What do you think about Daredevil: Redemption?
I really like Daredevil: Redemption. It's one of the darkest Daredevil stories out there and is based on a real murder case, which makes it extra haunting to me. Beyond being a tense, gripping legal drama, it is also a powerful examination of Matt's moral code, legal skills, and the delicate balance he tries (and often fails) to maintain between working within the system as a lawyer and circumnavigating the system as a superhero. We see in this story, depicted in meticulous detail, Matt's process of building a case—in this instance, a case in which the odds are stacked against him, the evidence is flimsy and biased, the system is corrupt, and he needs to question and re-litigate everything. In this regard, it's a really compelling look at Matt's skill and persistence as a lawyer, and I love Daredevil stories that focus on that aspect of his character. Yet, Daredevil still appears in this comic, because Matt can't help trying to find that extra-legal solution. He is frustrated by the ways the system is failing his client, and so he puts on the tights. And it doesn't always help. In fact, at one point, it backfires spectacularly, damaging the hard work he has been doing in civvies. And yet, despite throwing every legal trick and tactic he has at this case, his lawyer identity cannot win either. It's a painful comic to read because—just as it so often is in real life—justice isn't guaranteed. Sometimes it comes too late. Sometimes it doesn't come at all.
Daredevil: Redemption #6 by David Hine, Michael Gaydos, Lee Loughridge, and Cory Petit
Matt's primary legal support in this comic is, interestingly, not Foggy, but instead a new character: an intern named Constance, who is a skilled up-and-coming lawyer in her own right but also represents the system as it's meant to be. She has several conversations with Matt about her disapproval of superheroes like Daredevil. She says at one point, "If the justice system is flawed, you don't ignore it, you fix it." And the justice system is flawed—that's what Redemption is all about. In the end (spoilers), a man is executed by the state for a murder he did not commit. He begs Matt to save him, and Matt imagines himself doing it—smashing his way into the room as Daredevil, rescuing his client, fighting his way to freedom. But he doesn't. Is it the right choice, to let the system operate uninterrupted even if it results in a terrible and unjust outcome? The comic doesn't give us an answer, of course, but we're made to think about it, and—more importantly—to see Matt grappling with it. It's one of the defining questions of his life, after all, and I love seeing it explored in such a brutal, urgent way in this comic.
My one complaint about Redemption is the depiction of Jack Murdock as an abusive parent. I know why it's there, it is thematic and ties Matt more personally to issues brought up in the case, but it's a reductive take on Jack and I'm just not a fan.
Thanks for the question!
