Comic Review: Daredevil #610

Daredevil #610

Writer: Charles Soule

Artist: Phil Noto

Daredevil #610 is part two of the four-part “Death of Daredevil” story arc and the apex of Charles Soule’s three-year run on the title. Soule is no stranger to killing off beloved Marvel characters, but luckily, this arc is more coherent than “Death of Wolverine”.

I’ll come right out and say it: Phil Noto is the reason to pick this up. From the moment I opened the book my jaw was on the floor. The first five pages continue from #609’s ending, which plays out exactly like any Daredevil fan knew it would. These five pages are essentially ‘act one’, and while Soule obviously wrote this issue with the three-act structure in mind, Noto actually separates the three acts through his coloring. The first is full of gorgeous blues and pinks, which reflects the more intimate and dreamlike nature of this act. The second has an abrupt change in the color scheme, now with many earthy shades of browns and greens, indicating we’ve moved on from that dreamlike state, and are now in the real world where important things are happening. When the third act hits, it’s as if all the color flees the premises. It leaves the book with gray backgrounds, clashing with the three characters’ bright red costumes, and the reader with a sense of impending dread.

Charles Soule deserves some credit as well. He has great ideas and his dialogue always feels natural, which is certainly true of this issue. This new villain, ‘The Vigil’, from the last issue, is very effective in the context he’s being used in. We have not yet been told anything about his backstory, or why he’s doing what he’s doing, but that actually works in the character’s favor. He’s mysterious, he’s dangerous, and he’s terrifying to look at. Soule deserves credit for that, however, he could serve to trust the reader a bit more.  By that, I mean he tends to over-explain what Matt is thinking. In those first few pages that I was so impressed with due to Noto’s art, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the number of caption boxes. There is a significant amount of what he is saying in those boxes is already being said through the artwork. While Noto is letting us experience the story, Soule has a tendency to spell it out.

A more minor gripe is that if this is truly the death of Daredevil, should we really be spending so much time with these Inhuman characters? I do like them, they’re good characters, but it seems that Soule is letting his history with them overshadow what is truly best for a story like this. A book like this should focus on Daredevil and the characters that are important to Daredevil’s history. As it stands we’re getting a very solid Daredevil and Elektra story, but with a lot of Soule’s original characters being thrown in for good measure. I wouldn’t be so positive on the book overall if these were bad characters, but luckily Soule understands that if you’re going to shoehorn characters into your story, they should at least be good characters.

This is another fun issue of Daredevil. Its strength lies in the art, and for the most part, the writing is solid. I’m looking forward to how this story concludes; if Soule can lay off those caption boxes this might be a truly great moment in Daredevil’s history.