Daredevil #6

By Charles Soule, Matteo Buffagni, Matt Milla, and Clayton Cowles.

After watching Netflix’s fantastic second season of Daredevil, many of you are probably itching for another story featuring our favorite fearsome assassin, Elektra. Daredevil #6 delivers in a big way, as this story introduces a new artist on pencils, and an all-new story arc that takes Daredevil and Matt Murdock down an all too familiar path of betrayal and attraction with Elektra. We encounter Daredevil meeting up with Elektra, and boy is she pissed off at Red. He probably thought she wanted to meet up for another fight and make-out session, but she is fighting with the desperation and determination of a woman on a mission. Daredevil has not met up with her since he did the whole ‘wipe your memory clean of my secret identity’ thing so, he is kind of concerned what her motivations are.   This book will reveal why Elektra is so angry, why Daredevil always falls victim to her feminine wiles, and what Elektra is searching for. The last page will ensure you that even though this story may feel familiar, we are encountering uncharted territory between Elektra and Daredevil.

Charles Soule you smart son of a gun, you took something that could be seen as a cheap attention grab by introducing Elektra in Daredevil #6 and you made a great story that fits into the current overall narrative. We are experiencing a fresh, fun, sexy, and intense story that pits our hero in a difficult situation that involves Elektra, a classic Daredevil villain/love interest. Soule has been writing a darker version of Daredevil, having him face identity issues and the concept of success while he has battled a new foe, Tenfingers and The Hand. Soule has introduced an apprentice for Daredevil, Blindspot, who adds a new vulnerability and eagerness to our battle-worn hero. Soule has his own voice firmly established with this story in the first six issues with relocating Daredevil back home and introducing new characters that now is the perfect time to inject some classic characters to place against our firmly established hero.

This book features a lot of action, which is fantastic. There is a lot of fighting with little dialogue and inner monologue to accompany it. This issues welcomes Matteo Buffagni on pencils, with series regulars Matt Milla on colors, and Clayton Cowles on letters. The new art direction was a little scary to see at first just because Ron Garney was doing such an incredible job, but Buffagni put my fears at ease after the first few pages. This book does some really cool things that you love to see in a Daredevil book, like during action sequences we have panels that depict the action with ‘Daredevil Vision’ where we see the action as he would.  The panel layouts are just absolutely amazing as we get this ‘Daredevil Vision’ mixed into the already fast and energetic action sequences.  Milla is absolutely killing it on colors, during the action panels he really lets the fantastic outfits of Elektra and Daredevil add the accents of red to a rather dark and gritty background that is Hell’s Kitchen. There was also great juxtaposition between Murdock’s life in the courtroom with subdued colors, and his life as Daredevil with the same muted colors with the added red highlights. The design on Elektra’s costume was also a welcome surprise, no heels! Finally, a design team that understands a skilled world-renowned assassin would not wear high heels. Moreover, the whole creative team put together a well told story through visuals that captures the intense, fast-paced, story as it unfolds.

This is a great start to what is surely to be another fantastic arc from Soule, Buffagni, Milla, and Cowles. The last arc was so fulfilling that it will be exciting to see what this teams does next with the great Elektra now in the mix. Daredevil #6 just gets it, it understands that Daredevil will never fully understand his feelings for Elektra and that Matt Murdock cannot resist her seductive charm. This pace and intensity of this first issue will have you soaring to the last page, where your jaw will drop when you see what the big reveal is at the end.