DAREDEVIL #12

There is an artistic serial killer prowling the streets of New York City, transforming his poor hapless victims into works of art. But fear not, culture fans, because Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Marvel Comics are now on the case, and this time they have a blind Cono Sur in toe. It's October, 2016, and it's time for the Daredevil review.

TO QUOTE Guillaume Apollinaire: 'Artists are, above all, men who want to become inhuman'.

THE REVIEW:

From a structural point of view I'd say issue 12 of Daredevil is a story which can easily be broken down into three distinct scenes. So for the sake of simplicity, here, check out what I thought of each scene one section at a time.

SCENE ONE - Daredevil Verses Muse.
At the end of last months episode Daredevil finally came face to face with the artistic serial killer, Muse, who, for whatever reason, introduces himself to DD in one page and then gets away from him in another. Yeah, basically that's it. Muse says hi, they then have a bit of a chat, and once that plays out, Boom, see you later alligator. Not a great scene by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, it felt disposable, hollow, almost as if it was there for the sake of last months cliff-hanger alone.

SCENE TWO - Inhumans in the Bronx.

After his confrontation with Muse, Matt, now in his civilian guise, goes to the Bronx because that vile villain has struck again. This time, though, the victim was someone who was indirectly given special abilities via the Inhuman's landing here on earth. Matt quickly finds this out when he speaks to one of their representatives, a half-human, half-inhuman cop-hybrid, named Frank McGee, who tells him that this crime falls under their jurisdiction, and that Matt -- or any other member of the NYPD -- aren't allowed to investigate regardless of they're intent. Obviously Matt is taken back by this news, and despite his best efforts can't seem to get anywhere with his negotiations.

SCENE THREE - Daredevil Asks The Inhumans For Some Help.

Feeling frustrated for not being able to investigate this crime, Matt, now in his Daredevil guise, goes to New Attilan, the Inhuman's city, and tries to persuade them to see things his way. Unfortunately, Medusa, the Queen of the Inhumans, refuses to do so, and that is why Matt then has to square off against Karnak, another Inhuman with the ability to find peoples weak points. But hey, as we all know, knowing someone's weak points and actually exploiting them are two different things, as Karnak soon finds out in his subsequent battle with Daredevil.

Now for the sake of spoilers I think it best that I leave things there, or else I may say too much, and I don't want to do that, do I? Although, that said, what I am willing to say is that yes, I did like the simple flow of this issue as well as the way each segment led onto the next one. What I didn't like, however, was the formulaic approach each scene had, as I could almost second guess how each scene was going to end regardless of its set-up.

Art-wise, on the other hand, I must admit that I'm really starting to warm up to Ron Garney's noir style of illustration. Despite it being scratchy in places, rushed even, that's not to say that I didn't like it's more down to earth quality, showing us -- the reader -- that humans and inhumans alike can look and act real in spite of their obvious differences.

Talking about 'being real', another thing I enjoyed about this book was the inclusion of the Frank McGee character. To me, his addition kind of grounds the science fiction based subtext this plot-line has in spades, adding to it because of Frank's real world personality as opposed to his surreal-world power-set.

So overall, issue 12 of Daredevil wasn't that bad an issue. The artwork was fine. The story-line is slowly moving in the right direction. And apart from a couple of minor blemishes where it comes to pacing and drawing, all in all, good job, and I wonder who Muse will kill next?

THE MUSIC:

For this months musical match-up I'd like to pair this adventure with the Michelle Gayle song, 'Your Sweetness is my Weakness', simply because of that scene where Daredevil fought Karnak.

THE COMPARISON:

If you think about it, all Daredevil did in this issue was to talk to people and then fight them. You know, just like Donald Trump, but without any of his crude rhetoric or cat references.

THE CONCLUSION:

At the very end of this issue Blindspot calls up Daredevil on the phone and tells him some news. So, for the sake of a refund, can you guess what that news is out of the following eight options? Could it be...