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Annotations to Daredevil's Underboss Storyline by JULIAN DARIUS first published online on 25 March 2003

During the publication of Underboss, Bendis (on Newsarama.com) refered to

the mess his [Daredevil's] secret identity has become since the Kingpin got his hands on it 20 years ago. No one ever touched that plot point, and it's a glaring plot point. Not only that half the world kinda knows he's Daredevil, but that the Kingpin and Daredevil are stuck in a battle neither could win. I thought it was time to really smack that situation in the face.

Underboss is noted for its chronological fragmentation: from its start, it jumped from "today" to the events immediately leading up to that point, beginning a week before; additional sequences showed events of the past months that led to the present events. The following table lists, issue by issue, these sequences, along with a description of the plot.

The following is the same table, organized chronologically. None that this organization is partly speculative: while the first two issues are absolutely clear, chronologically, several difficult problems exist in terms of dating the remainder of the storyline. “TODAY” does not so much indicate a day as a present-day narrative, incorporating both Ben Urich hearing the news of the Kingpin's stabbing (27.21) and the publication of the next morning's newspapers with the news (referenced on 29.4). Moreover, the chronological moment marked “TODAY” seems to change by the storyline's end (clearly the case during the Out storyline), so that most of the events of the last issue (#31) are marked as having happened “YESTERDAY”, although they clearly take place after the most recent events marked “TODAY” (Vanessa Fisk is killing the conspirators, which she announced her intent to do at the “TODAY”-marked conclusion of the previous issue). A sequence dated “THREE MONTHS AGO” in #29 probably occurs before a similar sequence in #27. The entirety of #28 lacks a date and its events go unmentioned until #31. A few sequences go undated, most problematically that of 31.1-4, and many sequences that chronologically follow the prior one may take place hours or even a day or so later. The various issues in terms of dating will be discussed, on a case by case basis, in the annotations themselves.

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Alex Maleev's cover to Daredevil (second series) #26, without titles or indicia.

Chapter 1 / Issue #26

This issue was cover-dated December 2001.

Page 1

Here Sammy Silke, a new character, laments the passing of old gangster ways in a super-hero world. (Mr. Silke’s first name would be provided on 27.18.) The theme was also explored in the seminal Batman: The Long Halloween (written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale), which begins in Batman’s first year as -- in accordance with the classic Batman: Year One (written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli) -- Batman’s foes are the long-established gangster element of corrupt Gotham City. In essence, Batman emerges into the world of The Godfather. By the end of the book, the city has become accustomed to insane and exotic criminals -- the likes of the Joker and the Riddler. This same transition is continued in the book’s less impressive sequel, Batman: Dark Victory. In Daredevil’s world, the Kingpin never forsook his gangster ways, although he united his tactics with that of the super-hero world, employing various costumed assassins. But Daredevil’s New York, home to Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, has equally been colonized by crazies with super-powers, by mad science and ninjas, and by all the trappings of the super-hero genre. In his opening page, Bendis announces through Mr. Silke his own intentions to move the title, to which he is new as ongoing writer, away from the super-hero genre and towards the crime genre. The scene thus has resonance both within the narrative and without.

The cover to Daredevil (first series) #168, which featured the first appearance of Elektra.

Page 4: “Ninjas,” used here derisively by Mr. Silke, is a reference to Elektra, the female ninja Frank Miller introduced during his original run on Daredevil, specifically in Daredevil #168, Miller’s first issue as full writer, cover-dated January 1981. During Miller’s run, Elektra was hired as the Kingpin’s bodyguard and assassin.

Page 2-3

The cover to Daredevil (first series) #170, featuring the Kingpin's first appearance in Daredevil.

The Kingpin, the fat man seen here, runs most of the organized crime in New York City. Originally a Spider-Man foe, Frank Miller adopted him as a Daredevil foe in Daredevil #170, cover-dated May 1981, his third issue as full writer. That issue was the first part of a spectacular trilogy in which the Kingpin's wife, Vanessa, is kidnapped in New York City, causing Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, to return from retirement in Japan, where he was trying to live peacefully out of love for her. When Vanessa is apparently killed before Fisk's eyes, his violence reasserts itself and he resumes control of New York's organized crime. His first act is to kill his henchman who lamented his inaction and orchestrated Vanessa's death to achieve precisely this effect. In Daredevil #179, a photograph of Vanessa as a vagabond surfaces, and Daredevil hunts her down in Daredevil #180, cover-dated March 1982, finding her an amnesiac fallen into the hands of a cult living in the tunnels below the city. In perhaps the first case of the strange relationship between Daredevil and the Kingpin, Daredevil returns Vanessa to Wilson Fisk in exchange for him forcing his newly-elected mayoral candidate to resign and confess. In Frank Miller's return to the title in his classic 1986 Born Again storyline (running in Daredevil #227-233), Karen Page, Matt Murdock's old girlfriend, reveals Daredevil's identity, a fact that makes its way to the Kingpin, who orders the deaths of everyone in the chain of information so that only he knows. Karen Page alone seems to escape. The Kingpin responds not b killing Daredevil, but by ruining Matt Murdock's life. A systemically demoralized Murdock, pushed to the edge, confronts the Kingpin and contemplates murdering him, but does not. Following this, a strange relationship between the two becomes the status quo: Daredevil rationalizes that he has not the power to take down the Kingpin, and the Kingpin does not strike at Daredevil or Matt Murdock; the two occasionally exchange information, while never explicitly working together. Most recently, the Kingpin was blinded in the Parts of a Hole storyline, written by David Mack and running through Daredevil #9-11 and 13-15, by Echo, a new female character introduced for that storyline who blinded the Kingpin in revenge for him manipulating her life.

Panel 4: Note that, though we do not know it yet, the Kingpin has been warned by Daredevil (on 29.16) two days prior that there is a traitor in his midst. His reluctance here may not communicate that, however, as he replies more strongly in panel 1 on page 4 and Bendis might not have fully planned the other sequence when he wrote this one.

Page 4

Panel 2: The reference to Julius Caesar is, of course, to Caesar's death at the hands of a conspiracy, famously including Brutus, who stabbed him to death on the floor of the Roman Senate. Besides being the most basic of popular historical references, the assassination was immortalized in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, perhaps the first play performed in the Globe theatre, erected in 1599. There, Julius Caesar largely ignores predictions of his assassination just as the Kingpin may be doing here. Ironically, someone might confront Silke with whether he understands Julius Caesar, who too was revenged. I find it hard to believe that the Kingpin does not catch the reference (especially given his awareness of a cabal in his ranks), though note that the Kingpin does not state that he doesn't get the reference -- Silke merely interprets the Kingpin's silence that way.

Page 5

Page 4: This quotation, which continues on the following two pages, comes not from Shakespeare but from one of Shakespeare's sources, Plutarch's life of Caesar, specifically from the end of what is usually labelled section 66, plus the beginning of section 67. In R. Warner's translation, section 66 concludes:

So it began, and those who were not in the conspiracy were so horror-struck and amazed at what was being done that they were afraid to run away and afraid to come to Caesar's help; they were too afraid even to utter a word. But those who had come prepared for the murder all bared their daggers and hemmed Caesar in on every side. Whichever way he turned he met the blows of daggers and saw the cold steel aimed at his face and at his eyes. So he was driven this way and that, and like a wild beast in the toils, had to suffer from the hands of each one of them; for it had been agreed that they must all take part in the sacrifice and all flesh themselves with his blood. Because of this compact Brutus also gave him one wound in the groin. Some say that Caesar fought back against all the rest, darting this way and that to avoid the blows and crying out for help, but when he saw Brutus had drawn his dagger, he covered his head with his toga and sank down to the ground. Either by chance or because he pushed there by his murderers, against the pedestal on which the statue of Pompeius stood. And the pedestal was drenched with his blood, so that one might have thought that Pompeius himself was presiding over this vengeance upon his enemy, who now lay prostrate at his feet, quivering from a multitude of wounds. He is said to have received twenty-three wounds. And many of his assailants were wounded by each other, as they tried to plant all those blows in one body.

This page will be reproduced, sans word balloons and with new captions, as 30.16.

Page 6

This page will be reproduced, in significantly altered form, as 30.17.

Panel 6: This panel is a cropped magnification of panel 4.

Page 7

This page will be reproduced exactly as 30.18.

Panel 4: Although Silke will later tell the F.B.I., in panel 4 on 32.5 (during the first chapter of the Out storyline), that he participated in the stabbing, here it seems as if he has simply sat and watched. It remains a possibility that Silke, seen smiling and leaning forward perhaps as if stabbing downward in panel 11 on the previous page, stood up to stab the Kingpin and then sat back down in the same place on the couch, though this remains unlikely. His apparent lack of participation in the stabbing undermines the parallel to the murder of Julius Caesar.

Though the narrative will jump back in time with the next page, this present-day narrative will be directly continued on 27.1-2, which depicts the Kingpin, bloody on the floor, the assassins standing over him with bloody knives, and Mr. Silke sitting back, as he is here.

Pages 8-9

Matt Murdock's closing speech here establishes several elements of the storyline: Matt Murdock's love of the law (which will become twisted during the Out storyline), his commitment to social justice (an incarnation of the lawyer as social crusader, as seen in such films as A Civil Action), and his (and Bendis's) rhetorical skill. Interestingly, Underboss starts with endings: the apparent end of the Kingpin's life (really the end of his career) and the end of a long-running court case.

"The Worldwide Corporation": Apparently, this is a proper name. It will later be implied, on 29.6, that this company is silently controlled by Silke's gangster family in Chicago. Although the case has been running for months, this is its first mention in the Daredevil title.

"Underboss": This is the only time over the course of the six-issue storyline, in contrast with the standard practice for most comic books (which lists titles and credits among the story itself), that the title of the storyline appears.

Pages 10

Note that the Worldwide Corporation has used the press to smear the defendants: Matt Murdock will be on the receiving end of the press, although its charges will be true, in the Out storyline.

Panel 4: "The memo" referenced here invokes the convention of the subgenre of socially-conscious corporate trial stories, as well as of some real-life suits against corporate wrongdoing. Our awareness of the conventions of that genre allows Bendis to use "the memo" as shorthand, writing the outline of a narrative of the trial in our mind with few words.

Pages 11

Panel 4: While the idea expressed (or confessed) in the caption here is an obvious implication of Daredevil's powers, it has shockingly rarely been mentioned, presumably due to the moral questions it raises. To push this implication of Daredevil's powers combined with his secret identity's profession, Matt Murdock could read how every word he, opposing council, the judge, or a witness spoke was received by each member of the jury. Obviously, Matt Murdock would rightly face legal sanctions or disbarment if word leaked that he was using his enhanced hearing to give him such an advantage in court -- a point Foggy Nelson will make in a broader sense on 33.19 (during the Out storyline).

Pages 12-13

Panel 3: The question as to whether Matt Murdock will "run for Senate" establishes Matt's popularity prior, and good treatment by the press, prior to his public destruction in the Out storyline.

Panel 6: This man is a super-powered villain named Nitro. (His name will be revealed on 27.11.)

Pages 14-15

Obviously, this explosion is this character's super-power. Note that this action, targeting a civilian lawyer while in a public place among unconnected civilians, may be seen as a terrorist attack (a point Matt's thoughts make in panel 3 on page 19), which acquired a far deeper meaning after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks upon the United States, which occurred not long before this issue was published, though likely after this issue was written.

As the first page establishes the tone Brian Michael Bendis would take on the title, so this unexpected explosion may be seen as symbolic of what he plans to do with the title.

Page 18

Panel 3: "Springsteen" and "Bruce" refer to musician Bruce Springsteen.

Panel 6: Foggy Nelson's support of Matt's super-hero activities here is in stark contrast to the position he will strike in Out, the following storyline. Foggy's use of the word "uniform," as opposed to the more derrogatory "costume," is worth noting.

Page 19

Panel 1: If Daredevil really does have a concussion, it may explain some of his angry behavior, although it is never mentioned again. In the super-hero genre, like much of pulp fiction, characters receive concussions, broken ribs, and get knocked unconscious with alarming frequency. As someone who received a concussion as part of a serious skull fracture, I can testify that these injuries to the head are no light business: I was apparently never unconscious, though I don't remember that I was -- according to witnesses -- stumbling around in my own blood, angrily cursing bystanders before collapsing in my own blood and repeating the pattern. Not the stuff you're likely to see in a super-hero comic, unfortunately. So perhaps we should not read too much into Daredevil's "concussion."

Panel 2: By "me," Daredevil means Matt Murdock. The point is that Matt Murdock was the target, not Daredevil, a problematic development. The use of the first person pronoun for the secret identity, especially to discriminate between that identity and the masked one, indicates self-identification with Matt Murdock and not Daredevil, the latter being an accessory to the first, not vice versa. This is more than a common debate about particular super-heroes, usefully defining their character by indicating which identity is paramount: in Out, the interests of Matt's two identities will be decidedly at odds with one another.

Panel 3: Stick is a proper name, referring to the ninja-influenced man who trained Matt Murdock to use his powers, introduced and then killed off by Frank Miller during his original run on the title.

Page 20

Panel 5: Given Nitro's reaction in the following panel, this child is apparently reacting to Daredevil, not to Nitro, the smoking man beside him.

Page 21

Panels 6-7: Note that the captions, indicating Daredevil's thoughts, indicate a mental jumping not only from subject to subject -- as in descriptions of what one is hearing, for example -- but from category to category: food, music, household sundries, and personal injury, all of which are sensed differently. The sense of discombobulation is thus considerably heightened.

Page 22

Panel 6: Daredevil seems inordinately enraged, even given his sensory overload and his concern about a strike upon his civilian identity that has injured several innocents. This seems somewhat out of character for Daredevil, normally a model of self-control, if not self-mastery. This uncharacteristic rage thus provides an easy cliffhanger, but feels unmotivated and seems a misjudgment in a passage and an issue that otherwise demonstrates a high degree of artistic mastery.

The juxtaposition, in the final panel's background, of "Foggy" with the question Daredevil asks, is thought-provoking. Without making too much of this, it may be seen as sewing unconscious doubt about Foggy's loyalty, which will become a subject in Out.

Though the next issue will start again in the present, this portion of the narrative will be continued beginning on 27.3.

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Alex Maleev's cover to Daredevil (second series) #27, without titles or indicia.

Chapter 2 / Issue #27

This issue was cover-dated January 2002.

Pages 1-2

Although no indication of the timing is given here, this two-page spread take place immediately after page 7 of the previous issue.

The next sequence, chronologically, is the final page (page 21) of this issue, in which Ben Urich gets a call telling him of the Kingpin's death.

Pages 3-4

This section begins immediately after, if not simultaneous with or a little before, the end of the previous issue.

The super-heroes and super-villains mentioned here -- including The Scorpion, Captain America, Spider-Man, and The Scarlet Witch -- are all real Marvel characters.

The argument between the cops demonstrates Bendis's preference for the real-world implications of super-heroics, also seen in Powers, which he also wrote. The idea is that, in a world with super-heroes, cops would have such conversations. Note, however, that the legality and ambiguities of Daredevil's actions is thematically important, as this theme will resonate with those of Out. Also note that Daredevil's own violent thoughts, in panel 3 of 29.11, support the rookie cop's argument on this and the following page.

Page 6

Panel 1: Daredevil's words here are the same that he spoke in the last panel of the previous issue. The image is almost identical, though note that here Daredevil has his bully club in his hand, which he did not in the last panel of the previous issue.

Pages 7-8

Panel 2: The elder cop's severe treatment of the younger one demonstrates Daredevil's privilege. As noted in the policemen's earlier conversation, this status is higher than some super-heroes, such as Spider-Man. Daredevil's privilege will be an issue in Out.

Pages 9-10

Panel 2: The younger cop has seriously fucked up. His shooting, even if Daredevil were treated like anyone else, is utterly illegal: police are not allowed to shoot someone unless that person poses a present threat to others, and presumably Daredevil is not presently beating Nitro, even if he seemed to be doing so as the police arrived. Moreover, as seen in this panel, the younger cop has managed to shoot a man on the ground who, as far as the police knew, posed no danger. Note that it is unclear whether the shot that hit Nitro was a second shot, given that we see in the preceding panel the first shot missing entirely but no additional sound effect of a gun going off is offered.

Panel 6: "Cherry" means the same as "rookie" or "newbie" (which has a technical or internet resonance) or "green" (which has a military resonance). The term "cherry" as meaning "rookie" derives, however, from the same word as meaning a girl's hymen. The term is uniquely sexual and derrogatory as applied to a man. The meaning is that the rookie is a girlish virgin to the real experience of cops on the streets.

Page 11

Panel 2: Exactly how Matt has learned that the villain called himself Nitro remains unexplained, especially given that this scene seems to occur not long after Daredevil's flight from the police. Perhaps he overheard it with his enhanced hearing: as Matt attests in panel 4, Nitro was moved to the same hospital, though he is unconscious.

Panel 3: Foggy's mocking of the name "Nitro" will be echoed by Ben Urich's mocking of the name "Boomerang" on 31.5-6. This is more than another case of Bendis criticizing the super-hero genre through his Daredevil characters, in line with his transformation of Daredevil into a crime title. Such comments are linked to the revisionist movement of super-heroics (of which Watchmen is probably the quintessential text), which deconstructed the super-hero genre and was inaugurated in the 1980s and popularized in the middle of that decade; such movements had been challenged in the years prior to Bendis taking over Daredevil, in which the reconstructionist movement was inaugurated by Marvels. From the stance of the reconstructionists, such comments by Foggy and Urich are apologistic.

Panel 4: The term "work-for-hire" is ironic, given that it is used to designate that work which is produced by creators under contract for comic book companies, typically using established characters, and thus owned by those companies. Bendis and Maleev both produced Daredevil for Marvel as work-for-hire, meaning that they have no share of the ownership or the copyright. Polemics against the exploitation that often went and still goes along with work-for-hire proliferated from the late 1970s, when a controversy began over Marvel's refusal to return Jack Kirby's original artwork, to the present. Although Bendis has expressed that he is fine with the terms of work-for-hire contracts, knowing full well those terms before he began writing for Todd McFarlane at Image Comics and then writing a number of books for Marvel, Bendis began his career as an independent, writing and drawing his own comics, which he owned. The application of the term to super-villains, designating the equivalent of rent-a-cops, thus has a special resonance.

Panel 7: The power of lawyers, as opposed to super-heroes, resonates deeply with Out.

Page 12

Panel 5: Matt's claim that "not that many people know" will later be demolished, without prompting, by the insightful Ben Urich on 30.4. Bendis knew full well the ridiculousness of Matt's claim here.

Page 13

Panel 3: Matt here begins to get at the strange relationship that has existed between him and the Kingpin following the Born Again storyline.

Panel 7: Matt obviously hears Foggy's mother approach with his enhanced hearing.

Page 14

Panel 2: By all rights, Matt should be in a hospital bed. After all, he self-diagnosed on 26.19 that he had a concussion and cracked ribs. The complaints heard here by Foggy's mother might equally be echoed by the reader. Note the cigarettes, lipstick, and what looks to be a cellphone falling out of her purse, a great illustration of her energy at the moment.

Panel 6: This patient probably is the "lady reporter down the hall" to whom Matt referred in the first panel of page 12.

Pages 15-16

Panels 1-4: The Kingpin's dialogue demonstrates both his blindness and his impotence. His command to "stop it!" goes unheeded, and he gives up commanding the action in order to ask "what's going on?" -- which he cannot tell because he is blind.

Panel 5: The Kingpin recognizes Matt Murdock's voice.

Panel 6: Matt observes that the Kingpin is calmed and glad to hear Matt's voice, a remarkable demonstration of the two's strange relationship. This may actually be seen as a poignant commentary on the Kingpin's state: recently trapped in a world without sight, his old enemy and sometimes ally, with whom he seems to identify more than his own men, actually soothes him.

Page 17

Panel 2: Despite their closeness, the Kingpin has always treated Matt with a strong voice. His bravado about being able to hit Matt Murdock is not necessarily true, however, given his long history of mixed success in his various maneuvers, cited by Silke on 26.3.

Panel 3: Daredevil's identification of Mr. Silke as standing out makes perfect sense, given Daredevil's powers, but also provides a level of irony: had he pursued this oddity, all of what happened to Matt Murdock subsequently might have been prevented.

Panel 6: Silke's wisecrack accords with his disdain for super-heroes, as expressed on the very first page of the storyline. Daredevil's violent response, however, does not contribute to Silke's ordering of a hit on Matt Murdock, which he did about three weeks prior to this event.

The next sequence, chronologically, may initially seem to be the entirety of the following issue (see notes to that issue) but is likely, in actuality, that of 29.9-16. In that sequence, occurring about five days later, Daredevil (who has discovered that the Kingpin was not responsible) interrogates various goons who tell him that the hit on Matt Murdock was ordered by the Kingpin, leading Daredevil to visit the Kingpin for a second time on 29.14-16.

Page 18

This is the first sequence in the storyline to occur in the months prior to the current events. It actually likely occurs following the sequence on 29.5-8, similarly dated "three months ago," in which Silke is first introduced to the Kingpin.

Panel 1: Although Silke will later be consistently stated as coming from a Chicago crime family, here he is introduced as being from New Jersey.

Panel 5: Again Silke displays his disdain for super-heroes, separated from his similar comments on the page prior by both one page and three months.

Page 19

Panel 1: Turk was a fairly low-level goombah repeatedly used as an informant by Daredevil during Frank Miller's original run on the title. Turk seemed to know everything yet participate in almost nothing, and he thus provided a convenient plot device -- as well as reliable comic relief: Turk would resist providing information, and Daredevil would throw him through a window. This happenned so often that the proprietors of the bar Turk frequented would complain about the cost of repeatedly repairing the window even prior to Daredevil throwing Turk through it. Turk would later appear on 47.19, during the Hardcore storyline.

Panel 3: Here Silke establishes that he knew Richard Fisk as a child. A flashback of their observation of their parents committing murder will be given on 30.9-10.

Panel 4: Here Silke passes off his fall from grace as over a dame, but we need not believe him. The story of Silke's past error(s) is similarly hinted at in panel 3 on 29.8 and will be the cause of Silke's father not helping him on 31.20. We may safely assume that, if it did involve a woman, Silke's bad behavior involved more than falling in love.

Page 20

Panel 4: The "Noooooo..." is sarcastic and implies that Richard Fisk is always "sauced," for which there is a lot of evidence.

Panel 5: "Frank Sinatra Jr." is a bad joke. Sinatra was a popular singer known for his mob sponsorship; the popular singer who arrives at the wedding in the beginning of The Godfather was loosely based on Sinatra. Besides the mob connection, the joke is solely a reference to being the son of a famous man, out of whose shadow one could never get out.

Panel 6: Here, Silke himself identifies himself as being from Jersey, as one of the men did two pages ago.

The next sequence, chronologically, is 29.17-20, which occurs a month later and has a similar scene of the Kingpin's men together, concluding with Richard Fisk calling Silke over to talk.

Page 21

Ben Urich, seen here for the first time in the storyline, is a consommate reporter working for The Daily Bugle. He has been featured in both Daredevil and the Spider-Man titles. In the issues just prior to Frank Miller's taking over as writer, Ben Urich figured out Daredevil's identity but, in conversation with Daredevil, agreed to keep it a secret in the public interest although doing so went against his journalistic principles.

Panel 1: What Ben Urich is saying before his interlocutor hangs up is "the island of Genosha," run by the super-villain main foe of the X-Men, Magneto. Genosa was devastated and Magneto killed in a then-recent storyline entitled E is for Extinction, running in writer Grant Morrison's first three issues of New X-Men (which had been retitled from X-Men for his arrival on the title), #114-116; #114 carried a July 2001 cover-date.

Panel 2: We are not told who is on the phone here with Urich, but Waldo Dini (in panel 2 of 29.4) says that he had the story leaked of the Kingpin's death, and the F.B.I. states (in panel 4 of 32.9) that "Mr. Dini himself" called The Daily Bugle to leak the news. We may thus assume that Urich's interlocutor here is none other than Waldo Dini, first seen in Underboss in 29.3-4.

The next sequence, chronologically, is 29.1-4, in which the Kingpin's wife Vanessa hears the news. (See the notes to the following issue for why that is probably not the next sequence).

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Alex Maleev's cover to Daredevil (second series) #28, without titles or indicia.

Chapter 3 / Issue #28

This issue, cover-dated February 2002 and published in December 2001, was part of Marvel's "'Nuff Said" month of silent issues. The choice to make this issue silent was thus not the creator's but the publisher's, part of a nearly company-wide event. As part of Marvel's "'Nuff Said" month, every silent issue had the beginning of the script for that issue published in the back of the book, with the full script available online on Marvel's website; this issue was no exception.

This issue is the only one to consist of a single, unbroken sequence. No date is given, and the dating of the events in this issue is quite open to question. They would seem to occur "one week ago," presumably not long after Nitro's attempted assassination of Matt Murdock. But no reference to these events, including while Daredevil hunts for information, appears until 31.5, dated "yesterday." There, Daredevil shares the photograph taken from Boomerang in this issue with Ben Urich, implying that the events of this issue were recent. Although marked "yesterday," that conversation with Ben Urich almost undoubtedly should be marked "today." (See the annotations to that issue for more information.) Consequently, the events in this issue might better be considered to have happenned during the narrative of events marked "today." Moreover, because Daredevil similarly talks to Ben Urich, on 30.1-4, and makes no reference to this issue despite that that sequence is marked "today," we may speculate that this issue not only takes place "today" but between the "today" segments in issue #30 or between those segments and the bulk of #31, since it makes little sense that Daredevil would not bring up the events of this issue in one meeting with Ben Urich only to approach him about them in a later meeting. I have chosen to place it in the present-day narrative between #30 and #31, thereby not breaking up the "today" sequences of #30 and leading directly into Daredevil's conversation with Ben Urich about the photograph recovered here.

The cover of this issue was reused both for the cover of the Daredevil: Underboss trade paperback, but as the front cover to the hardcover Daredevil Vol. 2 (which collected both Underboss and Out). An early sketch of this cover can be seen in sketchbook section in the back of the Daredevil Vol. 2 hardcover.

Pages 3-4

The note was left by Elektra in Elektra (third series) #6, also written by Brian Michael Bendis and participating in Marvel's "Nuff Said" month of silent issues. (That issue had art by Chuck Austen and a cover by Greg Horn; the same team had collaborated on the first five issues of that title, though #6 was Bendis's last.) Elektra's "Try not to die!" seems particularly callous, given that she took the time to write and to leave the note, as well as the love they share or shared, though this callous attitude, while a bit too obvious, may be read as a symptom of their estranged relationship.

Pages 5-6

Panel 1: The red overlay and the engraving-like quality of this image are meant to represent Matt Murdock's radar, which substitutes for vision, giving us a panel from his point of view.

Panel 2: The image is that of Karen Page, Matt's former girlfriend.

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The death of Karen Page as it originally occurred in Daredevil (second series) #5.

Panel 4: The image is a flashback to Karen Page's death, at the hands of Bullseye, in Daredevil (second series) #5 (written by Kevin Smith).

Panel 6: Ending the first, two-page-wide tier, this image is of Bullseye, who killed both Karen Page and Elektra, both past love interests for Matt. Elektra was, of course, resurrected through a ninja process.

Panel 8: An image of Elektra, fairly domestic given that she is wearing the outfit she (ridiculously, though strikingly) wears for combat.

Panels 9 and 14: Close-ups on Bullseye's head.

Panel 10: The recently-deceased Karen Page.

Panel 12: Matt holding Elektra as she dies on his doorstep, having been fatally wounded by Bullseye with her own sai. This originally occurred in Daredevil (first series) #181, written by Frank Miller.

Page 7

Panel 3: Another panel from Matt's point of view, representing his noticing of a sword left there, like the note, in Elektra (third series) #6.

Panels 6-10: Matt seems to be feeling, with his elevated senses, the heat of the laser sight on his forehead. Note that the separation of panels 6-7, though together they form the same image, was a device popularized by Frank Miller in the mid-1980s.

Page 8

Panel 1: Having spotted his would-be assassin, Matt has apparently put on his Daredevil outfit and thrown his bully club, here hitting that would-be assassin.

Panel 7: From the assassin's limited point of view as he looks through his scope, Daredevil's foot suddenly comes into view.

Page 9

Panel 1: The rifle appears large because it has been thrown, dramatically, towards the "camera." Notice how stunningly well and beautifully every element here has been rendered, including the background.

Page 11

Panel 1: The would-be assassin apparently has kept two handguns in reserve.

Panel 3: Again notice what stunning detail is given to the guns in flight and the background of the city. Compare this to the equally stunning, but somewhat less realistically rendered, images of human figures. This division is common to much of manga, or Japanese comics, which often feature astoundingly realistic cityscapes populated by big-eyed exaggerated human figures -- though note, of course, that this is a gross generalization that cannot accurately describe the diverse and copious output of an entire nation.

Page 12

Panel 3: The image of the knife in flight, like the guns earlier, all but fetishizes the weapon.

Page 14

Panel 3-4: Note how, in a silent issue which by definition cannot have word balloons, Bendis provides the information that would otherwise be given through the would-be assassin's confession through a photograph and a written note.

Page 15

Panel 1: The villain standing here, and in close-up in subsequent panels on this page, is Boomerang. Daredevil will provide this information in conversation with Ben Urich on 31.5. Urich will (appropriately enough) mock the villain's name.

Panel 5: Another panel from Matt's point of view, showing his apprehension of the villain's weaponry and thus that he is a villain, as opposed to, say, a bizarre onlooker.

Panel 8: Boomerang's eyes here seem wide, as if surprised. Whatever his orders, Boomerang seems to be stricken by fear, apparently in response to Daredevil's anger. Thus, Boomerang flees on the following page.

Page 18

Panel 5: Boomerang, like the sniper, has a photo of Matt Murdock. Boomerang's photo will be shared with Ben Urich on 30.5, where Daredevil's observation that it smells of pool chalk will lead to the man who hired the assassins.

Page 19

Panel 1: Note the blind black person in the center. Presumably, this person has not been gifted with super-powers.

Panel 3: Daredevil's pointing in this panel, while the police take Boomerang away, seems to indicate a threat delivered to the criminal, especially given that the cop next to him is gesturing to symbolically restrain Daredevil, telling him to calm down.

Panel 5: The man in the hat with the target on his forehead is Bullseye, seen in Matt's memory earlier.

Page 20

Panel 1: In this large panel, Bullseye has an envelope sticking out of his trenchcoat pocket. Boomerang's photo of Matt Murdock, on page 18, was in a similar envelope in a pocket. The implication, made solely by visual rhetoric, is that Bullseye has heard the news of a hit on Matt Murdock. This is quite serious, as Bullseye is far more deadly than these run-of-the-mill snipers and super-villains -- not to mention the history of the two characters. The image is decidedly ominous.

Page 21

In conversation with the police, Daredevil seems to hear something with his enhanced senses that causes him to think, perhaps half-consciously, of Bullseye, but as he looks around he cannot find anything, Bullseye having already walked off into the crowds. Despite this foreshadowing, Bullseye would not reappear in this storyline, nor the one after. His next appearance would be in the Kevin Smith-scripted Daredevil: The Target #1 (a.k.a. Daredevil / Bullseye: The Target #1), cover-dated January 2003; Bullseye would not reappear in the pages of Daredevil until the conclusion of issue 48 (during the Hardcore storyline). Nonetheless, his appearance here underscores the potential danger of the hit ordered on Matt Murdock, as well as Matt's psychological instability based upon his loss of both Elektra and Karen Page.

The next sequence, chronologically, most logically (as per the explanation at the beginning of this issue's annotations) begins on 31.5.

Larger Version Available

Alex Maleev's cover to Daredevil (second series) #29, without titles or indicia.

Chapter 4 / Issue #29

This issue was cover-dated March 2002.

The cover, with its seemingly elongated Daredevil dangling without purpose over the city, seems a relatively poor entry in a string of quite good covers by Alex Maleev.

Page 1

This sequence takes place following the final page of issue #27, in which Ben Urich heard the news. It is possible that Vanessa, in Switzerland, hears the news before Ben Urich, in New York, as both have connections that might well cause them to get the news before it publically breaks -- but the second half of this sequence must occur following Ben Urich hearing the news, since it is already the next day, with newspapers carrying the story. Note that this fact supports the idea of the date "today" as an elastic designation, embracing both people hearing the news the night before and the following day, in which a new batch of newspapers have been printed.

Panel 6: This messenger does not say, following this panel, that the Kingpin is dead. As her reaction, at the top of page 4, to newspapers announcing the Kingpin's death indicates, this messenger merely tells her that her husband has been severely wounded and lays near death. While this is more accurate, it might undermine our perception of her shock if we read it.

Page 2

This spectacular sequence, showing Vanessa travelling by juxtaposing her unchanging image to a changing background, has been done in cinema to great effect. Her lack of change throughout her journey demonstrates her emotional shock, as does the more impressive fact that we do not hear the devastating news that spurs her journey.

The flight she takes, according to the F.B.I. on panel 2 of 32.9, was "Swiss American flight 435."

Page 3

Panel 1: It is unclear just how the Kingpin was transferred from his office where he was stabbed to the home of Dr. Rogan, the Kingpin's personal physician (identified as such in panel 3 on the next page). The F.B.I. will, on 32.9, state that "the Kingpin's consigliere Waldo Dini returned from a business trip and found the Kingpin before any of the staff had."

Page 4

Panel 1: LaGuardia is one of New York City's two major international airports (the other being J.F.K.).

Panel 2: The F.B.I. (in panel 4 of 32.9) confirms that Dini put out the story of the Kingpin's death; specifically, it says that Dini did so through a call to The Daily Bugle. Presumably, this was the call Ben Urich received on the final page of #27.

Panel 4: In the convention of comic book creators' names being used in the narratives themselves, Dini is probably named after Paul Dini, occasional comic book writer and known for his work on the 1990s Batman animated series, celebrated for its writing and artistic style. Waldo Dini is seen with the Kingpin in the flashback that follows, identified in panel 7 of page 6, and is identified in panel 1 of 32.9 as "the Kingpin's consigliere."

The next sequence, chronologically, is the final page (page 21) of this issue, in which Vanessa ascertains that her son was involved in the stabbing.

Page 5

This sequence occurs prior to the one similarly dated as occurring "three months ago" that appeared earlier on 27.18-20, which had Silke being introduced to the Kingpin's men. The reason for this is that this sequence seems to show Silke's first arrival at the Kingpin's camp, where it makes sense, given that the Kingpin has personally accepted Silke into his camp, that Silke would meet the Kingpin before being integrated with the Kingpin's men.

Panel 1: The Kingpin's first words symbolically answer Vanessa's question at the bottom of the previous page. The separation between temporal segments of the narrative is preserved, avoiding the somewhat awkward use of captions continuing from or into one segment to or from the next (the comic book equivalent of the audio track beginning in one scene and continuing into the next or concluding in the scene following the one in which it started), yet the same pleasing effect is achieved. Note also how kindly the Kingpin greets Silke, in contrast to Silke's ungrateful attitude and the Kingpin's response to the same later in this scene.

Panel 2: "Salut" is Italian, used for both hello and goodbye, and has been adopted into French. Silke's Chicago-based crime family will later (in 32.4, panel 4, during Out) be identified as "the Chicago Ripa family."

Panel 5: The Kingpin's ambiguous response betrays his knowledge of Silke's checkered past.

Page 6

Panel 2: Silke has already insulted the Kingpin, suggesting that he might need help -- which would not have occurred prior to the Kingpin's blinding.

Panel 7: The implication is that Silke's "company my father has a silent but controlling interest in" is the Worldwide Corporation that Matt Murdock won a verdict against in court, in a sequence occuring months later, in 26.

Page 7

Panel 4: The Kingpin's responce is in line with his relationship with Daredevil following the Born Again storyline. (See the notes to the Kingpin's first appearance on pages 2-3 of issue #26.) The Kingpin knows Daredevil's identity, but seems to protect him out of a combination of grudging respect and sustained power over the vigilante.

Page 8

Panel 1: The "old friend" is Mr. Silke's father. The Kingpin's criminally working with Silke's father is briefly shown on 30.9-10.

Panel 3: The Kingpin makes reference of Silke's checkered past in terms of his competence at gangsterism. In panel 4 of 27.19, Silke previously in the storyline (though slightly after, chronologically) passed his gaff off as being over a woman.

The next sequence, chronologically, is 27.18-20, although it appears earlier in the storyline.

Pages 9-10

This sequence, dated "two days ago," probably occurs following not the events of the previous issue (no reference to those events is made here) but five days after the events of 27.3-17, in which Daredevel reacts to Nitro's attack by visiting the Kingpin, based on Foggy Nelson's suspicions. Thus this sequence illustrates Daredevil's response to the Kingpin not being responsible: investigating the attack on the ground, rather than through Foggy Nelson's speculations.

Panel 1: Is it just me, or is the bartender a little formally dressed for a middle-class pub filled with criminals to interrogate and who can be roughed up on the premises with impugnity?

Page 11

Panel 2: The pubgoers look particularly middle-class and innocent here. Can anyone imagine that these people are hardened criminals? The subtle implication here is that Daredevil has gone so over the top as to menace innocent bar-goers in a normal bar. This is actually a very clever point, not only adding to the depiction of Daredevil's growing inordinate anger but illustrating that, when Daredevil and other vigilantes do this sort of thing, surely not all bar-goers are criminal types and not all bars are havens for down-and-out criminals.

Panel 3: Daredevil's thoughts, expressed in captions, actually provide evidence for those concerned about the public dangers of super-heroes' secret identities. The idea that "I'm just a guy in a suit" is exactly what the rookie cop, who demanded Daredevil's surrender and shot at him, expressed in #27.

Page 13

Panels 2 and 4: The speed effect here is meant to indicate that Daredevil is horizontally shaking the man.

Panel 6: The third party is Falzone, who we will see Silke and Richard Fisk hiring on 30.20, who Ben Urich will tip Daredevil off to on 31.6-7, and who Daredevil will find dead on 31.9.

Page 14

This is the second time Daredevil has visited the Kingpin since Nitro attacked Matt Murdock. The first time occurred on 27.15-17.

Panel 2: The Kingpin's shock -- which he admits in panel 5 -- dramatically depicts his impotence. Sighted, none would have surprised him. It is exactly this demonstrable inability, here applicable to criminal management, that spurs the coup against him.

Panel 4: Note that, beginning here and throughout this sequence with the Kingpin, Daredevil hides in shadows and can barely be seen. We, as readers, thus feel something of how the Kingpin, blind, feels while encountering this familiar voice in the dark.

Page 15

Panel 1: Note that, in private, the Kingpin refers to Daredevil as "Matthew" and (in panel 3 on the next page) Daredevil refers to the Kingpin as "Wilson," thus establishing their intimacy.

Page 16

Panel 2: Daredevil's words prove prophetic, as the Kingpin will be stabbed just two days later.

Panel 4: The Kingpin's offer to work together with Daredevil, presumably to rid Matt Murdock of his assassins and to rid the Kingpin of the cabal in his ranks, is not without precident in the title, as previous mentioned. Ironically, had Daredevil agreed, or even contemplated the possibility (if he is even still in the room), both men would have avoided destruction.

Panel 5: The image of the Kingpin here is ultimately pathetic: a blind man, unassisted, unable to tell if his unhelpful interlocutor has left, yet surrounded by the luxury of his former power.

The next sequence, chronologically, is that of 26.1-7, the stabbing of the Kingpin.

Pages 17-18

This sequence occurs one month following Silke's arrival at the Kingpin's camp and his integration with the Kingpin's men, as seen on pages 5-8 of this issue and on 27.18-20, respectively.

Mr. Silke's story here, and his interpretation, is a variation of the carpe diem (or "seize the day") argument used in a million or so seduction poems (as well as Dead Poet Society). Here it is adapted to gangsters and includes waiting for one's moment.

Page 19

Panel 1: Silke asked the Kingpin to hit Matt Murdock a month prior, in panel 7 on page 6 of this issue.

Panel 5: Richard Fisk's invitation to Silke is in smaller lettering, signalling that it is whispered or said in a softer voice. The silent panels that follow indicate just how rare it is for Richard Fisk to speak, rather than just drink himself into a stupor, at such gatherings.

Page 20

Panel 1: Silke's snide comment about how Richard Fisk hasn't been talking to him implies that Richard Fisk has been sitting silent in the same room with Silke, ignoring any request by Silke to talk (as he did on 27.20), for the past month.

Panel 2: Richard Fisk pats the stool next to him, a friendly gesture. Richard Fisk's invitation to speak is remarkably well-timed: he has just heard Silke make a carpe diem argument as well as inquire about Matt Murdock. Richard Fisk thus will use Silke's own carpe diem argument against him, providing Silke with exactly one of those golden moments of opportunity for which he has been searching.

Panel 4: Richard Fisk is here colored as if he were part of the background, providing some of the feel of a cinematic fade-out for the transition back to the present in the page's final panel. This shading also suggests the ghostly nature of the drunken Richard Fisk, who has been listening as if part of the background.

The next sequence laying the background of Silke's betrayal occurs on 30.5-8, which implicitly begins at the end of the conversation that Silke and Richard Fisk are about to have here.

Page 21

Panels 3-4: These two panels are a single image split by a panel border; as she speaks, Vanessa is looking towards her husband and away from her interlocutor.

Panel 6: A powerful moment, as Vanessa, who has been a wonderful character since Frank Miller's days on the title, achieves tragic consciousness.

The next sequence, chronologically, is probably that of 31.1-4, in which Silke and his crew celebrate their victory and lay plans. (See notes to that sequence for the reasons for this dating.) Though speculative, this dating has the benefit of jumping from Vanessa's reference to her son to a scene not only featuring her son but in which her son shows some drunken sadness about his father's death.

Alex Maleev's cover to Daredevil (second series) #30.

Chapter 5 / Issue #30

This issue was cover-dated April 2002.

Page 1

This four-page sequence probably occurs following that of 31.1-4 (in which Silke and the conspirators celebrate) -- rather than 29.21 (featuring Vanessa ascertaining her son's involvement), the last page dated "today". (See the notes for 31.1-4 for an explanation of its insertion between 29.21 and this scene.)

Panel 4: Daredevil's politically correct, if not fascistic, attitude towards smoking is not only in line with his enhanced sense of smell but with popular anti-smoking sentiment in the U.S., increasingly rendering all public places, including New York City bars and streets remotely near doors, non-smoking. Daredevil's intervention in Ben Urich's personal choice to smoke may be seen as a further example of the vigilante's growing tension.

Panel 5: Here the "camera" angle of the panel produces ironic resonance with the dialogue: as the cigarette falls downward towards the viewer, Daredevil says refers to "something" unknown "on the floor."

Page 2

Panel 1: Note that it is still light outside, indicating it is just recently night when Daredevil and Ben Urich meet "three hours" later.

Page 3

Panels 3-4: This is the second piece of private property that Daredevil has stolen from his friend and destroyed.

Panel 7: Urich has it figured out, both here in his apprehension that the Kingpin's blindness played a part and in his apprehension (given at the top of the next page) that the main motivation was more politic.

Page 4

Panel 2: Here Urich is pulling away from Daredevil's attempt to steal his cigarette for the third time.

Panel 3: Again, Urich has it figured out.

Panel 5: Note that the cigarette is gone from Urich's mouth, taken by Daredevil between this panel and panel 3. This is the cigarette falling in panel 8.

Panel 7: Ben Urich's unprovoked demolishing of the notion that Daredevil's secret identity is secure is not only insightful -- and a welcome correction in the title -- but in utter contrast to Matt's own assumptions, as he stated to Foggy Nelson in the hospital on 27.12. The strength of this demolition is enhanced by his great insightfulness throughout this sequence.

The next scene, chronologically, is probably the last page (page 21) of this issue -- unless the whole of #28 artificially splits the two "today" sections in this issue. (See notes to #28 on dating that issue.)

Page 5

This sequence chronologically follows that on 29.17-20, which concluded with Richard Fisk inviting Silke over to talk. Implicitly, this is the result of that conversation, perhaps occuring a few seconds or a few minutes after that sequence.

Page 7

Panel 1: The idea that the Kingpin's men have heard Daredevil's identity is unique to Bendis: it has no precedent in the title. This is one of Bendis's smartest innovations in the title -- it makes perfect sense. As Urich put it in panels 8 and 9 on page 4, "people talk."

Panel 4: It is, of course, insane. This can be read not only as a commentary on the characters in the narrative but on the succession of writers who have followed Frank Miller in his Born Again storyline -- writers who generally avoided the long-term implications that storyline generated.

Page 8

Panel 3: Note that Dini is a part of the Kingpin's immediate retinue, not a member of the men who would conspire together. The casual, inconsiderate way the Kingpin treats his men, making them wait for two hours only to cancel the meeting, serves to further provoke Silke's feeling that something is wrong with the way the Kingpin is running things.

Panel 7: This panel ends this sequence, although this may not be immediately apparent from the captions on the following two pages.

Pages 9-10

Upon first reading, the captions on page 10 may seem like a continuation of the previous scene. In fact, they begin the following scene, beginning on page 11 and occurring one month after the sequence just concluded. The sequence starting here and running to page 19, prefaced by the sequence just finished and followed by a one-page sequence occuring a little later, is particularly noteworthy for its multiple flashbacks of different sorts, of which these two pages are only the first.

Chronologically, this two-page visual flashback depicts the earlest events in a storyline known for its temporal jumping. The theme of a gangster's child witnessing his father's murderous crimes, and thus finding out what his father did for a living, was crucial to Road to Perdition, the graphic novel written by Max Allan Collins that provided the basis for the 2002 film (directed by Sam Mendes, starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman) of the same title -- although, it should be noted, that boy's father was far more sympathetic, and concerned for his son, than the Kingpin.

Page 11-12

Consuming most of these two pages are various images of the Kingpin's capacity for violence, thus visually answering the question, "What are you guys afraid of?" Note, however, that all of these violent acts were perpetrated while the Kingpin still had sight and stand in sharp contrast to the impotent, if not pathetic, depiction of the Kingpin at present.

Page 13

Panel 1: The idea of "made men" is that certain mobsters, usually required to have the ethnicity of the mob's leaders (stereotypically Italian), have been granted an elite status within the mob, granting them additional rights. (The movie Goodfellas illustrates this well.)

Panel 2: Silke lumps the Kingpin in with super-villains, who he has derrogated, rather than criminals. The difference is one of literary genre as much as a character's disposition, and the comment ties directly to Silke's opening statements in issue #26. Strictly speaking, the Kingpin was a character created as a super-villain for Spider-Man who became, in Daredevil, a criminal.

Page 14

Panels 5-7: These images, of the Kingpin abusing Richard in childhood, constitute a flashback within a flashback of sorts and are noteworthy for not receiving their own page and date, unlike pages 9-10 (which similarly depict Richard's childhood).

Page 15

Panel 5: "Points" refers to percentage points of revenue generated paid to the Kingpin. The same term applies to Hollywood contracts.

Page 16

The art for this page is exactly that of the art for 26.5, although the original word balloons (only in the last panel) have been removed and the added captions continue the conversation from 30.15. This has the effect of rendering what is a "hypothetical" (30.15, panel 1) conversation achingly real.

Panel 3: Note that Silke's appeal is really economic. No appeal to honor or justice is really being made, despite the trappings of the same.

Panel 4: Twelve-step programs, pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, are designed for recovery from chronic behavior -- in this case a mobster's version of codependency. Mobsters undergoing psychological analysis was a popular innovation made by the comic film Analise This (starring Robert DeNiro, a mainstay of more serious mob films) and the cable television series The Sopranos.

Page 17

The art for this page comes from 26.6, but is not identical: 26.6 has many more panels, depicting various elements of the stabbing. The same effect, of rendering manifest a hypothetical conversation, continues here.

Panels 1-3: This tier of three panels is comprised of magnifications of three panels from the four-panel tier at the top of 26.6. Panel 1 here is magnification of panel 1 on 26.6, panel 2 here is a magnification of panel 3 there, and panel 3 is a magnification of panel 2 there.

Panel 3: "A guy dressed up as a goblin" is a reference to the Green Goblin, perhaps Spider-Man's arch-foe, who has gone through multiple incarnations. The comment is another derrogatory one towards super-villains by Silke. "Some epic game of wits" is a similar attack upon the genre, like a James Bond villain stating that he has no inclination to explain his plans before executing them.

Panel 4: This panel is a cropped magnification of panel 5 of 26.6, which also comprised a full tier but which extended considerably to the left (entirely black) and slightly to the right (entirely background). Notably, this panel has been altered: the red flecks on the Kingpin's form (here considerably reduced by the cropping) have been added.

Panels 5-7: These panels are similarly comprised of magnifications of panels on 26.6, which followed the tier-long panel with two tiers of four panels. Panel 5 here is a magnification of panel 4 on 26.6, the final panel of the four-panel tier, the rest of which was reproduced for the first tier on this page; this panel was reproduced on 26.6 itself, cropped to create panel 6 there. Panel 6 here is a magnification of panel 9 on 26.6, which there concluded the second four-panel tier (the first after the tier-wide panel). Panel 7 here is a magnification of panel 10 on 26.6, which there began the last four-panel tier. Panels 7-8 and 11-13 from 26.6 are not reproduced here.

Panel 6: As previously mentioned, Silke's appeal is decidedly not to "honor." Silke's rhetoric cleverly conflates this with masculine identity, asserted on its own in the following panel. The listeners may indeed be male in the sense that they dare, but this daring is uniquely not for the male value of honor.

Page 18

This page an exact duplicate of 26.7, including the word balloon. Thus, the images, a flashback for us as readers but a flash-forward chronologically, seems to become for a page the main narrative, thus emphasizing the weight of the events depicted, the chronological centrality of the Kingpin's attempted assassination.

Page 19

Panel 7: The idea of putting out the word is exactly what will be done on the following page. This need not be said here explicity because of the juxtaposition of the two scenes.

Page 20

Panel 1: Laying over this panel is the photo of Matt Murdock recovered from both Boomerang and the black sniper in #28.

Panel 2: Richard Fisk's insistence that the assassin be "colorful" -- i.e. a super-villain -- goes against Silke's many derrogatory statements against super-villains. It makes sense, however, in the sense that Falzone is known for hiring such characters, according to Ben Urich on 31.6.

Panel 2: Falzone ironically expresses family values, if not honor, in his stated feeling that "it's nice to see you [Richard Fisk] and the old man getting along so well."

Panel 4: "The word," to Falzone, means word of the hit but to Silke and Richard Fisk it means "the word" of the last panel on the previous page -- that the Kingpin's "era is over."

The events depicted here conclude the backgrounding of Silke's coup and lead to the hit on Matt Murdock performed by Nitro some three weeks later in issue #26.

Page 21

Panel 4: Switzerland is where Vanessa has just came from, as seen on 19.1. As seen on 29.4 and 29.21, moving the Kingpin goes against the advice of his doctor, who thinks a move would kill him.

Returning to the present, this scene chronologically likely follows pages 1-4 of this issue. It is most likely chronologically followed not by the "today" scenes (or "yesterday" scenes that should be marked "today" scenes -- see notes to #31) in the following issue, showing Vanessa's revenge, but by the whole of #28, which depicts a second attack upon Matt Murdock. (See the notes to #28 for the complex issue of dating that issue.) This makes a certain amount of sense, giving Vanessa time to prepare her revenge, which seems an almost spontaneous decision here: in #31, she has already killed and has put together a coordinated hit upon the assassins (as indicated by her comment on 31.15).

Alex Maleev's cover to Daredevil (second series) #31.

Chapter 6 / Issue #31

Since the seven pages depicting the murder of the Kingpin in issue #26, and not counting the ambiguous dating of #28, only about seven new pages have occured in the present, or following the Kingpin's stabbing. This issue, while screwy in terms of the dates it gives, almost entirely occurs in the present, depicting the ultimate conclusion to the conspiracy against the Kingpin.

This relative lack of flashbacks reflects more the narrative structure of Out than Underboss, just as the first issue of Out will feature Silke in flashback and feel much like an issue of Underboss.

Another similarity with Out is that the referrent of the dating marker "today" seems to advance chronologically as the story progresses. According to the dating of this issue, most of it actually occurs "yesterday" -- although these events clearly occur following the end of the previous issue, marked "today." This advancement of the present moment, while the past remains more chronologically coherent, reflects corporate super-hero continuity in general, in which the dating of present events grows ever more concrete as they retreat into the past. (See my essay, "Continuity: No-Prizes, Retcons, and the Mental Acrobatics of Continuity Repair".)

While #26 featured 22 pages, each subsequent issue featured 21. This concluding issue of the storyline features 23.

This issue was cover-dated May 2002.

Page 1

This four-page sequence, not given a date, probably occurs between that of 29.21 and that of 30.1-4. The reasons for this are multiple: this sequence features a newspaper carrying news of the Kingpin's stabbing, placing it at least simultaneous with 29.3-4, in which we first hear of the newspapers carrying the story following the Kingpin's death; 29.21 seems to take place not long after 29.4, feaures the same characters, and leads well into this scene; and, on the other hand, this scene of the conspirators celebrating obviously wants to occur as early as possible following the Kingpin's stabbing. Thus, this scene best follows 29.21, meaning that the Kingpin is already in the hands of his loyal men and Vanessa when this scene occurs. Thus, this scene is chronologically followed by 30.1-4, in which Daredevil, having visited the Kingpin's bloody office, talks to Ben Urich about the news.

Panel 4: This is exactly what Silke argued for in the last panel of 30.19.

Panel 5: The event to whom Silke refers was Daredevil's first visit to the Kingpin, seen on 27.15-17.

Panel 6: This seems to be the headline to which Vanessa refers in the first panel of 29.4.

Pages 2-3

Panels 2-3: Whereas Richard Fisk's toasting of his father's hypothetical death on 30.14 was seen as "cold," here all toast the death now that it seems manifest.

Panel 5: Again, Silke reasserts his disdain for super-villains.

Page 4

Panel 3: Richard Fisk is obviously drunk, as he commonly is.

Panel 4: Silke's claim that killing one's father can make one a man, that it represents an act of masculine active self-definition, resonates with Silke's similar appeal to masculinity while selling the conspiracy on 30.17. The idea of killing one's father as a method of masculine self-definition has deep mythological and psychological significance, going back to Zeus and the observations of many men that their father's deaths (usually not through patricide) somehow let them be themselves rather than defining themselves against their fathers, whose very statue as a father figure grants them titanic force in the psychology of their sons.

Panel 5: The inability of Richard Fisk to get his mind around his father's death, despite his participation and his father's abuse of him, offers a sense of poignancy to the character.

Page 5

Although this sequence is marked "yesterday," its dating should probably be "today." The sequence following this one (and consequently the undated remainder of the issue) is dated "three hours later" but shows to effects of Vanessa's vengeance, clearly occurring after the final page of last issue (30.21), which was dated "today." The only solution to this quandry is that, beginning this issue (and continuing into Out), the time indicated by "today" advances as the issues progress, so that "yesterday" is a relative term and this page should very much be considered as happenning "today". Daredevil seems to have recently encountered Boomerang, as he did in #28, and this sequence, flowing chronologically through the end of this issue, is best considered to follow the entirety of #28 fairly directly. (See annotations to that issue.)

Panels 2 and 4: Daredevil is holding the photograph of Matt Murdock taken from Boomerang in #28.

Panel 6: Urich's mocking of the generic (in at least two senses) name "Boomerang," here and on the next page, echoes Foggy's mocking of the name "Nitro" on 27.11. See the notes there for the deep strain of debate on such comments within the super-hero genre.

Page 6

Panel 6: Falzone's use of super-villains explains the super-villains who have been trying to assassinate Matt Murdock.

Panel 7: Daredevil is here taking Urich's cigarette out of his mouth, just as he did repeatedly when the two previously met on 30.1-4.

Page 7

Panel 3: This is probably Matt's most dramatic confession of his heightened anger yet.

Panel 5: Here Daredevil is preparing to flick Urich's cigarette out of the reporter's mouth.

Panel 7: Matt's feeling of impotence, at not knowing who to strike, resonates not only with the Kingpin's impotence but with the frustration of the U.S. following the 11 September 2001 attacks, then recent, in which war could not be declared because the perpetrators were part of an invisible organization or ideology rather than a nation. "Just give me someone I can hit" seems to be the frustrated sentiment of both Daredevil and the post-11 September United States.

Page 8

Panel 2: Daredevil's observation is that the bar should still be open at this time of night.

Panel 3: The still-burning cigarette suggests that Falzone was only recently murdered.

Panel 5: The implication is that Vanessa entered with intimidating support, scarring everyone off.

Page 9

Panel 2: Because of the "camera" angle, Falzone's body appears flat, as if a surface outstretched horizontal to the table. In fact, Falzone's dead head is leaning back so that it is horizontal. The smoke from the head shot, like the smoke from the ashtray on the previous page, suggests that the murder occurred very recently.

Panel 3: The photograph of Matt Murdock is that held by his would-be assassins, connecting Falzone to those attempts.

Panel 5: Falzone's dead hand seems to be holding money, as if he were when he was shot. The implication is that this was not a robbery but a hit. Note, however, that people usually drop items when they are killed.

Panel 7: Daredevil seems to keep a catalogue of personal scents in his mind and can recognize Vanessa Fisk's since they met several times in the past, although not particularly recently. This apprehension of the culprit is Daredevil's last appearance in the storyline, which -- after all -- is not really his story.

Page 10

After Daredevil's thought of Vanessa, here we have a shot of her, lying in wait in the dark. She is patient, unmoving, utterly fueled by righteous fury. Note how the large gutters between panels emphasize the darkness of both the room and her spirit.

Page 12

Despite initial appearances, this page and the following page are not connected and should not be read as one larger page or unit, a common device in Underboss. Notice that Vanessa's face is used as a background to the page, extending out to the edge of the page. Any variation of the black page borders that dominate Underboss is due particular attention.

Panel 5: Richard assumes that Vanessa shares, or should share, his own feeling of imprisonment under an abusive tyrant. This was very much the case with Vanessa in Love and War, the brilliant 1986 Daredevil graphic novel written by Frank Miller and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, but Vanessa's feelings have changed.

Page 13

Panel 3: Vanessa's definition of masculinity dovetails with Silke's in terms of ambition, but differs in terms of "stand[ing] behind the ones he loved." Wilson Fisk certainly did stand by Vanessa, especially in terms of his reacceptance of her when Daredevil returned her to him (in Frank Miller's original run, briefly recounted above in the notes to the Kingpin's first appearance) and when the Kingpin let her go, in the aforementioned Love and War, when he (let himself) realize(d) that she wanted to do so.

Panel 5: These incredibly powerful words of Vanessa are as complex as they are emotional. Ostensibly, she was concerned about "bringing a baby into this world of violence" -- violence led by the Kingpin. Yet the reason she now wishes she had killed her unborn child is the very protection of the man whose violence she loathed. The idea of a criminal kingpin's wife thinking of killing her child to spare him from a life of cyclical violence was used in The Godfather, Part II, in which Corleone's wife did cause her unborn son's death.

Page 14

Panel 2: This is Vanessa drawing her gun, the same .22 caliber used to kill Falzone. The F.B.I., in panel 7 of 32.8, will state that Richard Fisk was killed with a .22.

Panel 4: Presumably, the black arc to the right of Vanessa's eye is her son in profile.

Panel 5: Vanessa closes her eyes, gathering herself before she can pull the trigger on her own son.

Panel 6: The death's heads in Vanessa's eyes are an old convention and perhaps a mistep in a narrative that generally eschews such conventions, although this convention is notably not out of place in the crime genre, and most of the storyline's eschewed conventions are those of the super-hero genre. Note that, because the three panels at the bottom of the page increasingly close in on Vanessa's eyes, Richard is no longer in the panel, even in shadowy profile -- he has been removed from the panel, as he has from Vanessa's consciousness, as he has from the living.

Page 15

Panel 1: This scene-to-scene transition from the previous panel avoids showing the actual murder. We, in our imaginations, commit the crime. In this case, this encourages our identification with Vanessa, who has the courage to execute her traitorous son, placing her commitment to her husband over that of her son.

Panel 6: Obviously, a plan is already in place, suggesting that this sequence and the one prior, showing Falzone's corpse, occur some time following Vanessa's commitment to vengeance on the last page of the previous issue. This supports the possibility of placing #28 between this issue and the last. On the other hand, the F.B.I. (in panel 2 of 32.9) states that the Kingpin left the United States, seen on the final page of the previous issue, "this very night" -- meaning that this sequence occurs the same night, giving Vanessa at most a few hours to lay her plans of vengeance, which (after all) are not that overwhelmingly complex.

Pages 16-17

This montage of the murder of the various conspirators is reminiscent of a similar, spectacular montage at the end of The Godfather, a device used again (though to lesser effect) in The Godfather, Part II. Though they are not given names in Underboss, three of these men will be identified in panel 6 on 32.6 as Dean Martini, Frank Sloane, and Samuel Sanchez.

Panel 1: This man was presumably enjoying two prostitutes.

Panel 2: This image, of a man thrown off a roof, was used as the inside covers to the Daredevil Vol. 2 hardcover.

Panel 3: This man, shot on his toilet, his cigarette still burning as was one in Falzone's pub earlier in this issue, was reading the same edition of The Daily Bugle seen on page 1 of this issue, supporting the claim that the two sequences occur within a day of each other.

Panel 4: This man was apparently eating when he wa stabbed in the back of the head with an icepick, causing his face to fall forward into his bowl.

Page 18

Panel 1: Implicitly, the woman is replying to a question about her being a prostitute -- or else just babbling on the subject.

Panel 3: The sound effect seems to indicate an error on the part of the men waiting in ambush within, thus making Silke suspicious and saving his life.

Panel 5: Poor girl. It's always tragic to see the smart or the beautiful gunned down without reason. This panel will be reproduced in modified form as panel 4 on 32.6.

Page 19

Alex Maleev's sketch of this page, as well as his black-and-white final version, was included in the back of the Daredevil Vol. 2 hardcover, where they were accompanied by Bendis's script for most of the page and the beginning of the next.

Panel 6: This panel will be reproduced in modified form as panel 5 on 32.6.

Panels 7-8: Apparently, the elevator doors close between these two panels.

Panel 9: The elevator isn't the only thing "going down" -- and I don't mean Silke's dead date.

Page 20

Panel 3: The reference to "before" is a reference to Silke's having somehow made a bungle of his criminal assignments in Chicago while working for his father. This past was previously hinted at on 27.4, panel 4, and on 29.8, panel 3. Silke's father's rejection of his son makes sense not only given his past but given that Silke's machinations attempted to kill his father's boyhood friend. Silke's father obviously did not send Silke to the Kingpin in order to dishonor them both in such a fashion.

Panel 5: The increasing distance between us as viewer and Silke, over the course of this page, serves, in this final panel, to emphasize Silke's isolation, now without the safety net of his powerful father.

Page 21

This powerful, silent page simply depicts Vanessa in the Kingpin's office, having killed her own son and ordered a number of other deaths, her husband near death and his organization deconstructed, contemplating in front of the carpet still stained copiously with his blood. She has been utterly changed and devastated by the process, becoming the brutal killer she once hated her husband for being. Symbolically, sitting behind his desk, she has become the Kingpin, or as brutal as the same. Implicitly, readers are invited to wonder whether she will assume control of the Kingpin's criminal empire.

The use of a background extending to the edge of the page is quite rare in Underboss and serves, through its dark imagery of dead trees, to emphasize the mood of mourning and deep sadness.

Vanessa will next be seen in a sequence in #36 (pages 14-16), chapter 5 of the Out storyline.

Page 22

Panel 1: Here the setting is given, innovatively, not with a line of text but through a seal.

Page 23

Panel 1: Silke, apparently, has learned the attribute of honor, whereas he previously seemed concerned more with pride and power. Finally being forsaken by his father seems to have served to remind him of his debt to the man. Silke's face seems to indicate exactly this: a semi-reluctant loyalty, learned too late, lined with deep sadness.

Panel 7: And so Mr. Silke reveals Daredevil's identity to the government, thus setting in motion the next storyline, Out. This doesn't feel like much of an ending, and Underboss really continues directly into Out, being part of the same larger storyline. Just as Underboss began with endings, it opens with the beginning -- of the Out storyline, which in turn ends Matt Murdock's life as he knew it.

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