Daredevil: The Fall of the Kingpin

Daredevil (1964) #297-300

by D.G. Chichester, Lee Weeks, Al Williamson

Collects Daredevil (Vol. 1) #297-300. Written by D.G. Chichester. Art by Lee Weeks and Al Williamson. Here it is - the sequel to Frank Mill and David Mazzuchelli's critically and fan acclaimed "Born Again!"

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes, Crime, Comic Book

98 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Dan G. Chichester

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is something of a sequel to the superb "Born Again" by Frank Miller. In that story, Wilson Fisk (The Kingpin) destroys Matt Murdock's life. In this story, we see the reverse.

Murdock has been debarred and still feels the effects of the Kingpin's destroying his reputation. He decides to turn the tables and destroy Kingpin's life instead. What follows is a very well-written (the prose is actually quite good) story about how Murdocks sets into motion a series of events that will cause the Kingpin to fall.

From suborning Typhoid Mary to creating conflict with the Kingpin's erstwhile partners, HYDRA, to feeding information to the Federal authorities. The step by step process and the mind games between Murdock and Kingpin was well done.

Is this as good as "Born Again". No, that volume is a classic. But this is a very good "follow up" story. The plot is very good and Chchster has written some fine prose for this story.

Any Daredevil fan or anyone who loved "Born Again" will appreciate this sequel.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sombra de Frank Miller paira, pesada, sobre este Fall of Kingpin. É impossível não fugir ao momento seminal de Daredevil, orquestrado por Miller e Mazzuchelli. Até porque está na sua continuidade, uma vingança do herói contra aquele que, minucioso e implacável, o derrubou. O argumentista dá-nos um herói frio e calculista, cujas ações desmontam o puzzle do império de crime. Mas não está ao nível do antecessor. Desmontar e vingar a queda de Murdock em poucas páginas, com pressa, funciona mal e é preciso vir buscar entidades terceiras. Aqui, a SHIELD e a Hydra entram na luta, com os criminosos nazis herdados da continuidade do Capitão América a serem a força que irá derrubar o rei do crime. Ou, pelo menos, abalá-lo, já que um personagem como Kingpin não se deixa cair sem mais nem menos. É esta a maior diferença desta série sobre a que a possibilita e inspira. Miller montou a queda de Murdock/Daredevil como um intricado policial noir aplicado a um super-herói relativamente fraco no que toca a poderes. O toque de génio de Frank Miller foi reconhecer que Daredevil não é o tipo de personagem que funciona melhor nas histórias típicas do género, revendo-o dentro dos pressupostos do policial. Recorrer a crossovers e personagens externas dilui essas características, banalizando o que poderia ser uma boa história. A sombra da época de Miller também se faz sentir na ilustração, com o trabalho gráfico a tentar imitar o estilismo noir com que Mazzuchelli soube vincar a iconografia da personagem.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sucker still holds up after all of these years. Daredevil's Last Rites Saga is an impressive 4 issue (the last of which being double sized) set that deals with Daredevil/Matt Murdock going against his old nemesis, the Kingpin to hopefully save himself from disbarment. Lots of fun along the way including Typhoid Mary, Shield and even some Hydra is added to the mix.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Daredevil comic and close to one of the first comics I read (when I was able to comprehend story arcs).

This serves as a "sequel" to Born again, and in some ways good be and ending to the Kingpin's storyline. As such, I see it as a possible way to end the epic. It even ends with issue #300. It's the inverse of Born Again, and it's Daredevil breaking the Kingpin's life.

Now, there's been quite a few excellent teams on the book; Miller, Nocenti (criminally underrated), Chichester, Kessel/Kelly (light-hearted and retro). Then the reboot with Quesada/Smith, David Mack, which led to Bendis, Brubaker/Lark, Andy Diggle (a low-mark for me), Waid/Rivera/Samnee, Charles Soule and then Chip Zdarsky.

[B. Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel of sorts to an earlier story arc in which the Kingpin decimates Daredevil, this four part series is shorter and simpler in comparison, but still holds up to muster. Fisk is given some depth of character, and allowed to shine as both a villain and a human being. Although some of the tangents are weak, the story wraps up nicely with the Daredevil’s revenge. Overall it was better than expected.

[Ian Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copies are really faded and bled. Definitely need to get myself some digital copies if they ever release them. The art is really good, but the writing is really not as good as Born Again. There's no sense of the restraint or necessity that Frank Miller's writing had.

[Matty · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have mixed feelings on this. it was kind of out of character for kingpin, but interesting nonetheless. chichister is generally either really, really good, or really, really bad. this was the one time where he met in the middle.

[Damian Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woefully underrated and forgotten story, which acts as an intentional sequel to Born Again. Beautiful Mazzuchelli-esque art from the amazing Lee Weeks, and a wonderful script and plot from D. G. Chichester.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Termination Of Typhoid

[Karel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chichester's issues leading up to this are superfluous and can be skipped, but this story itself is quite good.

Finally somebody was doing something really interesting with Typhoid Mary and her story has a symbolic "ending". Finally something new done with Fisk after Miller introduced him. The conversations between Karen and Matt are really well done. The story is very dense and a lot of things happen in 4 issues.

The only thing I didn't like was the SHIELD subplot that did not need to be there and was dragging the story down. The writing is good - that's why I am giving 4 stars - but it's not right there, it stops before being awesome and is just good

Essentially, a good, if somehow weaker, mirror image of the Born Again storyline.