Daredevil #501

Let's just pretend that the Tan-tainted "The List" one shot never happened okay?  Because after that false start I have to say that Diggle's run is shaping up rather nicely.  He's taking Brubaker's ending and he's running with it, giving us a script that is absolutely packed with incident and a decent sense of "holy shit, where's he going with this?"  Diggle's first real issue rattles along and he's already got a good handle on the supporting characters.  His understanding of Matt is a little unclear, but that's more a result of the somewhat unusual situation DD finds himself in.  If nothing else, the writer has got an ear for ol' Hornhead's whining!  Everything that makes a Daredevil comic compelling is present here.  Foggy and Dakota are spot on and there's a great, classic style Kingpin scene (set in a New York penthouse, as they should be post-Miller).  But while there's the familiarity some of us long time readers enjoy, we've still got that afore mentioned feeling that we're in new territory, which is always rewarding to see.

On the art side, De La Torre is keeping up his end.  It's not as polished and effortless as a Michael Lark page and the colouring is a little garish for my tastes in places.  At the same time the guy has adapted his style to suit a  Daredevil book and it looks good, so he's to be rewarded for that.

I'll be honest, this issue isn't quite as compelling as I remember the first Brubaker issue was, but it's good stuff just the same.  That may sound like damning with faint praise, but come on that was a lot to beat.  Just the same, this has caught my interest in a big way, and this long time reader is going to hang in there and see where things go from here.  I'm in no hurry to jump of the train.