Review by Ian Keogh

A series that’s been so careful in ensuring artistic continuity really crumbles on that score with Lockdown, as five artists work on six chapters. Marco Checchetto has been the gold standard, but he only draws the single chapter, and the opening two parts are the work of Mike Hawthorne. He’s been solid, give or take a few strange figures, when filling in, but really steps up here with some great layouts (sample spread left). He’s on shakier ground with faces, though, which are blocky and too simple. Stefano Landini (sample right) takes the easy option of moving the viewpoint in really close for conversations, and on his second chapter the same applies to the action, which would have been more effectively shown from distance. Manuel Garcia’s layouts are good, but he makes a bearded Daredevil look like a beaver and twists him into some grim poses.

Lockdown continues the threats introduced in Doing Time, and opens with Daredevil in jail, Elektra as Daredevil patrolling Hell’s Kitchen, the Kingpin and his chosen successor Izzy Libris under pressure, Typhoid Mary ever less controllable, and Bullseye somewhere on the loose. By the end, much has changed. In places the transitions are absolutely thrilling, with an idea about raising the threat of Bullseye even higher a highlight, but the same idea ensures Lockdown drags on too long.

There seems to be rush to close off plots Chip Zdarsky’s cultivated since the start of his run, and in doing that some less than sparkling ideas intrude. While the Kingpin and Typhoid Mary’s relationship has always been complicated and more than employer and employee, the turn it takes here lacks foundation. Plus the circumstances prompting it transmit as contrived due to the lack of foreshadowing. It’s plain clumsy, and whether or not you’ve liked Zdarsky’s take on Daredevil it’s always been thoughtful. An explanation of public interest in prisons is just that, yet it’s shoehorned into a scene that needs to move faster.

Overall? Unless you buy into some unlikely events Lockdown is a disappointing conclusion to noteworthy run. However, Zdarsky’s not finished with Matt Murdock yet. He and Checchetto are back for Devil’s Reign, and then with Daredevil & Elektra, and as a sidebar there’s Woman Without Fear. That’s combined with this in the fourth hardback volume of Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell.