The Cast: Daredevil, Batman, Scarecrow, Kingpin, Catwoman

The Catalyst: Information on the Kingpin has fallen into the wrong hands, that of the Scarecrow.

The Convergence: Daredevil heads to Gotham and immediately tangles with Batman and Catwoman but they quickly team up while the villainess passes off the files to the Scarecrow who intends to put them to good use.

The Critique: This team-up between Batman and Daredevil is interesting for the fact that it recognizes the previous collaboration between the two creating a bit of history that starts the book off with the two heroes teaming up almost immediately to deal with the threat at hand. While it begins in Gotham, it soon ends up in New York City with the Scarecrow looking to become the top dog, pushing the Kingpin to the side by using his own men and resources against him. As a whole, there was nothing wrong with this book and it was somewhat enjoyable but it all felt a little old-school from the storytelling to the artwork, a nice throwback and yet one that just seemed out of place at the time of its release. Alan Grant knows how to write a good Batman tale and so going into this, one would expect nothing less. Sadly, there was not a lot of excitement to be had, this story having an almost ‘been there, done that’ vibe, the only difference being Daredevil and the Kingpin were present instead of say, Superman and Luthor. Eduardo Barreto’s pencils are clean and friendly to the eye but lacked a bit of energy, though that would go hand-in-hand with the story which needed some kind of kick to push it to the next level. It was fun to see Daredevil and Catwoman come together for a hot minute as Matt Murdock has a complicated history with a number of strong women and seeing Batman in New York as opposed to Gotham would freshen things up just a little. As crossovers are rare beasts between companies or at least certain companies, they should feel big and important and something one cannot wait to run out and get and yet much like the previous team-up between the two leads, this too just fell a little flat. All in all, it was fun in a way but it needed something more to make itself memorable which is simply not present.

The Credits: Alan Grant – Writer, Eduardo Barreto – Artist, Matt Hollingsworth – Colours, Ken Bruzenak – Letters

Companies Involved: DC Comics, Marvel Comics

Chronology: December 2000