The Chris Samnee era of Daredevil has been uneven to say the least. There is no doubt that Samnee is one hell of an artist (if you haven’t read the other Waid/Samnee combo of The Rocketeer then definitely buy it). Hell, his art for this series has been pretty good since he took over Paolo Rivera. But then you think about what came before with Rivera and Marcos Martin and you think: “This isn’t the same”. For all the talent Chris Samnee has and for all Mark Waid brings to this series you just can’t help but notice this series isn’t the same.

This issue just makes me believe Samnee’s style is not the right tone for this book. Rivera and Martin worked because they brought a unique and visual flare to the book. I wouldn’t say Samnee’s pencils are ‘safe’ but his isn’t bringing anything unique to this series for me. Maybe it doesn’t help that this issue is mostly talking heads but even when past issues involved a lot of talking the other artists brought something interesting. Again, that isn’t to say what Samnee brings is bad. The pencils here are quite good and there are a few that did stood out for me. The pages involving a return love interest were laid out very well and that last page is definitely unnerving to look at. I can’t even say the coloring is bad because it’s Javier Rodriguez and he’s been with the series since day one (with great results).

Mark Waid definitely hasn’t lost a step and this whole ‘Is he crazy?’ story line has really stepped up. At first I was thinking this is all a ruse, and it probably still is. But now with this final page I am also starting to question Matt’s sanity. Although I’m not going as far as Foggy who, even with these un-explainable situations, is being a real jerk to Matt. I get there needs to be some conflict but considering how much good Matt has been his best friend you’d think Foggy would give him the benefit of the doubt. It is amazing how Waid can change the tone of this series on a dime and the more doubt we get into Murdock’s sanity the more creepy it is to read. Although lets hope we won’t get the grim and gritty Murdock cause, with the return of this love interest, I was so scared we were going back to the Bendis era.

This is another solid issue of Daredevil even if it isn’t a 5-star for me. Chris Samnee’s pencils, while great, is still bugging me to no end cause it just doesn’t fit with this series. While this hasn’t been grim or gritty for over a year, Daredevil will always be a ‘dark’ character and maybe Samnee just can’t do ‘dark’. If you look at ‘The Rocketeer’ it’s the same style so maybe it all has to do with the tone. By no means am I suggesting that I’ll be dropping this book because it still is one of, if not the best, series Marvel is publishing right now. But maybe soon we should try someone else to draw this series once this story line is over.