Netflix’s Daredevil – A Quick Review From a New Fan

Let me say first that I have only ever read one Daredevil comic: Daredevil: Yellow #1 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. It was one of those “#1 for free” deals from Comixology, I’m a huge fan of Loeb/Sale, and had read Hulk: Grey (also by Loeb and Sale) so I thought “why not?”. I have also seen the infamous Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck, but it was years ago and I hardly remember anything (some folks say it’s better that way). So, I don’t know very much about Daredevil. Only that Matt Murdock is blind, his dad was a boxer, and Kingpin is a major villain.

My initial reaction to the first few episodes was thinking it was more gore than substance and more action than plot. The first few episodes dragged, especially the exposition/dialogue scenes. Later, scenes that pushed the plot were good, the fight scenes were great, and earlier complaints were paid off. Most shows have a weird “breaking in” period early on, trying they find their footing and where they want to go, and Daredevil is no exception but it found it’s path around episode 5 or 6. One thing I noticed and found very interesting was how they built the villain’s reputation before revealing who it was. After that, I have to say, I was hooked.

Daredevil is the show I wish Gotham could be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m liking Gotham just fine, but I feel that they are trying to force too much fan service and too many characters into one season, especially for a first season with who-knows-how-long to go. The two shows aren’t so different that I prefer one over the other, but I felt the pacing of Daredevil Season One as a whole is just right. Alright, that’s the end of yet another Daredevil/Batman comparison.

Overall, Daredevil had a solid and entertaining first season. I’ll be interested to see where it goes. And I think I’ll go ahead and finish Daredevil: Yellow.