Comic Review: Man Without Fear (2019) #3

Man Without Fear #3

Marvel Comics

Writer: Jed MacKay

Artist: Iban Coello

On another issue of MacKay’s interlude before the new Daredevil series, the story continues to follow Matt’s discussions with his friends about whether he should or shouldn’t give up the Daredevil mantle. We get to see more of Daredevil’s friends as they help him with his Physiotherapy for his legs so he may walk again. This time the rest of The Defenders (Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist) take turns on helping Matt. Again, each one offering their own take on Murdock’s current situation and dilemma. Sure it sounds repetitive and very similar to the issue #2 but now we get a narrative alternating between the physio sessions and a past Defender’s mission in which the team had to protect Ben Urich as we understand why Daredevil is known as “Man Without Fear” even by other superheroes.

McKay’s writing has shown itself amazingly fluid in style, meaning, there hasn’t been a pattern of storytelling since issue #1, they were all very different and unique on their own. In this one, he mainly relies on actual dialogue between characters instead of narration or inner dialogue. The pace in this issue is also pretty good, always switching back and forth from present days to flashback. This works out perfectly as the read goes by without any trouble and both stories amount to conflicting endings directly related to the title of this mini-series. The only negative aspect of the writing (maybe) is that this time, MacKay opted for a less judgemental dialogue coming from Murdock’s visits, which made the Defenders feel like they were closer to Matt than Foggy is.

This issue contains delightful artwork. Right on the first page, we get to see outstanding detail work on Murdock’s face, legs and hand displaying all of his struggles as he tries to walk again. I also loved how it was obvious who the new characters in the story were, simply based on the art style alone, dismissing any presentation titles/boxes. That being said, the characters’ design in this issue carried a lot more style to them in comparison to issue #2 artwork that was clearly based on the TV show. Another gorgeous detail is how Coello represented motion in various ways, for example, blurred characters, all of which were incredibly appropriately used.

This issue confirms what I thought: this interlude intends to take a deeper look into Matt Murdock’s character as it sets the ground for the upcoming series. We’ll probably not have any issue with more action than this one, since the focus is not a fight with a new enemy, but to explore the main character and what may happen to the man without fear.