character, to also become unintentionally silly and ridiculous with how dark and intense that it got, with none of the mastery of tone that Bendis and Brubaker would take with the character, and one that Zdarsky would also take when approaching the character. But Waid proves that going in the complete other direction doesn't do much to help things either, and it only becomes more disheartening once you begin to see

Certainly, there were the good moments, there are times that Waid attempts to give more depth to Matt and the other characters and attempt to explain his reasoning as Matt attempting to hide the constant pain that he struggles with with humor and laughter, and admittedly that would be an interesting direction for the Man Without Fear to go, but I find that it falls flat for two major reasons. For starters, I found that there wasn't enough emotional investment to really grab me, most moments where it attempted to make a connection either became a cheap punchline or they went right back to snarky obliviousness. Secondly, there hasn't ever been a time in Daredevil's history where he's attempted to use humor to cover up emotional pain (that I know of, to be fair). Now, I'm not one who harps too much on continuity, but it has its importance where it allows the stories and runs on characters to come together cohesively, and I don't find that Waid stuck to it or even cared to get a grasp on the character. One could make an argument for Stan Lee's original run with the character or Daredevil or Loeb and Sale's Yellow, but I found that they were fun while also keeping the tragedy of the character intact.

Chris Samnee's art was a continual source of enjoyment throughout this series, he brings a nostalgic, cartoon like flare to the series that was reminiscent of the great Darwyn Cooke, though a bit more upbeat and 'safe' unlike Cooke, who brought an evocative and moody tone to his art work with his work on Batman: Ego and his adaptations of Stark's Parker. But I still quite enjoyed Samnee's artwork throughout Waid's run, even as my interest began to wane.

In the end, I found that what truly went wrong with this series is that they got the wrong team to do it. I find that they would have been better on an Avengers book rather than a Daredevil one. The style, tone, and themes that are usually befitted to Daredevil are not found here, and I didn't find that Waid went in a very interesting direction with his take on Daredevil. Then again, it's always sad to see a once great creator begin to lose his touch, and Waid makes the list as he goes along.

Note: I won't be discussing any of the controversies that have befallen Waid over the last several years, I am only judging the quality of the storytelling in this run alone, any other drama that he's involved with has to do with him and the other parties involved in the situation.

john_huppenthal's review

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3.0

There are moments in this arc that are great, and the set up in issue 15 was nearly flawless, but boy did this disappoint me. There was no need to shove Kingpin in here and having Murdock escape from everything without a single scratch felt disingenuous for the story leading up to here. Waid had an incredible run on Daredevil, but unfortunately this ending very much felt like a writer saying bye to a character at the expense of the work. Still. It's Waid on Daredevil, so it's very good. It just could have been better.

mjfmjfmjf's review

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4.0

Not profound or complicated. Just some simple Daredevil stories told as part of Matt Murdock capturing his memoirs. And then a Wilson Fisk current story to beat. Drags a little in the end. And I don't really the version of DD that's swinging the streets on the west coast. But the new stories told in the olden days with new art work pretty well. Supporting cast of current days is a bit weak though. 3.5 of 5.

iffer's review

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4.0

I liked this, but it was mostly a 3-star arc, but I bumped it up one star for the sappy bits at the end. Hey, Daredevil kind of won, which might be one of the few times you'll ever see that. This was a solid end to a great run by Waid and Samnee.

P.S. I've read the first couple of issues of the Soule/Garney run, and it's way different, definitely not as upbeat as Waid/Samnee, but still solid. I have hopes that Soule/Garney will continue the tradition of consistently high quality DD stories.

emmafong's review

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5.0

Shakespeare said, “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” and that’s exactly how I feel upon finishing Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil. There’s something so magical about the way Waid is able to combine both the fun and action-packed sides of a comic book hero with the angst that inevitably follows a life of risk. Chris Samnee’s art is bright and beautiful, with a great visualization of Matt’s radar sense that really allows the reader to put themselves in Daredevil’s shoes. While the Bendis run was consistently gritty, I felt like the Waid run had a much better balance between light and dark. Matt Murdock is far from perfect, but he tries his hardest. He’s insanely passionate (to a fault sometimes) and puts himself at risk because he’s fighting for the greater good. I liked the focus on the merging of Matt’s life as Daredevil and his life as Matt Murdock. He’s out in the open and he’s vulnerable in a new city, which presents more danger than when he still had his secret identity. He is fiercely protective of the people he loves and despite all of the hardship that Daredevil brings, they love him back. This second half of Waid’s Daredevil pulled right at my heartstrings. I laughed, I cried, and I never felt like the story was running out of steam.