Daredevil Message Board

[james castle]

I wait for trades so I'm a bunch of issues behind and have no real basis for this but I bet Matt gets disbarred in New York and so is forced to travel to San Fran where he is still a member of the bar (having been called when he was there with Black Widow).

Also: one of the major problems with superheros moving is how to deal with the "Batman went to Germany....now Bruce Wayne is in Germany..." problem. The problem is obviously much bigger given that Matt is quasi-out. Given how skillfully Waid has written Matt being quasi-out in New York, I'm looking forward to him upping the anti in San Fran.
_________________
JC

So why can't you see the funny side?
Why aren't you laughing?

[Kuljit Mithra]

Hey JC,

I think you're on to something here, it makes a lot of sense since Waid keeps hinting that someone familiar with law would understand the reasoning for his move.

Is there something like this in Canada, where you must be a member of the bar for the province to practice?
_________________
Kuljit Mithra
www.manwithoutfear.com

[james castle]

Yep. Each province has their own law society (ours is the Law Society of Upper Canada, lovingly referred to as LSUC (L-suck)) and you have to be a member of the provincial bar to practice in any specific province. Some provinces have agreements with others that allow you to do limited work across jurisdictions but if you do lots of work in different places you have to be called to multiple bars (like Matt).

I think Matt being disbarred (again) in New York would be a good motivation for him to head West. Realistically speaking though, you would think that anything that would get him disbarred in New York would raise the alarms of the San Fran bar. Most, if not all, bars have "good character" requirements that would stretch between jurisdictions. Still, it would be a neat plot device.
_________________
JC

So why can't you see the funny side?
Why aren't you laughing?

[Gianni]

It makes perfectly sense, though I incline to think that, since they're obviously going to kill Foggy (I wish I were wrong on this, but I doubt it), this fact alone could be sufficient reason for Matt's desire to leave (as he's done a number of times in the past, when things went wrong)

[qtmxd]

The interview with Waid and Samnee said that Foggy is going to SF with him... they'd never break up the bromance. Waid had a few moments of actual writing with Foggy's illness, but there was nowhere to go with it. They weren't sure about Kirsten ( a dull and undeveloped character anyway), which is another demonstration that Waid has zero interest in Matt's love life. I guess Milla will be in that asylum for a long time to come.
Speaking of female characters, has Sister Maggie appeared since the Smith run?

[Gianni]

Well I hope it's so, though I doubt they'd give away Foggy's death in an interview if they intended to go that way. I think in this case they would then just go "Sorry for the lie boys, but we just COULDN'T reveal it". As for Sister Maggie, I don't remember having seen her either, looks like she didn't care about her son being possessed by a demon

[qtmxd]

"possessed by demon" ... I thought that run was even worse than this one
I doubt if they'd ever kill Foggy. Karen was one of a number of love interests, but Foggy isn't replaceable. I can't think of any comparable Everyman in comics. Maybe Happy Hogan, but he doesn't get anywhere near as much space.

[james castle]

[Gianni]

[qtmxd]

Given that she's been gone since mid 1999, this is certainly dating us. I know she remains the #1 love interest in Matt's mind. But I personally don't miss her. She didn't need to be killed, but I thought there was nothing left to do with their relationship, outside of marriage, which I couldn't quite see. I actually thought his marriage with Milla had a lot of potential, but subsequent writers apparently don't agree, any more than they wanted to use Maya Lopez or bring back BW.
Funny, in Guardian Devil, I had the very bad idea that Matt would make a deal with Mephisto to bring Karen back. I was relieved that Smith didn't take me up on that one. Little did I know what was coming for another character...

[Gianni]

[qtmxd]

I don't disagree. I just got tired of all the times she left town and came back, and if there was ever going to be a new Karen story after 35 years, I didn't see one coming. I would have been happy to have a writer impress me, and I would have preferred she didn't die. It's one of those comics things that they want to do fantasy and drama even with their non-powered supporting characters. Like Aunt May can't just get a heart attack or dementia, she has to be shot by the Kingpin, or kidnapped by the Green Goblin and replaced by an actress and then returned with a bomb in her head. It's something I like about Foggy that they've kept his fantasy situations to a minimum.
And comics are terrible at having long-term relationships with their heroes. Even the marriages of Peter Parker and Clark Kent which lasted for years were treated like blips, and ended with crazy fantasies instead of divorce. Karen's death is part of that comics pattern.
That being said, I still think Milla had a lot of potential, and was treated horribly by subsequent writers, and Maya Lopez and Dakota North (decent character, dumb name) were wasted by succeeding writers. Kirsten has the distinction of being wasted by her own creator, but I find her annoying anyway.

[qtmxd]

This discussion reminded me of this, quote from Wikipedia,
"Women in Refrigerators Syndrome describes the use of the death or injury of a female comic book character as a plot device in a story starring a male comic book character. It is also used to note the depowerment or elimination of a female comic-book character. Cases of it deal with a gruesome injury or murder of a female character at the hands of a supervillain, usually as a motivating personal tragedy for a male superhero to whom the victim is connected. The death or injury of the female character then helps cement the hatred between the hero and the villain responsible. Kyle Rayner is a particularly cited example, due to the common tragedies that befall women in his life.[17]".
the phrase coined by Gail Simone referring to the death of Green Lantern's girlfriend in 1994, when he found her stuffed in a refrigerator. Of course you can add stuff like the rape of Sue Dibney, or the quasi-rape of Carol Danvers. Brubaker brought back Dakota North and put a bullet in her. Waid gave Foggy modern medicine, while Milla gets put in a padded cell with a strait jacket. Some male writers seem to think the fanboys like this kind of thing.
My point is that the death or diminishment of female characters is typical in comics, and hoping that Matt and Karen would go on forever would make them unique in comics, as far as I know.
DD needs another Nocenti.

[Gianni]

I'd like to have some writers stuffed in a refrigerator instead.

Oh, and I agree on Milla having great potential. I actually loved the development of their (Milla's und Matt's) story.

[qtmxd]

Yes, in between being threatened by Bullseye in her underwear (those were scary scenes though), Bendis did a great job of creating a new character. And Brubaker started off well. Foggy seemed to resent her intrusion on Karen's memory, cruelly telling her that Matt married her on a rebound when not in his right mind, but she seemed to be fighting for her place in Matt's life. (If I'm remembering correctly that that was after Brubaker took over from Bendis). The issue with the Romita cover was well done. She even looked like a real human being, not a model. But Brubaker dumped her, and Waid used her for a couple of shocks.
Again, I can't think of any hero who's maintained a long term relationship. Even so, I think it would be sadder and more mature writing if they could end the way real relationships do instead of comic book craziness.