by Andy Diggle (writer), Billy Tan (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Guru eFx (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)
The Story: The battle for New York City comes to its conclusion.
What’s Good: What, besides the fact that this is the final issue and that this mess of an event is finally over?
In all seriousness, though, my thought while reading this issue was that it could’ve been hell of a lot worse. The event comes to a nice enough end and the point it leaves Matt at is a nice one and a natural fit for the character that holds hope for future creative teams. While Shadowland has been many things, few of them good, Daredevil fans can breathe a sigh of relief that no irreparable damage is done to the character and nothing truly catastrophic is inflicted upon the series.
Basically, Shadowland was only ever meant to take Matt from point A to point B. The story was cobbled together as a means to get him there. Perhaps that ends up being the reason why this issue ended up being better than I expected. While not particularly good, it finally shows us what that point B is, which was always probably the most well thought out portion of Shadowland even before we knew what it was.
As a result, the last couple of pages are quite good and very Daredevily, as is his disappearance from Shadowland.
Billy Tan also has some bright spots this month, particularly when it comes to the action scenes. I loved the battle between Lord Daredevil and Iron Fist.
What’s Not So Good: Just cause it wasn’t the total, franchise destroying disaster that I feared it would be doesn’t mean this was a particularly good issue.
Reading this issue, it’s never been clearer how much of an identity crisis Shadowland has been in. It’s clearly not a Daredevil comic in tone, and so, it ends up being somewhat adrift. This month, Diggle half-heartedly attempts to tell us this an Avengers comic a couple of times, with zero success. At other points, this is a Ghost Rider comic, or an Iron Fist comic. Shadowland #5 never really settles on being one thing and it suffers for it.
There’s also the fact that this issue really relies heavily on the old “mind control” comic plot that is so tired, that it’s downright exhausted. It’s a plot I’ve seen so recycled so many damned times that having it be so central to a Daredevil event is honestly pretty sad. You get your scene of a friend telling his mind-controlled buddy to fight the influence and a telepathy scene that is similarly contrived, including a line by Elektra that is just painful. The worst part about that line was that Diggle clearly thought that it was just awesome and so made it crucial to the issue’s plot.
There’s also a reveal about Typhoid Mary that’s particularly disappointing insofar as how unimaginative it is. There was so much potential here and Diggle himself even hints at that potential, but instead goes for a much more boring option.
The art by Billy Tan, while it did have its good part, was ultimately hit and miss as well. While the Iron Fist and Ghost Rider fight scenes were great, I have no idea why Tan decided to make Daredevil’s anatomy resemble Mr. Fantastic’s. I get it. He’s possessed and inhuman, but Mr. Stretchy doesn’t exactly inspire fear and thoughts of the demonic. There’s also a frame of Foggy that is just atrocious; the character is unrecognizable.
Conclusion: Not particularly good, but it could’ve been loads worse.
Grade: C
-Alex Evans
Grade
Conclusion