Daredevil Saga

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Daredevil Saga
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2008
Writer: Ed Brubaker, Anthony Flamini
Artist: Michael Lark, David Aja, Gene Colan, Marko Djurdjevic, Paul Azaceta, Clay Mann
Editor: Ed Brubaker

This is a promotional freebie from Marvel Comics that recaps a series of Daredevil issues written by Ed Brubaker, centered around Matt Murdoch's Daredevil identity being exposed and Murdoch ending up in prison alongside the Kingpin and a whole rogues gallery of past foes. This recap book is, of course, loaded with spoilers for the actual comics.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well this book functioned. In spite of the nature of being a summary, there were enough details left to be filled in that it did do its job of getting me interested in reading the stories that it recapped. I was particularly impressed with Brubaker's ability to smoothly incorporate some of the more ridiculous classic villains into a modern noir story. It was fun to see serious takes on guys like Hammerhead, the Owl, Tombstone, and the Enforcers

The final few pages are devoted to a nice wordless showcase of Clay Mann's artwork and the introduction of Lady Bullseye.

This was an effective promotional item if you don't mind the spoilers.

Rating: 6/10

The Amazing Spider-Man: Grim Hunt: The Kraven Saga

We had technical problems last night. Here's yesterday's review. This is a Marvel freebie from last year that I picked up in my Free Comic Book Day haul.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man: Grim Hunt: The Kraven Saga
Date: May, 2010
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciler: Michael Lark
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
Editor: Stephen Wacker, Tom Brennan

This is a promo for the Grim Hunt story arc in the Spider-Man titles. It starts with an eight-page preview from the series, which features some great artwork, especially on a two-page spread on the Sinister… um… well, I was going to say the Sinister Six, but there are actually seven dudes facing Spidey down (Sandman, Lizard, Rhino, Vulture, Electro in new non-goofy costume, Doc Ock, and Mysterio). I think that was Doc Ock anyway. Different costume, same tentacles.

Unfortunately, almost all of the action takes place in a dream sequence generated by Madame Web, who is a captive of Kraven's Daughter (if this was DC, she'd turn out to be Duela Dent!). Spider-Girl is also being held captive, and seems to serve the primary purpose protesting uselessly while we get plenty of images of her in bondage. Madame Web is actually the more scrappy of the two. Also, she's actively trying to do something about their situation. So of course she's in for some off-panel torture to further convince us that the bad guys (girls, actually: Kraven's daughter and her mom) are, indeed, bad.

Spidey, meanwhile does not much of anything.

This is then followed by a brief sketchbook feature and then a very comprehensive index to every appearance of Kraven in the Marvel Universe with bits of the original art. This was fairly interesting to the nostalgia buff in me, and it was particularly fun to see some of Kraven's encounters with other Marvel characters like Beast, Ka-Zar, and Tigra. The book ended with Handbook of the Marvel Universe style entries for Karaven and the Chameleon. These were both a bit redundant with the timeline feature from earlier in the book.

Overall, this was a fun look back, but it didn't make me want to read the new storyline.

Rating: 5.5/10