ENEMY OF MY ENEMY by Alex Segura is the second superhero novel I've read by Alex Segura. The first was ARANA AND SPIDER-MAN 2099, which had the hilarious premise of teaming up two much-neglected characters to face against Judas Traveler (quite possibly the most hated supervillain concept of all time with the possible exception of Paul Rabin). I loved it and thought it was an incredibly goofy but loyal to the characters who have always deserved better. Yes, I'm a guy salty about the fact Miguel is the villain of the second Spider-Verse universe and wonder what Peter David (RIP) thought.
The premise is that the Punisher has murdered the Kingpin and Matt Murdoch AKA Daredevil has the task of defending him. This is an incredibly strong premise and reminiscent of the second season of the Netflix Daredevil show even if that about defending Frank Castle in general versus killing Wilson Fisk. My first thought was, of course, "I really hope they don't backtrack on this. This is an alternate universe so there's no reason they have to." Unfortunately, it's only chapter later that we find out the Medical Examiner was kept from analyzing Wilson Fisk's body and most readers will deduce this is like those covers that state a hero will die this issue (only for it to turn out to be a clone or something). This is less a spoiler than my reaction and, who knows, maybe my finely tuned comic book reader instincts were wrong.
Still, Alex Segura has a pretty good grasp on Matt Murdoch and the story is about his moral conundrum of defending a man that he knows to be a mass murderer. The best parts of the novel are also Matt wrestling with the fact that he feels no small sense of joy at Wilson Fisk's death (this is a post Born Again [comic] storyline so many references are made to the Kingpin destroying Matt's life even if specifics like Nuke aren't mentioned). Matt is so deep in his own righteousness, he feels guilty even for wanting Wilson dead even if he didn't do anything to bring him down.
We also get the inclusion of no less than three former Daredevil girlfriends to compensate for the fact
Karen Page is (still) dead in this universe. Elektra, Dakota North, and Typhoid Mary all show up at various points in the story to comment on both how much they still care for Matt while also privately (or not so privately) bemoaning what a terrible boyfriend he is. Matt is also in a relationship with an original character working in Internal Affairs and it doesn't take long for Daredevil to torpedo this relationship by exploiting it for help in his vigilante efforts despite what a gross betrayal this is. This shows that Alex Segura has a good grasp of who Matt Murdoch is and his often hypocritical self-righteousness.
The book has flaws even if I overall enjoyed it. Some of the cast are slightly out of character even accounting for an alternate Marvel universe. Would Frank Castle ever make a deal with organized crime even if it managed to get him closer to some big wigs that he wants to kill? Would Matt Murdoch not be able to tell that two women he's had, uh, intimate relations with are the same person even if they are in disguise? His blindness doesn't work that way. Would Bullseye ever work as someone's bodyguard versus just an assassin for hire?
Overall, I really enjoyed Enemy of my Enemy. Alex Segura has a deep love for the Marvel universe and manages to thread the needle that it's close enough to the Netflix shows that fans of them will enjoy it while keeping it comics-related. The absence of Karen Page for Netflix fans will be an issue but I'm confused why she's still dead in the comics myself (because comics). I am already interested in picking up the third of these Marvel Crime Novels. If I have any complaints, it's the 28 dollar Kindle price tag, which is outrageous. I strongly suggest people pick up the Audible version instead.
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