At first, I wasn’t planning on picking this up, but when I got to the shop, I found it in my stack because, of course, I had ordered it 3 months ago when a DD reboot sounded like a great idea.  I was in a good mood at the shop, so I figured I’d check it out.  I was pleasantly surprised by this, not because it was overly amazing, but because I found myself genuinely enjoying the book.  I have a soft spot for DD, and I told myself I wouldn’t be that guy that bought a character to buy a character.  But maybe I am that guy, it’s just that I’m hiding in a closet filled with DD comics.

The story picks up from the end of Shadowland.  Murdock is in exile, traveling through the Southwest.  He stumbles into a town and is quickly pulled into a mystery that has the town on edge.  It’s not a new story set up, as the “you can’t run from trouble…” situation has been done with many downtrodden heroes before.  What’s nice is that the story is executed well.  The villains are interesting, and Murdock isn’t overly mopey.  He just seems to be searching for something, but all of his words are tinged with a hope that a new day is around the corner.  What I really like about this set up issue is that it feels like Rambo: First Blood, which is an awesome movie, and with that applied to this familiar set up, could be a really cool storyline.

The art is also very solid.  I’ve never heard of this artist before, but his style is a little cartoony, a little sketchy, and contains just enough detail to get the point across.  He has a similar look to Eric Canete, but he avoids the exaggeration that makes Canete’s art so dynamic.