Dark Reign: The List - Daredevil #1 *Spoilers*

[CaptainCanada]

Andy Diggle's first issue (and this is a first issue) on Daredevil, taking things, as Brubaker set it up, more into the regular Marvel Universe. After a long while in his own corner, more or less, it's kind of refreshing to see him tangling with the new law in town, particularly since Diggle has a good take on how this clashes with Daredevil's old worldview (as laid out in the preview for #501 that's included in the back).

Spoilers (obviously)...




After the scene in the preview where a black-clad ninja kills the crooked cops, Norman sends Bullseye (in his old outfit, which will be important) and some HAMMER agents up against Daredevil and the Hand. Daredevil follows Bullseye to the rooftop of a condemned tenement which Osborn wants demolished in order to build condos, but the people refuse to leave. Bullseye tells Daredevil that now the rules of the game have changed, and he blows up the building, killing 107 people. Daredevil decides that, indeed, now that Osborn controls the police and the courts, things have changed, and it's time to use the Hand to "send a message".

Turns out, however, that the ninja from the opening wasn't one of the Hand (anymore): it's Lady B, now working with the Kingpin, who says Matt is now playing into their hands.

Between the end and the preview of #501, Diggle does a good job showing how the new Osborn regime fundamentally affects Matt's worldview, and why he might embark on a new course. That he's being prompted by the Kingpin and Lady B, seemingly, was something I hadn't expected (when the final twist came, I was at first a bit confused, since I'd forgotten about the ninja in the preview). I also liked how Lady B is ready to assume he's dead just because he was there when the building blew up, but Kingpin corrects her that they should assume he's alive until they see a body.

No sight of Matt's civilian supporting cast. I wrote earlier that if I were Diggle I might keep them off-screen for a while, and that may be what he's doing here, though of course there's limited space. Black Tarantula and White Tiger don't really do much here either, hopefully they'll get more substantive stuff later on in the arc (particularly Angela, who's basically been a voiceless pawn thus far).

I wasn't sure about Billy Tan as the artist for this special, but he did a good job illustrating it. The previews for Roberto de la Torre's work also look great.

Provisionally, seems like there's been another successful pass of the baton.

[thebhamgunslinger]

I think Diggle is getting off to a fantastic start with this issue.

The carry over from Brubaker to Diggle is done fairly seamlessly, the only difference being the art really. I too was a little skeptical about Tan's work on this special, but he pulled it off pretty nicely.

The preview for 501 has me excited about where Diggle will be taking Murdock down the line.

[Talisman]

I can't wait to get to my lcs to pick this book up.

[jackolover]

So we got to see Fisk and Osborn in one book at last. That's what I've been waitin' to see. I just hope we we see these two guys meet eventually. So Brubaker made Daredevil become a Hand. Who is the guy Matt is is ratting out on the last page? I don't follow the DD books so I've never seen this guy before.

You know what the LIST is starting to look like. It's Osborn amassing forces against himself. His pissing off a whole range of people in the MU. First, he takes Clint Barton, and you just know that the NA are coming. Now, that Osborn has targetted Daredevil, you just know him, Tarantula and White Tiger are coming after Osborn. Can you see how this is building to a major showdown?

[claimtosubclaim]

Matt didn't rat anyone out. The guy who planted the idea to Matt to join the Hand is the same guy in that preview. His name is Mr. Izo, and he was a part of the Hand a long time ago until they lost their way.

[The Phoenix King]

Overall, I really enjoyed this issue. Diggle does a great job bringing Daredevil more fully into the world of the Dark Reign, and he has Matt's character down more or less pat. The mentions of his former life as an attorney were nice touches, and it shows just how far Matt has sunk from that existence. His belief that the law is just and can lead to good ends has vanished in the face of Osborn's corruption, and this disgust with the system and the loss of that one great anchor in his life makes his turn towards the methods of the Hand much more realistic. Call me a fool, but I wasn't expecting the Kingpin and Lady Bullseye to show up, particularly since everyone involved assumed that Matt killed those crooked cops. Tan did a good job by disguising Lady Bullseye's appearance in these scenes (showing only her back, positioning her so that her breasts were concealed, etc) until the reveal, and it's a clever move that we usually don't see from him, so well done. This was an excellent bridge between the Brubaker and Diggle runs, and I'm definitely going to be picking up Daredevil #501 when it launches.

[arp2008]

Would anyone be kind enough to post a few the of preview pages included in this issue for issue 501. I'm absolutely dieing to see some colored pages of de la Torre artistry for the upcoming run. Many thanks in advance! :smile:

[jackolover]

Matt didn't rat anyone out. The guy who planted the idea to Matt to join the Hand is the same guy in that preview. His name is Mr. Izo, and he was a part of the Hand a long time ago until they lost their way.

So is Izo a good guy now? I find it hard to believe that Matt is just going to let the Hand kill Izo, and as usual, the melodramatic endings are always non-indicative of the next issue.

[The Phoenix King]

Anyone else notice that the Hand's outfits had become very Daredevil inspired? What did everyone think of that?

[vickvega]

All the ninja's of the Hand now dress with costumes inspired by DD. I liked the issue but Matt's dilemma of should i kill/should i not kill wasn't sold well enough. He's been through so much death that Its hard for me to believe this act by Bullseye is the final straw. It was also hard to believe that he would give up Izo for this new vision of justice he has. What I like is the way Diggle wastes no time using Lady Bullseye and Kingpen.

[Hrist]

Would anyone be kind enough to post a few the of preview pages included in this issue for issue 501. I'm absolutely dieing to see some colored pages of de la Torre artistry for the upcoming run. Many thanks in advance! :smile:

Here's one of the non-spoilerish ones.

http://valiantknife.org/alex/Picture%2016.png

It looks beautiful, I think, I'm pretty excited for the next issue. I agree I wouldn't buy Matt deciding to kill people all willy-nilly just off the events in this issue, but I don't think he will.

[psycwave]

I cannot wait until saturday so I can go pick this up.

[Omega Alpha]

A good set-up issue for Diggle's run. And yet another proof of Osborn's foolishnesss.

[Jimmy Holograph]

I thought this was great, Diggle has always had a great handle on Bullseye and I like where he is going with Matt as well. Diggle's obviously going to be focusing on Matt's feelings towards killing in his run, it remains to be seen if Matt will truly cross the line or manage to stop The Hand from actually killing anyone (though Diggle managed to do the same thing with BW in Thunderbolts).

I also like that Diggle is keeping Fisk and Lady B around, it might have been his first thought to let them sit out for a bit and bring them back later, but it shows that Diggle's run is going to be a great continuation of the elements from Brubaker's run.

[arp2008]

Thank you, Hrist! :smile:

[arp2008]

To those to who bought this issue, would you say its skippable and one could buy DD #501 without having missed a beat? Or is this pretty much THE start of the new creative teams run? I would like to pick this up if the answer to my last question may be a yes, but the $4 price point and yet another fight bewteen DD and Bullseye are making me hesitant. I guess what I'm asking is with everything considered, are their more cons or pros to purchasing this issue?

By the by, I don't take addition of the preview to issue 501 as any consolation for the price point since it'll be online in a few weeks anyway. So, thoughts?

[The Isolationist]

I didn't like the Hand torturing Daredevil for initiation. The trials should have been on a personal basis, not hitting him with a stick.

[pharoahe22]

I didn't like the Hand torturing Daredevil for initiation. The trials should have been on a personal basis, not hitting him with a stick.

This is the Hand...these types of things always involve some kind of Spiritual and Physical pain. it wasn't unexpected for me in the least.

[oscarwildebeest]

To those to who bought this issue, would you say its skippable and one could buy DD #501 without having missed a beat? Or is this pretty much THE start of the new creative teams run? I would like to pick this up if the answer to my last question may be a yes, but the $4 price point and yet another fight bewteen DD and Bullseye are making me hesitant. I guess what I'm asking is with everything considered, are their more cons or pros to purchasing this issue?

By the by, I don't take addition of the preview to issue 501 as any consolation for the price point since it'll be online in a few weeks anyway. So, thoughts?

I have been avoiding Dark Reign for the most part, and I only picked it up because I wanted to make sure I was up to date for Diggle's run. Here's the thing: during their fight, Bullseye pulls a particularly nasty trick on Daredevil, which is importantly related to Daredevil's refusal to kill (or to have the Hand kill for him). It is unclear exactly what impact this has on Daredevil, but it is clear that he is rethinking his ideas of justice and his role in fighting evil when the issue ends. This is developed much further in the preview.

Now, as one person mentioned on the previous page, this whole abrupt psychological shift is not sold 100% - even still, it's clearly going to be a major issue in how Daredevil acts in the coming issues. So, I'd say to be fully aware of what's going on, you need to be in on what happens. You could always just ask someone to tell you, I'm sure there will be spoilers online somewhere, but yeah, it's important.

I'd give the issue itself a 7/10. I'm not that into Tan's art in it, though the preview stuff from de la Torre is absolutely gorgeous.

[oscarwildebeest]

It looks beautiful, I think, I'm pretty excited for the next issue.

De la Torre's art is gorgeous. Every frame in the preview was so detailed and evocative. And tDiggle's writing also seemed much better than his script for this issue - maybe the pressure of getting everything into the one-shot was the problem here.

I'm thinking the new run is going to be pretty excellent.

[arp2008]

I have been avoiding Dark Reign for the most part, and I only picked it up because I wanted to make sure I was up to date for Diggle's run. Here's the thing: during their fight, Bullseye pulls a particularly nasty trick on Daredevil, which is importantly related to Daredevil's refusal to kill (or to have the Hand kill for him). It is unclear exactly what impact this has on Daredevil, but it is clear that he is rethinking his ideas of justice and his role in fighting evil when the issue ends. This is developed much further in the preview.

Now, as one person mentioned on the previous page, this whole abrupt psychological shift is not sold 100% - even still, it's clearly going to be a major issue in how Daredevil acts in the coming issues. So, I'd say to be fully aware of what's going on, you need to be in on what happens. You could always just ask someone to tell you, I'm sure there will be spoilers online somewhere, but yeah, it's important.

I'd give the issue itself a 7/10. I'm not that into Tan's art in it, though the preview stuff from de la Torre is absolutely gorgeous.Thanks for the helpful comments.

[psycwave]

Okay so I finally got it. Absolutely magnificent.
Diggle is going to be phenomenal on his book. I can feel it.
I can't wait to see where he takes DD and The Hand.
And I also can't wait to see what type of supporting players he brings in.*crosses fingers for Black Widow and a Psylocke as Lady Mandarin appearnce)

[CaptainCanada]

I'd bet on the former, since he's already used Natasha in his run on Thunderbolts. Seems like the current setup would necessitate a confrontation between Matt and some other heroes about his new course, with Natasha being an obvious candidate (with some of the New Avengers in tow).

Actually, I was hoping that Brubaker would do a Daredevil/New Cap crossover while he was still doing both books.

[whiteshark]

I enjoyed this story.
Good start of Andy Diggle writing Daredevil.
I was already a fan of Billy Tan art from New Avengers,and was great to see his art in a solo super hero title.
It was such a enjoyable read that i am looking forward to read Daredevil#501 as well.
Which looking at the preview in this should be decent as well.

[CYOTI]

Why is there a lack of Osborn in 501?

[FlyingFox]

Why is there a lack of Osborn in 501?

Why does Norman Osborn need to be in Daredevil? I'm assuming your speaking of issue 501.

[napafish77]

Who is this Norman Osborn you speak of?