Cool cover. Let’s learn about Ultimate Daredevil.
We’re really reducing Ultimate DD to a pre-1990s-style blurb for a backstory? This issue begins with a cop starting a fight in a bar because a patron said anyone who gets popped by the Punisher has it coming. Then, when the cop is kicked out (It’s very unrealistic that a drunk police officer doesn’t start shooting when told “no”), he stumbles to his car only to get a shotgun in his face.
By this point, Bendis’ first 3 issues of Daredevil illustrated by David Mack have seen print, and in 2 months, after a not-so-good arc by Back to the Future writer Bob Gale (See? With the Hollywood people? Like, sure, everyone loves Back to the Future, but whoever heard of Bob Gale?), Bendis will return with Alex Maleev for one of the best runs in the character’s history, so it only makes sense to have him do this. Over a few pages, Matt explains his powers and references his training in the arts of the samurai and the ninja as Sienkiewicz does a fun trick of piecing the man Matt’s looking at together over several panels Matt tells us he’s talking to a Police Detective Bruce Greenwood. Greenwood, a former client, is nervous and sweating and wants to know if they have attorney/client privilege.
This, as it turns out, will be the only real difference between Ultimate and regular Daredevil: He hates Spider-Man for very little reason. A miniseries will later reveal he went to college with Elektra and all that, not exactly the same, but basically the same. He just hates Spider-Man. It’s a weird choice.
Man these issues are gorgeous.
As has been mentioned, Bendis got his start on crime noir comics, and he’s really in his element during this story. As I recall, there was some controversy about how dark this story was, but whether you agree or not, it’s sure well done, written and drawn. We learn Frank did rat the gang out to internal affairs, and in a nice speech, he told Bruce about how he’d never be able to face his daughter when she found out what kind of man he was, but now he’d set Bruce and the rest of them free. He told Bruce he was going to turn himself in when the time came, and he’d be able to face his family again. So, of course, that Jillett guy had them kill Frank’s family. It was just supposed to be Frank, but somehow they managed to get everyone but him. An increasingly panicked Bruce says he’s knows Frank is coming for him, that the cops he’s killed were all members of the hit squad, and as his ranting reaches a fever pitch…
A classic battle is about to play out for the first time. And next issue, Spider-Man actually gets to participate, even… And if you guess that this version of Spider-Man is gonna be freaked out and totally out of his element dealing with these guys, well… you are totally right!