The storyline delivers some of the best moments in Daredevil’s storied history. Taking over from Brian Michael Bendis, who ended his run with Daredevil #81, Brubaker sheers off the wittiness of his predecessor’s dialogue and chooses instead cold, pulpy hardboiled narration. He’s matched by Lark’s moody visuals, which veer toward realism and away from exaggerated cartoons, but still find plenty of space for great action sequences.
Those qualities are on display in an early scene, in which the Spider-Man villain Hammerhead buys off a guard to get Matt alone with a bunch of other thugs. In contrast to his heavy use of shadow, Lark keeps the fight scenes clean, showing not just the onslaught of hoods, but more importantly the way that Matt can handle them all, even when not in his Daredevil guise. By fighting back, Matt shows the bad guys that he won’t hold back on them, even if he’s trying to convince the guards and the general public that he’s just a blind lawyer who’s been ludicrously accused of vigilantism.
As we’ve seen throughout the two seasons of Born Again, the tension between Matt’s civilian and superhero lives makes for interesting drama. As with Born Again, Cell-Block D pushes him further by killing off his best friend, Foggy. Even though the death will eventually be revealed to be a fake out designed to put him in witness protection, Foggy seems to be killed by an inmate after coming to consult with Matt.
Foggy’s death is just the first of the misfortunes that befall Matt. Soon, others come to flock to him in prison as other inmates, including Bullseye, Fisk, and the Punisher. All of whom arrive to either finish off Matt or, in the case of Frank Castle, prove that he’s become dark and hopeless. And Matt’s afraid that he may be right.
As this brief overview indicates, The Devil in Cell-Block D allows Born Again to return to some of its favorite themes, including the internal moral battle within Matt Murdock and the way his enemies use the law to do their dirty work. However, Born Again will not be able to adapt everything from the storyline simply because the show lacks one of the comic’s main characters. A B-plot inCell-Block D follows Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, who works to find the truth about Murdock and, in the process, get him out of harm’s way. Urich died at Fisk’s hand in season one of the Netflix Daredevil series, and while Born Again has replaced him with his niece BB, it’s hard to see her stepping into the role of a grizzled journalist fighting against the system.
Still, part of the fun of an adaption comes from the way the story changes to fit in a new medium. With that in mind, season three of Born Again likely won’t be a one-to-one lift from the comics. Which is just one more reason for fans to revisit The Devil in Cell-Block D while we wait for Daredevil: Born Again to make its way back to our television sets.
