There is no greater hubris in superhero comics then making an extended homage of The Dark Knight Returns. While not the best work of Frank Miller’s career his miniseries of an aged Batman returning to confront the mean streets of 1980s America has been a titanic influence on superheroes for 40 years. The first issue of Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell begins with 16-panel pages illustrating a retired hero reuniting with his old friend before taking a long walk home, lamenting the lousy weather of the season and the current state of juvenile violence in a world without heroes. Charles Soule was risking outright plagiarism for some of this, but fortunately the story quickly deviates and lets his own voice for Old Matthew Murdoch shine through. Highlighting Daredevil’s religious belief that this one last chance at meta-human heroism is an opportunity to atone for previous transgressions and fit into a grand narrative of redemption.
While mimicking a Batman classic as closely as possible at the start it assiduously avoids mimicking its story or thematic content. Miller’s Batman is a thundering giant barely contained within the confines of his world once he gives over to his compulsion to never give up. Soule envision the latter days of Daredevil as a humble ordinary man who has lost much and longs for the glory. And when he gets to relive the apex of his youthful vigour. Matt Murdock is only interested in making the most of this unique opportunity with the wisdom to make up for past mistakes, and hope to avoid any further ones. The extended homage deliberately courts the comparison between the two characters in order to highlight their individual strengths in the eyes of the writer.
The series is bolstered by Steve NcNiven manning the pens. I never have issue with his work but this is certainly more ‘interesting’. NcNiven acquitted himself admirably with Civil War, Fantastic Four and Old Man Logan. Here his work is electric. Historically he aims for a more realistic and very clean approach but this time, seemingly channeling Geof Darrow, he goes into a more expressive direction. Highlighting how ugly and worn down these characters are while also experimenting with how much you can play with page layouts in very interesting ways. He even inked most of this book himself and coloured the first issue himself. Although Dean White took over the colours for the second and third issues they seemingly work to match each other styles and the hand-over is imperceptible.
It eventually hits the brick wall of deciding this needs to be a last hurrah between Daredevil, Bullseye and The Punisher. While all these characters have their fans Soule and McNiven devolve into the same old debate around if superhero vigilantism should be lethal. There is no attempt to move the trio beyond their well established positions. Bullseye’s melancholic belief that the endless battle between good and evil benefits society by enforcing social values in a morally decayed world gives him some energy. But Daredevil and Punisher are as locked into their archetypes, protector and murderer, with nothing to make this debate more than a rehash of quite possibly the least interesting part of the genre.
By becoming a defence for the moral value of superhero comics, Cold Day In Hell loses its focus on Murdock’s very human and small concerns about his place in the world. This really isn’t helped by the script not getting anything interesting out of either Punisher or Bullseye while intently focusing on them to draw focus away from every other element. Any grandiose gestures the mini-series reaches for are disconnected from the core characters. And it refuses to break from any of their well-established traditions or offer anything that feels like any of the creators going out on a limb and offering what they feel is a definitive statement on Daredevil or his universe.
McNiven provides the best art of his entire career and Cold Day In Hell is worth reading for that alone. There are scenes in the first two issues that are utterly incredible. It unfortunately falters as it goes along, becoming so obsessed with the past that it eats away at the present story until it becomes an afterthought for all involved. It is worth checking out but with tempered expectations. Soule and McNiven don’t craft a definitive statement for ‘the final’ Daredevil story and instead fixate on superhero comics and the Marvel Universe more broadly and they end up worse off for it.
