Daredevil: End of Days

[cyberghostface]

 Wow, it must have been years since this was first announced. Now we're finally getting it starting in October. I'm very excited.

It's basically the "final" Daredevil story with Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack writing and Bill Sienkiewicz and Klaus Janson on art. More info can be found here.

The cover art (by Maleev)



Some interior art:







 

Comments

[silverhammerman]

I get the impression that this would feel a lot more relevant had it come out before Mark Waid revamped the character.

[mrstatham]

Daredevil will inevitably go back to the grimness, though. Even Waid's take on the character has splashes of it in there. It's pretty much impossible to suppress it entirely.

[shadowpsykie]

he's catholic... grim and guilt come with the territory

[espanolbot]

Oddly not the case with the ones I know in real life. :)

[silverhammerman]

True, I guess I just never want the current run to end.

[mrstatham]

Oh, no, absolutely. It is a really rather refreshing change given Matt had been on that downward spiral since about Miller's time on the series, really. So whilst Waid might be letting in a little spot or two of that darkness, it is still a nice change.

[mrstatham]

Yeah, this is going to be epic, isn't it? Usually I can't stand Marvel's take on 'The End' stories because they're usually really bad and little more than just a bit of attention hogging because a writer gets to write the death or the 'last' story of a character.

But I'm really impressed by the approach Bendis is suggesting. That this will actually BE canon. I doubt Marvel will ever make it stick or intend on going toward that, but.. Yeah. It's a nice idea.

[filthysize]

Where did you get that? David Mack said in the article that it's going to be its own continuity, comparing it to Dark Knight Returns.

[mrstatham]

I read an interview with Bendis stating that it was basically a canonical ending for Daredevil. That's all. It was a month back or so, now, and it might not've even been a new article, but that seems to be Bendis' intention.

[espanolbot]

So, like that Spider-Man series from way back?

...Wow, if they decide to reappropriate the radioactive sperm thing from that book, Daredevil could potentially be responsible for wiping out the majority of the super community in Marvel!

[mrstatham]

I love how everyone brings up the radioactive sperm thing when, by and large, it makes sense in the context of the story and is actually based in stuff from the earliest days of the character; After all, didn't Peter give Aunt May a blood transfusion that one time and THAT had an adverse effect on her? To the point where she was actually going to die, from what I recall.

[espanolbot]

Doesn't that just sum up Peter's life? Tries to give his aunt a life-saving blood transfusion, only to end up accidentally poisoning her.

Pity she didn't luck out and get superpowers, which is what happened when Dr Banner had to do the same for Jennifer Walters.

[mrstatham]

Pretty much. It's a better example of the so-called 'Parker luck' than some of the bullshit Slott's come out with in the past few years.

But.. Yeah, it just annoys me when people point to that in Reign like it was the sole focus of the story, and/or it was a joke in the story. It wasn't. It was tragic and it was another example of power and responsibility, in a way. Just like Uncle Ben, just like Aunt May and the blood transfusion. Of course, that I actually really like Reign and think it's actually stronger than the vast majority of regular Spider-Man stuff at the moment doesn't help my bias.

[cyberghostface]

Yeah I agree. Reign was a great story and it's a shame the internet is so fixated on that one particular aspect.

[mrstatham]

The manner in which it that aspect gets talked about is just.. Particularly juvenile. That, and old!Peter's junk being on show in the first issue. I mean.. It was a mature readers title, so.. I just never saw what the problem was.

But.. Yeah. The approach to that particular aspect is never as blunt or as stupid as the internet makes it out to be. It's never stated as just 'radioactive sperm'. But.. Hey. Internet for you. Sex is either what it's for (in the form of porn, obv), utterly embarrassing when a hero has openly had sex, or lulzy.

[valtyr]

It was phrased something like millions of little spiders crawling up inside you, which for me at least was really... evocative imagery. I mean, really. It's been years and right now I've got my legs crossed and an D: face on. I WISH it weren't the strongest memory I have of that book.

[mrstatham]

Well, yeah, it is particularly squicky, but.. I don't know. I just feel like it's a much, much stronger book - which I enjoy more than it's direct inspiration in TDKR - than people give it credit for. And I think chief amongst the reasons it doesn't get enough credit is the 'radioactive sperm' joke that the internet has perpetuated to the point of ridiculousness.

As it is, I think it's a far better showing of what Mary Jane brings to the franchise and the character than Marvel would dare put out now, because that would be like admitting they're wrong. And the sad, sad thing is, she's dead. She's dead and she's still a far more powerful figure as Peter's wife in that story than Carlie Cooper ever was as Peter's girlfriend. And that's partly hilarious and partly just sad that Marvel can't recognise this.

[valtyr]

Yeah... I'm not saying it's a bad book, I recall liking the rest, just that that one image had a disproportionate impact and I totally understand why. They'd have done better to phrase it as just the close proximity for all that time, I'd've bought that and it wouldn't have overshadowed the rest of it.

[mrstatham]

Maybe. I still don't think the way Andrews phrased it justified turning it in the 'LOL radioactive sperm LOL' joke it became. But.. Again. That just feels like the internet and a large portion of the superhero comic fanbase in general - they claim they want the stuff to be respected as a mature kind of thing, but the second something like this comes along, it's utterly lulzy for them.

So.. I still don't see Andrews as being at fault. It is a very tough thing to look at and read, frankly - I'm looking at it now and it's more harrowing than funny, frankly - so I don't see the point where it became the 'radioactive sperm' joke that it did. So again, it just feels like a large portion of the comics fanbase being juvenile, to me.

[mistervader]

I just didn't like the part where he was killing left and right, but everything else about the story seemed great to me.

[silverzeo]

Wait... "End of Days".... DareDEVIL? ... ARNOLD IS IN THIS, YEAS!!!!

[icon_uk]

If it involves Matt having his ass handed to him in a fight with Miriam Margolyes, I'm all for it!

[lilacsigil]

My favourite creators working on one of my favourite characters! *swoons*

[kraesil]

Wow on that cover. Looks like a painting.. O.o... And the tape looks so real...

[leoboiko]

Unrelated comment: My suspension of disbelief isn’t strong enough to accept that Frank Castle would live in the same universe as Fisk without having murdered him æons ago.

[mrstatham]

By this rationale, though, Frank should be killing every villain he sees. If Frank Castle realistically existed in the same universe as the vast majority of Marvel villains, he should be killing them all. Nevermind just Kingpin.

[cyberghostface]

And I don't know if this has been brought up, but killing Kingpin would only cause more crime as criminals would treat the city like a free-for-all without any to answer to and others would fight each other for the top spot.

Heck, didn't the US government have to bring Kingpin back during the "Gang Wars" storyline because things got so bad?

[leoboiko]

I understand this point (and I think it has showed up in the comics more than once); I just don’t think it would stop Frank. “No compromises.”

[leoboiko]

Yeah but Kingpin feels particularly… killable, dunno. Perhaps because he’s both a regular human being, and a major, constant force backing precisely the same kind of street-level crime that Frank punishes daily, I get this feeling that he should be like the #1 item on The Punisher’s to-do list.

[mrstatham]

True, but.. As has been pointed out removing the Kingpin from play creates a major power vacuum in New York. That was the entire point of the Hood continually trying to make a play in New Avengers; He didn't have half the experience of a Fisk or nearly the skills, but he managed to become close to top dog in New York's crime arena precisely because Fisk was removed for a time.

[mrstatham]

Also, I also thought part of the fun with Kingpin was that he was just this average human being who was more than smart enough to make plays opposite the big superheroes.