Daredevil 599: Drowning Out The Noise

Mayor Fisk, Part 5

Writer - Charles Soule,Artist - Ron Garney, Color Artist - Matt Milla, Letterer - VC's Clayton Cowles, Main Cover Artists - Dan Mora & Romulo Fajardo Jr., Assistant Editor - Annalise Bissa, Editor - Jordan D. White, Editor in Chief - C.B Cebulski, Chief Creative Officer - Joe Quesada, President - Dan Buckley, Executive Producer - Alan Fine

Initial Reactions

This is a really good addition to this story arc!  Daredevil's constant struggle throughout the issue of blocking out the macro concerns to concentrate on the more immediate micro concern that is Muse.  Also, the last page is great!  We will get into it, but it does its job of getting me excited for the next issue, which happens to be an Anniversary Issue for #600.

The Story

The issue begins with Daredevil on a rooftop trying to channel in the whereabouts of the Muse, the Inhuman street artist who has just murdered 6 police officers at the foot of his Punisher mural.  However, he is struggling to find him, his mind always going back to Fisk.  Matt urges himself to focus on Muse, since he has a plan for the Kingpin later.  During this struggle, we learned that Mayor Fisk blamed the cop killings on the Punisher, which he leveraged to his benefit in trying to outlaw all costumed heroes.  Daredevil tells us that Muse sucks sensory data to himself, so in his meditation, he must try to sense nothingness.  The problem is he keeps hearing the background of Wilson Fisk on screens throughout the city, spreading his anti-costumed hero agenda which cultivates fear.

Blindspot, who's father was killed by the Muse, meets Daredevil on the roof.  Frustrated that no progress has been made locating him, Blindspot tells Matt that he is going to track down and kill Muse himself.  Daredevil urges him to have patience, and to not go after him alone, but his mind is made up.  Daredevil is concerned, and laments on what he could have done while Blindspot walks away.

As Deputy Mayor, Matt confronts Fisk, telling him he was wrong for not listening to him about sending in his "friends" in costume.  Matt lays out the demand for the police to work with the costumed heroes, while the Kingpin counters with requiring his Deputy Mayor to appear at his side at a rally, or else be removed from office.  He reluctantly agrees, but insists that nothing be done to provoke the Muse.

The story shifts to Chinatown, where Blindspot is preparing to carry out his plan to take care of the Muse.  He is modifying a fire extinguisher when his sister, who hasn't seen him in months comes through the door.  Through their discussion, it becomes evident that Blindspot has come to the conclusion that he must kill the Muse.  He walks away from his sister, knowing full well this may be his last mission.

Ahead of the planned rally, Fisk finally makes the call for the Department of Sanitation to remove the murals the Muse put up around the city.  In his mind, it has already served his narrative of cultivating fear in the people towards those in a costume.  However, as he is on the phone, we see a stream of green, defacing the Daredevil mural outside of City Hall.  The panels zoom out, and we see that it is Blindspot who sprayed it.  He stands at the edge of the roof, confidently calling on Muse to come and get him.  At this point, Muse pushes him off the roof!

The issue concludes with Daredevil swinging from roof to roof, unable to get the praise for Fisk out of his head.  We see that he has gathered quite a robust group of heroes, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Echo, and Misty Knight.  It appears as if this group will attempt to take down the Kingpin in the next issue.

Final Thoughts

This issue is clearly building to something special in #600.  While the potential team-up is happening in March, let's look at some aspects of this week's issue.  The main struggle for Daredevil is being unable to block out the noise created by Wilson Fisk.  It is throwing him off his game, and actually makes him quite ineffective.  It could be argued that it even cost Blindspot his life.  Like Daredevil, I bet we all struggle at times drowning out the noise of our lives and keeping our eye on what's important.

While Daredevil is trying to take down Fisk, Blindspot had revenge on the mind.  We see through his tragic story arc that he allowed that motivation to cloud his judgement, leaving himself open for his unfortunate death.  Let this be a reminder to us that revenge is an ugly motive, that takes the focus off of doing good for others and places it squarely on our own interests.  Throughout Scripture, we see numerous accounts of revenge being criticized and punished.  When you boil it down, revenge equals selfishness.  Fortunately for us, Jesus forgives all sins, even those committed out of selfishness or revenge!  

What did you think about Daredevil 599?  Have you ever acted out of revenge?  Can you sympathize with Blindspot?  How well do you cancel out the noise?

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