Things have certainly escalated in the world around Daredevil. In particular for Elektra Natchios as her latest mission to try to stop The Hand went sideways. And it could’ve have gone more wrong than Elektra being caught looking as though as she was responsible for killing the President of the United States. With the video shared around the world what does this mean for the status quo of not just Elektra but Matt Murdock in the Marvel Universe? Let’s find out with Daredevil #7.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Rafael De Latorre and Marco Checchetto
Inker: Elisabetta D’Amico
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
SYNOPSIS
With Elektra Natchios caught on video appearing to have murdered the President of the United States, and high tension between them, it’s decided Matt Murdock will go with a team alone as Daredevil on their latest mission.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Daredevil leads Bullet, Speed Demon, and Stilt-Man in stopping Castlemax’s hired police from forcibly evicting apartment residents and trying to blame those residents for Castlemax-planted bombs going off.
After stopping this Daredevil confronts Castlemax’s CEO Clive Markuson to stop these forced evictions under false allegations or face the wrath of The Fist.
Before heading back to The Fist mountain base Daredevil lets Bullet go see his son.
Returning home Elektra takes Matt to Stick to talk about the Book of the Fist revealing that Punisher is headed to Yusuhara. Bullet suddenly makes contact while fighting The Hand ninja to blame Daredevil for his son being kidnapped before being completely overwhelmed and taken by The Hand.
Matt and Elektra quickly assemble all the members of The Fist to take the war straight to Punisher, Aka, and The Hand.
Elsewhere Punisher orders Aka to protect Bullet’s son as he gets ready to face off against Daredevil and The Fist. End of issue.
REVIEW
Chip Zdarksy, Rafael De Latorre, and Marco Checchetto sure aren’t making life easy for our two Daredevils in Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios. With Daredevil #7 the honeymoon period for the newlyweds is officially over. We see that tensions rising as both Matt and Elektra are still figuring out the best way to lead The Fist against The Hand while protecting the world.
As with the previous issue, Daredevil #7 shows that taking on a leadership role is not just something easy, no matter how much experience the individual has. Because for sure, Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios have as much fighting and superhero experience as anyone in the Marvel Universe. But for all that experience both are coming into leading The Fist having worked largely as individuals. They aren’t experienced leaders like Captain America and Cyclops are.
We see how these last two issues of Daredevil that it is in having been working as solo acts are impacting the results Matt and Elektra are getting right now. With Elektra, there were errors made with how she walked into The Hand’s trap of being seen as if she was responsible for murdering the US President. Now with Matt in Daredevil #7 by just thinking that after saving the day things will settle down for a bit he opened the door for The Hand to strike hard and fast without expecting it.
These results made the opening scene between Matt and Elektra so interesting. Because we are seeing how the tension between the two co-leads and the newly married couple can’t be hidden. Even as they appear to be on the same page at the end of the issue as they head to face off against Punisher and Aka these apparent problems won’t help them. This all leads to creating more layers into Matt and Elektra’s relationship that now after being firmly established is being tested with how strong it is. That creates some more personal drama that all works into the greater story of The Fist vs The Hand war in a natural way.
On Matt’s own personal journey, we did see much more of his side of things with Daredevil #7. His mission in North Carolina put over the direction he wishes to take The Fist on. He sees them all as an extension of his belief in what superheroes should be. Having his strike team made up of ex-villains he has brought on to reform with The Fist further exemplifies what Matt is trying to do.
Now what will be something to look out for is how all of these developments will clash with how Punisher and The Hand have developed. Daredevil #7 did a much better job integrating Punisher into the story without making it feel as though you have to read his solo story. Zdarsky framed Punisher in a way that gives us enough details is doing and if you want to read more about it you can pick up his series but not required. Now that The Fist vs The Hand war will fully kick off it’ll be interesting to see how Zdarsky uses all of Punisher’s developments without making it feel like we are left out in a large portion of the narrative.
Not enough can be said about how great the artwork from Rafael De Latorre and Marco Checchetto was throughout Daredevil #7. Latorre and Checchetto have nailed down working together after collaborating at various points that the story just rolls smoothly. They capture the intense, personal moments between Matt and Elektra incredibly well. Then there is the action scene in the apartment that has a lot of great choreography. All of it makes you look forward to how crazy things will get in the war between The Fist and The Hand.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Daredevil #7 does an excellent job setting the stage for the big clash between The Fist and The Hand. Building off the previous issue, Chip Zdarksy, Rafael De Latorre, and Marco Checchetto continue to test Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios in fascinating ways. The direction things went does provide a lot of intrigue into how the Daredevil pair will deal with Punisher and Aka when facing off against The Hand.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
