Brubaker's Daredevil Part 7: Return of the King

[cyberghostface]

So here we are with the big finale to Brubaker's run and to my series of Daredevil posts. I'm not going to be doing Diggle's run as the general consensus seems to be that no one here liked it, and it would be difficult for me to post as A.) a lot of it has been posted here already and B.) zigzagging between the Shadowland miniseries and the tie-in arc would have given me a headache.

So anyways I hope you all enjoyed these posts and again if you liked them show your support by buying the trades.

#116...

As you may recall, in Brubaker's second arc Matt got the Kingpin released from prison under the agreement that he would leave the country. Here we see Wilson Fisk trying to start a new life free of his criminal past. As a fan of the Kingpin, it's one of my favorite issues of Brubaker's run. I love how it shows that Fisk wasn't scheming and trying to find ways of restoring his criminal empire...he was legitimately trying to start over.

To honor his dead wife's memory, Fisk moved to a small coastal town in Spain that she had loved. It's also a place that the Kingpin never existed in. Even so, he finds it hard to escape the past.

One day, he meets a woman named Marta.





Fisk attempts to tell her who he is, but she stops him, realizing that he came to the small village to escape from his past. At one point, another villager flirts with Marta and insults him, and Fisk almost kills him but stops himself.





One day Fisk arrives home to find Marta and the children slaughtered by ninjas from the Hand. Fisk realizes that his presence has sentenced them to death. He is eventually overpowered and temporarily paralyzed by two blades through his back.






#117...

So the Kingpin is back in town.


So Matt's dealing with the Hand, but he's also dealing with Milla's parents. He manages to scare off the private investigator who was working for them as Daredevil.





So Dakota has gotten fed up with Matt's actions.










#118...

The issue opens with the Owl being taken back to prison, only for an explosion to occur.





I was really happy to see Brubaker bring back the Owl. For those of you don't remember, Bendis previously had him 'killed' by his pet villain sue the Hood to make the Hood look tough (which baffled me considering how Bendis pretty much spent an entire arc on Daredevil building him up to be a fairly menacing villain). Also kudos to Brubaker for doing a fairly seamless combination of Bendis' more depraved take on the Owl and the more classic appearance from earlier.







Turk asks if everything's okay, and Kingpin grabs him by the throat and tells him not to question him.

Later, Foggy chews out Matt for making a deal with the Kingpin and fires him from their law firm. Matt knows he can't trust the Kingpin but at the same time, given how the Hand wanted to pit the two against each other, it feels right for them to work together to dismantle it.

The Owl puts out the word that he wants to meet up with the Hand.






#119...

The Hand, under the Owl's request, assassinate various mob figures. Daredevil is starting to get suspicious when he learns the Owl is out and if he is connected to the Kingpin's actions.










Lady Bullseye has known all along that Owl was working for the Kingpin, but the hit on Foggy just confirms it. She demands to be taken to him.

Dakota North meanwhile is tracking down the Kingpin.



Dakota North is spotted.





#500 (the series resumed it's regular numbering)...

Disclaimer: It was 43 pages, so I'm doing 1/3 of that.





Matt calls Foggy and tells him to give Milla's parents whatever they want. Matt hangs up, only to be ambushed by the Black Tarantula, the White Tiger and other ninjas of the Hand.

Anyway, Daredevil finds out from Turk about the Kingpin's plan and that the Owl has Dakota, and goes to the rescue.







Turns out that the Black Tarantula was working for Master Izo; Izo knew that Tarantula's healing powers would counteract the Hand's influence. Just as the Foggy is about to meet his end, the Black Tarantula knocks out the White Tiger and kills the other ninjas.











A battle between the Hand, Kingpin, Daredevil, Izo and Lady Bullseye ensues. Daredevil manages to gain the upper hand.









Inside Matt's apartment, Dakota and Foggy find that it's been abandoned. Foggy finds a note asking from Matt asking for his stuff to be put in storage.

Comments

[proteus_lives]

Great series of posts.

And I never thought I'd say, poor Wilson.

[kusonaga]

Motto x2.

[glprime]

Motto Cubed.

Great posts, poor, poor damn Uncle Willy *snerk*

[jetblack927]

Soooo this was why Black Panther took over as "Daredevil" for awhile?...interesting...I take it the reign didn't last long...

[cyberghostface]

The title went on for twelve more issues before Black Panther took over, but yes, Matt becoming the leader of the Hand lead to that.

[lakrids404]

Poor Marta and the children,.

[hivemindcomics]

Absolutely love that last internal monologue. Shall be getting the Brubkaer to go with my Bendis run.

Maybe post DD: Father?

[filthysize]

Heh, it's pretty great, but somewhat cheapened because I actually do remember the last time he prayed. It was when Milla went crazy and he was trying to cure her, just a couple of arcs back.

[hivemindcomics]

Haha, bless him. Hes just forgetful.

[twospirit.blogspot.com]

Thanks for posting all the Daredevil scans. I can honestly say I would never have read a Daredevil comic if it hadn't been for you, and now...after all this...well, I'm pretty fond of ol' Hornhead. :)

[cyberghostface]

Thanks, I'm happy to hear that!

[citygod]

Thanks for posting these, it's a great run.