While I still respect Frank Miller for his past work, Sin City, Daredevil, Batman, Ronin, etc etc, he's been in a slump for a long time now, and I don't see it reversing in the near future. The man possesses technical skills, but even his short.dialogue.bursts lack the charm they once had. My hope is that if Frank Miller keeps making comics, he gets someone else to write them.

This being a Vertigo title we could have seen a graphic depiction of John raping his neice. Thankfully, such shock value was avoided. Overall, Milligan's run has been good, but not great, and this issue falls pretty squarely into that description.

On a side note, Epiphany's relationship with her father takes a weird turn when her father surprises her and John in the shower. He mentions that it's nothing he hasn't seen before when they were skinny dipping. I detect an incestous under tone here, something we might see explored in the future.

Overall, Aaron and Dillon seem like the first team capable of averting the inevitable collapse of the character after Ennis left, while still moving into new directions.

Aaron has advanced the MAX version of the Punisher to a point where Frank's family wasn't his last chance to be normal, but people who were caught in the cross fire in his inevitable fall into darkness.

The back up feature gives us more artistic flourishes showing Daredevil sees the world. It also addresses the past tragedies that have led the character to this point. Matt tells Foggy straight out, he's decided to live in denial. Which will end in tragedy, of course, it always does. But I'm excited to see how.daredevil_1_2011_cover.jpg (777 KB)