Daredevil 278

The Deadly Seven by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr

One Sentence Overview:  Daredevil and his companions begin to act irrationally when Blackheart intervenes on the Inhumans' ongoing search for Medusa's missing son

So after our brief sojourn into Christmases past, we're back to Daredevil's current situation.  But just in case you thought we haven't had enough tangents already in terms of resolving the 'Inhumans' storyline, well, you're in luck.  This issue kicks off with the reintroduction of another subplot - the eerie (under)world of Mephisto and Blackheart.

Actually the Christmas metaphor is quite a good one here as this issue begins a plot that is a kind of perverse mirroring of that ole Yuletide chestnut, "It's a Wonderful Life".  Instead of wingless angel Clarence gaining instruction from his superiors in order to save George Bailey, Mephisto offers his wayward son the chance to gain respect in his father's eyes by turning the good away from virtue.  (Another suitable and more literate, religious analogy may also be the Biblical account of the devil coming into the court of God to convince the Almighty that he should let him wreck the life of Job.)

This ties in with the title of the story - the Deadly Seven aren't a new supervillain combo (we're not in the 60s anymore, folks) but refer to the Seven Deadly Sins and how the likes of envy, lust and greed can worm their way into and corrupt those of good character.  We see this early on with Brandy's envy of Number Nine and the way she flutters her eyelashes and tosses her blonde hair and manages to have both Gorgon and Karnak waiting on her every whim.

Later, when Blackheart assumes human form, he manipulates Karnak's jealousy of how Gorgon always gets the girl to such an extent that the two begin to knock merry hell out of each other.

Blackheart's loving this - even more so when Daredevil detects his presence and (wrathfully) begins to hammer down on his human form. 

Incidentally, action fans, who may feel that recent dramas have meant a lack of fisticuffs will be well satisfied by this issue - though they may find Daredevil's vicious beating of a supposedly vulnerable, bespectacled middle aged man a little disturbing.  Though, of course, it's that very discord which is what's very appealing about this issue.

I know what you're thinking.  That's all fine and well but where's the sloth?  Well, perhaps Skip Ash's continual presence in the background without any kind of comeuppance for his previous violations of human rights may be a good example of that.  Indeed he and Brandy appear to almost be best buds here.  I don't know if we'll see any resolution with Skip (I haven't read that far ahead) but perhaps it's kind of realistic to see the powerful white guy with links to military and government get away with it.  Perhaps that's life.

I've been a little nervous about Ann's handling of the literal incursion of evil in the forms of Mephisto and Blackheart into a comic book that's at its best when tackling real issues, but it's thoughfully done.  As often the case with Ann, a well written exploration of the human psyche.

Cast
Daredevil/Matt Murdock

Number Nine
Brandy Ash
Skip Ash
Karnak
Gorgon
Mephisto
Blackheart
Pope's mother
Pottersville Priest

Rating: 8 out of 10