What I Bought 4/17/2015 - Part 4

Hey, let’s look at a couple of books that start with D and are nearing the end of their respective runs!

Daredevil #14, by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid (storytellers), Matthew Wilson (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) – At least reading this issue explained the cover to me. I’d been confused about what the heck was going on ever since I saw it in the solicits a few months ago.

Matt has decided to do away with his secret identity entirely after a discussion with Kirsten’s dad about Matt’s autobiography. Now he fights crime in the courtroom and out wearing no mask, and a bright red suit with a “DD” belt buckle. And he had his hair buzzed short. I suppose it suits his ham tendencies, but yeesh, I’m as disgusted as Kirsten. Anyway, because Matt jokingly asked what was the worst that could happen, he meets a costumed young woman claiming to be the Owl’s daughter, who is looking for her dad. Eventually they wind up on Alcatraz. I approve. I mean, I know it’s cliché, but if I were going to have a base of operations in San Francisco, that’s where I’d go. Or a nice hilltop base, but I’m sure the prices on those are astronomical. Better to just hijack a landmark. Anyway, the Owl’s down there with wires running out of his eyes and mouth, and then the Shroud shows up. And the young lady realizes the emblem on the pendant all the goons she’s been attacking were wearing, matches the scar burned into Shroud’s face.

Safe bet Max is trying to use the Owl to search for Julia Carpenter, right? Or maybe that’s what he thinks is happening. The last time around, Matt was pretty sure the Owl was too dangerous for Max to try and control, so who the heck knows now? Owlsley could be in over his head, or everything could be according to plan, though he looks significantly worse off than he did last issue.

Samnee’s rocking it, as per usual, although during the scene at the ballpark, his Matt looks a lot like a redheaded Hal Jordan to me, once he takes off the glasses. Maybe it’s the leather jacket and the exceedingly cocky smile. Extremely punchable face. Nice touch, though, in the panel where Matt asks what’s the worst that could happen, to have Kirsten’s dad swing and miss in the background. On more serious discussion, on the last pitch thrown to Matt, I like the staging. First, the panel of the wind-up. Directly below it, the panel of the throw, with the ball moving down out of that panel away from the pitcher. Leading to a panel of Matt’s view through radar, with the ball now further from the pitcher, and accelerating out of that panel. And then a diagonal panel of Matt swinging, so that his bat is basically meeting the radar image of the ball. And the angle of the panel leads the eye off in a different direction, towards the final panel, and the next page. Top-notch.

Deadpool #44, by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn (writers), Salva Espin (artist), Val Staples (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) – That is not one of this series stronger covers. There’s the potential for a good cover in there. Do Deadpool and Shiklah as Indiana Jones and Marion. Have Wade dress as Lara Croft. Have them unmask a mummy, Scooby-Doo style, or go Joe Kubert with it and have one of them muse on their relative safety while we see something ominous lurking in the background.

While waiting for Shiklah to arrive, Wade is attacked again, by Omega Red. Wade trounces the dope, but does not kill him, instead opting to talk things out, and help Red realize he’s being used by someone, and that they are similar. They had horrible things done to them, but it’s their choice how they use the results of that. One panel even alludes to the idea that it was Logan who helped Wade come to this realization. Jeez, Logan, you could have saved everyone a lot of trouble if you’d stopped treating Deadpool like shit years ago.

Then Shiklah shows up and punches her first through Omega Red’s chest, which surprisingly – and unfortunately – doesn’t kill him. And Wade talks her out of finishing the job, Deadpool and the missus bond a bit, and he tells her the coffins appear to be empty, which doesn't bother her. However, she also doesn’t seem bothered that Wade’s going back to New York, rather than stay with her. So I guess they’re still married. And it turns out there’s 99 warriors hidden under the coffins she’s going to use to war with the vampires. And at least based on the one we see, they may have some connection to Apocalypse? Oh goody. Back in America, ULTIMATUM prepares to attack Deadpool’s house, though only Michael the Necromancer and Evan the future Apocalypse are inside.

It’s interesting to watch Wade as this point. It isn’t that he won’t kill, but he’s past the point of doing so needlessly. If he can get things solved without killing he will. But I’m not sure if that will work out. All his fighting against Roxxon appears to have only delayed the inevitable, as they just brought more tanks. Shiklah’s planning to engage in a likely bloody war, and his friends and loved ones are about to be under attack, because his plan to keep ULTIMATUM off their backs didn’t hold up. This is kind of how it goes for Wade, every time he makes some progress, something comes along to blow it all to hell. A lot of times, it’s his own doing. He makes a bad decision, or the easy decision, can’t control his inner demons, and it costs him. This time he seems to have really tried to do the right thing. Save innocent lives, show mercy, think things through, and it still didn’t work. Is this that bit about how it’s possible to still make no mistakes and lose?

There’s a lot of talking in this issue, so Espin gets to do a lot of close-ups on faces. I particularly like the wry, tired smile Wade has in the second panel on page 4. He’s relaxed – because he has a little surprise ready – but also, he’s not real eager. This is just something he’s going to have to do, whether he wants to or not. And Val Staples did a good job on portraying the torchlight and how it would shadow or brighten faces. Also, and I don’t know whether this is because of how Espin draws them, or how Staples is coloring it, but the black circles on Wade’s mask, combined with the yellow dot for his eyes, makes him look really surprised and kind of comical, not always, but at times. I don’t feel like they’d had that particular effect under most of the other artists on the book. I guess it’s just that it looks like the black circles are his eyeballs, and so they’re oversized to a silly degree.