Spider-Man/Daredevil: Unusual Suspects #1

Background

Paul Jenkins is now well in control of Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2), and he has joined forces with Phil Winslade for this little four-part mini-series, featuring Spider-Man and Daredevil.

Spidey and DD have shared many an adventure, but this is the first time that a title has bourne both their names. Two classic New York super-heroes in a stand-alone adventure, written by a proven talent. How could this go wrong?

Story 'Unusual Suspects'

First up, the cover is beautifully painted. The characters, as in the internal pages, are drawn with great attention to detail. In the painted work, the wrinkles in the costumes are carefully depicted. Inside, Tom Palmer's inking is fully finished, as are the background fills. The color on the glossy paper runs edge to edge. This is definitly a quality production.

As for the story. Scene one, Spidey is chasing one of his favourite narks, and gets some news, leading to the Kingpin. Daredevil, through other means, is also on the same trail. Spidey drops in on Matt's place, to compare notes.

There's some lovely Peter/Matt interaction, as they both realise that somebody is hitting on the Kingpin. It's hard to imagine who that would be. Of course, courtesy of a cut-scene, we get to find out that at least three of those foolish characters are Gladiator, Stilt-Man, and Copperhead - and they appear to be lead by an (as yet unidentified) madman.

Daredevil follows the trail, as our three villains lead an attack on Kingpin's headquarters. It's worth mentioning that KP is blind, courtesy of recent events in Daredevil (Vol. 2). Their attack culminates with a helicopter gunship attack on Kingpin's tower.

General Comments

The art is faultless. The whole story reeks of care and effort.

Overall Rating

This is great, great stuff - right off the top shelf. Great start to a long-overdue team-up milestone.