Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

This is the beginning of the end for both Daredevil and Fisk, as their enemies create new alliances.   While they're trying to bring Fisk down, Daredevil gets caught in the crossfire - and then in more crossfire after things go sideways for Silke, the new wannabe crime boss who's looking to take out all his competition. 

And while I know it's a long, slow spiral downwards for both Murdock and Fisk, it also highlights how I feel about them: I feel badly for what Matt will go through because I truly like him.   Fisk, blinded, almost dead, has gotten what he deserves in my opinion.   He's a sociopath, using everyone, taking advantage of everyone, and while he's a formidable opponent, and while his loyalty to his wife Vanessa is both admirable and gets returned by her in this very collection (in the most horrific of ways), I don't like him very much.   He's a bastard, through and through, a character you love to hate. 

But back to this very storyline, the setup for what is to come.   This is a long, drawn out story, well planned, full of enough emotional gut punches to keep me reading, and it reminds me why I love Bendis and Maleev's run the best: it's got a Shakespearian/classic Greek tragedy involving family, of course, as well a newer, slicker tabloid sensibility - at times quite literally.  

It's hard for me to think of this volume separately from the others, to be honest. I know what's coming.  I can remember some of the panels as they were, because what happened was so shocking to the characters, to me the first time I read it, that it burned into my brain.   I felt for Murdock and Nelson as they struggled through the wringer that Bendis puts them through.   

It's gorgeous, the writing matching the illustrations, the tone dark and gritty and perfect for the story Bendis has to tell.   Maleev is an amazing artist, and no less than this story deserves.   Onto the next volume!