brandonsears

Maintaining a secret identity is difficult when everyone knows who you truly are. Despite insisting that he isn't Daredevil, Matt Murdock is proving to be unsuccessful in changing the public's belief that he is indeed The Man Without Fear. Letting the criticism and frustration roll off his back, Murdock continues to adopt this more positive outlook that was brought to the reader in Volume One.

After the events of Volume One, Matt has secured a hard drive that contains crucial information on five major crime syndicates in New York City. This of course, makes him a marked man. While those in pursuit of the hard drive try and form a plan of attack (look for a great confrontation near the end), Daredevil is preoccupied with the sudden disappearance of several caskets following the collapse of a local graveyard. What makes this robbery special for Matt? His father was one of many laid to rest in that location.

Many have been praising Mark Waid's approach to Daredevil since the re-launch in 2011. Taking him out of the dark and applying a lighter, more comedic style has certainly given the character a fresh coat of paint. While I was a little hard on the new approach in my review of Volume One, I found myself enjoying it a little more this time around. With the exception of that Spider-Man story placed in the middle of the book, I thought this was a better effort than the first collection.

While I wasn't crazy about seeing him battle Mole Man, I did like where the book finished overall. From what I gather, Mole Man was at one time a pretty big adversary of the Fantastic Four and hasn't been focused on much since the 1960s. How he became who he is, while interesting, didn't really transfer into a compelling story with Daredevil. Although, it did allow a bit of the old Matt Murdock to shine through in his anger directed toward the subterranean dweller.

There’s also this weird story that kicks things off involving Matt taking a bunch of visually impaired children on a field trip. The whole excursion runs into trouble when a sudden blizzard hits causing the school bus carrying all involved to crash leaving them stranded. Matt struggles to keep the kids’ spirits high while searching for help but succumbs to a leg injury leaving their survival in doubt.

There's a lot to look forward to in Volume three with appearances by Punisher, Spider-man and an apparent return to Latveria. I'm wondering how long they can keep Matt Murdock this positive before his true nature begins to shine through.

This is one of those few instances where I wish I could give a book 3.5 stars.

Cross posted @ Every Read Thing