Charles Soule Talks New Challenges for Daredevil

Marvel's long-running vigilante Daredevil loves New York City, and has dedicated his life to protecting its people -- both as a superhero and in his civilian identity of attorney Matt Murdock. Recently, both of those lives have been full of political intrigue thanks to his old enemy Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin of Crime, being elected Mayor of New York City. In order to combat Fisk's political machinations Murdock accepted the position as Fisk's Deputy Mayor. The former Kingpin sought to check Murdock's influence on the city, but in doing so inadvertently thrust his old foe into a position to save the Big Apple from a vicious supernatural assault.

That's because at the end of Daredevil#600, Fisk was laid low in a assassination attempt by the demon worshipping ninja cult known as the Hand. They then began to lay siege to the city's citizens and institutions. In the current arc of the series, which comes to a close in July's #605, writer Charles Soule and artist Mike Henderson are chronicling their protagonist's efforts both in city hall as New York's acting mayor and on the streets as the Man Without Fear to break the Hand's grip on the city.

CBR spoke with Soule about the current arc -- which pays off a lot of long term threads from his series -- working with Henderson, his other Daredevil related project Hunt for Wolverine: Weapon Lost, and the next arc of Daredevil where Matt Murdock comes face to face with his “twin brother,” Mike.

CBR: Charles, one of the things I've loved about this current arc of Daredevil with the Hand is it very much feels like both a horror story and a siege story, which are two types of tales I greatly enjoy. Was that your intention for this story?

Charles Soule: You pretty much nailed it -- I love the “city under siege” sub-genre, where people trapped in some untenable situation have to find a way to survive and escape. It’s a little tricky to pull something like that off in Marvel’s New York City, but I like how it came together here.

Horror -- for sure. All of my stories involving The Hand (and more particularly their demonic overlord, The Beast) have those overtones, from the “Land of the Blind” arc that ran in DD #26-28 to this one. I like writing The Beast as a straight-up devil analogue, but almost as an unknowable evil more than anything concrete. It’s scarier that way, I think.

Helping you convey the horrific and sort of sinister tone of this arc is Mike Henderson, who was the artist of one my favorite horror titles, Nailbiter from Image Comics. What's it like working with Mike on this story? What do you enjoy most about Mike's style?

I love the kineticism of it. I was very excited about Mike jumping on board for this arc. His work on Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan made it clear that he could handle interesting action sequences that told a great story without any dialogue at all, and I knew this would be a really action-heavy story. He hasn’t disappointed. There are some pretty wild twists and storytelling requirements coming up in the rest of the arc, and he’s nailed it all.

Daredevil #605 interior art by Mike Henderson and Matt Milla

One of the big twists in the initial chapter of this current arc was that Matt Murdock suddenly found himself in the role of Mayor of New York after the Hand attempted to assassinate Wilson Fisk. What's it like writing Matt as both Daredevil and the Mayor? Has he had time to pause and consider the power he wields over the city he loves?

Nope. I think Daredevil rarely gets time to reflect. He’s always reacting, moving quickly from one crisis to the next, which is part of what makes him great to write. In some ways, he doesn’t have time to learn from his mistakes. Hell, the fact that he gets to make mistakes makes him somewhat unique in superhero comics. I love Matt in City Hall, but it needed to be a unique take and twist on it. I didn’t want to have him arguing with the Public Advocate about budgets and so on. I needed him to be defending his city from certain doom on every level, and that’s this story.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Lots of guest characters, how Daredevil ties into the return of Wolverine']

In issue #603, Matt used his roles as both Daredevil and the Mayor to enlist some generals in the war to take New York City back from the Hand in the form of Elektra, Diamondback, the Black Cat, the Owl and Hammerhead. What's it like writing all of those characters in a story like this? What can you tell us about their roles in the remaining chapters of this story?

We’ll see most of them again, although probably not in the way you’d think. I think of the supporting characters as flavors in a Daredevil stew. Daredevil’s the main thing you taste, but Spider-Man, Elektra, all the rest give it accents. The important thing is to get them right, so that Luke Cage and Iron Fist taste like Luke Cage and… hmm. Maybe I’ve pushed this metaphor too far.

We had the mobsters, Elektra, the Hand, and then at the end of issue #603 we had the return of Father Jordan. These characters have all played roles in your DD run, some of them since the early stages. So in many ways it feels like this arc is both a payoff for long-term readers and a way to set up some new story threads. Is that correct?

That’s exactly right. This arc, in a thousand ways big and small, is designed to work for those lucky people who have been reading from the start. I had the plan you’ll see developing with Father Jordan in mind since his first appearance all the way back in DD #15-16, and the Elektra beat as well -- that was set up in DD #6-7. Part of the joy of comics is doing things like this; teasing something years back that pays off now. Anyone who’s been paying attention might have a sense of where the Father Jordan beat is going. It’ll all get laid out in detail in Daredevil #604.

This arc of Daredevil isn't the only Matt Murdock story you're currently working on. The Man Without Fear also plays a prominent role in The Hunt For Wolverine: Weapon Lost miniseries. What made you want to bring Matt into that story?

Yup! Part of the goal for the four Hunt for Wolverine minis was to give each its own genre feel. For example, Claws of the Killer by Mariko Tamaki and Butch Guice is the horror book, with zombies and such. Weapon Lost is the detective story, the super noir-y tale with lots of shadows and red herrings and all of that. I’ve always thought of Daredevil as a great detective character, and this book leans into that in a big way. He’s paired up with Misty Knight, Frank McGee and Cypher (another character I’ve always thought would be awesome for detective/spy stories) and they’re having a grand old time. Matteo Buffagni’s doing the art on the book, and man, he’s just doing a great job. So many wonderful shadows!

Finally, I understand Weapon Lost serves as sort of a springboard to a new arc that kicks off in August's Daredevil #606, that reunites you with artist Phil Noto. What sort of hints and teases can you leave us with about that arc? What's it like working with Phil on that story?

I love working with Phil. He’s amazing. We did a long run on Poe Dameron, and now it just feels like getting the band back together. I know he’s always wanted to draw Daredevil, too, and the pages I’ve seen come in are amazing. You can tell when an artist is getting to fulfill an artistic goal, and that’s what this feels like. I don’t want to say too much about the next story, but I will say that it involves a fellow named Mike Murdock in a big way. Mike is Matt’s identical twin brother, and… what’s that you say? Matt doesn’t have an identical twin brother? Exactly.

It’s been wonderful to see how people have been embracing the run, especially since Daredevil #595 with the “Mayor Fisk” arc. People talked about it before, but now I think it’s easier for people to see what we’ve been building up to -- that it’s all one big story for Matt Murdock, a huge chapter in his life. Stick around -- we’re not done yet!

Daredevil #604 is available today from Marvel.