Kesel Daredevil, Punisher Netflix series

Daredevil 354-357

And after every Born Again comes the return to the happy, cheerful Daredevil.  This one comes courtesy of Karl Kesel.  Later, it’s going to come with Mark Waid after the Shadowland fiasco.  (Okay, I looked into this.  After Chichester left the title, Daredevil rotated through a number of writers until Kesel started with 353.  Which I’m not that interested in getting.  So this isn’t the massive direction change that I thought it was.)  

I remember this run being much-lauded as it was being released, which is probably why I picked it up.  One of its problems is clearly on display from the start - This version of Daredevil is too similar to Spider-Man.  And we know because they team up in the very first issue, and with the way Kesel writes them, their lines could be interchangeable.  Spidey even plays straight man to DD’s punchlines, and that’s just plain wrong.  

Yes, I lolled, but that doesn’t make it right.

The other is that the stories aren’t that interesting.  Rosalind Sharpe is interesting enough, more so once we learn her secret in a couple issues, but that’s about it.  Otherwise, it’s a story about defending an innocent (in this particular case) Mr Hyde and fighting the Enforcers.  Nothing that gets the blood pumping or the head thinking.  I’m currently leaning towards dumping everything but issue 354, which genuinely made me laugh.

Cary Nord’s art is unobjectionable, and unique enough to be identifiable, but nothing to write home about.  Or any more here.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine

Punisher: Netflix series

I finished watching this last week.  I liked this series a lot.  Marvel continues to bat around .950 with its casting decisions, as Jon Bernthal absolutely owns the role of Frank Castle.  (The misses that really spring to mind, btw, are Finn Jones as Iron Fist and Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Strange.  That last one really pains me to write.  I love him, but his American sucks (why not have him use his normal accent?), and I can’t see past the Sherlock.)  

Quick hits: I can watch that final bit with Billy Russo over and over.  Not the entire fight scene, just the part Frank destroys his face.  It’s my new definition for catharsis.  I don’t know the opposite of schadenfreude, but I’m definitely taking pleasure in Frank’s grim satisfaction here.  It feels so good, after everything he’s been through.

That last speech is an amazing, perfect way to end the series.

Madani is so bad at her job.  Her and Danny should team up and form the Useless Defenders.