After the destruction of a city block in Hell’s Kitchen by the villain Bullseye, the neighborhood’s hero Daredevil built a Japanese style fortress overtop the wreckage. Having assumed leadership of the 800 year old ninja clan The Hand, Daredevil calls his new base of operations Shadowland. Having kicked the NYPD out of Hell’s Kitchen and giving the hero community the offer of serving under his leadership in The Hand, Daredevil has turned a dark corner in his mission to serve as the neighborhood’s protector.
He’s taken the life of his enemy Bullseye and now his thirst for order is growing towards the rest of New York.
A small group of his friends make one last attempt to get through to the man they knew as a hero, but it may be too late for anything but the drawing of battle lines.
This situation isn’t only bringing out the good guys, it also sees a rather strong move made by Wilson Fisk...The Kingpin.
Andy Diggle follows up the first issue of Shadowland quite nicely with appearances by even more Marvel characters. The team formerly known as “Power Man and Iron Fist” make a return visit but there are also a couple of interesting new pop-ups by Shang-Chi and even Spider-Man (among others). Diggle’s plot is sound and moves at a quick pace while seriously delving into the relationships between Matt Murdock and his former allies. It’s an intervention of sorts: his friends making a plea for him to stop going down this path while at the same time getting in his face to say that they’ll take him down if they need to. There’s not a lot of fighting in here but when it hits, it really hits. This is about lines being drawn between former friends. Also, there are actions taken by The Kingpin that provide for one of the most surprising moments I’ve read in a comic since...well, since the first issue!
Shadowland is two for two here, folks. His story is running smoothly and Diggle is packing punches right when you least expect them. What he’s showing me here is that Shadowland is wonderfully unpredictable while remaining darkly entertaining. This isn’t a happy story by any means but yet it reads as entertainment and not as a wallowing take on everything dark. The tension is building and (by the final few pages) it looks as if Daredevil’s corner of the Marvel Universe just blew up.
Cover art to SHADOWLAND #2 by John Cassiday
That translates as nothing short of a good time to be a reader.
Sadly, the art is a bit lacking for my tastes. Though it didn’t distract me enough to have not enjoyed the book, it does keep me from giving it a higher grade. I also have to point out that this book would sit better if it had a $2.99 price point, BUT...
Andy Diggle has somehow managed to create a subtle fire. Things are already starting to get crazy yet there’s a calmness to the storytelling that is paying off extremely well. I’m giving Shadowland #2 a B+ and (with 3 issues left to go) am expecting this to pick up even more steam in the weeks ahead.
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I remember when you used to call a duck a duck. And this thing is a lame duck! Daredevil has been one of the most consistent characters over the last 10 years, but I feel like Diggle is missing something. I think his concepts are interesting, but there is an element that just doesn't hit the way it did under the strong pens of both Bendis, and then Brubaker. Matt Murdock running the hand should be more exciting to me, but it seems instead to just be an exploration of how "dark" DD can get. I do agree with you, though, when you say it's not that dark, and that's what I find confusing. DD has hit rock bottom, but I still feel like things are too fluffy. The character is in a dark place, but I don't feel like the storytelling is. Maybe that's the failure of the art ...
There's a good story in here somewhere, I'm just not feeling that Diggle knows how to tell it. To be fair, we're only 2 issues into this story, but I'm already fearing all of the crossover one-shots, and already feel like he's been missing the point in the main DD series pretty much since he took over ...
But that's just my two cents ...