When Matt escaped from hell, he didn’t return alone…
Note on this collection:
Daredevil: Hell to Pay is the second collection of recent Daredevil comics written by Saladin Ahmed, collecting issues #6-10, and the one-shot comic Giant-Sized Daredevil #1. You can read my thoughts on the first collection, Hell Breaks Loose, here.
Daredevil has been one of the luckiest superheroes to ever exist... in terms of creatives, anyway. The character has been consistently blessed with great writers and artists over the years, but especially since the early 2000s. In this way, Saladin Ahmed inherited an extremely tough job. No matter what he does, his writing is going to be compared to some of the best in superhero history.
The most obvious trap Ahmed could’ve fallen into was to try to match the tone, scale, and style of the most lauded Daredevil runs; to ‘give the fans what they wanted.’ Instead, he managed to swerve into totally new territory, delivering unto us a new version of Matt Murdock that we had never seen before.
‘Father Matt’ running a home for orphaned children while doing a bit of Daredevilling on the side is a wonderful new status quo for Matt, and it left readers with a lot of questions, namely: HOW did Matt return from hell and HOW did he become a priest? Ahmed continues to be tight-lipped on these issues in Hell to Pay but does progress some of the conflicts that have been plaguing Matt since his return.
Forgive Me, Father
Demons embodying the Seven Deadly Sins have been possessing Matt’s friends and causing him quite a bit of strife in his new life as Father Matt. But what happens when a demon possesses one of his enemies? Add a new street gang known as The Heat to the mix, and it’s beginning to look like too much for one man to take on alone…
The whole Seven Deadly Sins thing has been by far my favourite aspect of Ahmed’s run so far. It’s fun to explore Matt’s psyche through his friends and watch him piece together what’s going on. It’s also given Ahmed an excuse to showcase Matt’s relationship with several other heroes that he’s interacted with over the years, and Hell to Pay continues this trend.
(I won’t spoil what major hero Matt winds up facing in this collection, but, uh… don’t look at the back cover of the collection either if you want to remain totally spoiler-free.)
The next-best thing about this run has been Matt’s position as a priest and guardian for the orphaned children of Saint Nicholas' Youth Home. I’m always interested when Matt is placed in a fatherly/mentorship role. It’s just a really good way to compound on his relationship with his own fathers; heavenly or otherwise.
While I do like this aspect of the series, I don’t think it’s been given the full weight that it deserves… yet. The Seven Deadly Sins and The Heat are simply both occupying so much of the comics’ limited narrative space, that these kids have felt a little pushed off to the side. But Ahmed is also clearly building to something bigger with them. I’ve no doubt that he’ll start giving them more attention in future collections when Matt’s more immediate concerns start to become resolved.
Turn Up The Heat
Speaking of which, The Heat has been one of the least engaging aspects of the series. That doesn’t mean it’s bad at all—in fact, it’s quite fun to watch Daredevil beat up corrupt ex-cops thanks to Aaron Kuder’s great artwork. But I guess there’s a somewhat generic element to the gang, and the mystery as to who’s behind it—which is revealed in this collection—felt a little anticlimactic.
Maybe it won’t feel that way to newer readers, but as a longtime fan, I wondered if Character X was behind these shenanigans in the first issue, so I was a little disappointed when I turned out to be correct.
Elektra, a.k.a. Also Daredevil gets to share a bit of the spotlight in this collection. I’m a huge fan of Elektra, especially her recent character transformation from assassin-for-hire to vigilante (she assumed the mantle of Daredevil a few years ago when Matt was in prison for a spell). I want more, though. I mean, her husband is back from the dead and seems intent on living like a priest for some reason we don’t yet know.
I love it when the pair team up, which they do plenty in this collection, but I also wanted a bit more drama from the set-up. I feel that, right now, Elektra is an untapped goldmine when it comes to potential for both story, conflict, and character growth, and I hope to see Ahmed utilise her more in the future.
Saladin Ahmed’s run on Daredevil is full of unique and compelling ideas, and it was nice to see some of them come together in Hell to Pay, tying off some mysteries and expanding on others. The entire collection does feel like a bit of a bridge for even greater conflict to come, but I can't fault it for leaving me wanting more.
With so much of the story to go, it's hard to tell how Ahmed's run will be viewed in the context of Daredevil's stellar history, but so far, he's on the right track.
A Spoiler-y P.S.
The return of the white outfit was brilliantly done, but even better was the slow saturation of the outfit with blood, turning it crimson as Matt hunts The Heat. Just... the coolest thing.
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