Daredevil (1998) #9-15

Daredevil #9-15

Originally released in 1998

Written by David Mack, Joe Quesada (#12), Jimmy Palmiotti (#12)

Art by Joe Quesada, Rob Haynes (#12), David Ross (#14-15)

Today, a miniseries about Echo is being released on Disney Plus.  While I have a bad feeling about it (all of the episodes are being released at the same time and there's a review embargo that's in place until the moment that the episodes are released; neither one of those seems like a good sign), I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to look into her first appearance.

The writing, in large part, seems to take inspiration from film noir, largely focusing on the internal monologues of three core characters - Daredevil, Echo, and the Kingpin.  Matt Murdock (Daredevil's secret identity) and Foggy Nelson are getting close to evidence that could put the Kingpin behind bars, so Kingpin (who's aware that Matt Murdock is Daredevil) arranges for Maya/Echo (who is unaware of Kingpin's criminal connections, viewing him as a kind father figure) to meet Matt Murdock, leading to Matt and Maya falling in love before Kingpin tells her that Daredevil murdered her father.

Echo is handled in an odd way in terms of writing; her memories are often shown in the form of crayon drawings that a four or five year old would make, and in her flashbacks, she's referred to with slurs regarding her special needs, as people assume that she has some sort of intellectual disability before her abilities of mimicry are discovered.  Even Kingpin uses a slur to refer to her intellect before he kills her father, which seems out of character. (not the murder, but the slur; he seems like he'd be above that sort of thing)  In the present day, she doesn't get this kind of treatment, but having her flashbacks and thoughts stylized in such a way seems like an odd choice; it's arguably a sign that she hasn't moved on from her father's death, but there are ways to do that without treating her like a child.

Amidst all of this, Foggy is working hard to dismantle the lower levels of Fisk's criminal empire; there's talk of him running for District Attorney, though I don't know if that pays off later.  Black Widow also appears (prominently featuring on the cover of Echo's first appearance), but her role is extremely minor - she says two sentences to Matt in the first issue, and talks to Matt near the end before getting hit by a tranquilizer dart.  She's mentioned as being Matt's ex-girlfriend, and as I'm not familiar with Daredevil, I have no idea how they wound up in a relationship to begin with.

The art takes a downturn in issue 12, with characters becoming flatter and less defined.  It's particularly jarring as every other issue in this story has the same style of artwork, with issue 12 being the only exception.  The story is also inconsequential, focusing on the trials and tribulations of random people in Hell's Kitchen and how their lives are impacted partially as a result of the fight between Daredevil and Echo.  I don't know enough about behind-the-scenes details or the inner workings of the industry, but it felt like the regular writer was unavailable for some reason, so they had to put together a filler issue.

This story also delves, at least briefly, into the Kingpin's backstory.  Looking up the issues on the Marvel wiki, it surprised me to learn that this flashback was the first appearance of Kingpin's parents, and that his parents aren't defined enough as characters to have full names or pages on the Marvel wiki.  It's a major change from the Netflix series, where his parents play a large role in his past and motivations.

Echo had a good introduction, though it leaves me feeling like I should read more Daredevil comics; in addition to my unfamiliarity with the relationship between Daredevil and Black Widow, this story also has Matt and Foggy establishing the Nelson & Murdock law firm, which seems like something that would have happened a while ago.