“Daredevil: Cruel and Unusual” by Brubaker, Rucka, Lark
We ordered the graphic novel Daredevil: Cruel and Unusual by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark, from Big Brain Comics, by accident. After I read the last Daredevil collection, I decided I was finished reading the series. But when it showed up in our box, we bought it, and once we’d bought it I figured I might as well read it.
I’m glad I did. I enjoyed this Daredevil collection more than any in recent memory. Matt Murdock continues to be mopey and self-involved, but friends jar him out of his stupor and get him involved in a case. I thought the mystery and the supporting cast were done well, and it was great to see Daredevil back to form. He’s spent far too much time mooning schmoopily over the dreadful character Milla. Was her absence what made this book so much better than its predecessors? I think so. My husband G. Grod thinks that it’s a matter of contrast: the last few Daredevil collections have been so terrible that the new one seems great even if it’s only OK.
Bottom line, though? I’ll pick up the next one. And if they’d kill off Milla and remove her from Matt’s memory? Heaven.