Daredevil vol. 5 #10 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and Clayton Cowles
Sam discovers Muse’s first “exhibit”.
I have always loved Charles Soule’s choice, when introducing his young new superhero, to also hit him with his first real nemesis almost immediately. And not only that, but a terrifying and dangerous one, whose presence flings Sam directly into the deep end of battling supervillains by forcing him to deal with one who is really, really awful. I feel like I’m inviting critique by saying that Muse is a Bullseye-level villain in terms of sheer fear, danger, and unpredictability, but he’s definitely close, and the last time a novice superhero went up against Bullseye in a DD comic, Matt was so terrified for her safety that he kicked her off a roof.
Muse could have been a Daredevil villain who Sam just happens to encounter by hanging out with Matt, but no. When Matt shows up, Muse engages with him of course, but his genuine interest is in Sam. When choosing someone to invite to the opening of his first “show”, out of all of the superheroes in the city he picks Blindspot, and only Blindspot—a creative young hero full of potential, in whom Muse sees something that strikes his fancy.
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Daredevil vol. 5 #13 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and Clayton Cowles
(I’d completely forgotten about Muse crawling along the ceiling in that scene. Horrifying. I love it.)
Muse forces Sam to confront many of his formative challenges. He drives Sam to understand the steep cost of being a hero and gives him an up-close look at the kind of darkness he will be forced to face in this line of work. Muse leads Sam to the edge of his morals, making him consider his policy on murder painfully early in his career. And Muse’s continuing interest in Sam (as a muse; he makes clear that this interest is based on the creative inspiration that Sam gives him) is frightening in itself. At one point, Muse considers aloud the possibility of prolonging their dance in the usual superhero/arch-nemesis manner: “Blindspot vs. Muse…one for the ages!” And Sam’s refusal to take part in that narrative is its own kind of formative choice, one that I find really compelling.
moment of unspeakable beauty today when one of my coworkers called another coworker “judas” for not splitting a can of white monster with her, and i got to watch the guy who sits next to me open a new google tab, type in “jeudis,” and say quietly to himself “french thursday…?”
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