Review: Daredevil #114 (8.5/10)

I may have gained three pounds or more in as many days, but I think my fingers are still nimble enough to put together a review of Daredevil #114. While most of the holiday crowd probably spend their days in or near a couch (or at a table full of more food than any sane person would care to eat), the last issue of Daredevil, which hit stores on Christmas Eve, is decidedly more eventful. If jogging off those extra pounds won't get your heart racing, this chapter of the Lady Bullseye story arc certainly will.

Okay, enough with the holiday references. Let's get down to business, shall we? First of all, when this arc began, I don't think anyone realized that the two subplots would both be given as much panel space as they have. I thought that the slight hiccup in Matt's personal life would be pushed to the side, an annoying and unsightly pimple on Matt's already plagued psyche (yeah, weird metaphor, I know), to be dealt with at a later date. No such luck. The pimple explodes in this issue (eh, I need a better metaphor, yuck...).

Okay, since I realize can't review this issue further without getting into the details, I'm putting the rest of this review under a cut. Proceed at your own risk. If you haven't read this issue yet, what are you waiting for. Go buy! Now!
SPOILERS AHEAD ---

With the Black Tarantula, Master Izo and Iron Fist on Hands watch, Matt has another encounter with Lady Bullseye, though it's not the one you would think. In fact, the "must see costume" crowd may be a little annoyed with this issue, even though it's so full of action, albeit of a different kind, I don't understand why anyone would care. I've seen some reviewers out there who have said that this issue reads like an interlude and that it has a "middle of the arc lull," but I would say that it advances the story much more extensively than the last issue did. Especially if you view Matt's personal dilemmas as central to the story.

While the developments that concern the kung fu ninja aspect of the story are all exciting, leading up to a double cliffhanger where we are lead to both fear for Matt's safety and wonder about Lady Bullseye's true intentions, most of the drama concerns Matt's personal life. His latest misstep comes back to slap him in the face when Milla's parents walk right into his law office with two lawyers in toe - one of whom is a woman of Japanese descent - to get permanent custody of their daughter. Matt is his typical unyielding self, but things take a bad turn when his and Milla's old (unfiled) divorce papers surface, along with some compromising photographs of him and Dakota. The Donovans promise to destroy the evidence of his and Dakota's affair and give him an alibi for the murder, if Matt goes ahead and finalizes the divorce.

This issue isn't resolved during the heated meeting, but has Foggy asking some pretty tough questions. If Matt has already moved on, what is he hanging on to? This is a good question and I think that Matt will cut Milla loose next issue and let her parents have their way. That would most likely mean the permanent end of Matt's and Milla's relationship and is probably what Brubaker wanted from the start. At least it's more exciting, and dare I say realistic, than just having Bullseye take a stab at her.

Speaking of Foggy, I loved to see him back this issue. I do wish he could have shown a little more outrage at Matt's behavior though. Foggy is sometimes like the good friend who is so good he'd let you get away with murder. On the other hand, he also knows what a jam Matt is in and probably realizes that he can deal with the tough love later.

The indentity of the Donovans' female attorney is revealed in the last few pages, and Matt's hunch turns out to be right. This revelation leads to more and quite exciting questions. What is her agenda, what does she want with Matt and is she someone we know from his past?

I guess I should end this unusually meandering review with some comments about the art. It continues to be very good (though I can think of at least one panel that looks quite odd) and is of the same high caliber we've seen previously in this arc. I can't wait another month for the conclusion to this arc. There are many questions I want to see answered and I believe most of those answers will come a short thirty days from now.

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