Netflix Daredevil: A Review and a Forecast [Guest Post]

By GW Thomas

[Michael hasn't seen any of Netflix' Daredevil yet and found nothing spoilery in the article below, but if you don't want to know anything about the show and haven't watched it, be warned that some minor details are discussed.]

I just finished watching all thirteen episodes of Netflix's Daredevil. As superhero fare goes it was a nice surprise. The writing was multi-layered with interesting good guys and bad guys. The action sequences were stellar. The first episode features a punch-up that runs two and a half minutes long (broken only by a flashback). Short of Peter Griffon's chicken fight on Family Guy, I can't think of a longer fight on TV. As with all good TV, I watched the full run in a matter of days, and was left wanting more.

First off, let me state a few prejudices because no review is worth anything if you don't know the where the reviewer is coming from. I love superhero comics and movies. Marvel, DC, and independent. Like many people I had high hopes for Arrow three seasons ago, but have since given it up. Why? It has nothing left to say. It is silly and repetitive and irrelevant. I enjoyed the first season, which felt in many ways the same as this first season of Daredevil. A lone man against a tide of evil. Good stuff. Stephen Amell did well as Oliver Queen: buff enough, able to act to some degree. Then the team got bigger and bigger. By Season Three, everybody except the dead characters have become a superhero, or an evil mastermind, or some other reversion of "not very real." And let's be honest, if I see one more Island flashback I'm likely to strangle someone. When The Flash premiered this season, I was reluctant, but gave it a chance. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD didn't even get that the year before.

With these ill feelings, you might think I would skip Daredevil. But it had several things going for it. The first was that it would be as much a show about the legal side of Matt Murdock's life as the superhero stuff. This balance is what I miss in Arrow. Secondly, the executive producer is Steven S DeKnight, who gave us Spartacus at Starz. Though the gratuitous blood and sex got old fast, the underlying story of a man who faced the power of Rome was fascinating. DeKnight brings a similar tension to Daredevil. He also knows how to write villains well. The character of Kingpin played by Vincent D'Inofrio was as engaging as that of Matt Murdock. Third, and I think most important, was Netflix.

The Netflix platform is, in my opinion, the future of television. April 10th, the entire thirteen episode run appeared and I spent the next week bingeing on Charlie Cox as Matt, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, and strong villains like Toby Leonard Moore as Wesley fighting it out in Hell's Kitchen. The level of swearing and violence was not hampered by Network TV acceptability just as if I was watching a cable show like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. (This is another reason Arrow is quickly sinking down the toilet. As soon as Oliver Queen changed his "no kill" policy, the show lost steam.) There is no secret why the networks keep pumping out more reality shows instead of dramas. How do you compete? The answer: you don't. Netflix is a nice neutral ground where all that stuff doesn't matter. Here's the show. Watch it or don't.

To get back to my earlier statement: this is the future of TV. I think the number of episodes is telling. Thirteen is the usual number of a British show. And the Brits know a little something about "quality" TV. Unlike traditional American fare, shows like Doctor Who or Downton Abbey have short seasons. Six, ten, or thirteen episodes means no filler. Twenty-two episodes a season means a lot of people sitting around asking, "What do we do this week?" The paradigm is changing thanks to the cable networks. New shows like Jay Baruchel's Man Seeking Woman on FXX are experimental at ten episodes. If it works, do another ten. If not, move on and try something else. Baruchel is not locked into a five year contract, chaining him to a dog that should be put down.

And here is my final point: this new Netflix (watch on demand) platform is changing the writing. The producers are learning that the viewers may not be watching one episode a week. They will be lying in their La-Z-Boys and popping through three or four episodes a night. That requires a new kind of writing. It's exciting because a lot of the old "requirements" are falling away. Things like self contained episodes with Captain Kirk and his cronies all gathered around the big chair, laughing at Mr. Spock's obtuseness at the end of episode. Or over-kill excitement just before the commercial. Here's a big one for me, the required fight scene. Watching Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel (both shows I binged on DVD years ago) you get to know the structure/formula too well. You know when Boreanaz is going to be fighting a demon for about thirty seconds. Though this made sense when the shows aired weekly, it is tiresome for the binge-watcher. Thank goodness, they invented fast forward.

Watching Daredevil I noticed I never felt this way. (Perhaps I will have to re-watch them to see it.) I think the way the show was written the fight scenes are better paced and seem more logical in terms of why they happen. One episode "Nelson VS Murdoch" doesn't even have a fight scene in it (if you don't count beating up a child molester), but is a protracted argument between Matt and Foggy after his partner discovers Matt's secret superhero life. Would that work on network TV? I doubt it. I've seen the same kind of "character" episodes on The Walking Dead. Though weekly viewers complain, when the binge-watchers get to them, they will seem brilliant. And in our iTunes reality this will become (is already becoming) the way it is. A new show appears, you purchase it (directly or through a provider like Netflix), you watch it at your own pace, without commercials, without tiresome formulas, and you move on. Or you watch reality TV on the networks. I guess there are some things worse than Season Three of Arrow...

GW Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines and ezines including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Black October Magazine and Contact. His website is gwthomas.org. He is editor of Dark Worlds magazine.

Hydra New Year!

What's your evil resolution?

The Marvel 52, Part Four: Marvel Knights

I've never been especially fond of the name "Marvel Knights," but I don't hate it either and since Marvel's used it a couple of times to identify its street-level, edgier characters, it's recognizable. So I'll use it too.

22. Dakota North by Ed Brubaker and Phil Noto



I don't know much about Dakota North. I don't think I've ever read one of her adventures, but she's a private eye working in the Marvel U and that could be a lot of fun. Maybe it's similar to Alias - I've never read it either - but with Brubaker writing it, it could be a fun, adventurous, Marvel version of something like Gotham Central. I picked Phil Noto for the art because he knows how to give female characters cool attitude without making them obnoxious.

21. Kraven the Hunter by Gail Simone and Marian Churchland

I admit that I picked Gail Simone for this because of the wonders she worked on Catman and because Kraven's a similar character. But visually, Kraven's much cooler and I'd love to see her do something comparable with him; give him some kind of moral center instead of just being whackadoo. Marian Churchland's soft, elegant work would give the series a pastoral look that would reinforce the idea that Kraven's seeking peace, even when he's involved in violence.

20. Hercules by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puvilland



There are a few reasons I'm not reading the current Herc series; none of them having anything directly to do with the creators involved. Indirectly though, I wouldn't be able to pass up a Hercules series drawn by the wife-and-husband team (I think they're married; doesn't matter) of LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland (Prince of Persia, Solomon's Thieves). They've got a strong, mythic quality to their work that's totally unique and exciting.

As for why Hercules is in this category: it's a tonal thing. He was the original street-level hero. In Greek mythology - a world filled with iconic, superpowered beings - Hercules was the grounded one whom people could relate to. That feeling is important to who he is and last time I checked in, Pak and Lente were already doing a great job of presenting him that way.

19. Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu by Phil Hester and Mark Smylie

I love Phil Hester's writing because there's always a layer of something deeper going on underneath the action. That's crucial to Master of Kung Fu, a series that in the '70s was filled with as much thought and philosophy as martial arts and espionage. Mark Smylie (Artesia) would complement that balance beautifully. He can paint the most brutally violent battle scene in the most exquisitely lush and contemplative way.

18. The Falcon by Greg Rucka and Steve Rude

The Falcon is one of those characters I wish I knew more about and would totally jump on if some exciting creators told a story about him. He's got a great look and I've loved him in Captain America and on Super Hero Squad, but I'd love even more to get him away from the other superheroes and see what makes him tick. I think Rucka and Rude are the guys to do that.

17. The Sub-Mariner by Ed Brubaker and David Petersen



Some of you have already pointed out that Namor would fit in well in other categories and you're right. He's a versatile character. I've put him in Marvel Knights in great part because of his attitude. I like Namor a lot, but he's a nasty dude with some serious problems he needs to get figured out. I'd certainly want this to have some great, undersea adventure to it, but I'd love for the tone to be similar to what Brubaker did with Captain America. It's exciting and fun, but it's grounded in real emotion as Cap continues to struggle - even after all these years - with being a man out of his own time. Namor's dealing with even more than that.

I picked David Petersen because he's got a realistic style and could draw the hell out of some undersea life.

16. The Panther by Mark Waid and Amy Reeder

One of the things I love most about Waid is that he knows how to dig into a character and find the approach that best suits that character's strengths without having to go off in a radical, new direction. Recently, Black Panther has changed gender, painted himself like the US flag, and borrowed Daredevil's tag line, so it's pretty clear that he's lost his way and needs someone to center him again. That's why Waid. Meanwhile, Amy Reeder (Madame Xanadu) has a sleek, romantic style that could be really cool for a series about a jungle king who dresses like a cat.

You've noticed that I dropped the "Black" from the title. I don't think it needs it, but I could be persuaded differently if it helps identify him as a black character. Unlike Falcon, when he's in costume you can't tell just by looking at him.

15. She-Hulk by Peter David and Cameron Stewart



Peter David's an underrated writer these days and his time on She-Hulk was done too soon. He inherited the character at a time when she was just coming off the tragic events of Civil War and World War Hulk and not only did he deal with that, he made her dealing with it an integral part of the story he was telling. He was also vocal though about wanting to eventually move past that to get back to the light-hearted She-Hulk he really wanted to write. The series was cancelled though and he never got the chance. I wanted to read those stories, so I'd bring him back. Artwise, I've been a big fan of Cameron Stewart since I discovered The Apocalipstix and would love to see him draw this.

14. Daredevil and Elektra by Mark Waid and Hub

Like Wolverine, Daredevil's another character I don't have a lot of affection for, but it wouldn't really be Marvel without a series that featured him. I haven't read Mark Waid and Marcos Martin's current run at Daredevil, but I'm not surprised to hear that it's very good. In order to make this interesting for me, I'd keep Waid on it, but turn it into another two-character team-up book by having Elektra co-star. Not that I'm a big Elektra fan either, but the two of them together may be more interesting than either of them separately.

The final push though would come from having Hub (Okko) on art. As great as Martin is, I can't not buy a book by Hub. He's also really excellent at depicting a fantastic version of Southeast Asia that could come in...er, Hand-y (sorry) when doing a book about a couple of ninjas.

13. The Champions by Kurt Busiek and Becky Cloonan



The founding line-up for this short-lived team was Black Widow, Hercules, Ghost Rider, Angel, and Iceman. The Russian superhero Darkstar joined later. I didn't read this as a kid, but discovered it later thanks to my fondness for Black Widow. It's pretty cool that she was leading this team in the '70s. That's not as unique an idea now as it was then, but the line-up of characters is still unexpected and weird, especially having Ghost Rider on board.

Angel and Iceman aren't quite as interesting now as they were when the team debuted either. They were fresh out of the X-Men after the All-New All-Different team sort of pushed them out and they had something to prove. They were looking for a new home and since they were going through it together, they were able to talk about it and compare their new team to their old one. I don't know if I'd use the same two characters today, but maybe someone comparable. Characters who are immediately identifiable as X-Men, but could reasonably feel pushed out of that group for some reason. It sort of needs to be former X-Men because while that's not the most familial group of superheroes Marvel has (that would be the Fantastic Four), it's a big enough family that there are by necessity fringe members. Gambit and Psylocke might be good choices. Maybe Jubilee? Someone who's been central to the team in the past, but isn't anymore. It could be interesting watching them to try to adapt to life outside an X-group.

Anyway, Busiek is a writer who loves to try new things and would be perfect for this. Becky Cloonan has a gorgeous, gritty style that would work well for this street-level team as well.

On Monday, we'll wrap up with the last 12 titles: Marvel Heroes.

Art Show: Coffee and Monsters

Coffee Homeground



By Jason Copland.

The Fantastic Vacations of the Sons of Casseboufigue



By Guy Sabran. [Agence Eureka by way of Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs]