Daredevil Message Board

[Ryu Murdock]

Maleev did draw Bullseye in his old costume in Daredevil vol.2 #81 - The Murdocks Papers Part 6.
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"I'm only a DEVIL to those who are demonic."

[Darkdevil]

Tan's art was decent but for me, the initial shots of Matt reminded me more of Scott Summers than Beavis or Butthead.

I liked Bullseye's note of 'Remember who you are' on his costume box.

I loved how Diggle twisted our usual perceptions about a typical DD-Bullseye fight, even by having Matt question it in-dialogue. I was clearly shocked by Bullseye's actions. Brutal stuff here and I loved it.

The preview only has me hyped up more about Diggle's potential.

[Minion]

Here there be Spoilers

Wow. I am really surprised about the lack of praise for this. It is by FAR my favorite thing that I have seen from Andy Diggle and I am not saying that to take away from his other work. I found this to be one of the best single issues of any comic I have ever read.

It may be because I have seen where Daredevil has gone since then but it just hit me really hard. Starting from the very first page, the very first panel[\i], we see that The Hand have a giant skyscraper in the middle of lower Manhattan. Matt Murdock could be living here in this ivory tower surrounded by the amenities of the modern world, but instead as the leader of the Hand he chooses to live in the sewer. And this issue shows us why. For everyone asking Why would Daredevil live in a sewer? Have them pick up this issue.

The corporate front of the Hand open the issue by drawing up all of the legitimate ventures of the Hand for Matt's legal team to look over and Matt's answer is very simply, "I have no legal team. This is for me alone." This is the moment for me where I realized that Matt Murdock no longer exists. He is gone. There will be no contact with [i]anyone that Matt Murdock knows in any way. There is only Daredevil.

Matt Murdock would be able to assemble lawyers who would be able to keep quiet even if they were not his closest friends. He could assemble lawyers who were the best in their field but they would have no idea who Matt Murdock was or why these contracts meant anything other than a job that they would be paid an insane amount of money for. But instead Matt chooses to do this alone. Not because he doesn't trust anyone. He want's Matt Murdock to disappear.

He hides nothing from the Hand concerning his powers and they hide nothing concerning their organization. He reveals to them that he can read ink just by running his hand across the page, and they show the extent of their reach in business. He may be trying to appear strong as a leader, but to me it appears almost as a disregard for the former secrecy that he has had. Think about it. Daredevil's friends may no what his powers are but no one else does. What do his enemies know about his powers? Nothing. So to see him just reveal one like that is a pretty big deal even if it is as piddling as reading with your hands.

Threats are exchanged on both sides of course as Daredevil gets ready to face the challenges of determining if he is worthy to lead the Hand or not, and they bring up sacrifice, that Daredevil knows what must be sacrificed to be the leader of the Hand. They never come out and say it but Matt Murdock must be sacrificed so that Daredevil can lead the Hand.

Next we see an unrevealed female Ninja jump across the city and into the middle of an attack on one of the few good cops left in the city who is standing up against two dirty cops and a dirty judge. Now I don't know about everyone but I inferred it was Lady Bullseye right away and I must say this is the best I've seen her. Her supervillain costume is overdesigned to be an over the top supervillain I would expect it to come from the 90's. Her idol Bullseye's costume is simple. It tells you what he is. Hers is just like she let an art student paint her entire body.(Seriously there are no lines. Is is a bodysuit that lest her hair out or paint?) But here it might be someone different. There are no blatant giveaway to the identity of the ninja.

And I think Kurtz may be a good addition to the supporting cast. The last good cop in the city who won't back down even when cornered in a dark alley by two dirty cops and a judge? That's right up DD's alley.

Back to the story. This "Mysterious Ninja" swoops in and absolutely destroys the dirty members of law enforcement and truly inspires that sense of dread that a ninja should. She came and she was gone leaving bodies on the ground. No fight. Just dead. And even though they were just threatening his life the good cop still tried to fight, but the ninja was gone.

Cut to Avengers tower where I know everyone was dreading the appearance of Norman Osborn and the entrance into the Event Mania that has consumed the Marvel U for the last six years. And yes Osborn does give a speech or two but the only other character is Hawk/Bullseye who is always there to bring him down and insert that needed connection to Daredevil history. And Norman does sum up Daredevil's problems that have been happening for the last year into six little words. "I am the rule of law."

When Norman tells Bullseye that Daredevil was behind the killing of two cops and a judge Bullseye just will not believe it. You can see it in his face and his movements. Because if Daredevil was a killer than Bullseye would have been the first to go and he knows it and nothing that Osborn says will convince him otherwise. In fact I think this scene would have been perfect if they had just ended it on the line "I'm sending him you." rather than adding two more word balloons to work The List into the issue.

But Bullseye will not argue with an order to kill Daredevil. Next we see Bullseye dancing down the hallway singing Billie Holiday's That Ole Devil Called Love as he lovingly pulls out his old Bullseye costume and you have to love the note that he leaves himself that you have to think because this is comics should also say "In case of Mind Control."

Daredevil is being tortured to determine whether he is able to lead the hand and when he refuses to give in they cut him down and announce that he will have to kill a champion of the Hand before he can assume the leadership that he seeks. Daredevil of course refuses and is charged by the beautifully designed giant ninja, but before either one can make a single attack he is struck in the back of the neck by a projectile by Bullseye who knows how to make an entrance like no other villain in comics.

He leads a Hammer attack squad into the very heart of the Hand's operations and lures Daredevil away by challenging him to one last fight one on one and Daredevil of course follows on his heels like a good little hero telling his few friends in the Hand that he will do this alone because this may be the last real heroic act that he performs because he is about to sully himself forever by working as the leader of the hand.

Through this whole sequence we get a lot of hero shots of Bullseye. He is not bearing himself like a villain. The camera angles, the lighting, and the poses that Bullseye is captured in make him look more heroic in his Bullseye costume than he ever has looked as Hawkeye, and he is encouraging Daredevil to act as Daredevil should.


Se quickly cut to the building that Bullseye and Daredevil are going to land on and we see what is going on. In this one page we begin to feel for these people because they are just the type of people that Matt Murdock would have helped to get justice at any other time and we see the faith that they put in Daredevil. A father tells his child "There's a reason we stayed in Hell's Kitchen son." and in the art we can see the respect and trust that he has put in the hero of Hell's Kitchen.

Bullseye cuts Daredevil's billy-club cable and lets him drop to the rooftop of the building invoking all the great rooftop battles that they have fought over the years, and Daredevil even brings them up saying essentially, 'Every time I beat you. Why would this time be different?' Bullseye strikes another hero pose while explaining exactly why this will be different. Because they changed the rules. Then he pulls out a detonator and blows up the building killing all of the people that were counting on Daredevil to save them.

This moment is really over 300 issues in the making all the way back to Daredevil #200 and beyond. Back even to Issue #181 when Bullseye kills Elektra. Back to Issue #169 where Daredevil saves Bullseye's life by pulling him off the train tracks. Bullseye cannot stand the fact that Daredevil saved his life and he is adamant that every life he takes is on Daredevil's hands because of that one act, and he is finally driving that point home to Daredevil. I don't even think he was really trying to kill Daredevil with the explosion that kills those 107 people. He was sending that message home, and it finally took.

Daredevil admits that he is responsible for everything that Bullseye has done and on the last two pages of the issue he lays the groundwork for everything that has followed it.

There is also a short scene that shows the female ninja from earlier was watching and she reports back to the Kingpin, revealing herself to be Lady Bullseye, that Daredevil is dead. The Kingpin of course knowing better asks if she saw the body and chides her for making assumptions but he is pleased because he knows that Daredevil's actions will play right into his hands.

This issue really should have been part of the ongoing Daredevil series because people like me just ignored it because it was a part of some event and the only thing that really makes it one is one unnecessary line. But it is necessary. It is the key to Andy Diggle's run. The emotions that it brings are what make the next six issues meaningful. It is a one shot story but it could be condensed to monthly size rather easily and it really should have.

The battle with Bullseye is especially great to me because I have been asking myself the following.

If a hero like Spider-Man had come in with the Avengers and done the same thing. Separated Daredevil from the Hand and brought him to a place in Hell's Kitchen where he was really needed, and given him a simple speech about why he is so special in the Marvel Universe this could have all been avoided. Daredevil would have broken off the plan with the Hand and gone back to protecting the people of Hell's Kitchen like he should be doing, but they were too busy to notice or to care like they would in the past.

Daredevil has been left alone so long that people have forgotten about him. None of the other heroes care that he is leading the Hand. Only the Villains. And the only allies he has in the world are White Tiger, a hero that he trained, and Black Tarantula, a villain who is trying to become a hero.

Matt Murdock has been sacrificed. And Daredevil has a former villain and a Hand possessed newbie hero.

He would be better off alone.
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Random Insanity since.... Ummmmm... Tuesday?