YMMV / Daredevil (Charles Soule)

• Arc Fatigue: What caused the mindwipe? It's alluded to tons in Matt's narration, especially whenever someone who used to know his identity (i.e. anyone who he worked with before this arc) shows up, but very little clues, if any, are dropped on what actually caused it. It's not until issue 8 where a clue was given, where it's all but flat out said that whomever planted the false memory of Elektra having a child in her mind is the same people who reset Matt's secret identity, and even then it's still left vague. Eventually, its revealed the Purple Children did it as a thank-you to Matt for saving them after he'd been through a rough patch due to his identity.
• Awesome Art: One of the more frequent points of praise is that the art style goes fantastically well with the tone of the comics.
• Broken Base:
  • The mind-wipe plot point. Either it's throwing out an interesting plot thread and is Soule not respecting others' work, or it's a welcome change from what was a writing dead-end.
    • It doesn't help that a group of fans really loved Kirsten and she's gone. And then there's the way she was removed as a love interest. The Purple Man has kidnapped some of the purple children. Daredevil rescues them, and the kids decide to help Daredevil, by broadcasting a world wide command to make people forget Matt is Daredevil, unless Daredevil reveals himself as Matt, in which case they'll remember everything again — and Matt decides not to unmask himself to Kirsten and instead just dumps her as Matt.
  • The dark tone. Either it's a return to what Daredevil does best, and is an understandable decision given the success of the Netflix series, as well as a nice return to the status quo after Waid's lighter take, or it's returning to a depressing take on the character and disregards the idea that he can be fun and colourful.
• Complete Monster: Muse is a deranged Serial Killer obsessed with sharing his "vision" of beauty with the whole world. First kidnapping over 100 innocent people, Muse exsanguinates them for days, leaving them near death, and uses said blood in his art. Later, after murdering close to a dozen Inhumans and posing their bodies, Muse kidnaps 4 people and plans to torture them to death, then captures Daredevil's sidekick, Blindspot, whose eyes he gouges out as a sick play on the young teen's name. Muse decorates his lair in the butchered corpses of his countless victims during his time as a serial killer, and when caught, tries to kill his 100 blood-drained captives. Escaping from prison and slaughtering a dozen guards in the process, Muse tries to kill two innocent woman who just wanted a picture with him, and then massacres a group of police officers to decorate one of his murals. When confronted by Blindspot—who Muse tries to mutilate once more, this time by ripping out his tongue—over his motives, Muse just brags that killing makes him better, stronger, and more powerful than everyone else, before committing suicide just because he felt he wasn't the "star" anymore.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • While the run has a pretty Broken Base, Blindspot is generally seen as a good character and well fit for Matt as a sidekick/apprentice/superhero partner, with an interesting and, especially for mainstream comics, a rather unique backstory of being an illegal immigrant. One appreciated aspect of Blindspot's character is that he allows Matt to be in a genuine mentor role, which fits him like a glove.
  • Muse, the villain of the "Dark Art" arc, has been praised for his Creepy Awesome style and mannerisms.
• Evil Is Cool: Muse, a Creepy Awesome serial killer who views his work as art, is one of the more consistently praised new characters.
• Fridge Logic: Matt gets blamed by the DA for his witness deciding not to testify after having his fingers chopped off while in their custody. The this is, what was Matt supposed to do? Since his civilian identity is a blind person, was he meant to stand guard outside the cell and wave his blind cane at random? Isn't that what guards and cops are for in the first place? The fact that Soule is an attorney makes this rather jarring.
• Growing the Beard: The first three issues were considered So Okay, It's Average by most. The fourth issue is seen as being much better, with more pay-off and complexity around both Matt's Laser-Guided Amnesia plot point, Blindspot's divided loyalties, as well as the war between the Hand and the Church of Sheltering Hands.
• Narm: Some readers find it hard to take Tenfingers seriously when he just looks kinda stupid. Plus, the manifestation of his power being in him... having ten fingers on each hand. Yes, cower as he massages you better than your average man!
  • Even better is in issue #5 when he goes to get some guns… which each have ridiculously long handles and ten triggers each. No, not ten barrels, ten triggers. Somehow, this is going to be more deadly than a normal gun, in spite of firing bullets at the same rate.
• Nightmare Fuel: Pretty much everything pertaining to Muse, including his design, "costume" and mask, and even his real face under it. And all of that says nothing of his "works of art".
• Recycled Premise: Many, people have compared the series to Spider-Man's "Brand New Day" arc. Thankfully, so far the run is better received than that arc, but still plenty a people are upset about it. Similarities include:
  • Both characters outed themselves in an irreversible way, but now have secret identities again.
  • The return to status quo (or what is perceived to be status quo): Matt is back to his Darker and Edgier life while Peter went back to endless love triangles and being young and hip.
  • The previous love interest is gone.
  • The vagueness of what, in-universe, caused people to forget the character's secret identity.
  • The introduction of a new supporting cast and villains.
• Squick: Muse's victims tend to invoke this trope very easily. Likely none more so than Sam/Blindspot, who had his eyes gouged out by Muse in the latter's final issue of his arc. Oh, and we're shown all of it.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Tenfingers (who some people have found bland and generic) briefly shows up in issue 14 dead, having been killed beforehand by the much more popular Muse.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Mid-way through the run, a plot began where Matt pushed through to congress and changed American law so that superheroes could testify in court without having to unmask. The potential for world-building and strengthening the ties between superheroes and the legal system is unfortunately wasted though when Wilson Fisk becomes mayor while Matt was in China, instilling an anti-superhero policy that once again pushes superheroes as outlaws.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The new costume design plus the return to the dark tone of the comic in general has left some fans disgruntled, particularly after the very well received Mark Waid run, that while bright, colorful and fun, it would still delve into Matt's demons, particularly his constant bouts of depression. In this run, he apparently ditched his pillar of strength during those times, Kristen, and with that the character that could counter Matt's darkest moments. That said, while it did work for Bendis and Brubaker during the naughts, this time the change feels so jarring, hence why those fans are upset.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Wilson Fisk, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who is also a powerful crime lord, becomes the elected government leader of their setting and begins pushing through policies which are to benefit his ilk, while also stamping down on superheroes and playing off of people's mistrust to use them as a scapegoat. In real life, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States shortly before this story started, and so much of Wilson Fisk's portrayal as mayor feels like a dig at Trump. However, its not as explicit as many other Take That! moments from Western comics at his presidency so its unclear if its deliberate or a coincidence.

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