Daredevil has been on a role with Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto at the helm. This creative team, along with other artists, have found a magic to the way the entire narrative around Daredevil they have been crafting. Every single issue has found a way to build on what all previous issues of this series has done and brought it to a whole new level. The current status quo with Elektra Natchios as the new Daredevil while Matt Murdock, also as Daredevil, is serving out a long prison term has delivered a lot of intriguing plot developments. One of the biggest being Elektra as Daredevil now faced with having to take on an even deadlier version of Bullseye that she or Matt have fought before. What will happen next in Hell’s Kitchen and beyond? Let’s find out with Daredevil #33.
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Ten weeks ago Mayor Wilson Fisk is getting an update report from several doctors on the behavioral modification surgeries he’s put Bullseye through. Mayor Fisk tells the doctors he wants them to ensure they will produce results he requested of having Bullseye under his control.
Four weeks earlier the doctors and other scientist have decided to go with cloning Bullseye as their best option for the results Mayor Fisk wanted. One of the clone tanks suddenly starts filling with blood. When one of the scientists shuts the tank down the Bullseye clone immediately kills said scientist. The Bullseye clone then demands to know what is going on.
In the present Daredevil (Elektra Natchios) realizes that the Bullseye clones aren’t killing quickly on her purpose in order to torture her. As she is losing blood quickly Daredevil uses smoke bombs to disappear. Daredevil uses the smoke to take out several of the Bullseye clones.
She ends up dragging one of the Bullseye clones off the rooftop they are on and has him act as her crash pad on top of a car in the streets.
Daredevil quickly gets into cover from the Bullseye with a sniper gun. While in cover Daredevil finds a gun on the ground and starts firing it wildly in the air.
As she is passing out from the blood loss Spider-Man and Iron Man show up having heard her gun fire.
Over at Izzy Libris’ office, Izzy speaks with Butch Pharris about her current situation as a Kingpin of Crime who is hiding out in her office. As Butch tries to calm her down Izzy reveals Dante (her only remaining son) has left her. Butch reassures Izzy that he is there for her. Izzy says she wants to talk tomorrow about the Daredevil situation.
After hanging up Butch tells Mike Murdock that Dante is gone. Mike and Butch agree they have to find Dante since it is part of their plan to get Izzy to give up being the Kingpin of Crime.
As they are about to talk about the current Daredevil and Bullseye situation Mike notice a report on the news about the prisoners at Stanworth Prison (the same prison that Matt Murdock is locked up as Daredevil) taking it over.
Outside Stanworth Prison the police are trying to figure out what to do about the takeover since the prisoners haven’t demanded anything yet. Detective Cole North is called in to help with the situation since he has experience dealing with the Daredevil (Matt Murdock) who is locked up in there. Kirsten McDuffie soon shows up and asks to be allowed to help.
The cops suddenly get a call from inside the prison from Daredevil. Daredevil requests Detective North be the only one to enter the prison. Detective North quickly agrees to the request.
Over at Tony Stark’s building Elektra wakes up to Iron Man telling her to rest more due to the severity of her injuries. Iron Man goes on to say that Spider-Man is out looking for the Bullseye clones. Elektra wonders why Iron Man didn’t go tracking down Bullseye instead of Spider-Man. Iron Man mentions Spider-Man not having skills in healing people and Bullseye has been able to mask his whereabouts from even his armor. Hearing this Elektra asks Tony to build her an armor specifically to take down Bullseye.
Over at Wilson Fisk’s place Mary Walker (Typhoid Mary) tells Fisk about the prison riot. Fisk says that with his city he does not care about the situation at the prison because both Daredevil’s that are active can all go to hell as far as he is concerned. Fisk then goes to bed.
Inside Stanworth Prison, Detective North careful makes his way to Daredevil’s location. He is attacked by one of the prisoners but he quickly subdues them.
Detective North is then surprised to find Daredevil sitting on top of a thrown made with prisoners arounds him and a large fire behind him. Daredevil then asks Detective North if he would like to try to take him down again. End of issue.
The Good: Well if you thought things couldn’t escalate anymore than they already have for Elektra Natchios and Matt Murdock’s respective Daredevil stories you would be wrong. Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto continue to find a way to make you even more excited for the next issue. Daredevil #33 plays into that so well with all the different character arcs that are going on at the same time.
What I always marvel at with Zdarsky and Checcheto’s work on Daredevil is how no scene ever outstays its welcome. Every scene is timed out in terms of page count well to keep you invested on what it will lead to while getting you to the other thing that is simultaneously in development. The transition points from scene to scene are on point throughout Daredevil #33.
Opening this issue with detailing how Wilson Fisk has tried to turn Bullseye into his personal killing machine is an excellent tone setter. We get enough information to understand why with the threats that Wilson Fisk makes that the scientist would go down the desperate route of cloning Bullseye. They felt that maybe that way they could work with a blank slate rather than the corrupt soul that Bullseye is. This being a major error on the scientist part plays into how Bullseye is the most dangerous assassin in the world.
Jumping into the present with Bullseye taking on Elektra’s Daredevil got you immediately worried for Elektra. We just saw how all the Bullseye clones have a take no prisoner attitude. Elektra understanding that the clones could’ve killed her at any point showed how well she quickly picks up on whatever situation she is in. Zdarsky used Elektra’s skills and experience to help her turn things around against the Bullseye clones by using their own cocky attitudes and turning them into a weapon. It was a win-win scenario that accomplished showing how badass Elektra is even when injured and still maintained the deadly aura around the Bullseye clones as they now lurk in the shadows.
Bringing in Iron Man and Spider-Man to help Elektra out was a nice touch of using continuity built from previous issues. Zdarsky has used both Iron Man and Spider-Man throughout his run on Daredevil so it makes sense that they would be the first heroes that would answer Elektra’s call for help. Even though Elektra doesn’t share the history with both heroes that Matt does Zdarsky quickly establishes a chemistry with both.
In the previous issue we saw Elektra bond with Spider-Man and here she is able to build a similar professional relationship with Iron Man. Which goes into furthering how Elektra knows that she is out matched against the Bullseye clones. It shows growth as Elektra doesn’t simply jump off the bed to get back out in the world to find Bullseye. This makes Tony Stark building her armor to take down the villain be something that is a natural part of the story rather than a cheap plot device.
At the same time, we see a continuation escalating developments at the prison Matt Murdock’s Daredevil is in. Zdarsky throws a huge curveball in this storyline by showing us that Matt has led a prison riot and is now sitting on a throne as king of the Stanworth Prison. That was not a visual that I was expecting to see happen when this storyline started. It creates a lot of questions as to what Matt’s plan is after Warden Hollis has tried to kill him multiple times.
Detective Cole North being the only one to let into the prison by Matt does indicate that he may not have turned as evil as he appears and sounds. We know that Matt wants to expose things going on in the prison. Detective North is likely the only one that he can trust with whatever information he has. Though if Detective North will go along with whatever Matt has brought him into is a major question since it is not a friendly environment for the detective.
Zdarsky did a good job tying in Matt’s development in prison to the big story around Izzy Lubris’ current reign as Kingpin of Crime. We see that Mike Murdock and Butch Pharris are moving forward with their plan to take the title of Kingpin of Crime from Izzy. Bu now with these developments from Matt’s prison we could see those plans forced to be rushed. If so that could make a lot of the planning Mike and Butch have put into their work not go as they believe it will.
Which brings us to the current state of the former Kingpin of Crime and current Mayor of New York City in Wilson Fisk. With each passing issue we are witnessing a Wilson Fisk that is being broken down by everything that is going on in New York City. We see here in Daredevil #33 a Wilson Fisk that comes across as completely exhausted. Everything he says to Mary Walker does not sound like the confident Wilson Fisk we are accustomed to hearing. It all leaves you wondering if this breaking point state he is in will make Fisk even more dangerous than before as he appears done with leaving things as is.
The entire story in Daredevil #33 is excellently brought to life by Marco Checchetto. The way Checchetto draws Bullseye, from his expressions to action, puts over how he is considered the most dangerous assassin in the world. This makes it even more impressive that Elektra, even with her sever injuries, was able to find a way to take down several of the Bullseye clones while calling for help when needed. Checchetto also does a great job with getting across the different ways Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock conducted themselves in the one page they physically appear in.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto are at the top of their game with their work on Daredevil #33. Every single ongoing storyline from Elektra’s battle with the Bullseye clones to the prison riot Matt Murdock leads adds even greater interest for the future of the series. It all goes to once again prove that Zdarsky and Checchetto’s Daredevil is the best comic book Marvel is currently publishing.
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