Fogs and Silent Matt...

So the last two books that I will be looking at this week are the ones I feel are more of a personal connection too. In the history of Daredevil I don't know if everyone feels the same way about these stories, but regardless I really like both of these and I feel like they are worth a look at. So let's just get it out of the way. And we kick things off with the Guardian Devil story from Kevin Smith, of Jay and Silent Bob fame and quite a few other comics under his belt and comic book men and plenty of other projects. Say what you will about Kevin Smith, he is the same guy who made the cult classics Clerks and Mall Rats (going to say right now, a big fan of Mall Rats) but at the same time he is the guy who made Tusk. So not everything he does is gold but I have to give him credit, he works a lot and moves around, he has left his mark on the movie industry and in the comic book world. And he is a big hockey fan, and any geek who is a fan of hockey gets a lot of brownie points in my books. So love him or not, look at every piece of work individually and see for yourself. I remember when I first read these issues I didn't even connect the dots until a few years later, and I was totally blown away by this story which worked as a relaunch for the new age of Daredevil. And having one of the biggest names in the industry, Joe Quesada drawing this story, I couldn't believe it. Even today, it is one of the best looking books out there. Hell even look at Spider-man: One More Day, possibly one of the worst written stories but damn does it look incredible. And that being said, let's take a look into Guardian Devil.

This is a pretty wild ride of a story, with plenty of characters coming in and out of every issue, a big character loss and plot twist to the finally showdown. I don't want to spoil this in case you haven't read it, but these elements will probably make or break the story for you as a whole. I am looking back now, I want to believe these things happened for a reason. That regardless of the writer or the story the end was coming to said character one way or another, as sad as that might be. It is a bold move to take for sure, but after all that was done, it was handled properly. It sucks to see this happen, but damn did it remind Matt about the risks and losses one can face as a masked hero. The growth of the character from this event is something that the series builds on with each issue.

Also I know not all collections contain both of these stories but mine does, so just had to say as well that the next story arc with the introduction of Echo from David Mack and Joe Quesada is a really good and an extremely creative layout as well. Not to mention we get to see some background on Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin. The similarities between Echo and Kingpin to Daredevil is interesting as we see through the past of both these characters, and we seeing a grieving hero doing his best to keep his head up and get back to living his life as he should. An interesting note, the first Daredevil movie actually borrowed a lot from both these big stories, with scenes like the playground fight or even the cover of issue 3, that image was used at the opening of that movie. And if we are being honest here, the extended edition was okay if anything. Nothing compared to what we have now, and I think in large part to being able to deal with heavier issues and more mature themes. 

So while these arcs made some big bold moves and I know a few may or may not agree with, I still enjoyed both of these arcs a lot. The incredible art definitely helps push the story to the limits and will glue your eyes to the pages for some hours. It's always a treat when Quesada goes to work on any Marvel book. Worth a look at least, then judge how you feel afterwards. You know I love to hear back from you, even if you hated it or didn't like it at all. Let me know here in the comment section below or on Twitter (@ChileanStorm) and let's talk some Daredevil. Okay, the last post for Daredevil is just around the corner, hold onto your buns. Thanks again guys for reading and following along, until then guys keep chasing the storm.