Book Review: Daredevil: Back in Black Vol. 2 by C. Soule et al.

Daredevil: Back in Black Volume 2: Supersonic written by Charles Soule and art by Matteo Buffagni, Goran Sudzuka, and Vanesa R. Del Rey

Elektra comes hunting for Daredevil with an outlandish claim--her child has gone missing and she thinks Daredevil is behind the mystery. Daredevil knows nothing about Elektra having a child though the age she is claiming would make it possible that he's the father. The situation is tough to sort out when the aggrieved party is throwing knives and punches as quickly and as skillfully as possible. In the next story, Matt travels incognito to Macau and participates in a Texas Hold'em tournament, though it's more of a way to get in to a high-security hotel to get highly valuable information. Spider-man has come along for the job, providing his usual banter and advice (especially about having a "black supersuit" period). In the third story, the deaf hero Echo goes to a concert where all the fans go nuts...because they are being controlled by Klaw, a former human who is now living sound and trying to convert all of Manhattan into people like him. Echo gets Daredevil to help with the situation.

All three stories are interesting but the Macau one is the best written and most entertaining. The others are good, but not as good. Soule does a great job with Matt's character and his abilities, including his lack of abilities. If you thought, "How can a blind guy play poker?", you are not alone. They make it interesting and manage to get a little character nuance out of the situation. The Elektra story is less convincing but the art is really good, with a noir-ish use of minimal colors and high contrasts. The music story tries to throw in a lot of visuals that represent the music but it makes the images more chaotic. The effort was good but the results were underwhelming.

Recommended overall.