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Since I did the intro last time with the new rating system (1 point for every good issue, 0 for any bad one, and maybe a –1 if I really hated it) and see how a certain title, or character fared in my mind on all the issues I’ve missed in the last 3 months. This is the Marvel Knights portion, though that could be misleading. It’s all the titles I collect that don’t belong to the X-Family, The FF Family or the Bat-family.
Oh yeah, Spoilers Ahead.
Catching Up – Marvel Knights:
-Daredevil #’s 101-102- Daredevil by Ed Brubaker shows he’s the best writer in the business by taking an old villain, Mr. Fear, and taking him from C-list to positively A-list. Matt is literally losing it since Milla is in jail and isn’t being released on bail. Matt spends a night with Milla as Daredevil and it eases him a bit. It all goes downhill when Milla’s drugged fear state causes her to lose control and Matt himself loses control. He takes it out on some criminals as New Avengers baddie The Hood watches on. The next issue starts with Mr. Fear working out when a bruised Ox walks in. It seems they were roughing up some barkeeper when Wrecker and some of the Hood’s guys attack him telling them that Fear needs to join up with Hood or be against him. Daredevil gets involved and takes out his frustrations on Wrecker et al but the Ox gets away and DD can’t trail them to Fear’s lair. So he returns hom but gets good news, Milla is home. This seems to be all one big plan by Mr. Fear. Awesome stuff here and an easy 2/2.
-Daredevil Annual #1- This annual really just reintroduces the Daredevil universe to Black Tarantula, a character I was only familiar with thanks to his appearances in Spider-Girl. Black Tarantula is released from jail and looks to start anew but finds he doesn’t really like the whole working for a living thing. He works for Matt Murdock but when they investigate a killer and one of Black Tarantula’s protégé’s committed the murder, well that’s too much for him. Black Tarantula attacks him and his gang, kills him, takes the money then surprisingly gives it all to a church. It seems his new mission is do good. Very good issue that reintroduces us to a new and improved Black Tarantula. I’ll calls this a 1/1.
-Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock #4- This is the final round, or last issue of the mini-series and I was very surprised at how good it was. Jack is about to throw the fight thinking that his son Matt is weak and that he needs to be strong for him but he remembers events from the last few days. Specifically, his new lover bet all her money on him, and that his attackers were stopped by a masked man who got popped in the eye. When Matt loses his glasses late in the fourth round, Jack puts two and two together and figures out his son is strong. He doesn’t have to protect and refuses to take the fall. We all know what happened next. Jack is murdered and Matt becomes Daredevil. This was a great mini-series showing the last days of Jack Murdock and is one of the few of these types of stories (Year One, or Hidden Years type things) that actually gives a unique view that only adds to the DD mythos. Great job by writer Zeb Wells. Easily a 1/1.
-Punisher Max #’s 51-52- I keep wondering if Ennis will ever write a bad issue of Punisher Max and so far the answer is no. #’s 51 and 52 deal with Barracuda kidnapping the daughter of Frank that Frank never knew existed. The first issue has Frank tied up but he just snaps, breaks out of the handcuffs and starts laying a beating on Barracuda. Barracuda escapes and shoves Frank out the window onto a police cruiser. He is hospitalized but Frank warns them that Barracuda will come and kill them all. The police don’t believe him but the doctor does and assists in his escape. He heads to the home of the baby’s aunt in hopes of flushing out Barracuda. Frank talks to the mother and tells her she needs to leave so no one gets hurt and the baby doesn’t die. So the woman leaves and its one big showdown between Frank and Barracuda and in the biggest shock, Barracuda shoots the baby! Damn! That was one of the most shocking ending I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to pick up the conclusion of this arc. Ennis makes Barracuda a great villain where the mini-series basically was a joke. 2/2
-Runaways #28- This was just a disappointing issue for me. I think the delays have hurt it a bit and honestly I don’t remember anything from this arc except from what it said in the opening page. Basically the kids are in the past, they meet other superpowered kids, Nico gets captured looking for some device that will bring them back to the present, Molly and Karolina look for a young girl with powers, Victor starts falling for a girl who can fly, and Chase meets up with Gertrude’s parents. He tells them they loved each other and she’s dead now to piss them off. The Steins plan something. I wasn’t digging this at all and I am sorry to say I don’t look forward to this title like I did when BKV wrote it. 0/1.
-The Bottom Line- Well, it was a great run of comics until we hit Runaways. The Daredevil and Punisher stuff was just gold and I can’t say enough about how great they were. Stay away from Runaways, though. Still, 7 out of 8 is a bad number at all.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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