COMIC BOOKS: Devil's Reign

Dean Poling, The Valdosta Daily Times, Ga.
·2 min read

Sep. 24—For the past several years, Wilson Fisk, known as the criminal mastermind/powerhouse Kingpin, has been the duly elected mayor of New York City.

While he has made efforts to appear legit in public, he has worked several schemes behind the scenes and had plenty of run-ins with Marvel superheroes in various comic book titles.

Marvel brought Mayor Fisk's municipal political career to a crescendo in the massive crossover event, "Devil's Reign," which had its own six-issue mini-series as well as several off-shoot series.

Here, Fisk outlaws vigilante superheroes — that goes for everyone from the street-level heroes such as Daredevil and Spider-Man, as well as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

Any superheroes using their powers in New York City are acting outside of the law and will be arrested and prosecuted. Fisk has recruited an army of supervillains and reconfigured the Thunderbolts to use power dampeners to arrest superheroes who break the new city law.

The superheroes defy the law in the expected ways and by running Luke Cage as the opposing candidate in the mayor's race.

"Devil's Reign" is a staggering effort. It has touches of Marvel's "Civil War" and its federal superhero registration act storyline (which this storyline acknowledges on a few occasions).

It also centers on the latest struggle between Fisk and his arch-foe Daredevil, as the Kingpin gropes to recall the true identity of the Man Who Knows No Fear.

Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto have fun with this sweeping storyline, so much fun that readers can't help but be swept along for the ride.

They also keep a good handle on the large, all-star cast while never losing the focus of the pivotal plot lines and characters.

Some of these mega-events turn into a sloppy muddle of so many characters that character development and the plot lines are lost in the sprawl.

Not so with "Devil's Reign."

Zdarsky and Checchetto keep everyone in line and the storyline coherent and on point.

While there are several off-shoot titles that accompany this storyline, the main title reigns supreme.