2 out of 5

The indicia for this reads “Daredevil No. 36,” which is odd.  Even if it’s considered part of volume 3, that ran for 36 issues, so…?  Wacky.  Anyhow.

So new editor Ellie Pyle opens up this anniversary edition with a note saying she’s honored to be part of the book and la la she hopes she lives up to the task.  …And then there are several flubs in the letters pages (including in her response) and Bendis’ text piece – besides confirming that Bendis, cough, can’t write all that well – should not have passed an editor with its horribly repeating language.

We open with a Waid DD piece that takes place in the future of his current incarnation of the character.  It’s hinted that he’s married to Kirsten; he has a son who shares his sense-oversensitivity but not his blindness; Foggy has hair and looks like he’s 20; and there’s some future blah tossed around regarding the Owl’s daughter.  This was an incredibly blah piece.  In part, I hate this specific breed of future tale: it’s not the full-scale forward thinking of something Else-worldsy, it’s just the author wanking over his own ideas.  Which is fine, except it seems so inconsequential.  By pitching this as a “real” story, what happens to it when the next writing takes over from Waid and writes some of these plot details out of existence?  This stuff can work when the character / world is yours, but with big Marvel / DC guys, it forever feels like a flimsy concept to me.  In part, I’ll admit to being very much let down by Javier Rodriguez on art.  When Javier would take over for select issues in the proper DD run, it made me wish he was on the title regularly, as I preferred his dynamic layouts to Samnee’s more consistent style.  But this short is very bland to look at.  Maybe the inks (Alvaro Lopez) clean it up too much, as not a panel feels like its ‘moving,’ which was a big highlight of Javier’s work before.  Both of these ‘parts’ would seem to inform the final piece of my opinion, that this was rushed.  You took Waid and Javier from their normal DD rotation to add to an anniversary book that I suspect was hustled to coincide with Marvel announcing their upcoming Netflix DD series.  So.

Then: Bendis.  Fucking Bendis.  Sorry, dude.  It’s not fair to outright trash anyone, but his addition to this special reads like DD fanfic written by a 15 year old.  Alex Maleev adds border illustrations, Bendis adds a stereotypical lovey female and some bullshit love saves the day stuff as well.  Seriously: 15 year old.

The only highlight comes with Karl and Kurt Kesel’s comical take on ‘Mike’ Murdock – a ‘twin brother’ identity Matt faked in the 70s to keep his DD secret safe.  It plugs right in to Waid’s run, and actually reads like a respectful appreciation of what’s come before, with smiling acceptance of all the outlandishness comics can encompass, with wonderfully swoopy art from the Kesels.

So overall, I’m sorry to say that this 4.99 ish comes across as a publishing-gap-filling cash grab.