Editor's Note: Daredevil #118 arrives in stores tomorrow, April 22.

It doesn't even warrant mentioning the continuous mess that Matt Murdock seems to be in any given issue. For the past few years, I've read (and read, etc.) as everyone's favorite blind lawyer dig himself out of a hole only to find he's at the bottom of yet another hole. To be fair, that's why we read characters like Murdock and Peter Parker. It makes me feel better knowing someone else has it worse. To be honest, though, that's not what makes this current arc as appealing as it builds towards a crescendo.

We get to see Fisk take his big, meaty hands and act like a man for the first time in forever.

Please don't mistake my false bravado for genuine sentiment. I'm a nerd writing for free on a comic book website; to say I have a flair for the dramatic is an understatement. I wouldn't know how to successfully define how to act like a man if you paid me to. This warrants mention because I would identify more with the Kingpin we've seen under Bru than in previous incarnations.

Just like Sears, we've seen the softer side.

Hopefully I am not alone in questioning Wilson sitting in a Zen garden somewhere harnessing his chi and focusing it in a healthy direction. Seeing the behemoth tower over Murdock and honor his agreement almost made me wonder if I had the right title. Couldn't you see the cover now? What If the Kingpin Hosted Surprise By Design?. Me either. Let's move on.

This issue, while trying to go for another "moment" in the life of Matt, seemed to show the dark looming cloud over NYC with Fisk gaining steam again in his organization of crime. Sure, some lesser known hoods take their shot at the champ of the Kitchen, but that was merely the warm-up. Seeing the two titans lob thunderbolts at each other, not pulling any punches, would definitely put some of the pizzazz back into this title. After The Devil Takes a Ride, the series lost some of the steam from the haymaker Bru threw in his first series. I surmise, however, this is the ace Ed had in the hole.

He knew the Kingpin was coming back.

As far as the shocker about Foggy, I could have cared less. Without revealing what it actually it is, let me just say it was a waste of space. We could have been given more Master Izo behind the scenes or have Lady Bullseye behead someone else just because she didn't like the way her burger was cooked. Come on, you know you would enjoy seeing it too. She's everything her surname portends she is: ten kinds of badass with a weird costume to distract us before we get a throat full of sword.

What I love about Michael Lark is how he continues to find ways to add noise to the image, especially (1) when Daredevil is outside doing his thing, (2) when it's lawyer time and we can all pretend life is normal, clear as a bell, and (3) when Matt puts his horns on and gets some fresh air, we get snow falling from the sky. One thing I found the snow added to the panel was a sense of sound. Snow makes me think of calm, still air. Maybe that's exactly what we are looking at: the calm before the storm.

That's if you want to call a bunch of dead bodies in a church calm, but I'm not here to judge.

Just for grins, I'll leave with one last thought on Fisk. Are we supposed to think that the man is off his rocker after putting his wife's body to rest? Granted, this is a world where people put costumes on and have powers, so sanity is a relative term here. I'm just not sure how to react to the idea that Wilson came back from Asia with a card or two missing from his deck. The Kingpin always has it together, is always scheming to ruin Matt. It must kill him that he wasn't part of the huge game played on his nemesis that resulted in his wife in the psych ward. He should be razor sharp, not having conversations with his wife's ghost.

If Whoopi shows up, I'm going home. Great story so far, hopefully it will build to the denouement we are all hoping for.

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