Issue(s): Daredevil #343
Cover Date: Aug 95
Title: "Recross"
Credits:
Warren Ellis - Writer
Keith Pollard & Arvell Malcolm Jones - Breakdowns
Tom Palmer - Finishes
Polly Watson - Assistant Editor
Marie Javins - Editor

Review/plot:
A random issue by Warren Ellis in between the D.G. Chichester and J.M. DeMatteis runs. It's a gritty day-in-the-life kind of story, with Daredevil (in civvies) dealing with random crimes (an abusive cop, some random thugs, a cat burglar, a psychopath killer). Daredevil has a head injury so he keeps blacking out and waking up in the middle of the next encounter (which may work as a metaphor of DD's life). It's well written but nothing special.

My favorite part is Ellis/DD making fun of his current/new costume, saying it resembles Venetian blinds and wonders "What was I thinking?" (regarding not just the costume but the whole fake identity status quo).

One minor weakness/unintentionally funny bit is when DD is fighting the random thugs and he needs a weapon, so he puts a pool ball in a sock. Ellis devotes a fair amount of narration to explaining what a borstal is (a British prison for youths) and how Matt Murdock knows what a borstal is (he studied them as a lawyer) and how in borstals the kids sometimes use a pool ball in a sock as a weapon. I mean, it's not like we don't have juvenile detention in the US, or we haven't seen a million movies where people in prisons fill a sock with rocks or coins to use as a weapon. Nothing wrong with the sequence, just funny that Ellis felt the need to go out of his way to make it a British thing.

Anyway, the biggest problem with the issue is the art. Despite having three veterans on art duty, the art looks like, well, this.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back in publication time a bit so that Daredevil #344 can come prior to Hulk #433 (for the Over The Edge crossover).

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A