Matt Murdock finally seems to be happy in Daredevil No. 6

Matt Murdock has officially given up Daredevil, leading to a vacuum of power and re-emergence of crime in Hell’s Kitchen. Spoilers for Daredevil no. 6 follow.

Daredevil is no more giving criminals anything to fear. The cops are dirty and there’s no one to protect innocents from The Owl’s grasp. A woman named Janet notices this firsthand when she sees a neighboring business being threatened by The Owl’s lackeys in broad daylight.

As for Matt Murdock, his life seemingly has been looking up since he gave up the mantle of Daredevil. He’s started a new job as a parole officer. He’s being kinder and less distant from everyone he sees on the street. He just seems happier. And it’s apparent that he still wants to help people, just in a different way though. When his first client comes in with the smell of alcohol and drugs on his breath, he doesn’t get angry, he simply wants to help him get better.

Image by DC Comics/Art by Lalit Kumar Sharma

As for Officer Cole, he’s still trying to be as good of a cop as he can be within the NYPD. He’s surrounded by people who don’t want to see vigilantes taken down, but Cole simply wants to do one thing, stop crime. One evening, after leaving the precinct though, he’s followed by several other cops, who begin to attack him. While he’s being beaten badly though, a goon of The Owl comes and shoots every single of his attackers and then proceeds to relay a message from The Owl, “Thanks for getting rid of Daredevil.”

Janet goes over to her neighbor’s business to get some balloons for a party. While she’s there though, the lackeys she saw earlier are back and she reaches for a pipe to do something. Before she does though she notices something hanging from the wall, a Daredevil costume.

Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil so far has been pretty near flawless. That isn’t saying much for the series only being six issues in, but there’s a lot going on in this story and this issue feels like some great set-up for the series moving forward. There’s a new status quo that will be upheaved and allows for a new story to hopefully be told, which is seemingly what this issue is setting up.

8.0/10 

Daredevil No. 6 is more set-up than anything else, but it’s a good set-up to what seems to be what a good portion of Zdarsky’s run will be centered around.