David Mazzucchelli

I like Paul Auster, but I find his brilliance difficult to put into words; with this graphic adaptation of the first volume of The New York Trilogy, the problem is even more difficult.  All of this is appropriate, of course, for a story where the main theme is the inability (or unreliability) of language to capture truth.  When I first read this comic back in 2006, I hadn't yet read the prose novel; upon reading the prose novel some months later, I could not find anything in it that had show more been subtracted for the comic.  Furthermore, the addition of a visual dimension meant that there was a whole new layer of meaning.

All I can do, then, is praise Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli's artwork; their simple, stark style suits the narrative perfectly, and their use of transitions between panels is astounding, showing a complete mastery of the comics medium.  City of Glass is heavy with meaning in the best of ways. show less

This book was originally recommended to me by a friend after the first season of Netflix's Daredevil came out. While the show did draw heavily from the comic, the comic is very much its own entity and in some ways becomes even darker than the show manages to be. The character of Karen is notably different in the comic as well, and while she suffers from some of the typical [author: Frank Miller] writing stereotypes, she in no way is as caricatured as, say, Catwoman in [book: Batman Year One] show more or the girls of [book: Sin City]. This is long before [author: Frank Miller] became pretty much a stereotype of himself.

The comic is the story of Kingpin's destruction of everything Matt Murdock holds dear. Matt is beaten, his ex having sold his identity for a hit of heroin, and one by one everything that made Matt Matt is taken from him. His job, his money, his house, his friends. Matthew becomes a pariah, all that is left to him his senses and Daredevil... until even the identity of Daredevil is no longer his own. How does one become born again when they are beaten so low?

This book is a character study as much as it is a story. We see Matt at his worst, and in many ways how his worst is what makes him the stalwart fighter that he is. Matt needs people to save, he needs the costume, he needs the identity of Daredevil to function - but how can that be gotten again when no one will stand up to the Kingpin? Men like Ben are needed, too. Like Foggy says in the extra comic, added for completions sake at the end of Born Again, we've got to keep believing in the good in other people. Otherwise, what are we doing? We all could use a little grace. show less

This gorgeously designed graphic novel unfolds like literary origami, following a lovably pompous art snob through love, failure, comeuppance, and redemption. It's sharply observant, acidly funny, yet still humane and bursting with bold colors and sweeping lines. Imagine something like a Paul Auster novel filtered through the dynamic visuals of Chris Ware.

The nice thing is, the whole story is kind of Batman punching cops. And yeah, ok, it’s the “these are bad cops” bullshit (I remember there being some kind of throwaway line about Gotham’s PD just being extraordinarily corrupt)… but it’s still like almost 100% of the cops that are bad?

Even Jim Gordon’s “I’m gonna fix it from the inside!” kind of story was kind of good? Even though it’s been shown over and over again that that isn’t a thing and we need abolition… show more there was still plenty of stuff in this story line that I highly approved of. Like the commissioner dismissively telling him “you kept the media away from it, that’s all that matters” when Gordon references a past mistake, and when Gordon vows that he won’t have to worry about dishonesty from him, the commissioner says it’s “the last thing on [his] mind.” Which makes even more sense when we later see the commissioner dining with literal mob bosses.

Gordon’s primary antagonist is even the perfect representation of the worst kind of cop, a white guy who peaked in high school. Dude’s off-duty uniform was a letter jacket for the gods’ sake.

The only real Frank Miller bullshit on display here was his misogyny. Well, ok, and also his usual weird depictions of masculinity (like Gordon randomly using the barbell in Harvey’s office in the middle of a formal conversation where they’re both dressed in suits???), but those are surely related.

As far as misogyny, there’s especially a lot with how sex workers are portrayed here that’s just… ick. But probably the most frustrating thing is when Gordon’s hypercompetent coworker Detective Essen looks like she’s gonna be a great supportive friend for him but they end up having an affair because of course they do. It’s just so frustrating.

Also, on a very petty/whiney note: this needed more Catwoman!!!

But, yeah! I think this is the least bad Frank Miller story I’ve ever encountered. show less