Saturday, November 16, 2019

Scott's Take: Daredevil End of Days by Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack


Daredevil End of Days by Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack is a tale of a possible future in the Marvel Universe. The story is told from the perspective of reporter Ben Urich who is investigating the murder of Matt Murdoch aka Daredevil. That investigation by Ben Urich draws in many supporting characters of the Daredevil world such as friends Spiderman, the Punisher, Nick Fury as well as enemies such as the Kingpin, Bullseye, The Owl, Bullet and The Purple Man. Not only is the legacy of Daredevil as hero considered, so too is the private life and his romantic relationships with Elektra, Black Widow, Typhoid Mary, and others.  There is a lot of introspection in to the character of Daredevil and Matt Murdock on who he is. Why did he do what he did?

The Punisher has some great moments in the latter half of the book that I enjoyed a lot. Spiderman gets his moments and the villains have their moments too. Black Widow has a great moment that one cannot go into detail without ruining the main twist. Someone could easily write a sequel to this book based on that off camera moment that is referenced in the story.

There is a lot of action, violence, ninjas and it is a very good mystery. What happens flows well and makes a lot of sense for each of the characters. This is a very mature story with a lot of violent death so this is not for kids. Readers should keep in mind that Matt Murdock got around a lot so a lot of implied sex scenes and dialogue. The artwork is good if a little dark, but fits the story. 

People who are new to Daredevil could be confused on why some characters are important since a book like this really needs some kind of chart or biography of various characters to explain why they matter. This book is not very new reader friendly and needs a backstory explanation in regards to various characters.  It is a great story, but is not new reader friendly.  Strongly recommended to readers familiar with the Daredevil series. 



Daredevil End of Days
Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack
Marvel
July 2013
ISBN #978-0-7851-2420-7
Hardback (also available in digital format)

My review copy came from the Park Forest Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

Scott A. Tipple ©2019

No comments: