Ordered alphabetical symbols – Diggle
Line scribbling – Tan
Tracing – Olazaba w/ Tan
Use of the Color Spectrum – Strain & Guru EFX
I can’t find my way through the comic book store anymore. It’s become so alien to me in the last five years. If you used to read my reviews during my previous tenure with The Nexus you may remember how they began as bright and cheerful and over the course of several years became negative tirades against almost every book I used to hold dear. I deplored the event mentality that again seized the comic scene a half decade ago. It seemed that every book was a crossover or some world-shattering series of umpteen interlocking stories. Kind of like what caused me to stop reading comics for a long while in the mid ‘90s.
After crashing and burning through months of comic reading, I actually stopped going to my shop on a weekly basis for more than a year. I still bought trades and occasional comics, but I left it all behind. It was Mike Grell’s return to the Warlord about 18 months ago that brought me back semi-regularly. Over the last year and a half I have felt no obligation to pick anything up. Not like the old days when runs or other stupid purposes forced me to pick books up I didn’t love. The real turn in my habits has been away from DC and towards Marvel. At the height of my collecting of comics I probably had 50 books on my monthly pull. A good 75% were DC and the rest Marvel and a sprinkling of Image or indy titles.
Now I don’t read anywhere near as may comics a month as I used to, but that percentage has completely flip flopped. I’m easily reading ¾ Marvel at this point. Setting my equilibrium astir is that I am currently engaged in two “event” stories Curse of the Mutants and Shadowland. Daredevil as the bad guy and vampires attacking Mutants should be complete crap, yet I find them refreshing. Do you now understand the consternation I feel in the comic shop?
Spoilers Ahead
It’s not a spoiler to remind that Shadowland centers on Daredevil as he tries to change the evil assassination organization The Hand from within. The totality of the power corrupted DD so he builds an Asian style castle in Hells Kitchen and kills Bullseye on national television. Issue #3 picks up with Daredevil’s friends (ie. Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man, Daughters of the Dragon, etc.) stage an intervention in the hopes of stopping the Man Without Fear’s downward spiral. A massive battle takes place in the throne room of Shadowland between the heroes and DD and the Hand. Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, the Punisher, and Elektra all show up to play their part as well.
A story this big could easily degenerate into a complete mess with no character moments in short order. Diggle has plotted out an amazing story with strong sequences of action but some nice bits of character development as well. I like the storytelling because the crossovers feature additional character beats for the wide range of players involved. Those stories give a sense of what’s going on around the events in the main title, show how many of the figures got involved in this mess, but they are in no way necessary. Personally I have enjoyed each of the additional chapters, but if money were a problem they can be skipped in part or total.
This chapter of Shadowland was near perfection the whole way through. The story features two giant action sequences: the main one in Daredevil’s throne room, plus a confrontation in the dungeon, which is where Moon Knight and Ghost Rider play their part. I found the confrontation where Shang-Chi and Iron Fist square off with Daredevil absolutely riveting. There’s also time for the ramifications of the conflict as the heroes meet up afterward to lick their wounds. The story doesn’t feel too decompressed. It’s obviously built for a cliffhanger, but at five issues the pacing seems just about right. We’re beyond the halfway point, so it’s time for a big twist to send us into the third act. That’s where the story finally weakens a bit.
I was somewhat disappointed that the spin control was in full force at the end of the issue. Obviously Matt Murdock wasn’t going to stay Darth Vader forever. The idea of him being possessed was clearly foreshadowed before this week’s revelation. It doesn’t bother me that much because it was expected. I am comforted that its not going to all be retconned away as a Parallaxian form of herpes like the one that infested Hal Jordan. That was flawed storytelling by Geoff Johns that absolved Jordan from blame for his actions and destroyed Ron Marz’s brilliant Emerald Twilight. There’s still plenty of catharsis for Matt since he chose to walk down this path. I don’t feel like the character is getting a pass for all of his actions, just the most heinous. I could have done without Bullseye’s road to resurrection that was started this issue. Way too soon on that one.
The artwork has been average to very good depending on the Shadowland chapter you are reading. Billy Tan handles the pencils for the main title in the story and he’s done some excellent action pieces. The area he really excels is with the Shadowland imagery, the Hand ninjas, and with the “evil” black suited Daredevil. The images are powerful and a touch frightening. I think Tan may have been a better choice to be the artist on the recent X-Men #1 that is the center of Curse of the Mutants. That said, Tan’s character designs for Shang-Chi, Iron Fist and Luke Cage fall flat to me. They just don’t have any oomph when they are on the page. One final note on Tan’s work: what’s with the various badly executed headlocks executed by characters during the fight scenes? The physics look completely unrealistic and they seem out of place at the time they are being used by Cage and Shang-Chi.
Copping out in a few aspects aside, this is another deeply entertaining, wildly exciting installment of the fall of Matt Murdock. Diggle has reached the upper echelon of comic writers in my mind. He’s crafted a deeply layered story that works on so many levels. Everyone should read Shadowland in some way or another. Pick up the main book or sprinkle in some or all of the crossovers. That is unless you are sick of crossovers…then steer clear, because as awesome as this is, you will never enjoy it. I haven’t read a crossover in five years. I was ready for one and this one seems to have been built for me!
Shorty: Aside from a few expected twists that weaken the power of the story, this is a must read.
