Paolo Rivera

I like this Daredevil. He's lighter, with a sense of joie de vivre, not taking himself and the world so seriously. I'm glad that Mark Waid took over and put a different spin on past events without throwing everything out the window. I want to read this guy's story if just because he seems like he's enjoying himself so much. There's a very Errol Flynnish air about this Matt Murdock-dare I say swashbuckling? In a nice twist, Matt and Foggy put their formidable legal skills to use in a very show more unique way after returning to the courtroom doesn't work out as expected. An excellent starting place for new readers and a great fresh start for those who were tired of the depths of despair into which our hero had fallen. show less

Daredevil, Volume 1 collects issues 1-6 of Daredevil written by Mark Waid with art by Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martín, ink by Joe Rivera, colors by Javier Rodriguez and Muntsa Vicente, and letters by Joe Caramagna. These issues launched the third volume of Marvel’s Daredevil in 2011, originally appearing between 20 July 2011 and 30 November 2011. The story begins shortly after Matt Murdock returns to New York City following his possession by the Beast of the Hand in Andy Diggle’s show more Shadowland storyline from September – December 2010. His secret identity exposed, Matt Murdock had departed the city, leaving Black Panther in charge of protecting Hell’s Kitchen during the Black Panther: The Man Without Fear! storyline from February – November 2011. Now, Matt’s back, having worked to finesse his secret identity back though people still ask him if he is Daredevil.

In the first three issues, Matt reveals his more upbeat attitude after the literal hell he endured, working with Foggy Nelson as they represent a man who was a victim of police brutality. It looks like rumor’s of Matt’s secret life will derail their case, until Matt learns that there’s more going on since someone doesn’t want their client to spend his potential court award on buying back his family’s electronics business. Meanwhile, Captain America appears to arrest Matt for the crimes he committed while possessed by the Beast of the Hand, but Matt reasons with Cap for an extension, in which time he finds a sound-shadow of Ulysses Klaue, the supervillain known as Klaw, that seeks to use the electronics shop to build a device capable of retrieving Klaw’s sound signal. The next three issues focus on Matt and Foggy working to teach clients how to represent themselves, thereby circumventing the possibility that opposing council will bring up his connection to Daredevil to derail the case. This leads him to fight Bruiser, who works as a fixer for Midas Investments, a group using shell companies to arrange foreign registries for megacrime shipping.

Waid immediately demonstrates his mastery of writing Daredevil, balancing the events that came before with the new direction he planned for the series and his is especially well-served by artists who can match his description of Daredevil’s world. Rivera perfectly depicts “radar” images of sound for Klaw’s half-formed sound-shadows and the dimensional holes of the Spot. Martín similarly compliments Waid’s writing and had helped shape the Marvel Comics’ style of street-level heroes like Daredevil with his earlier work on Spider-Man alongside Dan Slott from 2008-2011. The end result is an all-around phenomenal Daredevil book! show less

I keep seeing this book praised as a supposed perfect jumping-on point for getting into Valiant's universe, but I disagree. I think this event is an example of Valiant's 4-issue story pattern not giving the characters enough room to breathe. The story is told with Kindt Lemire's usual efficiency, but for a threat as huge and world-shaking as The Immortal Enemy, he kind of comes and goes too quickly.

Also, despite the historical contexts in the first issue, by the end I couldn't help but ask, show more "Why is the Geomancer so important?" Is it because last time Earth lost one, the Black Plague ravaged Europe? Humanity kinda bounced back from that. I feel like a heartless supervillain for saying that, but seriously, I wasn't invested in Kay the Geomancer's survival. Her brief rapport with Bloodshot was okay, but was cut short. More blanks needed to be filled. Even by the end of the story, everyone's like "eh, too bad" and moves on. And we get a Geomancer from the future? Was there really a conflict or need to fight at all? UPDATE: read Archer & Armstrong Vol. 2 to get the deets on Geomancer.

And another thing! One of the coolest things about "The Delinquents" and "Divinity" was how each book subverted the tropes of splashy action shots and all-out finale brawls to take much more interesting routes and creative layouts. When this book recruits all of Valiant's major cast to take turns slamming The Immortal Enemy, the fight looks cool (shoutout to the Riveras Junior and Senior for excellent artwork) but ultimately serves no purpose beyond the novelty of a massive team-up... that, again, ends too quickly and doesn't feature enough character moments to flesh out everyone's contributions. On the other hand, being done-in-four prevents reader burnout or exhausting any given angle.

I would call this an interesting event for Valiant, and definitely worth reading among their books, but it's far from a strong introduction to that universe. I have some grievances with the story and fleshing out of characters (or lack thereof), but the art (as broken down in the bonus pages, which I always enjoy, especially the Valiant style of showing off the stage-by-stage process with everyone's commentary) is a consistent pleasure to look at, whether it's the Enemy's creepy face-splitting visages, playful use of sound effect lettering, or plain ol' clean, detailed line work. show less

Gilad, el Guerrero Eterno, es desde hace milenios el protector del Geomante, una especie de mago que está en contacto con la naturaleza, que aparece en diversos momentos de la Historia. El Guerrero Eterno ha fallado las tres últimas veces en su misión, siendo el Enemigo Inmortal el vencedor que aniquiló a los Geomantes. Pero esta vez va a pedir ayuda a sus compañeros sobrehumanos, Ninjak y Bloodshot entre otros.

‘The Valiant’ es un evento del Universo Valiant, pero no es necesario show more saber nada de las historias independientes de los distintos personajes, algo que no sucede con Marvel o DC. El guión es simple, pero mantiene el suficiente interés para seguir con atención la trama. El dibujo y el color son magníficos. Como colofón, la editorial nos ofrece portadas alternativas y comentarios de los autores sobre su trabajo. En resumen, una lectura interesante, pero que se me queda algo escasa en cuanto a argumento. show less