Coming to this after Waid/Samnee's run on Daredevil, this is quite a departure with a much darker tone. Waid/Samnee could (and frequently did) get serious, but there were also always moments of humor. The humor has been excised in this run, so it suffers in my mind. I enjoyed the introduction of Blindspot, I enjoyed Matt working for the District Attorney's office, I just wish Soule/Garney didn't feel the need to undo absolutely everything from the previous run to the point that it might as well not exist for all the effect it has on Matt and his world. I'll continue with this run and try to judge it on its own merits, but I am not happy with its return to Matt's traditional status quo. ( )

I haven't really decided how I feel about this yet. Maybe I'll read all three and see how I feel.

While I thought the art style fit the series (lots of heavy blacks and reds) I felt a little underwhelmed by it. Somehow, I'd seen a lot of this before and usually, I love it, but it didn't hit the mark with me. But then, I figured, it fits the series so...?

The thing that stuck out to me the most was the fact that the stakes didn't feel like they were high enough. Soule can be a slow to start writer and this just didn't feel tense enough for me. However, Soule is an attorney based in Brooklyn and New York City so the Matt Murdock parts of the graphic novel had lovely details that really added to the whole piece. He was also really sassy and reminded me of the Matt Murdock from the Netflix series, which I love.

I loved Blindspot, Daredevil's new protégé. I won't spoil his character or background because part of the joy of reading the novel is finding out who he is but he is an illegal immigrant living in Chinatown and wants to defend the defenceless.

This feels so... pertinent to America today and I adore the fact that they wrote a character who is fully formed and treated with respect, not just a side character. I want a Blindspot comic all of his own pls. Blindspot is great.

I plan to continue with the series. Soule has a habit of making volume two what volume one should have been. ( )

In the previous comic, an evil villain named Tenfingers because he has ten fingers on each hand has started a church up in Chinatown promising much but demanding all the cash and stuff that his parishioners have to offer. Daredevil has taken on an apprentice named Blindspot, a young Chinese illegal immigrant man who has adapted a suit that makes him invisible but runs on batteries and can go out when the batteries run out. Matt Murdoch has wiped everyone's minds off his identity except Foggy's who resents it and Matt is now working in the D.A.'s office.

Matt's case against Tenfingers hinges on the testimony of Billy Li who is thrown in the river with Daredevil following to save him and then take care of the men who did it. He notices that these men fight differently like they have special powers. Blindspot comes in and helps him just in time. While Matt promises to protect Billy Li, on the day of the Grand Jury, Tenfingers men get to him and cut off his fingers convincing him to not testify which puts Matt in trouble with his boss who puts him on Night Court duty, which is the bottom of the ladder and will put a crimp in his nighttime activities.

Meanwhile, The Hand has arrived to take back what Tenfingers has taken from them as he was once a member of them but left to start his church. The Hand doesn't take kindly to them that steal from them and they attack his followers killing some before leaving for the time being. But they will be back with something worse than imaginable to finish off Tenfingers and his congregation. Blindspot is doing his best to protect the parishioners but its an uphill battle and Daredevil is trying to help him but he doesn't know everything as Blindspot is keeping secrets.

This is a really cool comic that has a surprise visit from Captain America who is older and can't really fight but keeps up with what's going on in his neighborhood and seeks out those who can help to clean out the bad guys and he and Daredevil go out on a mission together. Blindspot is an interesting and complex character that works well with Daredevil. This was a great book and I give it five out of five stars. ( )

Following Waid/Samnee's run is no easy feat. Luckily, Soule and Garney are clearly doing their own thing here and it really pays off. I'm interested and will be back for more. ( )

After watching season 1 of DD on Netflix, I felt the urge to get the comic book since I never read any DD(but was still familiar with the setting) So I got this TPB as a starting point and here is my review:

Story/writing: It's been a while since I stopped collecting any monthly comics, so Charles Soule is new to me as a writer, and I went into this completely blind(no pun intended, well, almost) and I must say I enjoyed his writing, mostly. Why mostly? I'll get to that later. So, the story of Matt coming back to New York, taking a sidek... err, apprentice and dealing with a new villain named Tenfingers really hooked me. I was glad this wasn't some typical story of the local hero meeting some old Marvel villain passing by(the Hand makes an appearance, but that's all good). The first 4 issues flew by and the plot moved along nicely, with a nice mix of Daredevil action and lawyer time. Seeing the mentor/apprentice scenes was also pretty good. But the last issue was a letdown for me. It seems Mr Soule has the same problem as many writers these days, he can do a nice buildup but simply just can't close a story without being somewhat anticlimactic (*Mild SPOILER* Remove Daredevil from the story and it would end exactly the same way. *END SPOILER*) Well, I am a bit unfair here, as this is the first story arc I ever read from him, but I hope this type of ending won't become a recurring thing. One other thing I noticed is that the TPB read fairly quickly, so I counted the pages per issue... 20. So, that's the new norm for comics these days? 20 pages for 4$? Yikes!! Glad I am patient enough now to get my comic fix from TPB edition. The cost is more in line with the value.
So, 3.5 stars for the story/writing. It would have been 4 if not for the poor ending to the arc. Eagerly awaiting the next chapter though.

Art: They went for gritty/noir and it shows. I am not the biggest fan of this style as as I find it difficult to decipher the emotions of the characters, but I have to admit it fit nicely here, and in the end, I really digged the overall style of Ron Garney on the pencils. The coloring is to puke for though. Yes, I hated it. It looks like those old 1940 comic books where you had all those round dots in the colors. Not a fan, not one bit, it annoyed me from beginning to end. Art is down to 3 stars because of it.

Overall, 3.5 stars. Hopefully by volume 2 it will be 4 stars material :)
This also got me enthusiast enough to start ordering/reading older runs. I love that Marvel has now so many TPB of their old stories :) ( )