DANDY SPACE LOG 1-2 & 1-3

He combs the Galaxy like his pompadour on the hunt for aliens... both friendly, and not...

Series One, Episode Two - “The Search for the Phantom Space Ramen, Baby”


The first episode to feature the wonderfully named Colleen Clinkenbeard as Scarlet, this sees Dandy, Meow and QT embark on a quest to find the fabled phantom ramen, said to have a flavour truly of another dimension. They visit every ramen restaurant in local space: the Ramen Galaxy, Ramen Nebula, AndRamenDa, Full Metal Noodleist and (ra)Men in Black. And BooBies, of course. Meanwhile, Dr. Gel and Bea continue their pursuit of Dandy.


He's Dandy Baby: He's got a secret stash of ramen hidden on the Aloha Oe for when the alien-hunting has been slow and money is tight. At least, until he discovers Meow has eaten it all, at which point he tries to flush the creature out of the airlock. He easily becomes convinced to dedicate himself to finding the ultimate bowl of ramen, despite having no money to pay for any of it. In Ramen Nebula, he moonwalks up to Scarlet and tries charming her. It almost looked like he was getting somewhere until he asked her to get his tab. He might be an ass man, but he's a boobies man too. He thinks nothing of jumping head first into a wormhole to see where it leads. He seems genuinely moved by the ramen chef's story. He offers him a ride out of his dimension... but maybe he's just thinking of the unregistered alien bounty.


He's Just a Little Obsolete, Baby: He's basically a vacuum cleaner with add-ons. He's the only one to stay behind in the main universe, monitoring the link while Dandy and Meow are visiting the Ramen Dimension.


He's Not a Space Cat, Baby: He reckons he's a ramen connoisseur, having heard tales of phantom ramen on his travels; it's the only thing that distracts Dandy long enough to stop him getting thrown off the ship. Dandy is being pursued by the Gogol Empire (although he doesn't know why), yet Meow checks in online at every restaurant and shrugs it off as the troopers just getting lucky. He can't run while carrying ramen.


The Scarlet Lady, Baby: Scarlet is the no-nonsense registration officer who invariably deals with Dandy's alien submissions, and almost invariably dismisses them as absolutely worthless. She eats as Ramen Nebula, and doesn't take kindly to being hit up for woolongs. Easily the most proficient fighter we see in the the series, Scarlet absolutely kicks the Gogol troopers' asses.


It's Tech in Space, Baby: The best way to find your way around the Galaxy is using Gogol Galaxy Streetview. The final ramen cafe gets its ramen delivered from offsite, through a combined dumbwaiter/interdimensional transporter, which uses an unstable wormhole to bridge the divide to the Ramen Dimension. In this swirling realm are myriad island asteroids, upon one of which is the phantom chef and his ramen stand.


We're Alien Hunters, Baby: Dandy brings an Andromengero to the Alien Registration Centre. It's a purplish brown blob, extremely common and utterly valueless. There are 58.6 billion registered Betelguesians, so Meow really is no good as bounty. Dr. Gel sends Gogol battlesquad troops after the heroes; they're spindly green creatures but armed to the topknots. The ramen chef is an ancient, shrivelled, hunchbacked, roughly humanoid creature, who's been hiding out on his asteroid for ten thousand years, making his ramen and sending it through the wormhole. It's unique salty taste comes from his tears of loneliness. He learned of ramen when he crashed in Japan as a young extraterrestrial on the run. Dandy offers him a way out of his exile but he declines.


The Bottom Line, Baby: The phantom ramen chef's story really is kind of moving, in a bizarre, food-obsessed kind of way. Dandy's at his best when he's on some kind of quest, pointless or otherwise, but the highlight of the episode is the introduction of Scarlet, who'll be more important as the series goes on. The Ramen Dimension is spectacular. There are some fun Star Wars references in this episode too; Scarlet's apology to the proprietor of Ramen Nebula brings to mind the the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in the original Star Wars, and there's a brief reference to Tatooine when Meow is tweeting.

Casting Call: Suicide Squad

I am, in general, less than enthused by DC's upcoming roster of superhero movies. The trailer for Batman vs. Superman looks grim and boring; what's worse is that I'll almost inevitably end up paying to go see the damned thing anyway. There are a few announcements that have peaked my interest, though, and one of them is Suicide Squad, the first film outing of DC's ever-changing crack team of villains and anti-heroes. If they get this right, it could be genuinely brilliant. If they don't, well, at least it's got a cracking cast.

Will Smith
Floyd Lawton/Deadshot

Deadshot is the primary recurring member of the Suicide Squad, a crack marksman and assassin who, due to years of training and the helpful addition of a cybernetic eye, never misses. Well, he missed once, but that was against Batman. He has suffered a particularly abusive history and is a lot more sympathetic than most of the characters on this list, but he still has an absolute disregard for human life. More amoral than evil, but no less deadly for it.

Everyone knows who Will Smith is. Previous screen Deadshots have been played by Michael Rowe on Arrow and by Bradley Stryker on Smallville.

Jared Leto
The Joker

The Joker needs no introduction. The Clown Prince of Crime is Batman's greatest enemy, and will surely go on to appear in future films against the Caped Crusader after this. Jared Leto, lead singer-songwriter for Thirty Seconds To Mars and a very well-regarded actor known for, among many other things, Dallas Buyers Club, is set to take on the role. He'll have a very difficult time convincing naysayers he's right for the part, and has to equal, if not better, Heath Ledger's legendary performance in 2008's The Dark Knight. Ledger, though, had the similar problem of coming into the long shadow of Jack Nicholson, whose role as the Joker in 1989's Batman was considered definitive... until Ledger outdid it. In recognition of the character's 75th anniversary, director David Ayer has released the first official image of Leto in full make-up. Quite wisely, they're going for a completely different take on the signature look to previous screen outings, one that will no doubt appeal to some while enraging others. I'm not sure about the forehead tattoo, or the wanky glove, but otherwise, this is interesting. Pure poser Joker.

Margot Robbie
Harley Quinn

Created for the excellent Batman: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn has gone onto become a staple character in DC's comics and a fan favourite. The former psychiatrist for the Joker, Harleen Quinzel (really) fell for the villain and became his lover and sidekick. They have a passionate but fractious relationship, and it'll be fascinating to finally see this in live-action. Harley had no superpowers to begin with, but became fast friends with Poison Ivy, who injected her with a serum which increased her resilience and strength. In recent comics, she has become more vicious, before attempting to reform her character by turning to crime fighting. We'll see how much, if any, of these developments make it to the movie. Harley is probably the most fun of all the characters in this film, and getting her right could make or break it as much as the Joker. Her initial cartoon portrayal was modelled heavily on her voice artist, Arleen Sorkin. Margot Robbie certainly looks the part. She's previously appeared on the big screen in About Time and The Wolf of Wall Street, before co-starring with the aforementioned Will Smith in Focus.

Joel Kinnaman
Rick Flagg

Rick Flag is actually three characters, father, son and grandson, but they're all heavily associated with the Suicide Squad. The original Captain Rick Flag led the Suicide Squadron during WWII, while his son was the leader and core member of the modern incarnation of the Squad, and has been responsible for some of its most glorious missions. Joel Kinnaman is Rick Flagg (sic), previously known for the Robocop remake and The Killing. He should be a pretty important character in this admittedly huge cast. Tom Hardy was initially linked to the role but dropped out of negotiations.

Jai Courtney
George Harkness/Digger/Boomerang

Yes, this is Captain Boomerang, a pretty laughable villain who was recently given a shot in the arm when Nick Tarabay portrayed him in Arrow and The Flash. "Digger" Harkness is an Australian criminal who uses various trick boomerangs to aid his crimes. He's also a massive racist, so this should be fun. Tenner says he gets his teeth punched in by Deadshot.

Viola Davis
Amanda Waller

Amanda Waller, known as "the Wall," is a former congressional aide who has proven herself to be both a powerful enemy and ally for various heroes in DC comics. Ruthless and uncompromising, it was Waller who recreated the Suicide Squad, enlisting various supervillains with the promise of pardons or parole. She's had a number of screen appearances in recent years, played by Pam Grier on Smallville, Angela Bassett in Green Lantern, Cynthia Addai-Robinson on Arrow, and now Viola Davis. Initially they were looking at getting Oprah Winfrey to take on the role, and she's certainly evil enough.

Scott Eastwood
Steve Trevor

Steve is primarily a Wonder Woman character; as her primary love interest in the earlier comics, he goes right back to 1941. It's no shock then that Eastwood is set to reprise the role for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie. Usually portrayed as a US intelligence officer, his role here would seem to be as the straightforwardly heroic side of the leadership of the Squad. Scott Eastwood is, of course, Clint Eastwood's son, and whatever he achieves, that's the first thing anyone is ever going to say about him.

Carla Delevingne
June Moon/Enchantress

The "Switcheroo-Witcheroo" as she was first billed, the Enchantress is, as she sounds, a sorceress armed with an array of magical powers. Interesting that DC are including a magic-based character so early on. Being profoundly non-magical, both Batman and Superman are susceptible to magical attacks. The Enchantress has acted as both villain and hero over the years, and was part of the Shadowpact, the original magical superteam in the DC universe. This has since been superceded by Justice League Dark, who faced the Enchantress as an antagonist; still, I wouldn't be surprised to see her turn up in the JLD movie. The upcoming starlet Cara Delevigne is set to play her.

Adewale Akkinnuoye-Agbaje
Waylon Jones/Killer Croc

A favourite Batman foe, Killer Croc began his appearances as a thug with a tragic background, who suffered from a genetic abnormality that gave him scaly, reptilian skin. Unlike real-life diseases of this type, this is in Croc's case a form of genetic atavism, and he has gradually become less humanoid and more reptilian as time has gone by, his strength and agility increasing while his human personality subsides. Adewale is best known as Mr. Eko in Lost, but has a host of genre and non-genre roles under his belt. His appearance in Suicide Squad sounds like it'll be little more than a cameo, but you don't waste an actor like that so he may well be back.

Raymond Olubowale
King Shark

If a crocodile man wasn't enough, there's also a shark man! King Shark, aka Nanaue, is the son of the Hawaiian Shark God and displays all the characteristics of a shark in a (roughly) humanoid body. Able to breathe underwater and almost invulnerable to harm, he's potentially a very powerful opponent but has never really hit it big. Again, this looks like a cameo for the little known Raymond Olubowale, but I could see him coming back for the Aquaman feature. King Shark is, however, primarily an enemy of Superboy, and actually had to work alongside him in the Squad before.

Karen Fukuhara
Plastique

Primarily an opponent, and love interest, for Captain Atom, Plastique, aka Betti Souci, is another character of shifting affiliations, having worked for both the Suicide Squad and the Justice League for brief periods. She has the power to generate explosive forces from her body. Jessica Parker Kennedy portrayed a young version of the character on Smallville, while Kelly Frye plays her on The Flash. Karen Fukuhara is a young actress and Suicide Squad seems to be her first major production.

Adam Beach
Slipknot/Weiss

Christopher Weiss is another of the lesser DC villains who's main fame comes from joining teams like the Squad. He developed a unique formula for super-durable ropes which he combines with his expert mastery of knot-tying. He's an assassin as well, but good luck to Adam Beach in making this guy cool. Currently starring in Arctic Air, Beach has years of TV appearances on his CV.

From left to right, standing: David Ayer (writer/director); Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg); Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc); Jay Hernandez (role unknown); Jai Courtney (Boomerang); Viola Davis (Amanda Waller); Adam Beach (Slipknot); Jim Parrack (rumoured to be Deathstroke); Ike Barinholtz (rumoured to be Hugo Strange).

From left to right, seated: Will Smith (Deadshot); Karen Fukuhara (Plastique); Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn); Cara Delevigne (Enchantress). Jared Leto was away on tour when this was shot.

Wonderful. This woman is a born storyteller. Also, gay stuff.

http://www.avclub.com/article/scarlet-lesbian-218382

DANDY SPACE LOG 1-1

This is the first installment of what will be my guide to all twenty-six episodes of the magnificent, idiotic, ingenious anime Space Dandy! The entire series is available on Netflix in the UK and US, both in the original Japanese with subtitles and in the English dub. This is a guide to the dubbed version, although there are episodes where sticking the subs on reveals some more information that's been lost in the translation to the brilliant English script.

Space Dandy's English-speaking cast include Ian Sinclair as Dandy, Alison Victorin as QT, Joel McDonald as Meow, J. Michael Tatum as Dr. Gel and R. Bruce Elliott as the Narrator.


Space Dandy is a dandy guy... in space!



Series One, Episode One - “Live With the Flow, Baby”

It is Space Century 0014. We Meet Dandy and QT, and they meet Meow, while they search for new aliens at their favourite hideout, BooBies. Meow promises them he knows a planet that's full of mysterious alien species, so they set out in the Aloha Oe, but when accidentally engaging the malfunctioning warp drive, they burst through the outer dimensions, a continuum criss-crossed with cosmic strings. Dandy, of course, pulls on one, becoming dragged across space/time via the fabled element of pyonium. They are pursued by Dr. Gel of the Gogol Empire, but, stuck on a deadly planet inhabited by terrifying aliens, Dandy elects to engage the supernova device. Everybody dies. The End.

He's Dandy, Baby: His name's Dandy but you can call him Space Dandy. He's an ass man, as all right-thinking men are. An “elite” alien hunter, Dandy hunts for undiscovered species and returns them to the Alien Registration Centre for payment. He visits BooBies regularly, ostensibly because it's an alien hangout, but also because the drinks are cheap, the ladies are lovely and because he has one overriding mission: to visit every branch of BooBies in the Galaxy. Dandy goes with the flow; that's his pure philosophy. When confronted by the interdimensional majesty of a cosmic string, Dandy's first reaction is to yank on it. He doesn't really think his plans through, and gets himself and his crew killed.


He's Just a Little Obsolete, Baby: QT is a service robot Dandy picked up cheap on some backwater planet. His drives are out of date, he can't update his programmes because his operating system is too old, and he needs to consult the Alien Hunter's Guide to supplement his database. His battery life is terrible, and he gets pretty thick when he's in power save mode. He's not impressed by Dandy's attempts to educate him in the finer things in life.


He's Not a Space Cat, Baby: Meow – short for Mrrrmmrrrmmrrmmwww – is a Betelgeusian, an alien species that looks like a cat. But he's not a space cat, OK? He's hanging out in BooBies, perving on the girls and taking snaps of their assets. Why a feline alien wants to perv on humanoid girls is anyone's guess, but he's come to the right place. Initially, QT thinks Meow might be an unidentified alien due to an unusual mark on his cheek. It turns out this is a sticker he won for ordering the Gilgamesh tequila. He knows some obscure planets but really doesn't know how to navigate.

Let's Get Our Asses to BooBies, Baby: Where zero-g meets double-D, BooBies is a breastaurant, like Hooters or Twin Peaks, but in space! A space station shaped like a magnificent pair of bosoms, it is indeed an alien hangout, and has many beautiful waitresses, from every species with boobs. Truly, the appeal of the breasticles crosses the divide of culture and species. We meet our favourite recurring waitress, Honey, a blonde bombshell who is pretty easily distracted.


Tell My Story, Baby: The story is narrated by an mysterious voice, who is, strangely enough, audible to Dandy and QT. He pretty much phones it in though. I think he's only in it for the fourth-wall-breaking.


It's Tech in Space, Baby: Dandy has all manner of nifty gizmos for catching aliens, including a bola balls, a laser fishing rod, and of course, his trusty spaceship, the Aloha Oe. The warp drive is on the fritz, and in any case, Dandy doesn't like using it – he's heard too much warping makes your hair fall out. The ship's matter transporter is also out of date; it takes an age to warm up and a good five minutes to beam someone off a planet. Dandy's ultimate weapon is a surfer doll that sends the ship's drive into overload and turns everything in the vicinity supernova. Only an idiot would use it.


We're Alien Hunters, Baby: There are many varieties of alien life in the Galaxy, from humanoids to cat-like Betelgeusians to huge pink blobs. The planet the Aloha Oe is drawn to is inhabited by gigantic wyrms, in various flavours: fire-breathing, lightning-throwing and composed of water. There's also a huge green robot guy who comes out of the ground, and those are just the less weird ones.


I Know This Planet, Baby: The planet promised by Meow is an absolute dive. It even begins collapsing under Dandy and Meow's feet. Damned space cat.


There's Bad Guys Too, Baby: The Gogol Empire and the Jaicro Empire are at war for the fate of the universe. The Gogol 7^th Fleet of the Galactic Force is headed by Admiral Perry, a mighty villain with a flaming skull (not unlike the dread Dormammu, although his outfit is like Nightmare's from the Kirby games). Admiral Perry is after Dandy, for he, apparently, holds the key to the universe. He sends his agent, Dr. Gel after him. Dr. Gel is a hulking green primate, who flies a ship shaped like the Statue of Liberty, biting down on a ball gag. He is supported by his diminutive assistant, Bea. Neither survives the pursuit of Dandy.


Don't Quote Me, Baby: “Nothing trumps the rump, my friend; anyone who thinks otherwise is either blind or a fool.”



Bottom Line, Baby: It's just the introductory episode, of course, but this displays all the trashy, over-the-top absurdity of Space Dandy at its finest. There are hints of the greater mysteries to come, but from the off, it shows a joyous disregard for continuity and consistency, killing off every major character before drawing attention to the fact that this makes no sense whatsoever. Even the first episode is chock-full of references to other productions, from the warped Planet of the Apes inference of Dr. Gel and his Liberty ship to the monsters cribbed from Galaga. Not to mention that Space Dandy almost certainly takes place in the same universe (multiverse?) as Cowboy Beebop, starting with the use of Woolongs as currency. Some people hate the, well, boobiness of the whole thing, but it's a parody of the shameless fan service that many more popular anime series display (and a lot less graphic than some). It's puerile, ridiculous and over-excitable, but it's the foundation of what will be some truly intelligent science fiction in episodes to come.

REVIEW: Marvel's Daredevil

Now, that's how you do it.


It's understandable that some people are starting to become a little fed up with superhero films and series now. As the new big thing, they have become ubiquitous, and for every geek who looks forward to the next snippet of comicbook movie news, there's ten people who got bored with it all around when The Avengers was in the cinemas. Which is a pity, since there are some genuinely very good productions out there. Still, it's not too much of a surprise that many people were unenthused by the news that Marvel/Disney had five series planned for streaming on Netflix. Superhero overkill, it might sound like. However, going by the first of these series, Marvel have finally found their niche for television. If anyone asks which of the many comic-based shows are worth watching, then Daredevil is what I shall tell them.

There's a qualifier, though. Daredevil is dark as hell. “Dark” is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days, and it's usually pretty meaningless, but in the case of Daredevil, it's very apt. Daredevil is cynical and unflinchingly brutal. I'm genuinely impressed by Disney for allowing something so bloody to go out under their name. I'm usually the first to condemn an adaptation for being needlessly grim; you only need to look at the recently leaked trailer for Batman vs. Superman to see something that's had all the joy mercilessly sucked from it. With Daredevil, however, the darkness has a point. Life is vicious and unjust, but we can try to fight against that injustice. Sometimes, violence must be met by violence, but in doing so, we risk becoming what we are fighting against. It also helps that the darkness is not relentless; there's plenty of humour and quieter, more philosophical moments to offset it. While Arrow just dragged on and got boring, Gotham can't seem to balance its tone between grimdark and absurd, and Marvel's own Agents of SHIELD has taken a season and a half to become must-see TV, Daredevil set itself as a self-contained story, told over thirteen chapters, perfectly balancing the tone so that it was an intense, powerful, and entertaining experience.


That said, I absolutely wouldn't want all of Marvel's productions to be like this. The Netflix set is set out to be the street-level section of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, harder, dirtier and distinctly unsuitable for kids. Marvel's great strength on screen is their variety, with different films hitting different marks. Someone who loved Guardians of the Galaxy may hate Daredevil, however, they are to my eyes both excellent adaptations of very different comicbook properties that each do their own thing very well. Daredevil in comics has long been a very dark affair; the series so far hasn't come close to some of the depths to which the comics have plunged. There's still the future, of course; after the team-up series The Defenders, presumably late next year, I would be surprised if we don't see a second run of Daredevil. That said, the showrunners have killed off a surprising number of major characters, including one I would have sworn would make appearances in other series. It makes for an unpredictable viewing experience, and unlike the comics (or The Avengers movie), I don't think we're going to see dead characters returning to life.


Daredevil has always been a great concept: the blind lawyer who fights crime by night, empowered by enhanced secondary senses and martial training. A character who has to juggle twin identities, who fights to protect his city without the aid of superhuman strength, just skill and determination. So far, so Batman, but unlike Bruce Wayne (or his current TV stand-in, Oliver Queen), Matt Murdock doesn't have a vast fortune behind him to make things easier. That's the strength of this adaptation, compared to the previous cinematic version (which was enjoyable enough, for all its flaws). It's a ground-up approach, with Murdock arriving on the scene in little more than simple black clothes and a black bandana. It's not an origin story – god knows we've had enough of those of late – but it's an early draft of a character, learning how to be the superhero he's destined to become. He doesn't even get called Daredevil until almost the final scene of the series; something that many modern superhero adaptations go for, leaving the often corny names out until in-universe media coin them. Instead of an origin story, we get a work-in-progress whose beginnings are sketched in with detailed flashbacks. It helps Murdock become the most three-dimensional character in a cast that is full of them. Indeed, none of the major characters feel anything other than entirely real, and even lesser characters have depth. No one comes across as rushed or sketched-in. This is a vital part of the series' success; not only in the fundamentals of making a compelling drama, but also in bringing a lesser known property to the screen.

The cast are, to a one, absolutely compelling. Charlie Cox is not the man I'd have cast as Murdock, which just goes to show how little I should be listened to, because he is note-perfect. Handsome and confident, but tempered with a certain awkwardness that it's never quite certain is real or put on, Cox's Murdock is a deeply flawed individual who struggles to balance his inherent anger and violence with his need to do the right thing. Daredevil is unusual in that he is a religious superhero, his Catholicism both a source of strength and conflict. Cox is himself from a Catholic background, and has said that he found this element of the character easy to recreate. His accent is also note perfect, at least to my admittedly untrained ears. What must have been far more challenging is playing a blind man, something that is incredibly difficult for a sighted person to convincingly portray. Both Cox and Scott Glen, as Daredevil's mentor Stick, are entirely convincing as blind men with preturnatural precision in their bearing and skills. It's quite remarkable.


It's difficult to single anyone out for particular praise, because the cast is so very good throughout. Eldon Henson makes an excellent Foggy Nelson, a character who has previously been ignored or poorly presented in adaptations. While he has his moments of comic relief, Henson's Foggy is no useless comedy sidekick, rather representing the ordinary but skilled, hardworking and noble other half of the Nelson and Murdock firm and friendship. Henson is physically right as well; odd-looking but certainly not unattractive, but nonetheless not up to the same grade as Cox's good looks, There's a real charm to his performance, and genuine poignancy to his, as he sees it, betrayal. The central trio is completed by Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page. What could have been nothing more than a mutual love interest for Matt and Foggy, has instead been a headstrong and entirely compelling character. Karen's presence is the catalyst for the entire plot, but she is no mere plot device; the trouble she gets into are a direct result of her own investigations, no less than Matt's injuries are a result of his actions as Daredevil. Woll is really quite something, dominating scenes even when she is not the focus. Indeed, she often takes attention away from Matt and Foggy's interactions, and that's not simply because of her stunning looks. I hope if there is a second series we get to learn more about her past; there's a great deal more to be done with the character that I am certain Woll can illustrate brilliantly. An interesting fact is that Woll's real life partner is suffering from a degenerative disease that will eventually rob him of his sight. Without wanting to trivialise their experiences, I wonder if this allowed her a certain insight into playing someone close to a blind character.


The remaining cast are equally as impressive. Again, it's impossible to call out to everyone, but there are certain actors who are especially deserving of praise. Vondie Curtis-Hall is an excellent choice for Ben Urich, the stalwart reporter for, in this version, the New York Bulletin. A wonderfully characterful actor, Curtis-Hall is a perfect choice for the old city boy who's seen and weathered it all. Bob Gunton is as watchable as ever as Leland “The Owl” Owlsley, wisely portrayed as a straightforward criminal type rather than the more outlandish supervillain of the later comics. He's a slippery one, if a little obtuse. Both Rosario Dawson and Ayelet Zurer are excellent in their roles, Claire Temple and Vanessa Marianna respectively. Although neither of character exists for anything other than their relationships with the show's hero and villain respectively, both are equally as well-rounded and three-dimensional as any of the characters. Claire Temple, integrated with the character of Night Nurse (a wise streamlining of concepts), in particular could do with more exploration, but given her character's links in the comics to other upcoming characters such as Luke Cage, I think it's a certainty we will see her again in the remaining Netflix. As for Vanessa, I doubt we shall see her until any second Daredevil series, which is a pity. Zurer's scenes with D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk are a highlight of the series, a complex, dangerous but believable relationship between two formidable individuals tied together by real love and affection.


Yes, Vincent D'Onofrio. His performance as the Kingpin is quite incredible, possibly the most remarkable performance in the series. While physically impressive, D'Onofrio does not have the gigantic stature that the comicbook character has, nor his previous screen incarnation as portrayed by Michael Clarke Duncan. This doesn't matter in the slightest, however. D'Onofrio portrays the crimelord as man barely suppressing a furious rage, one that threatens to erupt with terrifying brutality at any moment. He is absolutely terrifying, but nonetheless, a hugely sympathetic and complex character. His refined exterior contrasts with his thuggish true face, yet there is real love there, for his mother, for Vanessa, for his right-hand man Wesley (albeit, in that case, an undeniable and distracting Burns/Smithers vibe). An astonishing meeting of fine writing and acting, Wilson Fisk is the standout character of Daredevil, more compelling even than the hero. He is, of course, the dark reflection of Matt Murdock, a man who puts on his own sort of disguise to remake the city in the image he sees fit. Both are trying to change Hell's Kitchen to something greater, but their methods and goals are at odds. Nonetheless, the two men become dangerously similar when pushed to extremes. Both are moulded by the hard lessons they learnt in childhood. There are fascinating parallels. The Kingpin has long been a favourite villain of mine, since his major role in the nineties Spider-Man cartoon series, but it's opposite Daredevil that he comes into his own. D'Onofrio's portrayal is the most powerful version ever, and I would be astonished if we have seen the last of him. Certainly, the actor himself is keen to return (he has shown particular enthusiasm for appearing opposite the new Spider-Man.

Daredevil is also visually accomplished, in a very different way to the glitz of Marvel's big screen outings. Elastic's beautiful, haunting title sequence sets the scene, introducing us a dingy, dirty city that nonetheless has a certain visceral beauty. Excellent cinematography by Matt Lloyd elevates the surroundings to a theatrical arena, the bold use of colour enhancing environments. Most impressive are the fight scenes, of which there are many. Although they are of course choreographed, they never feel like they are. The fights in Daredevil are tired, dirty and bloody. There's been a trend for screen fights in recent years to be more physical and believable than the dances of previous years, but Daredevil takes it to another level. There's one fight, at the end of the second episode, that simply blows all competition out of the water. Filmed in a single long take, imperceptibly switching between Cox and his stuntman, it's utterly, brutally, astonishing. No Hulk vs. Iron Man smash is going to top that for sheer impact.

The tying in of Daredevil into the MCU is handled especially well. While there's the occasional jokey reference which feels a little out of place, for the most part it is done with restraint and skill. The ruinous setting of Hell's Kitchen is an intrinsic part of the Daredevil story, but in reality, Hell's Kitchen no longer truly exists, having been greatly cleaned up and gentrified to become a fairly desirable neighbourhood they'd rather be known as Clinton. The writers of this series have used the so-called Battle of New York, the invasion and destruction that occurred in The Avengers, to reduce the area back to its decrepit roots. Beyond that, links are few and far between, with most comicbook characters included unique, thus far, to this series, and realistically portrayed. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run. There are still unanswered questions, most notably regarding Stick and the Japanese criminal organisation he turned up to fight (which I presume to be the Hand). Murdock will, at some point, fight as part of The Defenders against an unknown foe, and it would not be a surprise if he had some role in the great battle that will come at the end of the next phase of Marvel movies. Until then, there's the hope of another season of Daredevil itself. Matt, Foggy and Karen may have triumphed against injustice for now, but they've painted a very big Bullseye on their heads.