Bombs and Lemonade by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr
One Sentence Overview: Whilst Brandy and Number Nine argue over the role of women, Skip Ash turns up to try to take control... like a man!
If you're not a fan of writers deliberately shoehorning in socio-political comment, specifically about issues such as feminism and patriarchy, then, as the previous episodes have directed, this current storyline really wouldn't be your cup of tea. And, as this issue well demonstrates, Ann hasn't finished yet.
The story title refers to the slightly contradictory nature of Number Nine, the resident 'male fantasy', both in terms of looking stunning and fighting ability. Here, she literally prepares both for her companions, Daredevil and Brandy, and holds each aspect of her personality in equal regard.
As revealed in the last review, this is driving Brandy nuts and things come to a head here with both girls ending up in a physical scrap. I couldn't help thinking this was a peculiar situation for a feminist like Brandy to get herself into, but I guess one can appreciate her ire - she has to put up with a great insult from Number Nine: when she tells Daredevil she's ready for action, Nine retorts, "You don't look ready - your hair is a mess!".
Once again, here, Nine is fawning over Daredevil like a lovesick puppy and Brandy's assessment that she's sending the women's movement back to the stone age does not seem entirely unreasonable. Still, the scene is a very strange one. In fact, the way it's written ends up with Daredevil on the sidelines, a wry grin on his face, almost with a "Women, eh?" aside to the readership.
I doubt any male writer would have been so bold and I'm not entirely sure Ann gets away with it either. One has to admire Ann attempting to be even handed with Number Nine's arguments here too, pointing out as she does to Brandy that some women like the caring role (in the same way some men like to care for the woman in their lives, I guess).
Things perhaps become even more confused when Skip turns up later and argues that Brandy is as bad as he is because she uses illegal methods to achieve her aims - something that actually appears to mollify Brandy to a degree. Well, there is a point there but Skip was indulging in human trafficking and I'm not sure Brandy's reactions to this were entirely inappropriate as a result.
Even stranger is the introduction of Skip in this issue, revealing some more brave writing by Ann. Skip bemoans the lack of success that the power of the CIA and tech nut Shotgun have had with retrieving his dream woman. Therefore he resolves that he will tackle the girls and Daredevil himself, on his own... with only "his manhood" as weapon. As Skip stands admiring himself in the mirror, we're left in no doubt as to what he means!
Indeed, when Skip does turn up, it appears that "his manhood" does mesmerise the two girls. Due to her programming, Number Nine is uncertain as to whether to fight him or not, whereas surprisingly Brandy suddenly leaps to her father's defense when she sees he's taking a beating at Daredevil's hands.
I should point out that Skip's manhood doesn't literally do anything (thank goodness) but the figurative and philosophical nature of what's being written about here is, well, not what one normally expects from this genre of storytelling.
There's so much going on here in terms of sociological and psychological theories that the issues sometimes become quite confused - indeed, never mind the manhood, everyone seems rendered impotent by the end of the issue as each character's arguments fly back and forth, with their 'you're no better than me' accusations until everyone's glad that things are resolved by the sudden appearance of the Inhumans.
Ah, the Inhumans - I'd nearly forgotten about them! They've been skulking in the background for three issues now with the reader on tenterhooks about what the connection with our main cast could be. Well, we don't move much further forward this issue (they only turn up right at the end) but what we do see is another key feminist argument, articulated early on by Medusa, who reflects on her powerlessness upon losing her apparently genetically flawed child. The text accompanying this is very revealing, talking of how Medusa wanted to fight for the right to control her own body, a key aspect of sexual politicking and even abortion rights.
Yes, it's just a couple of frames but once again Ann successfully puts forward grievances about the treatment of women in this unexpected medium and, whilst this issue is not an unqualified success, her continued daringness is to be applauded. And, hey, isn't that kind of appropriate in a comic called 'Daredevil'?
Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Number Nine
Brandy Ash
Skip Ash
Black Bolt
Medusa
Karnak
Gorgon
Lockjaw
Rating: 7 out of 10
The Billion Dollar Ashtray by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr
One Sentence Overview: Attempting to protect the newly freed Number Nine, Daredevil battles Shotgun, whilst Brandy Ash begins to regret rescuing the girl
We may be in the middle of a storyline which allows Ann to give her readership a crash course on the finer points of feminism and the cultural oppression of women, but that doesn't stop her from musing on some other stuff that bugs her. Skip's intense hunt for his daughter and his dream woman, Number Nine, also allows Ann to look at the uneasy relationship between (male) big business and how the Government colludes with this.
The last couple of issues have clearly demonstrated that intensive farmer Skip Ash is in the pocket of the military. They're as much interested in bringing Number Nine back home as the horny farmer, inasmuchas they don't want the living weapon they've invested in to be lost or picked up by other parties. In the last episode, a CIA handler introduced Shotgun, a tech hungry assassin, whose motto appears to be "the more expensive the weapon, the better".
And that brings us to the story's slightly enigmatic title. I'm afraid to say that there aren't frames filled with uber expensive ashtrays from some forgotten golden age that will go for a fortune at a charity auction. No, the 'ashtray' instead refers to the way the military hide expenditure on secret weapons. This explains how the bad guys here are able to afford a new fangled weapon heavy multi purpose vehicle that Shotgun becomes deliriously happy about.
I haven't said an awful lot about Shotgun but there's not much to say. Ann appears to have deliberately underwritten him as a gung-ho type with no real moral centre, merely interested in new weapons and the next pay day - just the sort of guys that appeal to the men with money.
Instead, as with the last episode, she's much more interested in Brandy's worldview and her dynamic with Number Nine. Whilst Brandy was initially compelled to rescue and re-educate Number Nine, here she's frustrated at her inability to break the blonde bombshell from her patriarchic programming and this leads to some funny scenes.
Ann's writing here is very shrewd - Number Nine isn't just about male fantasies of the perfect women but also a comment on how female superheroes are presented in comic books (often, of course, a milieu for male fantasies). Nine has fashioned her own costume here but has she developed it from Brandy's wardrobe of practical outfits? Has she heck.
In line with her programming, Number Nine has developed a slinky skintight number, which appears to have included her forgetting to cover up one leg from the thigh down, recycled from an old US flag. Brandy seethes as she sees 20 years of feminist thought go up in smoke. "Keep me from slapping the lipstick off that bimbo," she growls.
She's angered even more, though, by her being enamoured by Daredevil. As one might expect given Skip's experimentations, Number Nine has honed in on the nearest male and wants to meet his every need - including bringing a picnic along for his battle with Shotgun.
Funniest moment, though, is Number Nine's sudden distress at realising one of her fingernails is damaged.
All this and some more Inhumans interaction too about Medusa's missing child. No, DD doesn't mean the Attilan dwellers just yet, so we don't know where all this is heading. Ann obviously likes these characters but I keep thinking this is a strange fit. But we'll see how it all pans out when they finally do link up...
Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Number Nine
Brandy Ash
Skip Ash
Shotgun
Medusa
Karnak
Gorgon
Rating: 7 out of 10
Liberation by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr
One Sentence Overview: Having helped Brandy Ash rescue poorly looked after farm animals from her father, Daredevil is uncertain about whether he has a role to help her look after another escapee, a mysterious young woman only known as 'Number Nine'
Woah! Not too many issues of Daredevil open up with a splash page of a naked woman! And, to add to the irony, this is an issue about the rights of women, their subjugation and ways of empowerment. My eye is initially caught by John Romita Jr's stunning (though completely chaste) interpretation of an ecstatic 'Number Nine', a genetically enhanced young blonde woman, thanks to Skip Ash's diabolical plans for his own 'Stepford Wife'. However, the text surrounding the picture gives context to why this girl, who appears so free, is actually a product of her environment, specifically the pressure to be an idealised version of what a woman should be. Number Nine is haunted by "Cinderella myths... glamor myths, Hollywood myths" and by "glossy magazines, parading endless perfect faces, manicured fingers, well-turned heels".
Skip's plans have taken away the need for this woman to make her own independent mark in her life, instead turning her into a male fantasy - not only beautiful and (relatively) submissive but also bullet proof! (Well, hey this is a comic book after all.)
There's a brilliant scene that also encapsulates Number Nine's twisted thinking. In Brandy's kitchen, she's in heated food preparation, telling Daredevil and Brandy that she is "destined to cook".
The title of the tale, 'Liberation', gives a clear indication of Ann's thinking. In the previous tale, Daredevil was interestingly a little caution in supporting Brandy Ashe's rescue of the animals her father was keeping in overcrowded captivity, worried that she hadn't thought through where the freed animals would end up. As such, Daredevil represents a paternalistic view - one that fears that those who are dependent upon a (invariably alpha male) group leader are unable to cope outside of those structures. I like that Ann doesn't have DD copmletely buy into Brandy's views straight away - it chimes with the Matt Murdock who was reluctant to let Karen Page go off to find her own way in Hollywood (see DD67), preferring she stay under his wing, or who wanted to control his relationship with Heather Glenn (see, for example, DD186).
Here, once Number Nine has been liberated, Matt's happy for Brandy to look after her so that he can go off for the next adventure somewhere else. "Time to move on," Daredevil tells Brandy, "You ladies will be fine. I'm sure you can teach each other a lot." This little passage is a brilliant little insight from Ann into the male psyche, particularly regarding commitment issues. For her part, Brandy rails against DD's notion of being the "big romantic solitary man", instead preferring for him to step up and help Number Nine and her because it's the right thing to do.
Like a typical male, Daredevil skulks off at the first opportunity, though not without some pause for thought. "We could all use some liberating from our programming," he muses before continuing, "Am I running away?" Well, I think it's quite clear from the tone of the script so far, Matt, that yes, you very much are. Oh, if only a man had written this issue, then you wouldn't be feeling so darned guilty...
And that's that, is it? Well, luckily for the girls, Skip's hired an assassin called Shotgun who helps fulfil Matt's need for an alpha male role, to be a protector. So with this guy on the patrol, he's back with the girls ready to help out! I'm not sure that's a case of Matt doing the right thing or Ann pointing out his inadequacy at being able to accept a role in this adventure that is not functionally male. There is another way of looking at this - Matt's uncertainty reflects male suspiscion of feminism and their role in this worldview. In running away, is Matt fearing emasculation by not staying behind and helping Brandy in providing a restorative or caring role with Number Nine?
There's more paternalism on show elsewhere with a scene change early on in the story to the moon, Attilan, home to the Inhumans. There's nothing in this comic to indicate why we move to these otherworldly folk, though it's obviously setting up a future storyline. However, it is interesting to see that Ann continues the theme of Number Nine's tale to this alien environment. Here Gorgon, carrying a couple of women who he has managed to inebriate, is challenged by his fellow Inhuman, Karnak.
However, Karnak is not so much bothered by the potential date rape scenario as to the fact that Gorgon has brought two women into the Royal Court, the implication being that one does not do such a thing. By scripting this, Ann comments upon the rules and regulations of political, religious and social organisations that exclude women from the epicentres of power. Ironically, it is the drunken Gorgon who is on the side of his female companions against the more measured and seemingly intelligent Karnak.
This is all contrasted with a nice little vignette between the Inhumans leader, Black Bolt, who reveals that his ire can be mollified by his wife, Medusa. Before we yield too much praise to Black Bolt, this scene also reveals that naughty BB has apparently kidnapped his wife's child. Yes, even the most noble of male Marvel superheroes are still not averse to a bit of female subjugation when they can get away with it.
The most blatantly feminist piece of writing from Ann in her run to date and I love how much she's managed to cram into a (predominantly) boys' comic about costumed blokes hitting each other. This is certainly not 'preaching to the converted'. A writer should challenge her readers' ways of thinking and there's no doubt here that Ann succeeds.
Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Number Nine
Brandy Ash
Skip Ash
Shotgun
Black Bolt
Medusa
Karnak
Gorgon
Chuck
Jack
Rating: 8 out of 10
Dan from the fabulous It's A Dan's World blog gave me the heads up about French concept artist, Loic Zimmermann. His work is fabulous and his connection to Marvel appears to be in coming up with concepts for some of the movies they make. However, of relevance here is a terrific, funny little piece Loic has completed called "Daredevil's Training Day" which I reproduce below.
If you want to check out his stuff, his webpage is here.
Genetrix by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr
One Sentence Overview: Daredevil is drawn into an ethical battle of wills when he encounters an animal rights activist, appalled at the way her farmer father treats his animals
You know the story about movie stars who take the dollar for a blockbuster or two in order to win favour with film studios to make their own pet projects (e.g. George Clooney)? Well, I feel like we've had two consecutive issues of more 'traditional' comic book fare, with Daredevil battling against bad guys or in the case of DD270, a supernatural freak, and having delivered this, Ann feels comfortable about drafting an 'issues' heavy escapade with next to no 'action'. (Indeed, the best an action fan gets is Daredevil putting a poor young woman in an arm lock - you should be ashamed of yourself, Matt!)
Here, Ann concentrates on a couple of big themes that interlock - animal rights and the rights of women. First up, we're reintroduced to the cocaine dealing Skip, a guy Daredevil rescued from a burning plane back in DD267. But it appears that the white powder's a side line - rather, Skip is an intensive farmer, whose methods of meat production are, to say the least, unkind. Skip likes to keep his animals in the most inhumane manner possible. Who cares, he tells his farm manager, Harry, if the pigs are breaking their legs because of the grids he keeps them on? They're not being bred to walk anyway. Who cares about chickens being debeaked or geneticaly tampered with to create extra meaty chicken wings? Instead Skip moans about animal rights activists turning up to protest in leather shoes.
Skip, however, faces an unlikely adversary in his daughter, Brandy, who has, up until now, quite happily taken the Ash family shilling. When she meets Daredevil (dressed, rather amusingly, in her late 80s aerobics gear), she fills him in on the appalling conditions in which the animals her father keeps live. She blasts the apathetic view of the citizenry, who she feels have a rose tinted view of animals roaming free in the beautiful countryside until their time comes. There then follows a couple of pages that could have been drafted by Morrissey, where we see scenes of animal production splashed with ugly red splurges that drip down the pages.
Animal mistreatment is an intriguing, if irregular, theme for a comic story. However, Ann takes things further here when she introduces an even more sinister element to Skip's work with genetics. Before I come on to that, I think it's worth commenting on Skip's relationship with his daughter. As stated above, Brandy has been happily living off the funds of Skip's immoral gains, albeit with the intention to eventually screw him over. With this in mind, though, Skip's telephone conversation with Brandy early on is, to say the least, pretty creepy. "Sure you want daddy's drug money?" Skip asks his daughter. Brandy's response, "Don't do this" feels ambiguous, almost as if she is a victim of her circumstances or she is being abused in some capacity.
Having set up Skip as a controlling, nasty piece of work, Ann brings us to the piece de resistance about half way through. Skip is not only modifying animals but has a laboratory full of beautiful, naked young blonde women too! There's something Stepford-ian about Skip's plan for a perfect wife or "living barbie doll" as the charming man refers to her. When one of Skip's scientists tell him that 'number nine' is exhibiting a more independent, fiery nature than the others, Skip is pleased - "I didn't ask for a boring mate".
Skip goes on to reveal that the girls are not clones but willing volunteers who came forward, seemingly in order to achieve some kind of physical perfection.
It's a disturbing, yet somewhat convincing, twist. Over 20 years since this was written, modern culture continues to invoke anxiety in young women that they are somehow not good enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough. Skip's plan seems ghastly but one could believe that there would be young minds willing enough to be exploited by him.
The most eerie moment, however, appears right at the end. Bearing in mind his peculiar relationship with Brandy, when Skip's daughter's plans kick off and the farm is ransacked, Number Nine is freed from her shackles. Her first word? "Daddy".
Erk! This is positively Electra complex territory we're entering now!
What's intriguing to me about this whole story is how nasty and irredeemable Skip appears. And yet this was also the character that Daredevil neglected to interfer with in issue 267 (due to his own state of mind). Perhaps there's a slightly pessimistic sense that men like this - the rich, white man with connections - have so much to protect them, so much going for them in society that even a superhero can't stand in their way. Whatever the case, this may not be typical comic book fare, but it's very dramatic cohesive material.
Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock
Skip Ash
Brandy Ash
Number Nine
Harry
Jack
Rating: 8 out of 10
