Comic Review: Daredevil (2019-) #27

Daredevil #27

Marvel Comics

Writer: Chip Zdarsky

Artists: Marco Checchetto and Mike Hawthorne

For the last few years, Chip Zdarsky has been hard at work at rebranding his writing. He was the funny guy on the whacky books, but these days he has far more tools in his arsenal. Specifically, his time on Daredevil has exemplified his range and is often the best Marvel book in many weeks. Daredevil #27 isn’t an issue that’s ultimately not memorable. Yet, given all it has going against it; it’s still quite good.

This issue was always going to be an uphill battle for me given that it’s a tie-in to King in Black, a series I’ve not touched. It certainly is a distraction from the direction we were going before, but Zdarsky and Checchetto manage to subvert the total demolition of the pacing by allowing both Matt and Elektra to gain some solid development from this invasion. The story may do a complete 180, but at the very least the characters are still moving forward.

Let’s put the King in Black stuff to the side for a moment and discuss Elektra’s new role as Daredevil. First of all, it’s a rad costume. It blends her classic costume with Daredevil’s in a way that makes it look new and unique, and yet if you were to flash a picture of the suit it would be clear who’s underneath it. It’s good storytelling as well as just looking great. More importantly, though, I don’t entirely understand why she’s doing this. Her motivations aren’t all that clear and she stepped into the role quite quickly. It’s not like she’s been a major player in the series and this has been building; it was very sudden. It’s quite fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s missing something that could make it feel more impactful.

Elektra stars in one half of the book, and Matt in the other. He’s in prison, possessed by a symbiote. I’ll be honest, while it did have some good character moments for Matt, this side of the story was a bit of a snooze fest. I’ll own up to some bias there given that I don’t care for symbiote stories of any kind, but it doesn’t help that this Knull character and his motivations are completely lost on me. It unfortunately puts a damper on what is a great issue, from a technical standpoint. It is quick, however, and I don’t regret my time with it.

A big part of that is Marco Checcheto’s and Mike Hawthorne’s art. Having two artists on a single issue isn’t always something I’m always fond of, but to be honest I didn’t even notice there were two artists my first time through. When I flip back through it after reading the credits it’s obvious, but it’s not a jarring transition at all. Checchetto draws the Elektra bits, with Hawthorne on the Matt ones. Hawthorne is great and fits the book just fine, but Checchetto blows me away with this one as he’s done with every issue he’s drawn. The way he conveys Elektra’s movement and action is nothing short of beautiful. I stopped multiple times throughout just to marvel at what the guy is doing.

Daredevil #27 is something of a mixed bag. It has the unfortunate job of juggling someone else’s story with its own, and all things considered, it does a pretty good job. It would be very easy for this to be awful, and it wasn’t awful; it was solid. Plus, the tremendous artwork by Checchetto and Hawthorne did wonders for this alright story. I liked reading it, but I’m relieved that the next issue appears to be back to normal.