Book of Doom: Daredevil #100
Huh, apparently the guys weren’t very excited about this (mildly) monumentous moment in Daredevil history, because only one other Doomer joined in for our collective review, and you won’t believe who it was. Since we didn’t have much contribution this week, how about you readers pipe in with some thoughts on the artistic mash-up that accompanied Ed Brubaker’s script?
My thoughts? Mainly, I was glad to get the Lee Bermejo cover. (no Michael Turner!) That was sort of counter-balanced by yet another $3.99 sticker tag. And for what? Some old crappy issues about Mr. Fear that are relevant to this current storyline but not necessary reading? I skimmed through it, but I would’ve gladly traded it in for a dollar, which I would’ve used to dry a load of clothes or something.
Extraneous junk aside, I thought the issue was pretty good and probably the best narrative handling of an anniversary issue artistic collaboration I’ve ever seen. Smart idea to use Matt’s poisoned nightmares as an excuse for each of the styles. And, for the most part, the styles worked out pretty well. It was especially nice to see Alex Maleev doing DD again, and he does as good a job as ever. I honestly really didn’t like the Gene Colan and Bill Sienkiewicz sections, though. They just seemed a bit rushed and rough.
As for the story, I said before that this was a big chance for Brubaker to rein in more readers to this series, since lots of people will pick up a big issue like #100 (although maybe $3.99 scared some off). And, while this was yet another strong entry in the DD series, I don’t think it did anything above what’s been going on in DD for years now: Shady behind the scenes characters plot to ruin Matt’s life. This book needs a change of direction from that, and something more substantial than a detour into Europe (though that was fun).
So, what’d the other guys think? Jim Doom had this to say:
“I haven’t been able to get to the comic store yet so I will not be able to participate in the book of doom.”
Well, at least he was nice enough to send a note. Fin Fang Doom didn’t even bother with that. My good man Doom Deluise, however, made an unexpected plate appearance to save the day:
“Finally, a Book of Doom that I actually got around to reading before Saturday! I still haven’t gotten around to those issues of Iron Fist or Captain America: The Chosen or Thor or Sub-Mariner or Silver Surfer: Requiem. Oh well. Like I said, at least I got around to this one.
I kind of liked it. The various art styles meshed well together and gave the book a unique, and appropriate, style for this 100th issue. I’ve really been enjoying Daredevil since I started reading it about a year and a half ago, and this issue is no different. It’s amazing that Brubaker has created this fun, interesting, long-running plot-line, where the main villain is revealed to be Mr. Fear, of all people. What a lame villain to be behind everything. Yet, it works, like I said. My only complaint is that his fear toxin is ripped pretty much straight from the pages of Batman, with Scarecrow. Or the other way around. Either way, Scarecrow was in a movie, so I’m gonna give the me not knowing which came first toss-up to him.
And it’s too bad that I was thinking about how derivative it was as I read through each page. It’s a shame, because it hurts an otherwise fantastic storyline.
Not that big of a complaint, but a complaint, nonetheless, which is something I haven’t had too many of when it comes to this series since I started reading it.”
Be a little more patient, dude.
Daredevil #100 was a perfect example of what I’m willing to pay $3.99 for in a comic. It was a very solid 36-page story (imagine that, Ed Brubaker wrote a really solid Daredevil story), and in addition to that we get some vehind-the-scenes “making of” pages (which I honestly couldn’t care less about). But Marvel went the extra mile by including two full-color reprints of some really old DD comics, from a period they don’t tend to keep in print in trade form (aside from the Essentials).
I’m usually not a fan of “artist jam” issues, where a bunch of random guys each contribute a few pages of artwork in a story. Usually it’s just a jumbled mess of random artists whose styles clash dramatically and add nothing to the story. DD #100 is the first time I can ever remember the rotation of artists actually making sense within the context of the story. Having each artist’s art be a different hallucination DD is having after getting a shot of Mister Fear’s fear gas was a stroke of genius.
Out of all the non-Michael Lark artists, I’d have to say Alex Maleev was my favorite. That’s especially strange considering I’ve always thought Maleev’s art was one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy Bendis’ run on the title. Guess that’s not the case, unless the art is drastically different here and I don’t realize it. I thought Gene Colan’s art left the most to be desired, which is strange because I really enjoyed his art in the reprints. Perhaps Colan’s one of those guys whose art really suffers when it isn’t inked, or maybe the modern style of coloring just doesn’t agree with his style.
I don’t think DD #100 was any better of worse than any of the issues we’ve seen out of Ed Brubaker since he took over the title. That’s not a bad thing by any means, but generally you’d expect something major to happen in an anniversary issue. This was really just an ordinary issue of Daredevil that featured a bunch of guest artists. It’s an interesting way to commemorate the hundredth issue.
Okay, you’re out of the doghouse.
I’m on unemployment hiatus.