With the shocking revelation of Matt Murdock coming face to masked face with his fictional twin brother and former alter-alter-ego, Mike Murdock, Charles Soule has set up readers coming in from Daredevil #606 with one hell of a cliffhanger. Luckily for everyone, Soule and artist Phil Noto do not disappoint.

You see, Matt Murdock is certainly still masked in the Daredevil costume. This means it’s not Matt, who at one point created the identity of Mike to throw people off the scent of him being Daredevil. Matt desperately tries to find out what angle this “Mike” is playing, convinced it’s some sort of trick: Mysterio, an LMD, something that means Daredevil is still sane. Despite an awesome interruption in the form of a barroom brawl in the villain’s bar, “The Bar with No Name,” Matt drags Mike to a psychic friend of a friend to find out the truth. In this case, the truth is stranger than fiction, and derails the entire plot Soule had laid out last issue spectacularly.

To help readers who are newer to the franchise, or those who are completely lost by how big of a shocker Mike Murdock being a separate person is, the tale begins with a lovely image collage with narration from Matt. Noto does a wonderful job showing a younger Matt Murdock in his earlier prime, and his “Mike” is utterly perfect. In all, it works as a great introduction to this chapter of the story.

As stated above, the use of Mike Murdock is completely out of left field. Authors have made use of him before, and he even made a brief appearance in Mark Waid’s recent run on Daredevil. However, he’s always been Matt in a very bad disguise putting on a show. This is the first time someone else might be using the Mike persona, and Soule raises a ton of interesting directions for the twist before throwing the fans a curveball once more. Fantastic writing, all around.

Noto’s art is simply excellent. The confrontation between some of the more commonly seen C-Listers and Daredevil is fast-paced and filled with great moments. It’s also interesting seeing Matt Murdock with actual working eyes, as Mike does remove the sunglasses at one point. It really is a subtle way to establish that this can’t be Matt beyond Matt being in the Daredevil suit. On top of that, Noto is putting some of his best work into the subtle body language in this comic. Matt Murdock going from confused to annoyed to enraged over the course of a page is something that isn’t seen often these days in comics.

Fans who were expecting their own fan theory to be proven right may be disappointed by the revelation of who, or what, Mike is. However, Soule has set this up quite easily in the text, and the execution is a mind-blowing example of great storytelling. With Noto as his cohort, Soule seems to have some real devious things planned out for Matt Murdock. Mayor Fisk will have to wait.

Grade: A