Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell, Vol. 4

Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky #7, 8.6

by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne (Illustrations)

The Angel of Death has come to Hell's Kitchen. As a series of grisly murders tests Elektra's mettle - and her commitment to her new role as Daredevil - the city spirals into a state of panic. Because this killer can be in more than one place at a time! Is it a team? A mutant? Or something else entirely? Meanwhile, Matt Murdock faces challenges of his own behind bars - and he won't be getting time off for good behavior! Then, Kraven the Hunter has Elektra dead in his sights! Battered, bruised and with her back to the wall, can Elektra honor Daredevil's code not to kill? And if so, will the Woman Without Fear be strong enough to survive the unexpected consequences of mercy? Plus: more savage tales of Elektra!

Collecting DAREDEVIL (2019) #31-36, DAREDEVIL: WOMAN WITHOUT FEAR #1-3 and ELEKTRA (2022) #100.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction

232 pages, Hardcover

First published July 4, 2023

About the author

Chip Zdarsky is a Canadian comic book artist and journalist. He was born Steve Murray but is known by his fan base as Chip Zdarsky, and occasionally Todd Diamond. He writes and illustrates an advice column called Extremely Bad Advice for the Canadian national newspaper National Post's The Ampersand, their pop culture section's online edition. He is also the creator of Prison Funnies and Monster Cops.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one.
But.
I liked it because it was mostly Elektra and not much Matt.



Liked it, not loved it.
Again, Daredevil is such a mopey navel-gazer that I don't think I'll ever be waving the #1 Fan foam finger in the air when I talk about him. But this is certainly not the worst thing ever written.
Though I think from here on out, when someone tells me there's a Daredevil run that I just have to read, I'll more than likely give it a pass.



Recommended for fans of Daredevil<--because I'm apparently in the minority with this one

[Mattthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really great. It ends on a cliffhanger, though. I have been impressed by this run so far. I just need to read the Devil's Reign book and then the 3 Daredevil and Electra books.
Highly Recommend.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chip Zdarsky’s Daredevil run continues with this collection which contains the 7th volume of the main Zdarsky Daredevil series and the Daredevil Woman Without Fear miniseries. The volume is a confusing read as the events of “Devil’s Reign” are interwoven into Woman Without Fear so I had to read the second part of the volume in a stop-and-go fashion. After a strong start to my reading of Zdarsky’s run with the omnibus of the first 6 volumes, this collection was a step back but this is still some quality Marvel and Daredevil content.

The first few issues feature Matt still in jail and Elektra defending Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil and trying to stop Bullseye’s latest rampage. I’m not quite sure how Bullseye became a COVID-19 allegory but him also being an allegory for America’s near constant mass shootings works better. Considering how Elektra and Bullseye are forever linked by an iconic moment in Daredevil’s entire history, the fights between Elektra and Bullseye have a lot of narrative/thematic weight. Dare I say it but Bullseye might be a better arch enemy for her than he is for Matt Murdock. Meanwhile Matt’s continued stay in prison at this time is weird but the plot Matt discovers about the prisoner’s being dosed with a chemical to infect others and make them violent and create more arrests is an elaborate but poignant point about the American prison and criminal justice systems. So Zdarsky really likes his metaphors and allegories which I’m totally fine with.

Finally in the first part there’s Fisk’s continued time as Mayor and trying to respond to the Bullseye crisis and his relationship with Typhoid Mary (who does team up with Elektra against Bullseye). Admittedly I don’t know too much about Typhoid Mary like I do with a lot of other supporting Daredevil character so Fisk’s love/marriage to her this volume didn’t mean too much to me. The more interesting part I’d say about Fisk here is his illegitimate son Butch who has been growing in influence throughout Chip’s run and I liked seeing his reaction to that and how Butch’s story ends here. The best thing about Fisk’s story though is Matt’s speech before the wedding about how maybe Fisk being happy for once as a married man will be what finally defeats the Kingpin (not exactly a Best Man speech but a Best Enemy speech?).

While I enjoyed the first part, The Women Without Fear miniseries is where the quality of this volume declines. Elektra herself is fine as we get to see her trying to balance what Matt believes Daredevil should be with Elektra’s own bloodlust and history. While I don’t really get why Kraven the Hunter had to be the obvious threat for her to fight in this series, the miniseries did give a good overview of Elektra’s background, feelings about Matt, and how her history with The Hand affected that. The problem I had with Women Without Fear is its function as a Devil’s Reign tie-in, had I not been reading the main series in conjunction with this I would have been lost and/or spoiled a big moment in Devil’s Reign. So ultimately I found Women Without Fear a bit of an uneven experience hampered by being a Devil’s Reign tie-in.

Ultimately this volume of Zdarsky’s Daredevil series, while suffering in the back half, was an entertaining collection about Daredevil. I’ve liked how Zdarsky has explored one of my favorite superheroes and supporting casts and while I can’t predict how the final bit of his tenure will end up, I’m eager to read it.

[Romulus · Rating 4 out of 5]

W polskim wydaniu to tom 3. Czasami dojście do ładu z polskimi wydaniami amerykańskich komiksów ma Goodreads to zadanie dla twardzieli.

W tej części było już bardziej typowo niż w drugiej, czyli słabiej. Ale oceny nie zmieniam, ponieważ jako całość historia ta utrzymuje spójność fabularną. A poza tym nie można szaleć - postać i gatunek narzucają ograniczenia. Finał otwiera w sposób niewymuszony nowe wątki. Jak zwykle cieszy mnie Elektra. Matthew bez niej wypada po prostu bladziej - może za wyjątkiem runu Briana Bendissa, który jest arcydziełem.

Nie spoilerując fabuły, w tej części Chip Zdarsky nie przeskoczył samego siebie z poprzedniej odsłony. Ale i nie poległ, choć wyjście z konsekwencji wydarzeń z poprzedniego tomu było trochę szablonowe. Może gdyby załatwić to jakimś przeskokiem czasowym… Jest tu zresztą taka scena, w której pewna poboczna postać mówi Daredevilowi, że w miejscu w którym się znalazł zachowuje się jak turysta. Co świadczy o tym, że i scenarzysta zdawał sobie z tego sprawę. Zatem ostateczne rozwiązanie tej kwestii było jednak poniżej oczekiwań.

[Pruett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good god, Elektra as Daredevil is one of the best creative decisions to come out of Marvel in the past few years. The interplay between the “Daredevil: Woman Without Fear” issues at the end of this volume and Devil’s Reign is spectacular, and the art is truly wonderful. Zdarsky’s Daredevil arc is coming to a head, and you can feel it.

However, the reason this isn’t five stars is because I think that we rushed through the last couple issues before Devil’s Reign in order to get the pieces in place for the big event. How Matt gets out of prison doesn’t entirely make sense, or at least isn’t given all the time I would’ve liked, and Mike Hawthorne, Stefano Landini, and Manuel Garcia are nowhere near the artists that Rafael De Latorre and Marco Checchetto are. I mean, the latter two guys have produced some of my favorite comic work I’ve ever read. It’s a high bar.

Chip Zdarsky has made me love Daredevil in a way I never have before. This run (+ Devil’s Reign) have bumped up to my number one Marvel comics recommendation.

Zdaredevil! Bring on the fifth and final volume five!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final piece of the puzzle before our main players meet in Devil's reign, this volume sadly is the weakest of the hardcovers so far. The art is much less consistent here, as Checchetto only draws a single issue, and others artists fill in the gaps. Matt discovers more corruption while Elektra tries to prove a point, and confronts a dark shadow from her past. I admit, I know even in a universe like marvel, the concept of cloning and brainwashing via science seemed a bit jarring and out of place in a DD book, but the action that results in the multiple Bullseye's somewhat balanced it out.
I thoroughly enjoyed the three issue Elektra mini that finishes the book, but that was less due to the actual plot beats and more of her self examination and her long, storied, "I just can't quit you" relationship with Matt, she truely loves that helpless man. That scratched a itch for me, I admit. The actual content of the mini is mostly setup for the following arc, who knows if it pays off.
I wish this vol was a knock out like the previous three, and I hope the series ends strongish in the renumbering.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first climax of Chip Zdarsky’s epic run on Daredevil, in which the prison arc concludes. The only shame here is that he seems to speed through it, either by design or with someone pushing him along (Devil’s Reign quickly occurs in its aftermath), rushing some key moments that feel majestic until we cut straight to resolutions.

I still value the results. This is still the best Daredevil from the cloth of great work before it, pushing everything further than ever (Zdarsky ends in truly grand fashion), and it gives us an Elektra who emerges definitively from her origins to a true equal, confident in herself and her relationship with Daredevil (which, again, DC shied away from giving Batman and Catwoman), including three issues dedicated to how she ultimately moves the narrative forward.

At some point I will read the complete run.

[José Ignacio · Rating 5 out of 5]

One devilish first conclusion

This is an interesting book, as it is kind of a companion to Devil's Reign, but that doesn’t stop it from being awesome.

The Lockdown arc is collected in its entirety here and, while I feel it could’ve been expanded a bit, it’s just as good as the rest of the run has been so far. It is a bit of a retread of Shadowland and Brubaker's run in a few regards, but it’s still an awesome story that builds up to Devil's Reign and still continues Zdarsky's awesome in-depth analysis of Matt's character.

And the Woman Without Fear miniseries is just a great little fight that explores Elektra's mind in the same way Matt's has been throughout the run so far, even if it annoyingly is so incredibly crucial for Devil's Reign's story itself.

Art is great all around and so, it’s still a dope book:
Z

[Billy Jepma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really strong entry in a really good series. I keep waiting for it to hit the highs I’ve occasionally seen it heralded for, and they haven’t come, but it’s a testament to how solid and commitment the writing and art—even when it’s not Chechetto, although his work remains the highlight—that I’m still as into it as I am. Every time I pick up the next volume I’m reminded why I keep coming back. The plotting is still mostly fine, in my opinion, with some good themes (that still don’t double-down on themselves the way I want) to back it up. It’s ultimately all about the character dynamics, anyway, which Zdarsky handles so well that they all feel tactile and genuine in ways a lot of superhero stuff doesn’t.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review is for the Four Volume Heaven Through Hell Arc (read back to back to back to back)

The early promise washes away in a rising tide of crossovers and digressions, and Daredevils faith - a defining characteristic along with his blindness- is something that is not so much displayed as it is commented upon, contradicting a cardinal rule - show, don't tell. The fourth volume in particular is practically unreadable with the amount of material left out or glossed over.

[ani · Rating 3 out of 5]

took about 2 years on and off for me to read through all of the series. With all that build up, this collection feels like the weakest in the story. Definitely having some conflicted feelings of Elektra as Daredevil, but I won't write her off completely. Might follow this story as it continues in other issues, but this was an interesting read.

[Michael Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

More good artwork and solid writing this run has been known for.

[ISMOTU · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing a great run.

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

genial

[Néstor Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best series I’ve read, a blast from start to finish. I did not know Bullseye could be so scary. So excited to see the development of this.

[Bryan Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some cool concepts, but they weren’t fleshed out enough. Mostly forgettable plots. Art was decent, but there were alot of different artists on this book.
The Elektra DR tie-ins were pretty missable.