Daredevil: Black Armor #4 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL: BLACK ARMOR No. 4, April 2024

Penning a genuinely pulse-pounding “final round”, D.G. Chichester’s narrative for Issue Four of “Daredevil: Black Armor” quite simply picks its audience up by the scruff of their necks and doesn’t drop them back down until towards the comic’s end when Tony Stark’s golden alter-ego makes a cameo appearance to help save the day. In fact, even then the Connecticut-born writer may well have some bibliophiles holding their breath as Iron Man momentarily contemplates just how the composite material armoured crime-fighter before him suspiciously broadcast a distress message “on the Avengers’ Emergency Channel.”

Much of this momentum is clearly due to the titular character running headfirst through Baron Wolfgang von Strucker’s underground colosseum, initiating a mass uprising by Mole Man’s numerous fungus-based moloids in the process. But to mix things up a bit, this comic’s American author also manages to show just what ‘Jack Batlin’ is capable of by having him successfully stand toe-to-toe against both the Hobgoblin and Sabretooth simultaneously, and impressively walk away the clear victor.

Perhaps however, despite all the aforementioned adrenalin-charged action, this book’s best moment comes following Daredevil’s failed attempt to get the surviving Hell’s Kitchen inhabitants back to the surface. Cut off inside a creaking, badly damaged tin can, the former “Epic Comics” editor pens a genuinely touching scene between the Man without Fear and a terrified Trina, which quite wonderfully demonstrates just how much the super-hero cares for the people who trusted him to save them. Indeed, the heartfelt sentiment between the young, claustrophobic child and her would-be rescuer is arguably the highlight of this book, and shows that Chichester hasn’t lost a step when it comes to the vigilante’s motivation, even after a twenty-five-year long break.

Also wasting no opportunity to imbue the storytelling with plenty of “Fwrak”, “Kwram”, “Twok” and “Thwik”, is Netho Diaz, whose pencilling really helps sell Matt Murdock’s flight through Hydra’s secret subterranean lair. Of particular note is the artist’s ability to show the increasing fatigue which falls upon Bill Everett’s co-creation as things slowly go awry with his evacuation plan, and how the street acrobat’s physicality markedly changes at the end of the twenty-page periodical, when a fighting fit blind lawyer confronts some ill-advised, knife-wielding muggers; “When’d it get so hard to intimidate people in this city?”

The regular cover art to "DAREDEVIL" #4 by Mark Bagley & Romulo Fajardo Junior

Daredevil: Black Armor #3 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL: BLACK ARMOR No. 3, March 2024

Wasting very little time in setting up this mini-series' central cast “in the battle for their lives beneath the streets of Hell’s Kitchen”, the sheer pace to D.G. Chichester’s twenty-page plot for Issue Three of “Daredevil: Black Armor” is positively palpable. Indeed, by the time Matt Murdock, or rather Jack Batlin, has thrown no more than half a dozen punches against a formidable array of the Marvel Universe’s most prestigious villains, the majority of this book’s bibliophiles will surely be physically gasping for breath; “Stay down, you fool!”

Happily however, the “legendary writer” doesn’t simply pad this publication out with meaningless fist-fights, but instead intermingles some genuinely emotional moments within the adrenalin-stacked morass of bone-breaking, jaw-cracking mash-ups. Foremost of these is probably the less than favourable fate of brave Juan and poor Randi at the horrendous hands of Tekagi. Readers will doubtless be traumatized by the well-meaning pair’s apparently fatal fortune, and this apparent willingness to cull prominent personalities by Ann Nocenti’s successor helps dangle the Sword of Damocles over everyone else’s head too.

Just as convincing is the American author’s ability to make his audience believe, albeit momentarily, that a group of hapless captives possibly might overcome Baron Wolfgang von Strucker’s squad of cold-hearted killers. Nobly led by Daredevil and ‘coached from the corner’ by Doctor Calvin Zabo, the New Yorkers enthrallingly manage to use every trick in the book to ‘eke out’ a slim chance for survival. Albeit ultimately, the group are understandably overwhelmed by the likes of Batroc the Leaper, Tarantula and Lady Deathstrike.

Of course, another of this comic’s triumphs has to sit upon the shoulders of Netho Diaz, whose layouts provide a visual feast for the eyes – whether the illustrator is pencilling the Man without Fear fending off the deadly blows from the leader of Hydra, or simply energising his fellow captives into a final show of solidarity against their murderous opponents in the ring. Furthermore, the artist includes some nice nods to the titular character’s history, such as Murdock unknowingly donning the (reversed) yellow and red colour-scheme of his original costume, or Matt’s late father shadowing his son whenever he adopts his old man’s boxing stance.

The regular cover art to "DAREDEVIL" #3 by Mark Bagley & Romulo Fajardo Junior

Daredevil: Black Armor #2 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL: BLACK ARMOR No. 2, February 2024

Barely allowing any member of its audience to pause for breath, this return to Hell’s Kitchen by D.G. Chichester certainly seems to carry the reader along for one exhilarating roller-coaster of a ride, courtesy of its opening potentially promising the adventure to come will tap into the popularity of the Amazing Spider-Man and the web-spinner’s super-popular Seventies’ series “Marvel Team-Up”. Sadly for some though, Peter Parker’s colourfully costumed appearance is simply a short-lived cameo. Yet no sooner has the wall-crawler departed than the American author hurls Daredevil into a vicious fist-fight against both the Hobgoblin and Sabretooth.

This somewhat one-sided battle is particularly well-penned, as alongside the antagonists’ deadly attacks, Matt Murdock must also desperately try to save a train-load of kidnap victims who appear destined to die deep below ground at the whim of “a mysterious foe whose powers trump them all!” Indeed, many a bibliophile’s brain may soon start spinning in bemusement during this action-packed sequence as the blind human mutate juggles all these distractions simultaneously as he continues to investigate just where beneath the Big Apple the fast-paced metro is taking its “scores of vulnerable New Yorkers.”

Equally as enthralling however, is this twenty-page periodical’s momentary pause to focus upon the imprisoned plight of the Fantastic Four’s famous arch-nemesis, Harvey Elder. Intriguingly written as a victim of his own grand designs and his poorly-judged alliance with “one of the leaders of the Hydra terrorist organization”, the muzzled Mole Man’s predicament as a captive may not initially garner all that much sympathy. But it’s clear from Daredevil’s reaction that the super-villain’s sway over the Moloids may well prove to be the solution to the hero’s deadly dilemma in the long run.

Likewise, Netho Diaz’s dynamic layouts ensure that all Chichester’s sense-shattering shenanigans are wonderfully brought to life. The aforementioned scrap between the titular character and the Hobgoblin is a particular highlight of this comic, with the “mainstay at Marvel Comics” beautifully pencilling the strain upon Murdock’s face as he dutifully attempts to save the innocent, whilst batting away numerous pumpkin bombs with his batons; “That ride of yours seems dangerously unbalanced.”

The regular cover art to "DAREDEVIL" #2 by Mark Bagley & Romulo Fajardo Junior

Daredevil: Black Armor #1 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL: BLACK ARMOR No. 1, January 2024

Announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2023, and set during D.G. Chichester’s “landmark run” with Daredevil, this first in a four-issue limited series arguably does a good job in both updating those readers who aren’t too familiar with the American author’s “fan-favourite era”, whilst simultaneously stimulating those bibliophiles who remember the Man Without Fear wearing his armoured costume with a previously never-before-seen adventure. Sure, it does take the Connecticut-born writer a good ten pages to recount the numerous changes made to Matt Murdock’s character during the Nineties. But that still leaves two thirds of this book with which the audience can be thrown into the “non-stop intense action and brutal fighting” of Jack Batlin’s mission to thwart a series of mysterious abductions across Hell’s Kitchen.

Furthermore, once the storytelling does finally get going it wastes little time in throwing the blind vigilante up against the formidable Sabretooth in a mouth-watering confrontation that arguably shows the mass-murdering mutant at his most terrifyingly savage, and wearing Jim Lee’s “instantly iconic costume” redesign to boot. This sadly short-lived skirmish proves an excellent hook to the upcoming shenanigans, particularly when it alludes to a master super-villain capable of stopping Victor Creed’s ferocious alter-ego dead in his tracks with a single command, and ordering him to “disengage” from a hero who has already humiliatingly battered the brute with his trademark batons.

Just as tensely penned is probably this publication’s almost obligatory exchange with Wilson Fisk, who is seen as a down and out Kingpin of crime scrambling around for a quality limousine in a disreputable garage. Seeming to not know the (new) incarnation of Daredevil isn’t the same blind lawyer he’d repeatedly locked horns with in the past, the dialogue between these two long-time foes is still top-notch, with the once “powerful crime lord” lacing his polite words with plenty of deadly menace and threat; “Time to earn some respect.”

Helping to add plenty of “Snappkt”, “Tnnk” and “Trrk” to the proceedings is the artistic team of Netho Diaz on pencils, J.P. Mayer with inks, and colorist Andrew Dalhouse, who together make Murdock’s “sleek new armoured costume” wholly believable. In addition, some of the splash-layouts showing Matt’s highly emotive struggle with his Catholicism and dedication to the law are incredibly well designed, and provide some wonderful insights into the titular character’s conflicting motivations.

Writer: D.G. Chichester, Penciler: Netho Diaz, Inker: J.P. Mayer, and Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse