Hoopla! - Episode 29: Daredevil: Why are you such a bummer?

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

A quick word to all (both?) my loyal readers... Please let me know you're out there. Last week I was actually grateful that a spammer took the time to leave a comment. It's gotten that bad.

Think of me as one of those elephants that lived with Horton. I need to hear the Whos.

And you, and you, and you... you are the whos.

So please join together and cry out: We are here! We are here! We are here!!!

That is my heartfelt plea to you.

So, I had a kind of epiphany while reading the latest issue of Daredevil. And that epiphany is this:

I'm not enjoying this series at all.

Generally speaking, I think Brubaker is a great writer, but sometimes he overplays the misery card. For example, I loved his Catwoman series right up to the point that someone (Selina's sister, maybe?) was tortured for pages and pages and was eventually forced to eat her husband's eyeball or some such thing.

I didn't really need that.

I was completely enthralled by Season One of Sleeper, although there were times it was a bit dark for my taste. And Season Two just never seemed to really go anywhere. Just round and round. I'm actually not even certain if it ever ended. Did it?

His current work on Captain America is kicking some serious butt, although even there he could stand to mellow out on the "mental torture of Sharon Carter" business.

Loving Iron Fist. Loving, loving, loving it. And I'm not even a big fan of the character. Or of co-writer Matt Fraction. But Iron Fist somehow feels fresh and unpredictable in a way that most comics simply aren't able to pull off.

On the other hand, I didn't care for Criminal at all. Criminal is Brubaker's non-super-hero comic-book. It's the comic series where he really gets to indulge his passion for crime noir.

Personally, however, I don't share that passion. I've read a couple of books by Jim Thompson that I thought were outstanding and I loved the movie version of After Dark, My Sweet, but as a general rule when I'm watching or reading crime noir, I get stuck on the props of that genre rather than the story itself.

I have the same problem with the fantasy genre, incidentally. It takes a truly superlative piece of fantasy for me to be able to overcome my natural resistance to elves and dragons and wizards.

Anyway, my original point was this... Daredevil. Too bleak. Not so fun. At all.

Brubaker's first storyline, where Matt Murdock was in prison, was outstanding. Very suspenseful. Entirely satisfying.

After that, though, it felt like nothing really happened ever again. Yes, Daredevil went around Europe and fought some people and there was something about some woman who smelled really good.

Then that ended and all of a sudden the Kingpin's wife solved all of Daredevil's problems.

[I didn't totally understand why she would do that or why Daredevil would then feel compelled to meet his end of the bargain, given that he very clearly told her that he wasn't going to, but whatever. I could live with that.]

But now we have this Gladiator story. And it's just going on and on.

The story, as best I can recall, is about former villian, Melvin Potter, aka. the Gladiator. He's been framed for some murders, but then it ends up that he hasn't been framed. Or, sort of. He is the one doing the killings, yes, but there seems to be some kind of mind-control or hypnosis involved or something.

Which, y'know, is not so very interesting.

But it's okay.

The real problem is that the story isn't moving forward at all. Every issue feels the exact same as the last. Characters debate whether or not Melvin Potter is truly the one committing the crimes. Then we see him actually commit the crimes. But then we see that he feels bad about it, or doesn't remember having done it.

Whatever.

On top of that, this latest issue featured the Gladiator attacking Matt Murdock's wife while she was alone in their house. And, as it happens, in her underwear.

Now, there are a couple of things about this that give off a rank odor.

First of all, the whole "hero's girlfriend gets attacked and is all helpless and stuff" routine has been done 20,000 times before. And that's just in comics. Include movies and TV and novels about detectives pursuing serial killer masterminds and the number goes up to 800,000.

It's not interesting, it's not fun, and it's definitely not original.

And then there's the fact that she's in her bra and underwear for the whole sequence. That's an interesting choice.

'Interesting' in the sense of not being interesting at all, that is.

It's difficult to think of a single reason why they would have her dressed like that throughout the attack except to titillate the audience. Which, given the brutality of the scene, kind of rubs me the wrong way.

And not only is it offensive, but--possibly even worse--it's just so typical, you know? I mean, of course she's in her bra and underwear. Of course she's completely helpless and being attacked by the big, brutal Gladiator. Of course she's being used to hurt Daredevil. It's all so... expected.

Anyway, I've had enough.

I could forgive that one exercise in poor taste if I were really enjoying the rest of the series, but in fact I'm not enjoying it at all. The covers are ugly, the stories don't seem to be going anywhere, and there's no lightness to juxtapose against the incessant darkness. Everyone in this series is miserably unhappy. Everyone's a potential victim.

"But," you cry out, "Perhaps it's about to get better!"

Well, I checked. Here's the solicitation for the September issue:

DAREDEVIL #101
Written by ED BRUBAKER

Penciled by MICHAEL LARK

Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

Things couldn't be going worse for Matt Murdock. Everything he thought he'd gotten back teeters on the edge of a precipice, ready to shatter all around him, as he fights a battle on both fronts of his life-in the courtroom and on the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen! The searing second chapter of "Without Fear!" 32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

There's nothing inherently wrong with any of that, but there's also nothing that suggests any sort of change in direction. I mean, really, how many times have we seen his life shattering all around him in the past few years...?

It's just not that interesting anymore.

If Daredevil were my friend, this is what I'd say to him:

"Daredevil, I want to be there for you because you are my friend, but you are really starting to drag me down with all of your problems. I think you need to seriously put away that costume and just focus on doing something fun for a while. Maybe go to the zoo with your wife. I just went to the zoo with Mie, and we had a really great time. I think that you and Milla might have a great time too."

"What's that? You can't go to the zoo because of your hyper-sensitive sense of smell? Hm. Good point. The zoo can be rather stinky. Tell you what, then, how about you and Milla go camping? Or spend a few days at a beach. Work on your tan. Play in the water. Read a John Grisham novel. Sleep late. Have kinky sex with your wife. Learn to play the tuba."

That's what I would say.

And then, because I am Daredevil's friend, after all, I would be brutally beaten and perhaps killed.

So, maybe it's all just as well...

- Paul