No longer Daredevil, Matt Murdock is now seemingly happy and is invited to dinner with a local storeowner. However, there’s more to her family than Matt knows about.
Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil has been pretty fantastic so far. When it first started, it felt that it was slightly retreading on familiar ground, but it was quick to reveal that this wasn’t the case. The first arc was about Matt’s existential crisis after “Death of Daredevil” and his subsequent loss of faith. Things that Daredevil readers have seen before. However, it was done in a way that felt different and was executed extremely well. That leads into “No Devils, Only God” well because with Matt now having given up being Daredevil, we actually get to see him act as Matt Murdock. Even as simply Matt though, he can’t avoid confrontation.
Who knew Matt Murdock listing off accusations of crimes could be so fun to read? Well, that’s pretty much what this issue is at its heart when Matt has dinner with a crime family accidentally. This is something that felt wonderfully refreshing in this issue. We’ve constantly seen Daredevil interact with crime bosses and families but rarely seen Matt Murdock do it. This creates for a really interesting dynamic between Matt and the head of the family, Izzy Libris. She’s a new character to the comics and it makes Hell’s Kitchen seem even bigger than before. All these years that Daredevil had fought Kingpin and other supervillains, other crime bosses stayed out the limelight, away from him. It’s a subtle way to make Daredevil’s world feel a bitter more hopeless.
But the actual conversation that Matt and Izzy have over dinner is even more compelling than the premise. Matt believes in adhering strictly to the law and that’s what makes everyone equal. An idealist sentiment sure, but is he wrong? Izzy though believes in her codes and retribution more than the laws itself. She points out the inherent unfairness that laws made by the rich have on the poor, so why should she follow it. Her crime family has helped the poor more than the law ever has. However, that’s thanks to violence with which she holds her power. These two sides are very interesting to provide as counters and the way it’s presented in this issue, there is no right answer. Obviously, we want to agree with Matt because he’s the protagonist, but Izzy brings up many great points about the nature of the law that are apparent. It’s a fine line to walk to make argument work like this and Zdarsky does a great job.
The issue is held back a bit by the art department though. Lalit Kumar Sharma does a decent job with this issue. However, the biggest problem with the art is the lack of expression. The issue is paced well and feels consistent throughout, but none of the characters really feel alive. Expressions and body posture don’t change a lot even when they probably should. There are some notable exceptions, but for the most part, everything felt too consistent to bring every bit emotion of a scene that could’ve been pulled out.
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