Comic Review – “Daredevil Vol. 7: Hardcore”

I’m finally getting caught up on the comic review
backlog.

General Information

Title: Daredevil Vol. 7: Hardcore

Author: Brian Michael Bendis

Illustrator(s): Alex Maleev

Original Publication Date: 2004 reprint of material
first published in
2003

Issues included: Daredevil (vol. 2) issues 46-50

ISBN: 0-7851-1168-9

Cover Price: $13.99 US, $22.50 Can

Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca

Past comic reviews can be found here.

Premise

The Kingpin is back, and he brought plenty of friends
to keep
Daredevil distracted while he puts his organization
back together.

High Point

The “Listen and listen good!” speech.

Low Point

After the first attack against Matt, he should look
different, yet, he
doesn’t. Did Maleev even read what was going on?
Two or three
bruises just don’t cut it at that point.

The Scores

Looking for something original? Read any
part of the last
two issues. This is pushing the title into very new
directions. I
give it 5 out of 6.

The artwork is still Maleev. He gets the
job done, but I’m
not thrilled with it. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story is well written, pushing DD hard
when he needs to
recover. The Kingpin’s return works well given how
we last saw him,
and DD’s reaction is plausible and new. I give it 5
out of 6.



The characterization is strong for all
parties involved. I
give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response is fantastic. Bendis
created an
entire world around Matt, and it works very, very
well. Include the
last two issues and the characters involved, and
you’ve got gold. I
give it 6 out of 6.

The flow is disrupted again by Maleev’s art
and the
non-linear storytelling. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a great collection of today’s
Daredevil. I
give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Daredevil Vol. 7: Hardcore
receives 34 out of 42.

Additional Notes and Comments

I’ve made up some review notes for Daredevil Vol.
8: Echo – Vision
Quest
, so that review should be up shortly. I
also plan to get
the Daredevil Vol. 9: King of Hell’s Kitchen
arc reviewed
soon, along with Ultiamte X-Men: The
Tempest
, by the end of
this week. After that, I’ll go back to catching up
on Alias
(which needs reviews of the first two volumes), the
Essential
line (which will need reviews of Tomb of Dracula
Vol. 2
, both
Captain America volumes, and as of tomorrow,
Avengers
Vol. 4
, which includes the entire Kree-Skrull
war. There’s also
a 12 cent issues of Batman out this week
that I plan to pick
up, three more JLA trades (Heaven’s Ladder
has been lying
unreviewed for close to a year, and I have the first
two Grant
Morrison trades en route), some Marvel Age books
(Sentinel Vol. 1,
Spider-Man Vol. 1, Fantastic Four Vol. 1, and
Spider-Girl Vol. 1 are
all ordered and overdue. Spider-Man Vol. 2 will be
reviewed after
Vol. 1, and Vol. 3 ships this week along with Emma
Frost Vol. 1), and
the first issues of new miniseries (Ultimate
Nightmare
and
X-Men: The End launch this week). Next week
should see the
first issue of the Dr. Spectrum miniseries
and the last issue
of the second Supreme Power story arc, so
there will be a few
more reviews there, too.