Daredevil #4
"Tomorrow's Devil" Part 4
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Frank Martin
We're four issues into this most recent volume of Daredevil, and it's been quite a ride so far.
This issue slows the pace down a bit and does something that I had been hoping for—devotes a little more attention to the new supporting cast members.
Eye of the Beholder
Daredevil has had a rough handful of days. In his first encounter with the mysterious Omen, he got beaten, stabbed, and thrown out of his own window. Later, when expanding his senses to try to track the new foe, he was completely overwhelmed and almost hit by a truck. Only the timely intervention of Spider-Man, who tried to coach him in focusing on only one sense at a time, saved him. Now, in his second encounter with Omen, the fight is once again not going in the Man Without Fear's favor.
Losing his mask in the fight, we learn that Omen seems to be rather ghoulish in appearance. He also reveals to Daredevil that he is the serial killer who has been stealing eyes from his victims. He considers the eyes to be "offerings," and each new one fills in another fragment of his vision for the future.
Daredevil receives help from the most unlikely source, which is sure to be a source of more trouble for him later. In the meantime, we check in on Detective Dominic and Officer Callahan. We learn that the young detective wasn't promoted due to merit, but rather because he was one of the few "clean" cops to choose from at the time. We also learn that he's a lousy shot, which Callahan worries will be to his detriment one day. He's not wrong, unfortunately.
At Empire State University, tech billionaire Harlan Vale is giving a presentation on the new technologies he plans to give to the faculty and students. Doctor Ellison pushes back, insisting it can't be out of the goodness of his heart. Of course she's right, and he's got another agenda—one that seems to include Matthew Murdock...
The Devil's Due
Daredevil himself takes a little bit of a backseat this month, but I'm okay with it.
Now that the main plotline of Omen is showing some progress, it's time to take a step back and build out the rest of Matt Murdock's new world. I still don't think we've seen enough of his new job and students at ESU, but with the Vale plot getting more attention, I think that will change soon enough. I like that we're seeing Doctor Ellison in scenes that don't feature Matt at all—it makes her feel more like a character in her own right, and not just a potential future love interest.
Getting even more focus this month are the two police characters. They're both very archetypal, but that's not all there is to them. In previous issues, Dominic came across as so sure of himself that he was almost arrogant. This seemed understandable, given his promotion to Detective at such a young age. Now we understand that's not necessarily the case. Yes, he's full of himself, and yes, he's rather good at his job. But he wasn't promoted entirely out of merit—rather, he was determined to be a good man in a sea of corrupt cops, and that moved him up the ladder faster than it probably should have. Especially when we see how bad he is with a gun.
Callahan, on the other hand, may as well have said he was two weeks from retirement. He's the grizzled old guy, the man who's seen it all and is tired of it. The one who doesn't want to have to babysit the arrogant young guy, who knows that Dominic's experience is probably going to get him killed. The man should have bought his wife a lottery ticket before he went to work...
As for Hornhead himself, he gets to spend some "quality time" with the Owl, of all people. He's still off-balance from whatever Omen does to his senses, and all the talk of future visions has his head in the past. We've seen the same flashbacks to Battlin' Jack Murdock in the ring, getting killed, Matt training with Stick, and all the like many times before, so there's nothing new here. But the scenes chosen for this issue help to illustrate just how jumbled Matt's head is right now. To overcome his present struggles, he's going to have to find answers in his past.
Seeing Red
Matt Murdock may be focused on his past, but the creative team of Stephanie Phillips, Lee Garbett, and Frank Martin are focused on charting his future.
Phillips's script is confident and assured. She's got a strong handle on Matt Murdock. His headstrong nature, his tendency to get lost in his own head, his Catholic guilt—it's all here. The Owl is a shadow of his former self, but you can still see shades of the man who thought he could be the new Kingpin in there. Omen himself remains more of an eye-gouging plot device than a character, which makes him lacking as a new addition to Daredevil's Rogues Gallery. The rest of the supporting cast show that there is more to them than we originally thought.
Garbett's art is simply spectacular. His version of Daredevil's costume has more detail to it than just generic spandex, but at the same time, it's not one of the overly busy designs the television shows or movies tend to use. The action is very fluid, which is a must when working on someone as acrobatic and borderline insane as the Man Without Fear. Even the more mundane scenes that fill much of this issue are still framed and staged in ways that keep them visually interesting.
The colors by Martin are an essential part of this creative team. He makes the red of Daredevil's suit deep enough that the bad guys will see him coming, but not so bright that he can't still skulk in the shadows as needed. And there are plenty of shadows here. Even with all the darkness on the page, the visuals are never so dark that you can't see what's going on. The numerous flashback scenes Matt looks back on this issue have a lighter tone, with a sort of grainy filter over them that clearly shows them as older than the rest of the issue. It's really a masterclass in using color to enhance the artwork.
Moving Pieces
Daredevil #4 slows the pace down a bit and shines a spotlight on the new members of our supporting cast, while Hornhead himself takes a little bit of a backseat. Don't think that means nothing happens, however. It's clear that Phillips and Garbett have a long-term plan for this book, and they're moving all the pieces into place to execute those plans even after the Omen storyline is over and done with.