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Daredevil (1998) (Collected Editions) #2, 8
Echo: The Saga of Maya Lopez
The stunning and lushly illustrated comic debut of Marvel's next screen sensation, Echo!
She is Echo. A deaf young Native American woman with the uncanny ability to assimilate the skills of others by sight. Dancing, piano playing...even hand-to-hand combat! Though Maya Lopez and Matt Murdock meet as seemingly kindred souls, their secret identities are very much at odds. For Maya is seeking vengeance against her father's killer, a man that the Kingpin claims...is Daredevil! Can Matt clear his name before his new love becomes his executioner? And with Echo's entire history defined by her quest for justice and revenge, can she make sense of the world when everything she thought she knew is called into question? And will a vision quest help pick up the pieces of her shattered life?
She is Echo. A deaf young Native American woman with the uncanny ability to assimilate the skills of others by sight. Dancing, piano playing...even hand-to-hand combat! Though Maya Lopez and Matt Murdock meet as seemingly kindred souls, their secret identities are very much at odds. For Maya is seeking vengeance against her father's killer, a man that the Kingpin claims...is Daredevil! Can Matt clear his name before his new love becomes his executioner? And with Echo's entire history defined by her quest for justice and revenge, can she make sense of the world when everything she thought she knew is called into question? And will a vision quest help pick up the pieces of her shattered life?
296 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2023
15 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
David W. Mack
492 books214 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
David W. Mack is a comic book artist and writer, best known for his creation Kabuki and his work on the Marvel Comics titles Daredevil and Alias
The author of the Star Trek Novels is David Mack
David W. Mack is a comic book artist and writer, best known for his creation Kabuki and his work on the Marvel Comics titles Daredevil and Alias
The author of the Star Trek Novels is David Mack
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 8, 2024
this was the first time reading a comic and i loveddd it. it took me a minute to get used to interpreting information in the style of a comic book &it was really cool to have a new experience
i really appreciate the art and i thought it was cool
to see how some of the illustrations were inspired by some of my favorite artists (specifically Klimt :))
i really appreciate the art and i thought it was cool
to see how some of the illustrations were inspired by some of my favorite artists (specifically Klimt :))
July 7, 2024
Abandoning partly because it's a chore to read the book on my phone... the screen is small, but the libby software doesn't do me any favours, because as soon as I rotate to landscape (thinking that this will give me a fit-to-width kind of view) it decides I want to read 2 pages side by side...
Anyhow, I'da stuck it out if the content was doing more for me, but it wasn't. The book felt very much like a late 90s book (or earlier, maybe). The art didn't do anything for me, and the story seemed to be going nowhere. Add in the sexism and racism/fetishizing, and I just wasn't having a good time.
Anyhow, I'da stuck it out if the content was doing more for me, but it wasn't. The book felt very much like a late 90s book (or earlier, maybe). The art didn't do anything for me, and the story seemed to be going nowhere. Add in the sexism and racism/fetishizing, and I just wasn't having a good time.
April 12, 2024
The second half was way better than the first in terms of art and narrative.
January 10, 2024
This was a lot better than the first volume, which was a travesty. Mostly what I liked about this volume—rebooted as a primer for the Disney+ show, Echo—is that it’s about someone other than Matt Murdock. In fact, he’s the protagonist for only half the book, after that it’s about Echo and her story. Matt isn’t completely out of the picture though, because the creators can’t imagine a female character being motivated by anything other than her love for one white dude, who is supposedly perfect though doesn’t really act like it.
I like Echo in that she has a lot of talents and tries to make a place for herself in a world not made for her. And yet, because this book is written without any/much input from the communities Echo represents, it’s a pretty limiting look at who, why, and how she can be a unique individual.
There’s some grating, dated ableist language used. There’s trope-y renditions of the Native American peoples. Echo is highly sexualized. The women in general, though few and far between, are cartoonishly stupid. Foggy’s mom is written as some kind of evil demon all because she, rightfully, ousted her son from her company because he was charged with some seriously heinous crimes. For that, she is made out to be some cretin without morals who gets the worst of the worst scott free in court. Black Widow turns up again, and man, she is the most useless superhero ever. She can’t take a hit, and apparently, has no awareness at all, because she gets shot in this one. Matt is constantly having to save her. And noticeably, her only characterization is to be Matt’s super sexy ex who keeps massaging his ego about what a great man he is, and all the women are trouble. Bizarre.
The art is a lot to take in, in this book. The first part has terrible art. Same smooshed faces for the men, exaggerated faces for the ladies. Echo in various states of undress supposedly performing. Weird. There’s the filler issue which has clean art, but not my style. The filler was a strange one—it seems to say everyone will be happy because their problems are magically solved, not because they’ve come to terms with the situation or have found a way to make it better. Nope, just conveniently, everything’s ok. Also in the filler, which was a mostly ok read, there’s a page where a woman is showering and we see more than is needed; she’s in the shower, we don’t need a close up. What’s particularly disturbing about choosing to pose this woman naked in the shower is that she was sexually assaulted as a teenager and the rapist is back, so… why are we seeing her in the shower? Men, I swear, just don’t have any awareness about other loved experiences.
Ok, so the second half is where we delve into Echo’s story. A lot of it is repetition—some of it word for word from the first half. It’s more a feeling and an emotional look at her. I feel like, in this section, so much of the book focused on the artistic imagining of Echo, that she and her personality got lost. Also, they obviously had like stock images of models/publicity shots or something, and they kept reusing those over and over again. So Echo looked different from panel to panel and page to page, because they rotated through the series of images they had for her. And because the images of each model was a one-off, we just got the same look over and over with no change in emotion or expression. And it wasn’t just with Echo, all the other characters in this section faced the same problem. Plus, we get a cameo and…they took the actor’s face, ad kept reusing it. It was such an odd choice given the innovative layouts, the mixed media visual storytelling, and of course, the artistic renditions of Echo and her story in the style of Picasso and Klimt, among others. It was a great looking book, but the repeated portraits undermined the character study.
I like Echo in that she has a lot of talents and tries to make a place for herself in a world not made for her. And yet, because this book is written without any/much input from the communities Echo represents, it’s a pretty limiting look at who, why, and how she can be a unique individual.
There’s some grating, dated ableist language used. There’s trope-y renditions of the Native American peoples. Echo is highly sexualized. The women in general, though few and far between, are cartoonishly stupid. Foggy’s mom is written as some kind of evil demon all because she, rightfully, ousted her son from her company because he was charged with some seriously heinous crimes. For that, she is made out to be some cretin without morals who gets the worst of the worst scott free in court. Black Widow turns up again, and man, she is the most useless superhero ever. She can’t take a hit, and apparently, has no awareness at all, because she gets shot in this one. Matt is constantly having to save her. And noticeably, her only characterization is to be Matt’s super sexy ex who keeps massaging his ego about what a great man he is, and all the women are trouble. Bizarre.
The art is a lot to take in, in this book. The first part has terrible art. Same smooshed faces for the men, exaggerated faces for the ladies. Echo in various states of undress supposedly performing. Weird. There’s the filler issue which has clean art, but not my style. The filler was a strange one—it seems to say everyone will be happy because their problems are magically solved, not because they’ve come to terms with the situation or have found a way to make it better. Nope, just conveniently, everything’s ok. Also in the filler, which was a mostly ok read, there’s a page where a woman is showering and we see more than is needed; she’s in the shower, we don’t need a close up. What’s particularly disturbing about choosing to pose this woman naked in the shower is that she was sexually assaulted as a teenager and the rapist is back, so… why are we seeing her in the shower? Men, I swear, just don’t have any awareness about other loved experiences.
Ok, so the second half is where we delve into Echo’s story. A lot of it is repetition—some of it word for word from the first half. It’s more a feeling and an emotional look at her. I feel like, in this section, so much of the book focused on the artistic imagining of Echo, that she and her personality got lost. Also, they obviously had like stock images of models/publicity shots or something, and they kept reusing those over and over again. So Echo looked different from panel to panel and page to page, because they rotated through the series of images they had for her. And because the images of each model was a one-off, we just got the same look over and over with no change in emotion or expression. And it wasn’t just with Echo, all the other characters in this section faced the same problem. Plus, we get a cameo and…they took the actor’s face, ad kept reusing it. It was such an odd choice given the innovative layouts, the mixed media visual storytelling, and of course, the artistic renditions of Echo and her story in the style of Picasso and Klimt, among others. It was a great looking book, but the repeated portraits undermined the character study.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2025
The great graphics on the cover got my attention.
I started by reading a graphic novel then finished by reading it through my library 's Hoopla app.
The thing that really stands out for me was the graphics, the most beautiful I have ever seen and somewhat unconventional in that they tried not to use the typical panel to panel look. Which means in this case that it was sometimes hard to read, to determine what is next and what it says. But the main characters is just as beautiful and sexy as any Marvel heroine out there. But did you have to make her lips look like flotation devices? It looks like she's been to a plastic surgeon to plump up those lips.
The story... they do their best to make it a great story and I think it hits the mark, gets into the heads of Echo and Daredevil too and even Kingpin and Echo's father. Very interesting to have a Native American woman as a Marvel heroine. Cool superpower, reminds me of the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper, able to speak any language he hears a bit of, play any song he hears/watches on any instrument. Maybe that's where they go their idea. Sure seems like it.
Sometimes it seems like an author tries to thing of the most unusual/interesting combinations of character traits to make a character and it kind of seems that way to me. Native American, interesting super power though they don't call it that, just an ability she has and deaf. They hit the jackpot as I think all those things help make Echo a great character. I liked reading about her talks with her father and the shaman (I think that's the one she and her father both talked to). Interesting insight into Native American thought and culture. Hope to see more of it, more details as I intend to look for more of this character. I can't remember the last Marvel characters I "discovered" and really liked.
Oh, almost forgot. There is a "guest" appearance of another Marvel character briefly that was worked in really well. Loved it. Different view of a well known character showing him in a different light.
So, I think this is a graphic novel worth owning. And I'm going to go look to see if there is anything else out there. I hope so. I hope this leads to her own comic. If it doesn't, I'll be so disappointed. This was a great effort with story, characters, graphics.
I started by reading a graphic novel then finished by reading it through my library 's Hoopla app.
The thing that really stands out for me was the graphics, the most beautiful I have ever seen and somewhat unconventional in that they tried not to use the typical panel to panel look. Which means in this case that it was sometimes hard to read, to determine what is next and what it says. But the main characters is just as beautiful and sexy as any Marvel heroine out there. But did you have to make her lips look like flotation devices? It looks like she's been to a plastic surgeon to plump up those lips.
The story... they do their best to make it a great story and I think it hits the mark, gets into the heads of Echo and Daredevil too and even Kingpin and Echo's father. Very interesting to have a Native American woman as a Marvel heroine. Cool superpower, reminds me of the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper, able to speak any language he hears a bit of, play any song he hears/watches on any instrument. Maybe that's where they go their idea. Sure seems like it.
Sometimes it seems like an author tries to thing of the most unusual/interesting combinations of character traits to make a character and it kind of seems that way to me. Native American, interesting super power though they don't call it that, just an ability she has and deaf. They hit the jackpot as I think all those things help make Echo a great character. I liked reading about her talks with her father and the shaman (I think that's the one she and her father both talked to). Interesting insight into Native American thought and culture. Hope to see more of it, more details as I intend to look for more of this character. I can't remember the last Marvel characters I "discovered" and really liked.
Oh, almost forgot. There is a "guest" appearance of another Marvel character briefly that was worked in really well. Loved it. Different view of a well known character showing him in a different light.
So, I think this is a graphic novel worth owning. And I'm going to go look to see if there is anything else out there. I hope so. I hope this leads to her own comic. If it doesn't, I'll be so disappointed. This was a great effort with story, characters, graphics.
February 22, 2025
This is very much a book of two halves.
The first half is the David Mack's 6 issue 'Parts of a hole' arc, of Daredevil. This came immediately after Kevin Smith's 'Guardian Devil' arc, and just before Bendis's 4 issue 'Wake up' arc.
This has Quesada on art which is generally pretty good, although I'm not always a fan of the way he draws faces. DD's billy-club always seems to have miles and miles of cord, which is kind of distracting.
Mack's writing is solid and Echo is a pretty cool, intriguing character in this, her first appearance.
Next is a neat fill in issue which is set between issues. It's decent, although the art is occasionally bland and the colouring is pretty lifeless.
But anyway, the second half is the return of (the) Mack! Approximately halfway through Bendis's long tenure as writer we get this second arc which is mainly Echo's origin story. It's 5 issues with Mack writing and doing the artwork.
If I'd have been reading Bendis's Daredevil as it came out I would have been pissed. 5 whole months of this? It's not it's bad by any means, It's just that it barely features Daredevil. I'm not sure why it was even published as Daredevil! Bendis's Daredevil barely even mentioned Maya/Echo so this sudden shift must have been quite jarring at the time.
But judging it now, as the second half of a book tiled 'Echo'... it's okay.
My main issue is that it's five issues long. What does the reader get for it's five issues? Some beautiful art, yes. But also a lot of repeated artwork. The same images again and again. And as great as Mack's art can be, Maya's appearance is pretty inconsistent throughout. This is the problem when you source you material from various sources, rather than taking your own source photos with a single model.
So there's some great pages, but pithing those is obvious laziness and shortcutting. It's weird and distracting.
And there's no real story. It's kind of stream of conscious although there are a couple of interactions with other characters. She meets DD again and has an encounter with Wolverine. As a reader you know Maya much better by the end of it, but it's not hugely enjoyable. It's ok.
As a volume containing two distinct stories, it's just 3 stars.
The first half is the David Mack's 6 issue 'Parts of a hole' arc, of Daredevil. This came immediately after Kevin Smith's 'Guardian Devil' arc, and just before Bendis's 4 issue 'Wake up' arc.
This has Quesada on art which is generally pretty good, although I'm not always a fan of the way he draws faces. DD's billy-club always seems to have miles and miles of cord, which is kind of distracting.
Mack's writing is solid and Echo is a pretty cool, intriguing character in this, her first appearance.
Next is a neat fill in issue which is set between issues. It's decent, although the art is occasionally bland and the colouring is pretty lifeless.
But anyway, the second half is the return of (the) Mack! Approximately halfway through Bendis's long tenure as writer we get this second arc which is mainly Echo's origin story. It's 5 issues with Mack writing and doing the artwork.
If I'd have been reading Bendis's Daredevil as it came out I would have been pissed. 5 whole months of this? It's not it's bad by any means, It's just that it barely features Daredevil. I'm not sure why it was even published as Daredevil! Bendis's Daredevil barely even mentioned Maya/Echo so this sudden shift must have been quite jarring at the time.
But judging it now, as the second half of a book tiled 'Echo'... it's okay.
My main issue is that it's five issues long. What does the reader get for it's five issues? Some beautiful art, yes. But also a lot of repeated artwork. The same images again and again. And as great as Mack's art can be, Maya's appearance is pretty inconsistent throughout. This is the problem when you source you material from various sources, rather than taking your own source photos with a single model.
So there's some great pages, but pithing those is obvious laziness and shortcutting. It's weird and distracting.
And there's no real story. It's kind of stream of conscious although there are a couple of interactions with other characters. She meets DD again and has an encounter with Wolverine. As a reader you know Maya much better by the end of it, but it's not hugely enjoyable. It's ok.
As a volume containing two distinct stories, it's just 3 stars.
March 12, 2025
Re-read this absolute classic. It still hits as hard as the first time. I love when a genre piece is written (and drawn) so beautifully and lovingly it transcends. As is the case here. First rate pulpy storytelling - sexy, tough and violent. Echo is/was such an amazing addition as a character. A perfect love/foil just as Elektra was a couple decades before this. Really appreciate how viscerally horny this was. Daredevil just loves Echo’s natural scent so much! He can smell ALL of her and it’s intoxicating. I digress… Anyways, really superb Kingpin stuff in this too. And kudos for the multiple Kevin Smith references (Maya and Matt “watch” Mallrats on their first date and then Randall is working their local video store!).
November 3, 2023
Don’t own this particular tome, but I own the individual issues that comprise the volume which are the early DD issues from rebooted, modern Daredevil (volume 2).
All in all I love Maya Lopez for multiple reasons, and everyone who is a fan of Daredevil, superhero-type characters of color, likes inclusivity in their media/fiction (Maya is a deaf woman) and great female characters in comics- pick this up.
Oh, and David Mack’s art? Transcendent, and should be hung in the Louvre.
All in all I love Maya Lopez for multiple reasons, and everyone who is a fan of Daredevil, superhero-type characters of color, likes inclusivity in their media/fiction (Maya is a deaf woman) and great female characters in comics- pick this up.
Oh, and David Mack’s art? Transcendent, and should be hung in the Louvre.
December 10, 2023
While some of the language regarding disability may feel dated here, Echo: The Saga of Maya Lopez combines a phenomenal Daredevil story arc with an exploration of perception that feels incredibly poignant in a society where ableism persists.
February 8, 2024
Story was okay. I personally found the art to be very distracting but monotonous at the same time. Constantly reusing images. Upside down dialogue boxes. Text that’s not in a dialogue box at all. Not the worst but also not for me. Just sort of annoying to read.
March 4, 2025
I like the general story and character. The art is fascinating and I respect the experimental paneling but it did become a bit of a chore to interpret. Perhaps that's part of the point and it made for an interesting read but it didn't fully work for me.
April 19, 2025
This is a stunningly complex graphic novel where many of the pages need extended time to take in all of the symbology, implicit and explicit meaning. It is a perfect rendering of Echo as a character and I'm glad i took my time to do it justice!
January 23, 2024
First half reads like someone trying to imitate Frank Miller, second half reads like someone try to imitate Grant Morrison, which equals something that's a chore to get through.
February 2, 2024
I would have liked this one if it Maya was actually signing in some of the frames like the one Hawkeye comic has Clint signing. But Maya's history is the comics is tied to both DareDevil and Kingpin. So all in all in a pretty good comic.
June 15, 2024
A gorgeous graphic novel.
September 2, 2024
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews