David Mack

With her perceptions altered, Maya Lopez--a.k.a. Echo--embarks on a Native American vision quest to pick up the pieces of her shattered life.

Echo - Vision Quest

Daredevil

emily allen

I read this volume in one silent, breathless sitting. And although it's only five issues, this book has planted itself into my heart as one of my favorite comic series I've ever gotten to read. 

Daredevil comics are always fantastic, I've found. He's never been one of my favorite characters, but he always gets amazing writing and storylines. I had been on a Daredevil kick when I started reading this, working my way through some of his earlier storylines from this millennia. They were all interesting and good enough, but they all felt like I was reading the same story. Despite a rotating cast of villains and girlfriends, nothing ever changed. The art was beautiful but repetitive. I enjoyed reading them, but they didn't blow me away.

The second I opened up Daredevil #51 my jaw dropped. Visually, this comic series is hands down the best I've ever seen. As opposed to classic comic book art and imagery, this story was told through paintings. From watercolor to acrylic to children's drawings, there was nothing consistent about the art in these issues, and I loved it. It made a stunning collage of many different mediums that I had never seen in a comic book. Frankly, I doubt I'll ever see anything like it again.

Maya, or Echo, was born deaf. She doesn't think in sounds, nor does she hear any part of the world around her. Despite this, she learned to understand what people were saying not through their words, but through their actions. She sees music as color and movement as a symphony. Because of this, Mack doesn't tell this story through words. He tells it through art and sign language and facial expressions. There are words, yes, but the dominant characteristic of this comic is visual storytelling. The words carry the story along, but they don't tell it. 

The story itself was fantastic, too. I know that many people were angry that this was a story about Echo, and not Daredevil, but I thought it was a much-needed break from the Daredevil storyline, and one that helped us understand a character in a way that was never shown before. 

The only other comic book about a deaf character that I've read is Hawkeye. It was amazing, hands down one of my favorite Marvel comics. But that being said, his deafness is largely forgotten outside of standalone comics, and he tends to get by with a convenient plot device: Tony Stark's super amazing 100% effective hearing aids. Now don't get me wrong, Clint is an important character who acts as major deaf representation. But Echo was the first character who's been a main (or major supporting) character who was fully deaf that I've read before. And what was really amazing was that she was a character with so many different dimensions. She wasn't just deaf - she was Native-American, she was an artist, she was a storyteller. Echo has one of the strongest senses of identity, both cultural and spiritual, that I've ever seen in comics, and it's so interesting to read about. 

All in all, I can see why some people wouldn't like this storyline. For hardcore Daredevil fans, she's kind of just a distraction from the overall plot. But personally, I adored this. Echo is an important Native-American and deaf representation and her character is interesting and multi-dimensional. This is probably the most unique comic book I've ever read, and I would literally recommend this to anyone. 

10/10, David Mack. Amazing job.

Daredevil Echo - Vision Quest

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