In Daredevil #3 from Marvel Comics, written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Aaron Kuder and Farid Karami, Daredevil is trying to balance being a priest with being a superhero. Spoiler: he’s doing a bad job!
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
Powered by RedCircle
Daredevil #3 Review:
Daredevil’s new status quo is he is a priest. But also, he has his memories back, so he’s superheroing at the same time. As usual with Matt Murdock, he can’t handle it at all and his world is breaking down around him.
Kicking things off, host Alex Zalben noted that he’s been a little unsure about the new team’s take on Daredevil, but this issue it all fell into place. “I don’t know if it’s sustainable long term,” Zalben said. “But this is the first issue that I really felt like they were driving down on that divide that he’s a priest during the day, not a lawyer anymore. Now he is a vigilante at night. [And] you can’t actually do that because a priest is a 24-hour-a-day job.”
Though host Justin Tyler wasn’t sure if that’s true, Zalben joked that in TV and movies, “whenever somebody walks into a church, the priest is there and eager to offer advice.”
Pete LePage was particularly interested in this new take on Daredevil because “Daredevil is a little harder than I’ve seen him in a while… I’m a little worried about his mental state. This is very dark.”
Though Daredevil has gone hard in the past, LePage continued, “I don’t like how much he’s looking forward to hurting people. The fact that he talks about how he’s going to enjoy the pain that he’s inflicting, I don’t like that, especially if he’s supposed to be this priest, [a] godlike vessel.” At the same time, because we all contain multitudes, LePage added, “I also think there are some real bad*ss Daredevil moments in this, like where he takes out the two dudes standing behind him [with a crane].”
Digging into that a little further, Zalben noted “What we’re getting here is he is a man of God during the day. He is a man of the Devil, literally dressing like the Devil, at night. I love that concept. And I love that they’re driving it on that. I hope that they continue it because I think it’s very interesting.”
Added Tyler, “His religious beliefs are causing him to repress certain feelings that are then coming out… A lot of other Daredevil stories have him in a relationship with someone that he’s constantly feeling guilty about, and not really being a good partner to. And they’ve replaced that with these kids in his charge. In most Daredevil stories, it ends with that woman being either killed or somehow going through a horrible tragedy. I don’t know what they’re going to do now… I don’t know where it’s going to lead.”
Daredevil #3 Official Synopsis:
Daredevil pounds pavement and breaks bones on a crusade against the upstart gang terrorizing Hell’s Kitchen. But that crusade will put Matt face-to-face with his deadliest enemy – and threaten the very souls of those closest to him.
