“To the Devil his Due: Part 3 of 5”
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Michael Lark
Publisher: Marvel Comics
I’ve written for the last few months that Ed Brubaker has his work cut out for him when it comes to Daredevil. I haven’t set my expectations ridiculously high, mostly because of the fact that it has to be difficult coming off a multiple year story arc that started with Brian Michael Bendis when he was at his best. But Brubaker is now Marvel’s best writer, and he’s trying to juggle Cap’s “death” on top of keeping the momentum of Daredevil going. And here we are halfway through a story arc that has been fairly good but lacking the same momentum and “pizzazz” of Brubaker’s previous arc.
I have really liked this arc so far. I could have cared less about Gladiator/Melvin Potter had it not been for Brubaker making me wonder what is really happening. Melvin Potter has apparently been committing some murders but denies any knowledge of said atrocities. What is most interesting about this is that the reader has seen Potter actually commit said acts, but according to Matt Murdock, Potter isn’t lying when he says he has no knowledge. Decent plot line but nothing overly mind boggling… until now.
There are some interesting twists in this issue which remind me why Ed Brubaker is so fantastic. Matt Murdock not only has to cope with being Potter’s legal advisor to his lawyer Gus, but he also has to deal with Potter running around the neighborhood on a bit of a rampage. But this arc hasn’t focused a great deal on Daredevil; rather it has focused primarily on Gladiator, a villain who doesn’t exactly have a cult following. But it is here where Brubaker truly succeeds, not only with this issue but with this story arc as a whole. As I said, I could have cared less about Melvin Potter/Gladiator, just another villain to get the snot beat out of him by a blind guy in a red suit. But that is most certainly not the case with this issue. It is hard to feel bad for this character especially when you have seen him commit the murders he swears he knows nothing about. But Brubaker manages to throw in a few plot twists that blow this storyline wide open and leaves the reader not knowing what to think.
This issue has a certain appeal in terms of story in a number of different ways. The mystery behind what is happening to Melvin Potter deepens significantly as Daredevil is contacted seemingly telepathically while sitting in the back of a police cruiser (after a brawl with Potter). There’s a great deal of wonder over whether or not Potter knows what he is doing, and then there is Lily. Lily is a woman introduced while Murdock was in Europe. She gives off a pheromone that puts men in her control to do her bidding. While one would assume she is behind everything that’s happening, I think it’s too obvious, and it’s even said that she has to be relatively close to her target for her ability to have an effect.
But there’s also a dramatic shift in perspective towards the end of this issue. This arc has focused on Potter a great deal and the emotional stress he is enduring, but in a matter of two panels the entire story arc shifts from Potter back to Daredevil. He realizes what’s happening, the person who is contacting him is also seemingly in control of Gladiator and the person even tells Matt referring to the fight between him and Gladiator “You shouldn’t have left your wallet on the floor.” I really hope that Brubaker has the gonads to do what he insinuates at the end of this issue. In fact, I know he does. Let’s just say I’ve never been a big fan of Matt’s wife Milla.
This issue changes everything about this story arc and really grabs onto a great deal of the “Brubaker momentum.” The plot of this story arc has only gotten better and has gotten very interesting with this issue. The artwork remains consistent and is the best suited for this title. With issue #100 on the horizon, it appears that this story arc may play an integral part of the post-100 issue Daredevil stories well into the next arc.
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