Book Review: Daredevil Vol. 3 by M. Waid et al.

Daredevil Volume 3 written by Mark Waid and Greg Rucka, art by Marco Checchetto, Chris Samnee, Khoi Pham, and Tom Palmer

Daredevil has the same problem as last volume--the Omega Drive. It's a piece of Fantastic Four tech that stores information on five different super criminal organizations. After defeating Black Spectre (one of the organizations), he's now on a mission to keep it out of any wrong hands. That includes Frank Castle's hands. Frank is The Punisher. He'd love to use the information to cause mayhem and destruction for organized crime. Daredevil thinks that will involve too much collateral damage, so he teams up with Spider-man to keep Castle in check as the three try to destroy the drive, hopefully in public where all the bad guys will realize it's gone and stop hounding Daredevil. Plans don't go according to plan. Other plots are tried, though they are interrupted when Doctor Doom abducts Daredevil for his own nefarious purposes.

This story continues to entertain and be creative. The plans to get rid of the drive are interesting. At first, the Doctor Doom stuff seems shoehorned in. As that story develops, it makes a little more sense. The art is a bit uneven since the story was spread over different comics. The volume includes issues of Avenging Spider-man and The Punisher. It was one of those crossover stories--the bonus materials in the back show how the three different issue covers are put together to make one big picture. The characters look a little different in the different issues, a fact I found distracting. Still, the story is solid and I am ready for more.

Recommended.

Book Review: Daredevil Vol. 2 by M. Waid et al.

Daredevil Volume 2 written by Mark Waid, art by Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, Emma Rios, Kano, and Khoi Pham

Daredevil winds up with a hard drive full of information on five different crime organizations: A.I.M., Hydra, Agence Byzantium, The Secret Empire, and Black Spectre. They naturally want it but any one individual organization would have great leverage over the other four. While they work out a deal to cooperate, Matt Murdock gets on with his life.

After a one-off adventure where Murdock saves and is saved by a bunch of kids on a winter bus trip, the action starts in full force. Spider-man comes by asking for legal help--his friend/former lover Black Cat is in trouble. She's a master thief and is accused of stealing some high tech equipment from the outfit where Peter Parker works. The slip-up that got her busted seems fake. Daredevil and Spider-man investigate, though they don't need to break Black Cat out of custody. She does just fine for herself. The three work together to figure out what's going on. 

Their adventure is cross-cut with a subterranean horror that Matt has to deal with--the cemetery where his father is buried has been graverobbed...from underneath! What sinister plan does the Mole Man have for the dozens of coffins his minions have stolen?

The stories are interested and Daredevil's new, more light-hearted characterization is fun. Matt attends a Christmas party with an "I'm not Daredevil" sweater, still trying to get out from under his identity being revealed. He doesn't find as much humor in situations as Spider-man does (but who can match Spidey in that department?), but he isn't mopey or conflicted like a lot modern superheroes. He still deals with serious issues without being glum.

Recommended.