Daredevil #100

Daredevil #100 hit stores Wednesday and the anniversary issue was full of content for DD fans enjoy. #100 kick starts writer Ed Brubakers new arc "Without Fear" with a bang. The issue is drawn by nine different artists, including some of the biggest names in the industry. Series mainstay artist Micheal Lark starts off the action but quickly leads to the first interior artwork that Marko Djurdjevic has done for Marvel. Djurdjevic shows off his talent in the four pages he drew, and personally despite enjoying Micheal Larks work, I was left wishing Djurdjevic was the main artist for Daredevil. The rest of the artwork done by John Romita Sr, Gene Colan, Al Milgrom, and Bill Sienkiewicz was solid, but nothing that was extraordinary. Alex Maleev, the artist who drew most of daredevil from issue #13-82, give or take a few issues, also contributed to the anniversary issue with three pages of his own. Maleev's art defined Daredevil, and it was good to see his work on the book again. (I still believe he draws Daredevil as a character the best) Despite all these names, and I know there's a lot, the most impressive artwork (Of course, this is only my opinion) came from Lee Bermejo. His three page contribution captured a hallucination Matt Murdock was having of his father. The scene was dramatic and brutal, something that's not easily shown in so few pages, but he did it perfectly.

Obviously there was more going on in this issue than just artwork. The issue is 100 pages long after all. Brubaker has taken a lot of heat in the passed few months for not moving the storyline along, some would say he was stalling. Well Brubaker certainly heard the woes and this issue was the first step in the right direction. Matt Murdocks life is about to get turned upside down again. This issue showed Mr. Fear get the better of Murdock, and it showed that Mr. Fear has the ability to make Murdock lose his mind, causing him to hallucinate people from his pasts ranging anywhere from Karen Page, Elektra, Bullseye, Kingpin, Black Widow, and his own father. (Like Bermejos section) Brubaker proved in this issue that Daredevil may be on it's way to becoming the best monthly comic yet again.

So...What else was there?
Aside from the new material, issue #100 was also full of extra material for Daredevil fans to eat up. There's two issues written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Gene Colan from the 70's that show the reader who Mr. Fear is, in case the reader didn't already know. Also, at the very end there's a gallery of the original pencils fone by Djurdjevic, Bermejo, and Lark. This issue is a must have if you're a Daredevil fan. The extra material, along with the new issue and the back story issues as well make it well worth $4.