Daredevil And The Punisher Meet Again In Daredevil #4

[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]

After a showdown with Daredevil, Detective Cole North is recovering while being shouted down by every cop in the vicinity. Meanwhile, Daredevil himself awakens in a safehouse owned by the Punisher. Frank Castle is impressed with the fact the recent death attributed to Daredevil, and he wants to know if the Man Without Fear has changed his tactics for good. The Punisher has a subject with whom to test this.

Daredevil #4 brings Daredevil into contact with the Punisher once again. After the accidental death of the burglar, Frank wants to know if Red has come to see things his way.

That actually brings us to one very noticeable thing about this comic; Chip Zdarsky heavily draws upon the speech pattern and diction of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher from the Daredevil and Punisher Netflix series with Frank Castle’s dialogue in this comic. That’s not really a bad thing; Bernthal’s Punisher is easily the best on-screen rendition of the character. Plus, it makes Frank that much more distinctive in the realm of Marvel characters.

Of course, both this comic and Season Two of Daredevil pay homage to the iconic rooftop scene Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Marvel Knights Punisher. Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto make it fairly clear that comic is an inspiration for this particular meetup between Matt and Frank. It’s a solid recreation of it too, and it does enough to be distinctive. Plus, the context of the burglar’s death makes this showdown all the more compelling.

Daredevil #4 doesn’t chicken out on the big question either. This is a bit of a spoiler, but Daredevil did kill that burglar. It was unintentional, but it happened. Matt is going to have to live with that.

Checchetto’s artwork continues to blow me away. He is easily among my personal favorites of the artistic talents currently working at Marvel. He is also clearly taking some inspiration from the likeness of Jon Bernthal for Frank Castle in this too. Again, that’s not a bad thing by a long shot. The fight scene that inevitably takes place looks fantastic. Sunny Gho’s color work is atmospheric and well-balanced too.

Daredevil #4 is a phenomenal issue and may just be the best of these first four issues from Zdarsky and Checchetto. It brings Daredevil into contact with an old adversary, all the while is enemies continue to plan and scheme about him. It doesn’t take the easy way out of its prime conflict, and the artwork is phenomenal. This one gets a strong recommendation. Give it a read.

Daredevil #4 comes to us from writer Chip Zdarsky, artist Marco Checchetto, color artist Sunny Gho, letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles, cover artist Julian Totino Tedesco, and variant cover artist John Romita Jr. with Richard Isanove.