Agreed that this is a solid sequence in an awesome run.

But..

There’s general agreement that Miller gradually went to hell at some point after this, though fans can spend happy hours debating just when and how much. So, if this is one of his all-time high points — and I think it is — it’s worth looking carefully for signs of the rot to come.

I see a couple, the most obvious being Ben Urich’s internal monologue.

“It’s the city JAIL. They call it the TOMBS. They have their REASONS.” By itself, no big deal — maybe just a little over the top, and the antique typewriter font almost lets Miller get away with it. (And BTW, isn’t that a very early use of the “unique fonts for a particular character’s internal voice” trick? Not the first, but very early.) But in the context of Miller’s subsequent work, this is definitely a foreshadowing of his crazy-ass monologues and dialogues, with the Kirbyesque EMPHASIS on every third WORD.

Anyone spot any others yet?

Doug M.

This part of the story came right out of left field for me when I first read it back in ’86. So much carnage, and it all goes down so fast. The nurse finally gets hers. Poor Hegerfors buys it with both stones on while taking out Coogan. Ben cuts loose on sleazeball Blanders after all the hell he’s gone through courtesy of Fisk and his goons. I was pissed at seeing Glory shooting away as the crap hit the fan, seemingly unaware of the violence until she realizes that Urich is killing Blanders. Then there’s Ben’s reaction at the cafe when the shock has passed and the truth starts to sink in: He’s just taken a life and nobody around him seems to care.

What a book. What a story. Just…wow.

Mazzucchelli leaving mainstream super-hero comics was a damn shame. His work on Daredevil and Batman : Year One are some of my favorite visual work from that era. Good stuff….good stuff.

Stupid Blanders.

For me what makes the scene are the repeated KLIKs. I love that Glorianna never stops taking pictures in the midst of this chaos. Strongly conveys her professionalism as a news photog.

David Mazzucchelli is coming out with a new book on June 2, it’s called Asterios Polyp and it’s 344 pages. While your pick up City of Glass it’ awesome

Can anyone explain what exactly happened up there? Who are Coogan, Hegefors, and Blanders and which side are they on?

the more moments that are taken from the storyline the more it shows how frank understood daredevil not to mention the scene shows that Ben might start to be cracking under the stuff the kingpin did to him to cover his tracks

*counts* um … third word? or fourth?

As much as I love this story, spending so many moments in a row on one story is a bad idea. The column gets static and dull. There are many stories with cool moments, but spending more than a week on a single story seems pretty lazy and ill-advised considering how many great comics there are to choose from.

Coogan is the uniformed cop/guard. He shoots and is shot by Hegerfors. He’s a bad guy
Hegerfors is the detective in the green coat. He’s shot by and then shoots Coogan He’s a good guy.
Blanders is the guy in the checkered coat with the fur lining. He seems to work for the Daily Bugle. From the text, it looks like Jameson though Urich needed a baby sitter after he recent loss of confidence. He kills Lois and is then beaten to death by Ben.

I disagree with Gromyko completely.

We could do the whole story page by page and it wouldnt be wasted space.

It’s one of my favorite moments of “Born Again”. Ben Urich and four no-names in a fight to the finish, the treachery of the guard and reporter, the bad-assness of Urich to fuck that guy up, and Glorianna and her constant “KLICK” until the end with bodies and blood everywhere until there’s nothing else to do but absorb what just happened.

Poor Hegerfors.

Gavin: Asterios Polyp is proof that Mazzucchelli had bigger and better toyboxes to play in than superheroes!!!

Doug M-

Tons. And you nailed it, the signs are there.