Every month a good segment of the readership senses that Brubaker's Daredevil is getting tired, and at the same time another segment thinks that "This is the issue where it's getting exciting again". The two segments then rotate in their opinions. "THIS is the arc where it started turning around for the better again." "NO, that arc was kinda boring, but this NEXT that's just started looks great." But this cycle itself is getting stale, and I've gone through it a few times myself.

We can only deny that this series is treading water for so many issues, or for so many story arcs, or for so many years. This issue--and this arc as a whole--was okay but it's nothing new. And while I can't help but look forward to the Kingpin's return, on one level that only underscores how often the elements of Daredevil keep getting recycled. The old master introduced in this arc is basically just another Stick. Since this is Daredevil we inevitably need Bullseye, but we'll pretend to do something new by having a...LADY Bullseye. And of course, the Hand is here. What else? Oh yeah, don't forget to bring the Kingpin back. The next cover even looks Bill Sienkiewicz (sp?) inspired.

Brubaker started his run by doing (relatively) new things with the character. Now it just reads like a retread of all the elements that were used so much better so many years ago. Even the "shocking plot development" department is getting stale. In this arc it's "The Hand wants you to LEAD them, Matt!"--and it looks like this isn't even going to be followed up on, thankfully; it's just there to make the reader think that there's a new, original idea in play. There's really not. I liked the idea a lot better when it was Bendis actually making Daredevil the new Kingpin, and using that to tell a few great story arcs.

The following criticism isn't so relevant for the arc that's just past, but, Why is it that nearly every Daredevil plot of the last ten years has to resemble Born Again? "The villains know who Daredevil is and they're going to screw with his life and endanger those around him on a very personal level." Again and again and again. What Bendis and Brubaker spent multiple years dancing around, Frank Miller did definitively in 6 issues. Bendis in his run did vary the storytelling at least (and I actually think the Bendis run on Daredevil is probably better than Miller's (!) overall, especially from a production standpoint, even though he owes a lot of what he did to the groundwork that Frank established)--but this constant Brubaker/Lark pseudo noir style is getting tired. Lark is great. This style is great. But after years of it, it gets boring.

I remember that after Brubaker's first few months on this title people were saying it might be BETTER than what Bendis had done. At that point, I agreed. I even thought the second arc, in which Matt journeyed to a foreign locale, was excellent as well. Because it was original.

But we've long since digressed into tedious courtroom dramas and five-issue arcs with ninjas, and now we have the almost predictable return of the Kingpin. It's too by-the-numbers, right down to the art, the villains, the threats. There's nothing new here. It's fine, but we don't NEED this stuff for the twentieth time. I'd welcome ANYTHING different. Have Matt get zapped by Dr. Strange into another dimension for a while. Have Matt fight the Guardians of the Galaxy on the moon. At this point even a Wolverine team-up, that most re-tread tactic of the '90s, would seem amazingly fresh. Have him fight Dr. Doom. Have him help the FBI on a politcal case that makes Matt question the government...or maybe help the U.S. government out against a threat (foreign, domestic, supernatural, whatever). Have there be a new development in Matt's power, even if it only lasts for a few months. Have a new costume. Anything different, please.