Daredevil #600

Daredevil has reached number 600 and rather than rest on its laurels by giving us reflection stories and tributes to the past, Marvel decides to up the stakes in the battle between Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock.

So, we are at a point where the Kingpin what he ultimately wants. He ‘legitimately’ has control of New York as its elected mayor. One of his first decrees is to outlaw costumed vigilantes which should give him a bit of breathing room to run his operations. As the book opens up however, Daredevil and a bunch of street level Marvel heroes (Iron Man, Power Fist, Moon Knight and a few others) are ready to quite literally drop in on a gang meeting. It’s the kind of thing that Daredevil wants, but the Kingpin has to be there in order to get the results he needs but as they say, ready made plans will go south after first contact.

What I liked about this issue is that Charles Soule has taken the time to set this story up to show that no matter how close Matt Murdoch may be to bringing down the Kingpin, that Kingpin may be one step ahead of him and it shows throughout the story. Best of all however is that there is still the mantra that the Kingpin has within himself that no matter what he does, he is doing it for the good of New York City regardless of the path that he takes to achieve that goodness. Not to mention that his intent is to remove every possible player from the board to consolidate this power. By the end of the issue however, there is an element that comes into play that throws a big monkey wrench into Fisk’s plans and I can’t wait to see how it all unravels but the major hurdle is getting Matt Murdoch back into play.

The other story about Blindspot’s battle with Muse was a pretty decent ending to this arc and to be honest I was more engaged with the main storyline than I was the side story. The only other thing I wasn’t all that crazy about is that with so many other support characters in the book, they didn’t get as much time to be a part of the story, however, when die was cast, they did what they were supposed to do

Overall I enjoyed the dialogue, even the quips early on from Spidey were spot on and funny. The dialogue throughout really captured the tension between all sides as each faction knew what was on the line.

Art wise, Ron Garney’s and Matt Milla’s work was hit or miss for me but I get what they were trying to do. Some of it felt like a good nod to some of the classic art from the mid 80s X-men artist Paul Smith. But I think the thing that threw me was how some of the page colors were bright yet muted at the same time. By doing that, it made me wonder in what direction this book was supposed to go it…was it supposed to be dark and gritty or bright but hopeful?

While not a typical milestone comic, the ending was a big twist that many won’t see coming and it sets #601 up nicely.

3.75 Marvel Knights out of 5