Daredevil: The Fall of the Kingpin

Rating:
Summary: Crime, punishment, and redemption -- in a comic book?!
Review: This is an engrossing, adult story about the overthrow of a king. It is a perfect companion piece/sequel to Frank Miller's "Born Again" storyline, which followed Matt Murdock aka Daredevil as his world fell apart due to the machinations of the Kingpin of crime, Wilson Fisk. This time around, Daredevil seems to have crossed the line and is not so heroic as he once seemed. He wants revenge on the man who destroyed his life and he wants to regain the last few missing pieces of that life. He will stop at nothing to accomplish this; he compromises his ethics, manipulates people, and pursues his quarry with vicious determination. At times, it is tough to bear in mind that Daredevil is our protagonist, not the Kingpin. Wilson Fisk is humanized here to a degree not seen before. He is as vulnerable and desperate as Murdock was in "Born Again". My only complaint about the tale is that Daredevil's access to incriminating information and its use by law enforcement officials against the Kingpin seems at times hurried and not as detailed as it should have been. It should be ten times harder for Daredevil to expose and destroy the Kingpin than it was for Fisk to do it to Murdock simply because the Kingpin is more resourceful, protected, and powerful. All in all, though, a highly enjoyable read filled with crisp action and well-drawn characterizations.