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[ DIVE INTO THOSE BARGAINS ] |
TO QUOTE John Boorman: 'It's so easy to manipulate an audience,
but it's nearly always clear that you are being manipulated'.
THE REVIEW:
Last month the Purple
Man, also known as Zebediah Killgrave,
managed to capture Daredevil before he could do anything to stop him. Therefore, in this month's episode -- yep, you guessed it -- we finally
find out how this all gradually pans out.
Now it's pretty common knowledge that The Purple Man has the ability to
control people's minds, and when I say control, what I actually mean by
this is to 'manipulate them' into doing his bidding. In comic book terms
-- or should that be, metaphysical terms? -- what this entails involves
him entering his victim's dream-scape and then attempting to make them see
things his way.
For instance, in this very issue of Daredevil, issue
19, we are presented with a story which takes place within a dream
sequence set in a bar. For some peculiar reason this bar is meant to
represent Matt's mind, whereas the many people populating it, namely, the
many different versions of Daredevil himself, act as a physical representation of the
varying parts of Matt's own psyche.
So in order for the Purple Man to do what he does best,
manipulate-manipulate-manipulate, what he decides to do is to ask Matt one
simple question: What's the one thing that terrifies you the most?
But instead of Matt, or at least, our version of Matt, directly answering
this question, what ends up happening is that his other versions
take it upon themselves to answer it on his behalf. This begins with the Frank
Miller inspired version who sardonically reply's to the Purple one in a
fairly grim and gruff fashion. The Mark Waid version, on the other hand,
then adversely counteracts what Franks version says, and this results
in the two of them getting into a fist fight together.
Now this goes on, back and forth, back and forth, between the numerous versions of Daredevil, with each of them giving their own opinions on certain scenarios that could possibly lead to the truth. After a while Matt, that's our Matt, is able to turn the tables upon his purple hued archenemy, doing so by getting him to instigate mass chaos throughout the entire planet with the use of his evil looking machine.
Now this goes on, back and forth, back and forth, between the numerous versions of Daredevil, with each of them giving their own opinions on certain scenarios that could possibly lead to the truth. After a while Matt, that's our Matt, is able to turn the tables upon his purple hued archenemy, doing so by getting him to instigate mass chaos throughout the entire planet with the use of his evil looking machine.
Don't worry though, because Matt and The Purple Children eventually
subdue this situation -- kind of -- and with that
said, I think it best that I stop myself there, as I think I've said too much already.
Well, if truth be told, this is one of those issues which is basically
people talking about probability, possibility, and hypothetical scenarios, all
of which is embedded within a story that should tell us how Matt got the
world to forget about him being his alter ego. Not that this is a bad
thing, mind you. As I did like seeing the different versions of Daredevil and
reading what they had to say about their collective lives. On top of that, Marc
Laming, who filled in as guest artist, did manage to enhance the overall
concept behind this scenario with a steady flow of clean and expressive
looking visuals.
But in the same breath, at the end of the day talking is what talking does -- bides your time until a resolution finally presents itself. And to me, despite liking the general concept surrounding this story -- i.e. Self analysis within a life or death situation -- at the same time parts of it felt disposable on the page, almost as if their inclusion was meant to fill out the story with some additional girth, without expanding upon the general plot.
But in the same breath, at the end of the day talking is what talking does -- bides your time until a resolution finally presents itself. And to me, despite liking the general concept surrounding this story -- i.e. Self analysis within a life or death situation -- at the same time parts of it felt disposable on the page, almost as if their inclusion was meant to fill out the story with some additional girth, without expanding upon the general plot.
It was a good story though, and I don't want to take anything away
from Charles Soule's writing. I
would also like to mention how I found the narrative very intriguing and suspenseful,
especially when the different Daredevils gave their different takes on Matt's
life (minus that scene with Kirsten McDuffie, which I'm not quite sure was real or not). So all in all, let's just say that this issue had some great artwork and
it does act as a fairly decent segue into next months final chapter of PURPLE.
So how does Matt make the world forget who he is? We don't have long to wait to find out the answer.
THE MUSIC:
I feel compelled to musically match-up this issue with the theme tune
played at the start of the popular 80s TV show, Cheers, simply
because most of it is set in a bar.
THE COMPARISON:
On a purely
aesthetic level this adventure involves one man trying to influence the
behavior of another. So with that said, how could I not compare it to a,
wink-wink, dependent relationship? You know, like you might find in
a cult, a political setting, or, dare I
say it, certain religious environments.
THE CONCLUSION:
Overall this was a pretty good issue of Daredevil, even though most
of it was dedicated to Matt telling the Purple Man his deepest, darkest, fears.
So, for the sake of curiosity, do you think you can guess what he tells him out
of the following eight options? Could he be scared of...
- Walking naked through the center of
Time Square.
- Being seen in a sex tape with Kim
Kardashian, Forrest Gump, and Popeye.
- Doing nothing while the world
around him erupts into chaos.
- Changing his costume for the sake
of product placement.
- Marrying a sheep.
- Being caught masturbating in church.
- Appearing on his own reality show.
- Killing a mockingbird.
Nuff said.
DAREDEVIL #19
Reviewed by David Andrews
on
May 11, 2017
Rating:

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