Written by ALEXANDER IRVINE
Pencils & Cover by TOM COKER
Variant Cover by DENNIS CALERO
“LIAR’S POKER,” PART 1
The latest addition to Marvel’s red-hot Noir line offers a unique spin on the Man Without Fear! Prohibition-era Hell's Kitchen is Kingpin territory, and until now, his only problem has been the masked vigilante known as Daredevil. When gangster Orville Halloran arrives on the scene, fresh from a stretch in Sing Sing and eager to stretch his wings, Hell’s about to get hotter. For P.I. Foggy Nelson and his loyal assistant Matt Murdock, it all starts when a desperate woman comes to their office with an irresistible story about her and Halloran. To Foggy, she's a client -- to Murdock, she's enough to make Halloran Daredevil's next target. But Murdock is about to find out that half-truths are poison truths, and that the Kitchen is full of history that will put him on a collision course with both the old Kingpin and the man who wants to replace him.
Date Available: 04/08/2009
BONUS REVIEW by Tom Gronkowski - Chicago
Marvel’s new noir line has been met by a resounding “meh” in my book, and Daredevil is no exception. Daredevil is my favorite Marvel character. So to see his origin retold for the gazillionth time in a deliberately formulaic way is a little disheartening. Lines like “home is a prison I carry in my head,” or “I’d rather save them…but vengeance will do,” turn Matt Murdock into some attempt at a grittier 1930’s Rorschach without any sense of depth or innovation. Combine the heavy-handed attempt at a Frank Miller/Brian Michael Bendis pastiche with boring talking heads, needless frame narration, and plenty of zip-a-tone and voila: Daredevil Noir. Meh.
