The Creators – Chip Zdarsky – Writer, Marco Chechetto – Artist, Mattia Iacono – Colours, Clayton Cowles – Letters

The Players – Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Cole North, Kingpin, Crossbones, Bullseye, Rhino, Bullet, Stilt-Man, Typhoid Mary

The Story – Hell’s Kitchen is being systematically destroyed by some of Daredevil’s greatest villains.

The Take – In the first part of Inferno, it continues to build on that which Chip Zdarsky has been laying out since the beginning of his run, the first being the Kingpin making an enemy out of those more powerful than himself and thus paying the price for it in the form of Hell’s Kitchen, not to mention being shamed at showing just how weak he truly is when up against those that hold real power. As for Matt Murdock, he has given up being the ‘Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’ but it has not been working out so well as there are many who depended on Daredevil and ever since he went away, things have taken a decided turn for the worse. Cole North, a detective who believes in the law and what it can do has been let down by it of late, thanks in part to his over-zealousness and the corruption that runs deep in the department. Now he joins Daredevil to fight those that have invaded their little corner of the city and at the moment, it all seems quite helpless. Brought to life by the incredibly talented Marco Chechetto, he not only does a great job in general, but he makes the villains seem even more formidable than most artists usually depict them as. Over the course of the series, Zdarsky has painted Murdock as a conflicted man, though that is nothing new as he has been as such for nearly his entire history, but it plays into the finale that Zdarsky has planned for the book and when the civilian populace come out to battle the villains in Daredevil masks and the like, how can the man not realize that maybe he does make a difference when dressed up in a costume. One of the better scenes in the entire book is that of Fisk, standing silently as Hell’s Kitchen is being destroyed, knowing that even as mayor there is nothing that he can do to stop it and while it does show weakness, readers have to know that he is plotting and scheming as to his next move because the Kingpin always has a next move. A great issue overall in a series that has been consistently good from the outset.

Worth It? – Yes.