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| Cover Artist: Ron Frenz |
Original Price: $2.99
Title: "From the Abyss...!"
Writer: Tom DeFalco
Artist: Ron Frenz
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterers: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Matt Hicks
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
SYNOPSIS
The demonic hero Darkdevil arrives for a secret meeting with his contact Miller Mackenzie, but he is instead ambushed by a gang of ninjas. When the ninjas are defeated, they are killed by implanted explosives, while their master Scrier watches from a nearby rooftop. The next day, after Scrier meets with his employer, Mackenzie visits the office of mayoral candidate O'Neil.
In prison, the Kingpin of Crime is approached by Kaine, but the encounter is interrupted by a guard, who says Kaine has a visitor. Kaine's lawyer tells him that due to inadmissible evidence, he is being released from prison within 24 hours, much to Kaine's surprise. At his apartment, Darkdevil has returned home and resumes his human appearance, going to work at Nelson and Associates law office under the name "Reilly". Later that night, Mackenzie attempts another meeting with Darkdevil, explaining that someone had tipped him off to not go to their meeting the night before. Darkdevil is ambushed by Scrier, and after a brief fight Darkdevil is cut by Scrier's sword, which has been dipped in poison. Before Scrier can kill the hero, Darkdevil teleports away. Scrier meets with his master, the head of the Scriers, who orders his follower to kill Kaine while the leader will take care of Darkdevil personally.
Darkdevil returns to his home and heads toward his rejuvenation chamber, the only thing that can save his life. He thinks back to when he first started experiencing pain as a 13-year-old runaway, and when his life was saved by his "guardian angel", Kaine. It was Kaine who first placed him in the chamber and revealed to him that he is the son of Ben Reilly.
ANNOTATIONS
Darkdevil first appeared in Spider-Girl (1999) # 2 and made repeated appearances in subsequent issues of the series.
It is revealed in Darkdevil (2000) # 2 that Daredevil is possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance, Zarathos, after a deal is made to save the soul of Matt Murdock.
Several characters in this comic are named after past Daredevil creators, such as Miller Mackenzie (named after Frank Miller and Roger McKenzie) and mayoral candidate O'Neil (named after Dennis O'Neil).
REVIEW
Darkdevil first appeared in Spider-Girl (1999) # 2 and made repeated appearances in subsequent issues of the series.
It is revealed in Darkdevil (2000) # 2 that Daredevil is possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance, Zarathos, after a deal is made to save the soul of Matt Murdock.
Several characters in this comic are named after past Daredevil creators, such as Miller Mackenzie (named after Frank Miller and Roger McKenzie) and mayoral candidate O'Neil (named after Dennis O'Neil).
REVIEW
You may be wondering why I'm reviewing an obvious Daredevil spin-off on the blog, and after reading this first issue I'm actually wondering the same bloody thing.
The answer, of course, is because this mini-series reveals that Zarathos is the demon inhabiting Darkdevil, but that doesn't get revealed until the second issue. This first issue is an impenetrable mess of a comic that reads like an unassembled jigsaw puzzle. I've never read DeFalco's Spider-Girl/MC2 comics, and I know very little about them. Apparently, Darkdevil was introduced as the future version of Daredevil with mysterious origins, and he was popular enough as a supporting character that he got this origin mini-series. In reality, Darkdevil takes elements from three wildly different superheroes and staples them together, resulting in a character that takes three paragraphs to explain.
The Daredevil element is there, obviously, and the Ghost Rider/Zarathos connection comes up in the next issue, but this comic also reveals that he's the son of Ben Reilly. The Scarlet Spider was the clone of Peter Parker and the whole impetus behind the much-maligned "Clone Saga" of the mid-1990s. It appears that DeFalco has appropriated a LOT of plot ideas from the Clone Saga, since this series deals with Ben Reilly and another Spider-Man clone named Kaine. I don't understand what's happening in this comic, the characters are dropped into the story with no introduction...wait, I take that back. The Kingpin, the one villain in this book that most readers would be familiar with, gets a great introduction with narration explaining who he is, but I guess DeFalco was working with assumption that everyone would know who Kaine and Scrier are, because they're not given any explanation at all.
Ron Frenz does some serviceable artwork that's a nice throwback to classic Marvel house style, and Al Milgrom's inks compliment things nicely (and that's a real surprise, normally Milgrom overpowers the pencils of any artist he works with). Darkdevil does have a pretty great visual design, going for an obvious Daredevil homage while appropriate a more demonic tone. There are other production problems with this comic, though, specifically with the lettering. I don't know what happened with the usually great Tom Orzechowski, but the lettering is all over the place. I wonder if it was a rush job, because the letters are all different sizes within the speech balloons, and it looks really amateurish.
Perhaps this comic would be better if I knew anything about the MC2 universe going in, but that's also a huge failure on the creator's part for not making it friendly to new readers who might have picked it up for the Daredevil (or later Ghost Rider) connection. As it stands, this comic is as much of a convoluted mistake as its lead character.
The answer, of course, is because this mini-series reveals that Zarathos is the demon inhabiting Darkdevil, but that doesn't get revealed until the second issue. This first issue is an impenetrable mess of a comic that reads like an unassembled jigsaw puzzle. I've never read DeFalco's Spider-Girl/MC2 comics, and I know very little about them. Apparently, Darkdevil was introduced as the future version of Daredevil with mysterious origins, and he was popular enough as a supporting character that he got this origin mini-series. In reality, Darkdevil takes elements from three wildly different superheroes and staples them together, resulting in a character that takes three paragraphs to explain.
The Daredevil element is there, obviously, and the Ghost Rider/Zarathos connection comes up in the next issue, but this comic also reveals that he's the son of Ben Reilly. The Scarlet Spider was the clone of Peter Parker and the whole impetus behind the much-maligned "Clone Saga" of the mid-1990s. It appears that DeFalco has appropriated a LOT of plot ideas from the Clone Saga, since this series deals with Ben Reilly and another Spider-Man clone named Kaine. I don't understand what's happening in this comic, the characters are dropped into the story with no introduction...wait, I take that back. The Kingpin, the one villain in this book that most readers would be familiar with, gets a great introduction with narration explaining who he is, but I guess DeFalco was working with assumption that everyone would know who Kaine and Scrier are, because they're not given any explanation at all.
Ron Frenz does some serviceable artwork that's a nice throwback to classic Marvel house style, and Al Milgrom's inks compliment things nicely (and that's a real surprise, normally Milgrom overpowers the pencils of any artist he works with). Darkdevil does have a pretty great visual design, going for an obvious Daredevil homage while appropriate a more demonic tone. There are other production problems with this comic, though, specifically with the lettering. I don't know what happened with the usually great Tom Orzechowski, but the lettering is all over the place. I wonder if it was a rush job, because the letters are all different sizes within the speech balloons, and it looks really amateurish.
Perhaps this comic would be better if I knew anything about the MC2 universe going in, but that's also a huge failure on the creator's part for not making it friendly to new readers who might have picked it up for the Daredevil (or later Ghost Rider) connection. As it stands, this comic is as much of a convoluted mistake as its lead character.
Grade: F
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