Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell

Fran Miller authored what is widely regarded as the definitive run on “Daredevil.”  He also wrote what’s widely regarded as the definitive story about a superhero coming out of retirement for one last go in “The Dark Knight Returns.”  How no one has thought to do a riff on the latter story with the former character before now is beyond me.  That’s what writer Charles Soule and artist Steve McNiven, who also co-plotted this together, have done with “Daredevil:  Cold Day in Hell.”  It’s an idea I can enjoy solely on its own merits, even if the final product feels too ambitious for what it’s trying to deliver in the space that it has.

It’s the future and superheroes are either no more or fighting some kind of forever war outside of New York.  Matt Murdock used to be one until his powers eventually went away.  These days he spends his time catching up with or remembering old friends and enemies, and helping out at the homeless shelter that bears his father’s name.  Until a dirty bomb goes off outside of it, he gets caught in the fallout, and his abilities return right along with his purpose.  They say it’s all part of God’s plan, and Daredevil knows exactly what his is meant to be.  At least, he sure thinks he does.

Soule and McNiven get a lot of the details right at first.  This future New York is a convincing dystopia, short on hope and long on decay.  Matt makes a show of being content, but the regret is clear in every action he takes.  One of his old foes is scheming in the background while an old frenemy is held captive.  Then, when he gets his powers back everything feels right again and you’re swept up in his enthusiasm as he tries to right one last wrong.

“Cold Day in Hell” doesn’t innovate on the familiar story being told here, but it does provide a good reminder of why it keeps getting done in superhero fiction.  With most heroes remaining static in the prime of their lives, we get to see them not only confront their mortality but try and defy it as well.  Soule puts his experience writing “Daredevil” to use here, making this version of the story feel authentic to the character and not like he’s simply being slotted into it.  Which is part of the problem here.

To his credit, the writer keeps the story focused on the chase for the MacGuffin at its core which allows it to wrap up after having made its point.  Yet the whole thing winds up feeling slight in the end.  It lacks “The Dark Knight’s” expansiveness in fully realizing Bruce Wayne’s Gotham and the changes that its supporting cast of heroes and villains had undergone in the intervening years.  “Cold Day in Hell” only hints at these things here and some of its nods to other significant characters in Daredevil’s history come off as either indulgent or woefully underserved.  The story tries to do a lot in the relatively small space that it has and (predictably) winds up biting off more than it can chew.

Which is at least lavishly illustrated by McNiven.  The man has done stellar, stylish, and detailed superhero art at Marvel for years and this is some of his best work yet.  McNiven deploys a gritty, craggly style that recalls Miller’s work on “Elektra Lives Again” and it’s impressive to take in on every page as he showcases the dynamic movement of the title character – once again at the peak of his abilities – along with the squalor he has to fight through, and the brutal, kinetic nature of the fights themselves.  The detail will draw you in, but McNiven’s storytelling abilities are strong enough to keep you there until the end.

This art didn’t come quick as I’ve read that Soule and McNiven were working on this three-issue miniseries for YEARS before it was serialized.  So it’s a little disappointing to read the final product and wish that the artist had been a little less detail-intensive to allow them to tell a story that had more room to breathe.  Or maybe this was always the story the two wanted to tell and good on them for eventually seeing it through.  For everyone else, “The Man Without Fear Returns” is enjoyable enough, but ultimately more of an interesting curio than a must read.