Review by Ian Keogh
When breaking down his plots, Chip Zdarsky adapts the formulas applied by TV dramatists, and the conclusion to End of Hell is akin to the cliffhanger ending a show’s first season. The attack on Hell’s Kitchen was stopped, although not without casualties, there was a big “I am Spartacus” moment and Daredevil concluded he needed to turn himself in and follow due legal process for the killing he committed.
So far Zdarsky’s barely made a wrong move with Daredevil, but a polarising character makes his return here. It’s possible Mike Murdock’s purpose is to provide some get-out further down the line, but unless handled exceptionally well it’s going to come across as a cheap solution, and while his role here sows the intended confusion, it’s a door opened that’s going to take some closing.
He’s also only a single character in an unusually fragmented outing from Zdarsky. People prominent throughout the run are barely featured here, and while Daredevil making preparations for the possibility of his being jailed is logical, there’s little focus overall.
If the story’s strangely disconnected, the art is even more so. Until now Daredevil’s editors have rectified a constant annoyance of 21st century Marvel where no-one seems to care that artists with completely different styles follow each other chapter to chapter. This Daredevil series has scheduled them to avoid that until now. Marco Checchetto is the star turn drawing just under half the pages in his composed style. Franceso Mobili approximates that style, although isn’t as imaginative, but Manuel Garcia and Mike Hawthorne have very different approaches and aren’t as satisfying.
What’s been a patchy outing finishes strongly, though, with Zdarsky opening some old wounds, supplying a new Daredevil and leaving the old to ponder further. Doing Time is next. Alternatively both are combined as the third hardback volume of Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell.
