Bendis' Daredevil Part 12: End of Days

[cyberghostface]

Daredevil: End of Days was Bendis's last major Daredevil story.  It was published in 2012, six years after his run with Maleev ended. Bendis co-wrote this with David Mack with Klaus Janson providing pencils (and a few guest spots from Maleev and Mack).

#1 (which was double-sized)...









Urich, against his better judgement, is writing a story on Matt Murdock for the Daily Bugle. He finds out from a bystander what his last words were and decides to try and find out what 'Mapone' means.



Timmy, if you remember, was the little kid from 'Wake Up'.

Urich in writing his article recaps Daredevil's story thus far until we get to the point where the Kingpin returns to New York.



Kingpin gets up and throws Daredevil through the window. The two fight out in the streets.









And so it was for years until his death in the streets at the hands of Bullseye.

"Matt left the world with a thousand questions. And you are supposed to answer them." Ben thinks to himself. "Damn you, Matt. Fine. I'll tell your story."

Behind him...



#2...

Ben is looking for the Black Widow. Nick Fury hears word and contacts him.



Ben asks Fury if he knows what "Mapone" means and Fury claims that he doesn't.





Milla says it was years ago. Ben asks her about 'Mapone', which she doesn't know. He tells her she has a cute kid, and she slaps him.

Back at the Bugle, Jonah asks him to go Matt's funeral.



He follows one specific car there.







#3...











Ben later goes to see Maya Lopez (Echo) who is now a professor.





# 4...



Urich is able to deduce that Bullseye committed suicide by shooting the bullet at such an angle that it ricocheted off the walls and into his head. It also turns out that Bullseye was with a hooker dressed as Elektra. He goes to a club ran by Turk.







Ben next goes to Ryker's to see an in inmate.





#5...

Ben asks if Punisher knows what "Mapone" means. Frank tells him that he does, but he won't tell him.





Smoke comes in. There's a fire, and the prison is on lockdown. No one will tell Urich what happens, but he knows that Frank has escaped and he was the patsy.

Ben Urich goes to see Melvin Potter (the Gladiator) who now runs a business selling superhero costumes to customers.



Melvin tells Ben that he wanted his costume in a smaller size. He was making it for someone else.



Ben goes to see Bushwacker in the hospital.







#6...









Urich goes to see the Owl, who is now a 'legitimate' businessman.





Sometime after Ben leaves the news reports that Owlsley was found shot to death in his office.

Ben Urich later receives a phone call from Killgrave (the Purple Man) who tells him he has something to say about Matt. Like the Owl, Purple Man has also gone legit.



#7...

Urich discovers that Bullseye may have been affiliated with 'The Church of the Hand'.







Urich later goes to where Bullseye was believed to have been living but is attacked by ninjas from the Hand. The new Daredevil comes to rescue him.









#8...





The Punisher comes to visit Timmy to return Daredevil's mask and to offer his condolences. He says Timmy can put his pain to good use to "punish them" but warns him not to stray from the path.

Timmy asks Frank what "Mapone" means and Frank tells him that a person's last words are usually the thing they feel guilty about the most.

At Josie's Bar, Nick Fury summons Timmy outside. He hands him a manilla envelope with the word 'Mapone' on it. It turns out he did know what it was and he regrets not giving it to Ben when he asked. Timmy tells him to go to hell and burns it.








He turns around and the woman has beaten all the thugs by herself.





Thanks again to everyone who checked out these posts, I hope you enjoyed them and that at least one person was encouraged to check out the whole thing.

Comments

[gnarll]

Milla got her sight back. Thats nice.

Still dont get why the feds would trade the Kingpin of organized crime for Murdoch.

[starwolf_oakley]

The government in the Marvel Universe is bad. And not like "Secretly controlled by Hydra or the Secret Empire." The people in the government are just bad.

[scorntx]

In the Marvel Universe, anyone in the American government is either:
A: Evil
B: Stupid
C: Well-meaning, but go about it is such as ass-backwards fashion they might as well be A or B
D: Henry Gyrich.

[gnarll]

Yes. Its just... on one side of the equation we have a lawyer, who works as a vigilante in his off hours. Apprehends criminals the government has problems with, but definitely breaking the law.

On the other side we have the Kingpin of organized crime in New York. Drug-dealer, many times murderer, cop-killer, all the crimes.

These two are not even remotely equal catches. Not in the same order of magnitude. Even considering that MU law probably makes a bit of space for citizens handling menaces the government can't-

[beyondthefringe]

So Matt's legacy involves leaving behind a small army of red-headed kids via all of his surviving ex-girlfriends, plus a successor trained by Stick reincarnated as Natasha's daughter (also by way of Matt)?

Daaaang.

[berani00]

Nah, it can't be that complicated. I'd probably imagine a guy who's been through a similar power-gaining accident as Matt who to an extent bears witness to Daredevil's last fight against Bullseye. Then, after hearing of all kinds of stories about Daredevil, he tries following up on his example... But with almost none of the finesse and training Matt had as Daredevil.

[cosmos666]

What kind of name is Mapone??????

Also, is Bendis a Matt/Natasha shipper?

[cyberghostface]

It's the name of a city in Mozambique where she was born, there was a deleted scene that mentioned DD and Widow went there at one point.

[bradygirl_12]

It's tough to be a reporter in the Marvel Universe.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Where would Bendis be without constant repetition? In both stories and dialogue?

[cyberghostface]

What’s your beef this time?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Umm, like I said, the repetition?

The kids bit reads like bad fanfic, and the Mapone is constantly repeated through the series, IIRC, but no hints or foreshadowing until the end.

Bendis has some neat ideas sometimes, but he utterly lacks the ability to execute them.

For a series about DD's 'End', it doesn't seem to much examine Matt as a character

[cyberghostface]

What repetition? I get that it’s the go-to Bendis wank here but it’s not really in this story.

Did you miss the bit where Mapone shows up on the photo in Foggy’s office?

[blueprintstyles]

I really hoped Elektra would make some form of apology to Ben for the the stabbing incident, she wouldn't have to mean it, just as a courtesy for being Matt's friend.

[bj_l]

I've rezllg got to pick up the complete collections of Bendis run.

[doodleboy]

I remember Bendis making a joke on a podcast about doing a series on Batman dying as an old man and calling it "Citizen Wayne"... this comic always reminded me of that joke.

Also before this series I didn't realize that Klaus Janson could draw really really well. Shame he's mostly known as an inker.

[dcbanacek]

Now wait a damn minute here. Matt was born with sight, the TCRI ooze canister that hit him caused his blindness sure, and enhanced his other senses, okay but passing "blindness" on as a genetic trait that not one of the other kids got? My suspension of disbelief cries foul.

And does the Owl resemble Abel from DC's "House of Mystery" to anyone else?

[cyberghostface]

She’s also the reincarnation of Stick.