Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Thony Silas
Release Date: 13th November 2013

Continuing the somewhat curiously structured ‘miniseries-made-up-of-smaller-miniseries’ Dark Nights, this issue sees the start of another tale as Jimmy Palmiotti relocates The Man Without Fear to the sunny shores of Miami and teams him up with Misty Knight in a light-hearted romp surrounding the kidnapping of a witness set to testify against a criminal kingpin (and no, not that one).

A far departure from the gritty, emotional start to ‘Dark Nights’, this latest arc seems to be primarily structured around the flirtatious banter between Matt and Misty.  And while it’s all undeniably a lot of fun, there’s not a huge amount of substance to be had here outside of the main characters.  The story has been done a hundred times before, and the vaguely-defined criminal threat did little to grab my imagination.

Thony Silas’ artwork is impressive enough in recreating the superficial, tanned inhabitants of Miami, and also in illustrating the growing sexual tension between the two protagonists, but it struggles somewhat during the fight scenes, featuring an overabundance of awkward, diving poses that seem to bear little relation to the action being displayed or the blows being landed.

While this is a long, long way from being a ‘must read’ Daredevil storyline, there is still a fair amount of good stuff here.  The banter between the two heroes is entertaining, and there a couple of genuinely amusing moments along the way (including Matt’s creative approach for silencing a screaming, naked woman).

This story serves as a definite change of pace from the usual Daredevil fare, although a better-established hook at the end – perhaps a reveal of this ominous Cuban crimelord – would have gone a long way in making me want to read more.   I’ll stick with it though, primarily because I hate having incomplete mini-series, but overall, this is an essentially forgettable DD tale that could easily have been so much more.

Rating: 5.5/10.

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The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson (aka Ceej)
Article Archive: Ceej Says