- December 8, 2021
Devil’s Reign #1 Review
Written by: Chip Zdarsky
Art by: Marco Checchetto
Coloring by: Marcio Menyz
Lettering by: Clayton Cowles
It would be easy and misleading to say that Devil’s Reign is a continuation of the fantastic Daredevil series that just finished. You can jump into this book without having read a single issue of that Daredevil series. This book is of the same quality, but it’s also incredibly different.
Devil’s Reign isn’t about Daredevil and his guilt leading him to become a better hero for Hell’s Kitchen. Devil’s Reign is about Wilson Fisk feeling small, powerless even. Despite everything he’s done and accomplished, despite how he’s foiled superheroes and their ideals again and again, compared to the people who save the planet and fight gods… he’s nothing.
Fisk knows that if Spider-Man wanted to, he could sneak into his house, in the middle of the night and punch him dead. He knows the Thing, Luke Cage, and even Captain America could end him like he’s nothing. He’s been able to ignore that fact because he can outsmart them, make sure they can’t get away with it. Fisk’s mind is his most powerful weapon.
Now in Devil’s Reign, he realizes that his mind too is nothing to superpowers. Now he has found out that someone has used their powers on his mind, and he hasn’t known for years. Fisk feels powerless in a way he never has before. Now he needs to lord his political power in a terrifying fashion to make superheroes as fearful of him as he secretly is of them.
The creative team has created an amazing first issue. It illustrates not only why Fisk’s discriminatory law against good sanitarians and superpowers is wrong, but why people would believe it. Daredevil killed a man and went to prison for a few months. Superheroes aren’t being held accountable, and they should be. But not by Fisk, and Devil’s Reign is preparing to show us why he’s the wrong guy for the job.