Dardevil #7 - Blind leading the blind

Mark Waid is writing his heart out with Daredevil. I'm guessing that the layouts are mostly under his direction, because both Marcos Martin and Paulo Rivera seem to be very consistent with their visual storytelling. Not to discredit them both. They are an integral part of why this book is so enjoyable.

So, Matt is riding on a bus to a retreat with eight blind children. In the mountains. In a blizzard. Well, the driver is nervous (we know, because Matt senses his heart rate), and they end up crashing horribly. The driver, who is the only one who could, is dead, and Matt and his eight blind mice have to navigate on foot.

Throughout the issue, we are treated to the usual brilliant use of tiny panels placed here and there to demonstrate the sounds that are being heard by our hero. That alone makes these books a step above, but Waid takes it further. We watch Matt (in DD garb, because the children can't see him) lead these kids through the wilderness and try to keep them calm by asking them what they want Santa to bring them and making small talk. In the past two+ decades, you never would have guessed Matt Murdock to be the guy that's good with kids. He keeps up the banter, even though the inner monologue becomes more and more bleak as he desperately soldiers on with the children.

There are a few times when I get choked up. First, Matt realizes that he is down one child. He starts to lose it and yell for him, frightening the other children. Then he stops yelling for a second and we see a tiny word balloon in the far corner "the lord is with thee" He finds Javi in the snow praying and they share a brief moment.

Another moment that touched me was when Matt finally hears the sound of a snow plow and discerns that they are about to leave. He tells the kids to yell, and when the guy getting into his truck doesn't hear them, he tells them to run, not realizing that the kids don't know why and that he just scared the hell out of them. They scatter and he panics and falls on the leg that he injured in the crash. He's laying there in the snow thinking that he has failed the kids and they are lost, when they all return with branches to make a sled for him in which the proceed to drag him to the house that the owner of the snow plow lives in. It's just a very touching scene in which he realizes that he hadn't given those children enough credit.

If you haven't been reading Daredevil, just pick up any of the seven issues that have already come out. You will love them. I've never read DD comics, and had no investment in the character of Matt Murdock, but I am hooked on this title and continually find myself in awe of the beautiful way in which this writer and these two artists weave their craft. Flawless.

Thank you Mark, Marcos, and Paulo.