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This is what I like to call the Marvel Knights section, as Punisher and Daredevil were two of the titles that started Marvel Knights. There are other titles that I just couldn’t fit anywhere else that go here, too, like ClanDestine and Invincible Iron Man, which I missed somehow in TPL.
Spoilers Ahead.
Catching Up – Marvel Knights:
-Daredevil #’s 103-105- These three issues finish the Without Fear story, where Dr. Fear can do what no one else could to Daredevil, he gave fear the man without any. Milla committed a crime thanks to Mr. Fear’s fear gas and she is now in Daredevil’s care. He tries to find the man behind the mask, Larry Cranston and finally finds Ox, one of his associates. Ox leads him in the right direction but DD is too late. Fear’s plan called for the ex of Kingpin to cause Milla to commit one more crime under the influence of the Fear gas. DD finally catches up to Fear (after Fear asked Hood to leave him be for one last battle) and even though DD wins the physical battle, he lost the war. Milla is committed to an asylum and Fear is not giving her the antidote. Daredevil lost another love, Fear is actually unafraid, and Matt just may be at his lowest. This was expertly written and even though it crushed Matt’s spirit (yet again), it did so in a way we haven’t seen before, it got to him mentally and effectively showed Matt why he works alone. Everyone he loves, will become a victim. 3/3.
-Daredevil #106- This is a typical epilogue story. Matt is descending into his own personal hell which gets worse when the doctors tell him he has to stop seeing Milla as it is hurting her progress. Ben Urich and Foggy talk to each about Matt’s apparent downturn and don’t have any answers. A nice close to the current storyline and a nice way to tie up an loose ends before the next story. 4/4.
-Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula #1- Tarantula was reintroduced recently in Daredevil and here we see him trying to do some good, cleaning up the streets where he’s from. Of course, this draws the attention of his old gang back in Argentina who try and use his son and wife to lure him into a trap. It works, and they try to encroach on Tarantula’s territory. Tarantula fights back, as does a newly arrived Daredevil, and Tarantula takes care of the gang, after getting caught in an explosion. It turns out his wife and son were just imposters. 5/5.
-Daredevil/Magdalena- This is a team-up with DD and Magdalena, a warrior from the bloodline of Mary Magdalene. So they have the obligatory fight before realizing they are on the same side. They are both looking for a missing girl, who was kidnapped by a demon to bring himself back to this world more powerful than ever. It was a serviceable team-up between the two, and it did get me interested in this Magdalena character, so it served its purpose. 6/6.
-Invincible Iron Man #2- Iron Man tries to deal with the WMD that are running around and takes out MODOG from AGM, an offshoot of AIM. Another suicide bomber takes out the heroes of the Philippines and has to deal with Thor ignoring him at their funeral. Finally, Stark shows up at a party he’s hosting when Obidiah Stane shows up, introduces himself, then blows the floor up. This has been a very nice surprise for me in terms of story, as we get a good Iron Man tale (outside of Secret Invasion of course) that introduces the son of one of his most hated foes and he’s taking things to a level not seen before in the MU, with very overt terrorist themes. 7/7.
-Clandestine #5- The story ends in explosive fashion. One of the oldest foes of Clan Destine has ripped them apart, making clones of them, and sending the twins and Dom in an alternate time. It all comes together as the twins reappear (their powers came back) and stop the Inhumans of the alternate Earth they are in and defeat them with Excalibur. They return home to find the clones of themselves and Griffin seems more powerful than ever, absorbing all their powers. In a bit of deus ex machina, Adam shows up, stops Griffin and goes away, but not before showing the kids’ mother and bringing closure to the whole story. I liked the tale of the Destines, a throwback to the comics I read growing up, and Alan Davis did a great job on this. 8/8.
-Runaways #’s 29-30- Whedon’s run on Runaways ends with these last two issues. Again, delays killed this title for me, much like Astonishing, as it was just too long between issues and sometimes, with all the books I read, you can forget something if it is too long between issues and the recap page only helps so much. So, complaining aside, I am here to look at the comics itself. So The Runaways are with the Street Arabs trying to find away home. Some of the enemies show up, one of them kills two of the Street Arabs, there’s a huge fight, and a bomb at the end of #29. The angel dude stops the bomb from destroying everyone by tossing it into the sky. Chase returns, saves the rest of the Runaways and they return home with another follower, a young girl from the past. They want to go home, back to LA. I can’t say these were terrible issues, I was into the story, but there were too many characters introduced for just a short arc, and the length of time it took for this title to run its course (6 issues of story in over a years time, the first issue dropped June 2007 and didn’t conclude until August 2008). It’s sad because Runaways was one of my favorite titles, but since Vaughan left, it’s been like a lost title. I hope the new crew coming on in August can restore the charm of the original Runaways. I don’t know if I can go out of my way and recommend this, as it was tough to get through, but I am sure the trade will be fine. The last issue was enjoyable, so this’ll be a 9/10.
-Punisher Max #’s 53-54- This is the final two issues of the Barracuda steals Frank’s (unknown) daughter and uses it to cause misery. These two issues are just two huge battle scenes between Frank and Cuda, as the baby Cuda shot was just a toy. Frank goes apeshit on him, and pummels him into revealing the true location. Frank finds her, but she’s tied to explosives and can’t take her out of the carriage. Cuda breaks out of his chains (after remembering his terribly upbringing) and lays a beating on Frank. It all ends in a school where Frank gets the jump on Cuda, spikes him in the chest, then blows his head off. Cuda is dead, Frank saved his baby, and he brings her back to her aunt, who gives her up as a miracle baby on a doorstep to keep her safe forever. Through the gore and violence you get a look at the man Castle has become thanks to this path as Punisher, and its scary. He’s not really human anymore. Cuda was a great villain who we won’t see again, and these two issues sum up everything that is awesome about Ellis’ run on Punisher. 11/12.
-Punisher Max #’s 55-58- This is the first four issues of a six-part arc entitled, “Valley Forge, Valley Forge.” Ennis is at his best here, pitting the old soldiers responsible for the Russia debacle against Punisher, who has the tape showing their guilt. These old guys decide to put soldiers against Punisher since they know he won’t fight back and kills them. Punisher does fight back, easily taking out the troops on more than one occasion. He is defeated and imprisoned and when the man in charge of the operation calls his bosses and he is basically chewed out, leading him to believe Punisher is right. He tells Punisher to trust him. The panels themselves are interspersed with pages of a book about Frank Castle and events in Vietnam that killed the author’s brother. Great stuff here. 15/16.
-The Bottom Line- Besides Runaways, this was just an awesome run of Marvel Knights and misc. titles. Punisher kicked all sorts of ass here and I can’t wait for the conclusion. I have no complaints here.
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