Alright, we're back with the last issue of Daredevil Noir.
The cover is wonderfully symbolic; Daredevil looks helpless as a giant Kingpin looms over him in the background. The variant has Daredevil grappling with Eliza, but I don't find it as exciting.
Last issue ended with the Kingpin asking Daredevil how it felt to learn Eliza was bait to lure him to his doom... and that she was the Bull's Eye Killer all along. Daredevil's mask is still half-shrouded in darkness as he gives his answer. It felt like every time someone kicked his cane away from him until he learned he didn't need it. Like every time the applause died down and he knew he'd have to sleep backstage with the rats. Like every time somebody laughed at him because his father was too dumb to play along. Daredevil's words wipe the smile from the Kingpin's face.
Back at the warehouse, just after Eliza killed Halloran, things start to get... heated. Eliza sends Halloran's men away, either having bought them off in advance or scared them into her thrall. Daredevil narrates that for a true psychopath, truth has no meaning. He believes his lies as soon as he speaks them, completely united in mind and body. Sorry, she. Eliza grabs the silverware at Halloran's table and gets a big smile on her face as she takes aim. She launches the various knives, forks, and even spoons at Daredevil, who leaps through the air to avoid them. He narrates that he should have known... but he was too proud. Just like his father. Daredevil flips the table onto its side an uses it for cover, but Eliza gleefully notes that all armor has cracks as she flings forks into it. Besides, she bets she can curve a knife toss around the table and take off his toes. Not that she wants to take him apart where she can't see him - "Seeing is believing."
Daredevil obligingly leaps over the table to deliver a vicious kick to Eliza's chest. Daredevil narrates, continuing to answer the question of "how did it feel?", that it felt like all the times you trusted, knowing you'd be betrayed... but you couldn't stand not to trust. While Eliza's on the ground, one of Halloran's goons comes back inside and opens fire on Daredevil, calling him a circus freak. Eliza kills him by hurling a knife into his eye, reiterating that she wanted to meet with Daredevil in private. If Daredevil appreciates the save, he doesn't say anything, continuing his assault on Eliza with a left hook to the prone woman's jaw. She manages to stand and nearly breaks DD's arm with her knee. He tackles her back to the ground with such force that the floorboards give way, sending them into the water below.
The fight continues. Daredevil notes that it's hard to throw a punch underwater, as he does just that. However, it's much harder to throw anything else, no matter how good you are. Eliza has a classic Oh, Crap! look on her face as her weapons are forced out of her hands and sink far beneath them. For the first time since she walked into Foggy's office, Daredevil's got the upper hand. As they reach the seabed, Daredevil really lets her have it. He can't breathe, and if they stay much longer they'll both die. That doesn't matter to him right now. What matters is that he loved her and got hurt, that he knew what was right and she proved him wrong. After knocking her out, he swims up to the surface with her limp body in his arms. A full page is dedicated to the image of the devil rising from the depths.
He lays her down on the dock and continues to pummel her. He narrates that he'd by this point become a slave to his rage. Cops arrive on the scene and tell him to put his hands up, and he realizes what he's become. The police start shooting when it becomes obvious that he'll continue to resist. He dives back into the water, thinking that Eliza can die without his help. Black water...
The next day, Foggy arrives at Matt's apartment to see if his old friend is okay. Matt sits solemnly in the center of the room... wearing the Daredevil costume, but not the mask. Foggy's lack of reaction to this indicates that he knew he was Daredevil all along, and that Matt probably knew he knew — if it was ever supposed to be a secret. Foggy says he heard something happened the previous night, and he's right. Matt almost killed a woman. Foggy thinks that's oversimplifying the matter by a fair bit. "A woman? Jesus, Matt, you mean a mass-murdering sicko who happened to be a girl?" Matt agrees that she had it coming, but he didn't have the right, it wasn't his place to make that decision. Foggy sits down on Matt's bed and looks at the Daredevil mask. Matt tells him that he couldn't stand the shades of gray. He fell in love.
Foggy doesn't want to hear him say this was all about a girl. Lucky for him, it wasn't. It was about a girl, and it was about Matt's father. "Did I mention that Orville Halloran killed my father?" Foggy points out that Halloran's dead, so he's finally got closure. Matt doesn't think so, though. It's not like he killed him. Not like justice was done. Matt says he doesn't know how to feel, and that this is a very worrying sensation for him. "She made me a patsy, Foggy. I'm not used to being wrong." Matt thinks this casts doubt on every other time he'd been sure of something. Every time he was right, he could have been wrong. How many others like her are out there? Foggy says that if he means how many more times he's gonna find out he's not perfect, probably quite a few. "And with any luck, it won't always take a homicidal sociopath to get the point across."
Foggy tells Matt the cops are looking for him. They aren't here right now because they're busy cleaning up after Fisk's work from the other night. Matt says he wanted to be a lawyer. Foggy hands Matt his mask and jokes that Fisk could send him to law school. Matt gets the hint, dons his mask, and says "It's time to end this." Cut to the dead of night, where the rain continues to pour. Daredevil's on the prowl. He narrates that he didn't tell Foggy why he had to end it. Because he wanted to exorcise the rest of that rage. He ambushes one of Fisk's flunkies in his car and squeezes information out of him. Anyway, he didn't tell Foggy that he just wanted to beat Fisk up for starting this mess. Sometimes when you tell friends stuff like that, they stop being your friends. And Matt needs Foggy.
Finally, we're back to where we started. Fisk, the Kingpin, says there is no end to this. He asks Daredevil if he knows why. "Difficult word, why. Why, for instance, do you come here in your costume when I know who you are?" The Kingpin says it's because the costume allows him to pretend the baser parts of himself can be taken off or put on at will. Anyway, this isn't going to end. Supposing Daredevil can beat him and bring him to justice. Another like him will come along to replace him — just as he had done while Halloran was in prison. He says there's an ecology to the arrangement. The two of them represent opposite poles in this sense. Yin and yang. What is a hero without a villain? In this case, "a sad blind freak, alone with his memories and grudges. A wounded little boy who never let himself grow up."
As he takes off his coat, the Kingpin explains that he gave Daredevil a gift. By arranging the whole Eliza thing, he taught him doubt. And without doubt, hope can't exist. He rolls up his sleeves and says Daredevil should thank him. Daredevil grabs a liquor glass off the desk and drinks it. He says "thanks" before setting it back down and charging at the Kingpin with a fervor unknown to mankind.
Outside, it's still raining as we pull back from the building to see the block, the neighborhood... the whole city.
End of Daredevil Noir.
Up next is Wolverine Noir (which, while not bad, is probably my least favorite of all the Noir stories) followed by Deadpool Pulp, Weapon X Noir, and finally The Sentinels backup from X-Men Noir. Meaning only like ten entries left or so!
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