Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Matthew Murdock has been outted as Daredevil, and his life is falling apart: he's suing the newspaper who broke the story, has hired Jessica Jones as a bodyguard, and is dating Milla Donovan, a blind woman he saved.  I'm all on board with this, though, and I loved the story of how he got outted earlier: it was written perfectly, in a way which brought everything Foggy had been holding back to the forefront of the story, and it made me feel all over the place, quite keenly.

Why didn't I love this volume then?  Could it be because it's changing my perception of who Matt is?   Is his threat that he thought of killing Bullseye in his sleep just a bluff?   Look, Matt is by no means perfect, and he lets his anger build up and then just takes it out sometimes.   Then again, given the ways he's pushed, and how far and how hard he gets pushed, I'm not super shocked.   When you take a woman who he used to be involved with, an old enemy who has broken him before, and a man who murdered two women he loved and boil that down to one story arc, though?

Well, that was bound to end in Matt snapping.   It's discomforting, and not in a good way.   Not in a way that makes me think.  Matt is still framed as the hero, even if a flawed one, and it feels on the edge of being abusive here: he may not take great pleasure in bringing his foes down, but that doesn't mean he stops once their down this time. 

He's been pushed too damn far, and it's not a good look on him, to be honest.    Or maybe it's just that this is so much from Matt's point of view, and he can't think of anything else to do to break this cycle.   What he's been doing lately has been bringing about a peace that's been a part of that cycle, but the same villains come back again and again and do the same thing again and again. 

So Matt does the only thing he can think of to stop it.   He takes on the mantle of The Kingpin, he says he will lord over the people if that's all that will get them to stop hurting each other.   

And I see a porto-shadowland story here.   Maybe that has to do with it, too, because I know this because a cycle of its own.    I think a break from Bendis and Maleev, and some time with David Mack will do me good next story arc, to be honest.