Where did he get his law degree again? Well, maybe he's punchy after today's comic! From 1983, Daredevil #200, "Redemption" Written by Denny O'Neil, pencils by William Johnson, inks by Danny Bulanadi (who has inked a ton of comics we've looked at here!) and a cover by John Byrne and Terry Austin.
Bullseye is back...in New York, for his job as the Kingpin's assassin; after having been patched back together with adamantium in Japan. (I'm not sure how much adamantium: I always thought he had the full skeleton like Wolverine, but per the GCD it might've just been his spine.) The Kingpin's willing to give him the position, if he can finish off Daredevil; or he's blowing smoke up Bullseye's ass and figures DD would take out that loose cannon. Conveniently, Bullseye and DD currently share a psychic link; which seems to give them a rudimentary knowledge of where the other is. Matt Murdock returns from Japan, with a broken arm from the previous issues, but is still intent on stopping Bullseye. After a brief visit from Black Widow, and the traditional bar fight, Daredevil tracks Bullseye down to a condemned arena; where Bullseye's been holed up and practicing. Still, although he can't see the posters still up there, Matt realizes he's been there before.
As a young child, Matt visited the arena to see his dad "Battlin' Jack Murdock" fight; but instead finds him...wrestling. Oh, the shame of it all! The ignominy! No wonder Matt wears a mask, he's ashamed to show his face! Seriously, Jack is doing good, honest work to support himself and his son; yet cries and acts like he had to shoot Old Yeller. Anyway, despite fighting one-handed, Daredevil is pretty much able to walk all over Bullseye, except for a slight reversal when he pulls a gun. Since DD had refrained from killing him before, like he wasn't worth it, Bullseye intends to return the favor; except by going on with his murders and letting DD know how he failed to stop him. This gives DD the strength to rally; but the memory of his crying, wrestling dad reminds him to stay true to himself. And Bullseye would go on with his murders, yet somehow this is a win for Daredevil. Hmm.
I want to say I saw this on the spinner racks back in the day, and was confused why the 200th issue wasn't a big, double-sized extravaganza; I think I was conditioned to expect that already.
Jesus, really Matt!? Hating on professional wrestling? I guess his dad never had time to smarten him up to the business, that it's scripted, NOT FAKE, scripted. The physicality of it, the long days on the road, never any time off unless you're injured, that shit's real.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, fuck Matt for being down on something that's actually legal to do unlike his nightly vigilante escapades.
Oooh, might have found a new skit from this. Thanks man.
And lastly, you hate Bullseye? Why, what's he ever done to you?
I checked out a really old post of mine, where I started using that tag:
ReplyDelete"I have to admit, Bullseye is one of my favorite villains, in the sense that I hate him so much. I'm currently doing a little tradewaiting on the new Thunderbolts, which is a little weird since I'm a big Ellis fan; but if Warren let slip even a little hint that Bullseye was going to get a bus dropped on him or a pumpkin bomb shoved up his ass, I'd buy multiple copies. Some of my favorite Daredevil stories have been the ones where Bullseye pretty much breaks and cries like a wee nancy girl, and it seems like it's been quite a while since I've seen that."
I don't know if I'd say he's a favorite now, but I do enjoy seeing him get asskicked...hmm.