Written by: Chip Zdarsky
Art by: Lalit Kumar Sharma
Inks by: Jay Leisten
Colors by: Java Tartaglia
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 17, 2019

Daredevil had been one of my favorite books at Marvel since it came out and I don’t even consider myself a Daredevil fan. Chip Zdarsky has done such a good job of tearing down Matt;s world that I can’t wait to see him get back on top again (if you can consider being Daredevil the “top” that is). So, do we get a couple of steps up the ladder this issue? Let’s find out…

The issue opens with Matt heading back to thank Mindy for the book she got him for Foggy’s Birthday and me learning what “Retail Creep” means. And yea, Matt is 100% one! It does get him an invite to dinner so it’s not all bad.

We then head off with Mayor Fisk on a hunting trip and while he’s shooting ducks, he is also setting up his next business venture. Zdarsky uses the scene to not only show that Fisk is intent on going (somewhat) legit, but is the smartest guy in the room…even when he is outdoors you know.

Back to the dinner, Matt finds out he is having dinner with one of New York’s crime families and then things go south in a very wordy way. The dinner conversation gets heated as Matt and Izzy Libris debate rules and laws and crime and more rules and more laws. It goes on maybe a page too much, but then the shit hits the fan and things pick up big time!

It seems someone had a hit out on the Libris Family (I think we are all guessing Owlsley) and if Matt wasn’t there, they might all have died. That all leads to the ending of the issue with Matt being interrogated by Cole North who is still obsessed with Daredevil…and what he tells Matt is certain to get him interested as well.

This was a decent issue that was more about the set up than moving the overall story forward much. I could have done with a little less back and forth about what makes a criminal and if rules were made to be broken, but it was interesting nonetheless. The art was good overall and I think that people already reading the run will like it enough, though new readers shouldn’t jump on the series here. Just go back to issue #1 and thank me later.

Final Thoughts:

This was a bit of a down issue that stalls the overall story as it sets up things to come. I am still hyped on this series, but this was my least favorite issue so far.

6.9/10