Dan Chichester , �Daredevil: Fall From Grace�
Man, there�s nothing better than starting your day out by running into a bunch of fundamentalist Christian fanatics who set up a protest area on campus. This group had to be the best I�ve seen yet, featuring huge ten-foot high signs reading, �FIND JESUS, NOT A JOB!�
I spotted them as I went to get my first coffee for the day, and quickly made my way over just as they finished a small prayer circle. I stood and waited for them to acknowledge me. They didn�t. I suppose they knew I wasn�t going to be an ally. So I pointed directly at them and shouted in a booming voice.
�Beware of those who stand and pray on street corners, so that they may be seen by the likes of men. Verily I say onto to you � They have their own reward! Book of Matthew!�
�We�re not praying!� the short lady shot back at me.
�I just fucking saw you praying! Don�t give me that shit!�
�We�ll pray for you!� she shouted as I walked away.
Heeheehee! I did manage to swipe one of their pamphlets, of which the crux said that people who were in school to get an education were turning their backs on God, and needed to drop out. I suppose that makes sense � if somebody gains enough knowledge, they may realize that these idiots with their signs and prayer circles are full of shit.
I don�t think they have to worry about that though � I just had to critique a student research paper from a senior who used the word �tooken� in her essay. And if that wasn�t bad enough, she wrote, �have tooken.� So she not only made up a word, but she put it in the passive tense! Jezum Crow!
Anyway, I don�t think I�ve mentioned in at least three posts HOW FUCKING EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS DAREDEVIL MOVIE THAT�S COMING UP! I may have lost some geek points because I didn�t run out to see 8 Mile just so I could watch the new DD preview that�s playing with it, but I�ve made up for it by watching the preview about 15 times on the official website.
I�m worse than Joe was before The Phantom Menace came out. (And I hope I�m not hexing the Daredevil movie just by mentioning that god-awful film.) I bought magazines that had the same pictures I saw on the website. I paid five bucks for an old slurpee cup that had Daredevil on it. I get giddy thinking about the trips I�m gonna have to make to the flea market to get all the cheap imitation knock-offs, and I�m wondering what kind of creative spelling they�ll use to avoid being sued. For instance Spider-man turned into Spader-man � Always remember to neuter your pets!
What�s Daredevil going to morph into? Duhdevil? Daredebil? Daringdevil? CareBearDevil? Who cares? I�ll get them all! My collectable nerd level has shot through the roof. You can�t imagine how many times I was disappointed as a kid that Marvel licensed video game, monopoly board, mini-series, or whatever left out my favorite man without fear.
And soon you will all bow down before the infinite coolness that is Matt Murdock! BOW DOWN! Hell, I even bought a matchbox car that had Daredevil on it, and that doesn�t make any sense at all � Daredevil is blind! He has as much use for a car as I have for a gift certificate from Barnes and Noble!
Okay, so that being said, I�m obviously going to like this book, yeah? Yeah. I will say this, however, if I hadn�t read Frank Miller�s Elektra: Assassin when I was stuck at the Oakland airport, I would have been totally lost at what the hell was going on.
This is essentially one of those sequels that�s brought about by a lesser writer, like the follow-up to Gone With the Wind. And while Chichester does a pretty damn good job, I can�t help but wonder what he would have done if somebody else hadn�t already introduced all these characters and the basic storyline for him.
This was also written at the time that DD sales were flagging (of which I was also guilty of participating in), and they tried to shake up the title by giving the hero a new outfit which really looked, well, kinda lame. Thankfully, they went back to the old standard after a dozen or so issues.
Finally, a warning to the ladies: you may not want to be dating me come February. This movie opens up on Valentine�s Day, and I�m sure as shit going to be at the theater. I may even go two or three times. Kissy-kissy stuff will just have to wait.
