If you’re rekindling an old flame from the past, you might as well put on the old clothes as well. Your Major Spoilers review of Daredevil #20 from Marvel Comics awaits!

DAREDEVIL #20

Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artists: Jose Luis Soares and Oren Junior
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Devin Lewis
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 9th, 2025

Previously in Daredevil, Matt has been busy exorcising his demons that have possessed his enemies and friends alike. The deed though, has left his relationships strained and the world he’s used to up in the air. Thankfully an old fling has come back just at the right time.

BACK IN BLACK

Daredevil #20 starts off with Matt suffering from a nightmare that also acts as a helpful recap of some of the recent events. He bolts awake, which also wakes up the woman he’s sleeping next to, Nyla Skin. After recapping how they ran into each other, the two talk about their situationship before Matt goes out to grab coffee. Later, while hanging out alone in Nyla’s apartment, Matt is approached by a woman whose daughter has gone missing. Matt puts on his old, armored outfit due to his normal one being ruined and hits the streets. After asking around, roughing up some hooligans, and busting up a bar of thugs, he gets a lead on what might be happening, and it turns out it has something to do with the very building that Nyla’s apartment is in. Just in time for an unexpected growth begins to spread across Matt’s body.

NOSTALGIA FOR AN INTERESTING TIME

Daredevil #20 is very much a reset in more than one way. Not only is it the start of a new story arc, featuring some new (to this series) characters, but also the stakes are relatively lower compared to the biblical ones that have been a mainstay of this series since the start of Saladin Ahmed’s tenure. A lot of this issue has the air of being less than serious. Even though no one’s cracking jokes, seeing Daredevil running around in his 90s armored costume, beating up bikers, and then getting attacked by fungus, is just a silly sort of thing to see. The tone is appropriate, though, considering this issue is an ode to the 90s era of Daredevil, from the aforementioned costume to the inclusion of Nyla Skin, a character who first appeared in Daredevil back in 1990. The creator clearly has an affection for this character as she also appeared in Saladin’s Conan series from a few years back, which makes it a shame that she doesn’t get much to do in this issue. While it’s likely she’ll play a bigger role in the coming issues, her only role is to lay naked in a bed, before leaving a relative stranger in her apartment. This makes the inclusion of her and honestly the armored costume as well, feel purposeless and just there as like an Easter Eggs for longtime readers.

BRINGING IN THE NEW GUY

Daredevil #20 brings on Jose Luis Soares on pencils, and he has a nice first outing on this title. While I’m not a big fan of the costume, it is rendered nicely here and manages to avoid coming off as bulky. The depiction of Matt’s powers is also well done. Rather than going with just the tried and true “paint everything red” method, Soares gives things more flourish with what looks like actual radar echoes emanating from Matt as he scans areas. Finally, the fungus towards the end is sufficiently disgusting to add a bit of body horror to the mix, in a pleasantly creepy way.

BOTTOM LINE: A MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD RESET

With the series having just come off a pretty big plotline, it was expected that it would be slowing down a little, this cranks it down just a bit too much. While there are some callbacks to the previous issues, Daredevil #20 is a jarring shift in tone and intensity. The plot is fairly barebones and the inclusion of elements from 90s era Daredevil don’t feel like they serve any purpose. It’s a good-looking book though that thankfully doesn’t indulge in the worst parts of the 90s look. 3 out of 5 stars.

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Daredevil #20

60%

60%

A Lot of Fungi, Not a Lot of Fun

Daredevil #20 acts as a place for the series to catch its breath after some major storylines. Unfortunately, it does this by kicking off a new story arc in an unexciting way that feels like it’s more concerned with its homages to eras gone by.

• Writing

  4
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  6
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0