"Daredevil: King of Hell's Kitchen"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Daredevil: King of Hell’s Kitchen” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format. This is NOT connected to the Disney+ series “Daredevil: Born Again” in any way.

            Maya Lopez/Echo is able to mimic any movement she is able to visibly observe. She was born deaf. Originally, she was not believed to be deaf as she was able to skillfully read lips and talk and was labeled an insulting diagnosis instead. She communicated through her love of art. After she was diagnosed as deaf, she learned sign language. She was Native American and went to the Reservation with her father where she enjoyed learning the stories of her culture. She also learned of the ritual called the Vision Quest. When she was nine years old, her father died, and she was raised by his business partner Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. She excelled in schools so well she went from a school for children with handicaps and learning disabilities to a school for prodigies, able to master musical instruments, ballet, sports, and martial arts. Eventually, Maya began to work for Fisk and his criminal empire but turned good after meeting Matthew Murdock/Daredevil. Maya and Matt had a brief romantic relationship, but in the end, it didn’t work out and they went their separate ways. After Matt’s secret identity as Daredevil was outed in the press, Maya came looking for him, hoping to reconnect, but Matt rejected her. After a meeting with Fisk, Maya decided to embark upon her own Vision Quest. She returned to the Reservation and visited the Chief and asked him for guidance to perform the ritual. As she participated in the Vision Quest, she came upon James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine, whom she believed to be a “Spirit Animal,” something one comes upon during a Vision Quest. The two had a conversation, and during this conversation, Wolverine told Maya a story he had heard, a story that was originally told by Maya’s father before he died, a story Maya didn’t understand at the time, but upon Wolverine’s telling of the tale, it clicked in Maya’s head just what her father meant. Upon the completion of her Vision Quest, Maya returned to Hell’s Kitchen to say her final goodbye to Matt before moving on with her life.

            Daredevil defeated Kingpin and declared himself the King of Hell’s Kitchen and defeated all the gangs. After winning one of the largest class action damage settlements in the history of New York state over a newspaper outing him as Daredevil, Matt, and his new girlfriend Milla Donovan gave the money to the development of Hell’s Kitchen. After his takedown of Fisk, Matt was confronted by fellow superheroes Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Doctor Stephen Strange, and Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, who could not support Matt’s course of action. Nearly a year passed, and the FBI were still trying to find proof Matt was Daredevil. During a fight with the Yakuza, Matt went missing, and Milla, now Matt’s wife, turned to Daily Bugle investigative reporter Ben Urich to find her husband. Ben had long known Matt was Daredevil but never said anything, and Matt helped Ben gather information for his investigations. However, after Matt’s outing, Matt and Ben had ended their “professional” relationship. Ben turned to Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, Matt’s law partner, to ascertain Matt’s location. After finding him in a private hospital, Ben suggested that Matt’s recent actions could all be a nervous breakdown following the death of Matt’s lover Karen Page. Upon his return home nine days later, the Yakuza attacked Hell’s Kitchen and Daredevil teamed up with Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand/Iron Fist to take them down. Matt asked Foggy to stay with Milla to protect her, and Foggy suggested the nervous breakdown theory to Milla. Following his battle with the Yakuza, Milla confronted Matt, asking if their marriage was all just a part of his nervous breakdown, going as far as filing an annulment.

            S.H.I.E.L.D. were able to apprehend Viper/Madame Hydra in Bulgaria. The Pentagon wanted Madame Hydra to answer for her crimes in the United States of America, but the Bulgarian government refused to turn her over without a trade. In return, they wanted Natasha Romanova/Black Widow. Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. informed Natasha to hide as she became wanted by the American government. Natasha turned to her former lover Matt Murdock for his assistance in evading capture. Daredevil and Black Widow went into action to take down Billy Russo/Jigsaw. Following the fight, Matt and Natasha returned to Matt’s place. Matt turned down Natasha’s advances but signed Milla’s annulment. Jigsaw confronted Matt at the offices of Nelson & Murdock, where Matt denied being Daredevil. The next day, Matt and Natasha went to lunch, where they fell into the crosshairs of Quinn, who had been hired to kill Natasha. The two barely survived. Jigsaw and his gang invaded Matt’s home and Natasha had to fight to stay alive until the police arrived. Upon discovering who hired Quinn, Fury was able to remove the warrant on Natasha.

            Alexander Bont, the Kingpin before Wilson Fisk, received early parole. The FBI was advised due to their continuing investigation on Matt and the fact that Matt was Bont’s lawyer.

            Daredevil’s adversary Bullseye killed Karen Page, but what if she had lived? Matt would have gone on a hunt to find everyone involved in the attack that almost took his lover from him. The trail would eventually lead him to Wilson Fisk. In an act of blind rage, Matt would have accidentally killed the Kingpin. Matt would have been outed as Daredevil and arrested before he could turn himself in. Matt would have gone on trial for the murder of Wilson Fisk. And Matt would have been found guilty and sent to jail.

            Okay, I know I haven’t done one of these in a while, and I apologize, but I’m here now. Anyway, let’s get to my personal parts of this review. First off, you’re probably wondering just what I thought of this book. I will say I have mixed feelings. There were things I liked about this book, but there were also things I disliked. Let’s start with what I liked. I felt that the story was mostly enjoyable. “Echo” was fairly good, but the story was a little difficult to follow for two reasons. Reason number one was that there were points where the story was told out of order, which I really disliked. Reason number two was that the script wasn’t completely printed in speech bubbles or word boxes and knowing what to read and where to read, it wasn’t always immediately obvious, which again was relatively annoying. That said, when the story was clear to read, it was enjoyable. I especially liked the appearance of Wolverine. However, I will say that the story Logan told Maya actually is an old Native American story and was not actually originally told by Maya’s father as the story says, I know this for a fact because I have actually heard this story before, it was not new to me, and I am sure that there are a lot of people out there who will corroborate with me. I found “The King of Hell’s Kitchen” to be interesting. I liked all the plot twists, which I’m not going to get into because I don’t wish to give any further spoilers, which I feel like I did more than enough of in this review. “The Widow” was actually my favorite story in the book, I liked the team-up between Daredevil and Black Widow, and the scene at Matt’s house with the Black Widow fighting Jigsaw’s gang was just hysterical. That said, we have to talk about the things I disliked in this book, and there were a few things. First off, I wasn’t a fan of the artwork. I just did not find it to be enjoyable at all. I’m a nice guy most of the time, and I don’t wish to insult anyone, and I’m sure the artists worked their hardest to produce this art when they did it, so I won’t say anything bad or more, but it just wasn’t visually appealing to me. I especially didn’t like the art in “Echo,” and I didn’t like how in “The Universe” there were multiple artists, it just made the issue feel so disjointed. Also, I really disliked the issue “What if Karen Page Had Lived?” I totally didn’t like the story, with Matt going nuts and killing Kingpin. It just totally ruined the character. I know that the reader is supposed to accept this as Matt being in a blind rage, but Daredevil being a killer just isn’t acceptable. Also, the issue felt extremely rushed, especially the ending. The pacing felt all wrong and there were certain details that I felt like should have been more elaborated on or focused on. I felt like if the issue were a little longer it might have been more enjoyable. All-in-all though, I will say I found there to be more to enjoy about the book than to complain about.

            Next up, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I say this every time I write a review, so I know there are some of you who have read this many times before because I know I do have people who regularly read this blog, but I also know there are people who have never been to this blog before, so I have to explain it for you newbs. Okay, so when I say “accessibility,” I mean just how easy it is to just pick up and read this book, particularly if you know little or nothing about Daredevil or Marvel Comics. I will say this book is relatively easily accessible. First off, when I read it, I didn’t feel like it completely forces you to have to have read any previous Daredevil comics, but it would certainly help you to understand this book. Yes, it picks up on previous storylines, but it’s not like the previous volume did a “To Be Continued…” at the end, so having to have read the last volume didn’t seem completely necessary to me. Second, it doesn’t cross over into any other events or series, so it’s not like there are missing pieces or gaps in the storyline either, so you don’t need to read other graphic novels to understand this one. As far as saying if this is a perfect starting point for new readers to Marvel Comics, I won’t say this is it, but it’s not off-putting either.

            Now we get to the nitty-gritty part of my review, the part that we’re all here for: the numeric score. My scoring system is extremely basic: I score on a scale of one to ten. If I give this book a one, that means it’s a piece of trash and should be avoided at all costs. If I give this book a ten, that means this is sheer perfection and should belong in every Marvel reader’s collection. Now, I will say I am a very harsh scorer, so a low score from me doesn’t necessarily mean anything, I’m just really particular, it’s a high score that’s impressive. Now, as far as this book goes, I found the story to be relatively good, my main problem was the art, so this book is getting a relatively average score. So, taking everything into account, I’m throwing everything into the blender, turning it on, and pouring out… a five. I honestly can’t give this book anything higher than that, I hate to say it. I just honestly can’t get past the artwork’s consistent displeasure, it really hurt the book that badly for me. And “What If Karen Page Had Lived?” was just totally disliked, so I had to deduct for that. So, all said, I have to score it at a five. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean this book was bad. There was plenty to like about it, the first three stories were all great in my opinion, but there was also a massive amount to dislike that I just had to deduct from, so I feel that the five is justified.

            Now, the next part of my review is my personal recommendation. By this, do I, myself, Tim Cubbin, say this book is worth reading? And then, regardless of that, who do I think would most enjoy this book? So, I’m going to start off by saying that, yes, I do recommend this book personally. As to whom I recommend this book to, I would say to fans of Daredevil mostly, and if you like Black Widow, her story in this book is really good, too. And if you’re a fan of Brian Michael Bendis, he did a rather decent job writing this book. And if you’re into Native American stories, this book would be interesting to you. And if you are a fan of Echo, I think this book would be appealing to you as well.

            Okay, so I’d say we’re at the point where it’s time to start saying goodbye. First, though, I will tell you there are over 150 posts on this blog, so there is plenty more content to check out. If you liked this “Daredevil” review and want more Daredevil, you can check out my reviews of “Daredevil: Underboss” and “Daredevil: Out” as well, you’d probably enjoy that. I have written dozens of reviews at this point, but there are also short stories, poems, essays, articles, editorials, and all kinds of other content on this blog, so keep scrolling, I’m sure you’ll find something else you’ll like. I have another review planned, it should be up in the next week, so keep an eye out for that. I post on a very frequent basis, I collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection as it comes out and try to review it as soon as possible, so there’s always plenty more content on the way. Well, I guess I’ll let you get on your way, I’ve wasted enough of your time as it is, you probably want to move on with your life and I’ve been doing this for almost four hours, so I’m ready to move on to, so I’ll speed you on with just a few more words, and they are: Tim Cubbin… out!