A sad Captain America rerun!

Captain America's funeral: Tragic. Heartbreaking. And yet really familiar...

So, the other day I re-read Punisher/Captain America: Blood & Glory, a three-issue prestige miniseries from 1992. Klaus Janson's art carries it, but D.G. Chichester turns in a right fine story as well. But one moment--well, more than one, we'll come back to it--stuck with me: the bad guys put together some evidence framing Cap, then get it to the Punisher, so Frank shoots him. (Just like he shot Nick Fury, but in Frank's defense, apparently he can shoot good guys and they'll be OK.) Cap's hurt, but he'll live; but he tells Nick Fury to let him die. As far as anyone knows.

Cap plays dead to go undercover, which lasts about nine pages before he's recognized. He's even recognized out of uniform, more than once. But that scene seemed familiar...
(Picture taken from USA Today, since I couldn't find the issue with the actual funeral.) OK, like Cap's most recent funeral, where he was 100%, absolutely, positively, irrevocably dead. Until he wasn't.


For his funeral in the classic "the strange death of captain america" Cap was faking again, this time to re-establish his secret identity. Which he then kept and fiercely protected, until he didn't. (From Captain America #112, "as reported by Lee-Steranko-Palmer-Simek.")

Now, this time Cap may have been kinda dead: frozen in a block of ice again, this time to buy time for the Red Skull to stop Cap's degenerating Super-Soldier Serum; so the Skull can use Cap in a gambit to claim the Cosmic Cube. And the whole issue reads faster than that last sentence, and I mean that in a good way. (Of course! It's Captain America #445, "Operation: Rebirth, chapter one: Old Soldiers Never Die" Written by Mark Waid, pencils by Ron Garney, inks by Scott Koblish.)

This time, Captain America was supposedly killed in an explosion--OK, a really big explosion, a small town blown up by a Nazi suicide cult--but why Cap allowed everyone to believe he was dead isn't really clear, except to get a grim-as-hell miniseries set in South America and then a new first issue out of the deal. (The credit box is right there! But it's from Captain America #50, "Stars & Stripes Forever" Written by Evan Dorkin, art by Kevin Maguire; and I would not have minded at all if they had done a ton more Cap stories.)


OK, now that's a What If? so it doesn't strictly count, but still. From #26, "What If Captain America had been elected president?" Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Herb Trimpe and Mike Esposito.

So, let's see here: we've got funerals from 1968, 1981 (with an asterisk, the What If?) 1992, 1995, 2002, and 2007. And while three of them are completely faked, with Cap's complicity; his friends grieve for real each time. I for one would be pretty damn thrilled to have the Thing as a pallbearer, but I think I'd just be happy to have more than one funeral...



Read more!

Captain America's funeral: Heartbreaking. Tragic. And yet really familiar...

So, the other day I re-read Punisher/Captain America: Blood & Glory, a three-issue prestige miniseries from 1992. Klaus Janson's art carries it, but D.G. Chichester turns in a right fine story as well. But one moment--well, more than one, we'll come back to it--stuck with me: the bad guys put together some evidence framing Cap, then get it to the Punisher, so Frank shoots him. (Just like he shot Nick Fury, but in Frank's defense, apparently he can shoot good guys and they'll be OK.) Cap's hurt, but he'll live; but he tells Nick Fury to let him die. As far as anyone knows.

Cap plays dead to go undercover, which lasts about nine pages before he's recognized. He's even recognized out of uniform, more than once. But that scene seemed familiar...
(Picture taken from USA Today, since I couldn't find the issue with the actual funeral.) OK, like Cap's most recent funeral, where he was 100%, absolutely, positively, irrevocably dead. Until he wasn't.


For his funeral in the classic "the strange death of captain america" Cap was faking again, this time to re-establish his secret identity. Which he then kept and fiercely protected, until he didn't. (From Captain America #112, "as reported by Lee-Steranko-Palmer-Simek.")

Now, this time Cap may have been kinda dead: frozen in a block of ice again, this time to buy time for the Red Skull to stop Cap's degenerating Super-Soldier Serum; so the Skull can use Cap in a gambit to claim the Cosmic Cube. And the whole issue reads faster than that last sentence, and I mean that in a good way. (Of course! It's Captain America #445, "Operation: Rebirth, chapter one: Old Soldiers Never Die" Written by Mark Waid, pencils by Ron Garney, inks by Scott Koblish.)

This time, Captain America was supposedly killed in an explosion--OK, a really big explosion, a small town blown up by a Nazi suicide cult--but why Cap allowed everyone to believe he was dead isn't really clear, except to get a grim-as-hell miniseries set in South America and then a new first issue out of the deal. (The credit box is right there! But it's from Captain America #50, "Stars & Stripes Forever" Written by Evan Dorkin, art by Kevin Maguire; and I would not have minded at all if they had done a ton more Cap stories.)


OK, now that's a What If? so it doesn't strictly count, but still. From #26, "What If Captain America had been elected president?" Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Herb Trimpe and Mike Esposito.

So, let's see here: we've got funerals from 1968, 1981 (with an asterisk, the What If?) 1992, 1995, 2002, and 2007. And while three of them are completely faked, with Cap's complicity; his friends grieve for real each time. I for one would be pretty damn thrilled to have the Thing as a pallbearer, but I think I'd just be happy to have more than one funeral...

Read more!

The Return of Son of Update to Index of "The End" Week:

Urg, I hadn't updated this in like four years? This'll be fun...Behind the break, links to "The End" posts, going back to 2009!



Action Comics Weekly #642

Adventures of the X-Men #12

Agent X #15

Alf #50

The All-New Batman: the Brave and the Bold #16

All-Star Squadron #67

All-Star Western #34

Alpha Flight #130

Alpha Flight #20


Anarky #8

Aquaman #13

Aquaman #63

Aquaman and the Others #11

Area 88 #42

Arrgh! #5

Astro City #52

Atari Force #20

Avengers Arena #18

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #7

Avengers West Coast #102

Aztek #10

Babylon 5 #11

Badger #4 (Capital)

Batgirl #24

Batgirls #19

Batman #713

Batman Aventures #17

The Batman Adventures #36

Batman and Robin Adventures #25

The Batman Chronicles #23

Batman Confidential #54

Batman: Gotham Adventures #60

The Batman Strikes #50

Batman '66 #30

Battlestar Galactica #23

Black Cat #10

Blackhawk #273

Black Widow #12

Blood of the Demon #17

Bloodhound #10

Blue Beetle #24

Blue Devil #31

Bongo Presents Futurama Comics #81

Booster Gold #25

The Brave and the Bold #200

Buck Rogers #16

Cable & Deadpool #50

Captain America #19

Captain America #454

Captain America: Steve Rogers #19

Captain Atom #57

Catwoman #82

Chase #1,000,000

Claw the Unconquered #12

Challengers of the Unknown #87

Champion Sports #3

Cloak and Dagger #11

Conan #11

Conan the Barbarian #275

Conan the King #55

Contest of Champions #10

Creatures on the Loose #37

The Creeper #1,000,000

Crystar #11

Daken: Dark Wolverine #23

Daredevil #18

Daredevil #380

Daredevil #512

Daredevil #36/LEG #648

Dazzler #42

DC Super-Stars #18

Dead of Night #11

Deadpool #63

Deadpool #69

Deadpool Team-Up #883

Deathlok #34

Death's Head II #16
Defenders #152, #12

the Demon #16

the Demon #58

Detective Comics #881

Doctor Doom #10

Doctor Strange #81

Doom Patrol #22

Doom 2099 #44

D.P.7 #32

Drax #11

Dread of Night #2

Dreadstar #64

Eclipso #18

Edge of Spider-Verse #4

Elektra #19

Eternals #19

Excalibur #125

Exiles #4

Exiles #100

Extraordinary X-Men #20

Extreme Justice #18

Fantastic Four #416

Fantastic Four #611

Fantastic Four #16, 645

Fear #31

Fell #9

Fillerbunny #3

Firearm #18

Firestorm #5

Firestorm #100

Flash #52

Flash #230

Flash #350

Flinch #16

Force Works #22

Freedom Fighters #15

Gen 13 #77

Generation X #75

Ghost Rider #81, #94

G.I. Joe Special Missions #28

Godzilla #24

Goofy Adventures #17

Gotham Central #40

Gotham City Sirens #26

Grave Tales #3

Green Arrow #50

Green Lantern #67

Green Lantern #181

Green Lanterns #57

Green Lantern Corps #63

Green Lantern: Mosaic #18

Grimjack #81

Guardians of the Galaxy #27

Guardians of the Galaxy #62

Guardians of the Galaxy #18 (LEG #180)

Guardians 3000 #8

Guy Gardner: Warrior #44

Harley Quinn #75

Hawk & Dove #28, #8

Hawkgirl #66

Hawkman #17

Hawkman #33

Hawkman #49

Hawkworld #32

Herc #10

Heroes for Hire #19

The Hulk #27 (magazine)

Human Torch #12

Immortal Thor #25

Impulse #89</>

Incredible Hulk #474

The Intimates #12

Invaders #15

Invaders #41

Iron Man #332

Iron Man #89/434

JLA #125

JLA Classified #54

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #28

Jonah Hex #92

Jonah Hex #70

Journey Into Mystery #521

Judge Dredd #18

Justice League Odyssey #25

Justice League of America #113

Justice League Task Force #37

Justice League Quarterly #17

Justice League Unlimited #46

Justice League 3001 #12

Justice Society #10

Kamandi #59

Ka-Zar #20

Ka-Zar the Savage #34

Kobalt #16

Kull #10

Kull the Destroyer #29

Legends of the DC Universe #41

Legion Lost #16

Legion of Super-Heroes #23

Legion of Super-Heroes #63

Legion of Super-Heroes #50

Major Bummer #15

Manhunter #24

Marvel Adventures #18

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #48

Marvel Adventures: Spider Man #24

Marvel Comics Presents #175

Marvel Fanfare #60

Marvel Spotlight #33

Marvel Super Action #37

Marvel Super-Heroes #15

Marvel Tales #291

Marvel Universe #7

Master of Kung Fu #125

Masters of the Universe #13

Micronauts #11

Micronauts #11 (IDW)

Micronauts #20

Micronauts #59

Mockingbird #8

Moon Knight #12

Moon Knight #17

Moon Knight #38

Moon Knight #30

Moon Knight, Fist of Khonshu #6

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #15

Motormouth & Killpower #12

Mutant X #32

Mystery in Space #117

New Mutants #50

Nexus #80

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #47

Nightcrawler #12

Nightstalkers #18

Night Thrasher #21

Nomad #25

Nova #25

Nth Man #16

OMAC #8

Orion #25

Over the Edge #10

Outsiders #28</>

Power Girl #27

Power of the Atom #18

Power Pack #62

Punisher #103/Punisher War Zone #41/Punisher War Journal #80

Punisher #18 (1997)

Punisher #12 (2023)

Punisher War Journal #26 (Not #29, I had to edit that!)

PunisherMAX #22

Quasar #60

The Question #36

R.E.B.E.L.s '96 #17

R.E.B.E.L.s #28

Red Hood/Arsenal #13

Red Lanterns #40

Red Sonja #2 (1983)

Robin #183

Robocop #23

Rune #7

Sam Slade, Robohunter #31

Savage Avengers #28, #10

Scavengers #14

Secret Defenders #25

Secret Six #36

Sergio Aragonés Funnies #12

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #167

the Shadow #19

the Shadow #25

She-Hulk #15

Shogun Warriors #20

Silver Surfer #14

Silver Surfer #146

Solo #12

Spider-Man 2099 #46

Spidey #12

SpongeBob Comics #85

Starman #45

Star Trek #56

Star Trek #60

Star Trek #80

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #15

Star Trek #18/Star Trek: the Next Generation #80/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #32

Star Wars #107

Star Wars #20

Star Wars #50

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #42

Static #45

Stormwatch #50

Strikeforce Morituri #31

Suicide Squad #66

Suicide Squad #15

Superboy and the Ravers #19

Superboy #100

Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Superior Iron Man #9

Superman Family Adventures #12

Superman: the Man of Steel #134

Super-Villian Team-Up #17

Tales of Suspense #104

Tarzan #29

Team Titans #24

Teen Titans #100

The Terminator #17

The Thing #36

Thor #502

Thunderbolts #32

Thunderbolts #81

Thunderstrike #24

Transformers: Generation 2 #12

The Twilight Zone #4

Unbelievable Gwenpool #25

Uncanny Origins #14

Unexpected #222

Unknown Soldier #25

Unknown Soldier #268

Valor #23

Vigilante #50

Warlock and the Infinity Watch #42

Warlord #16

Warlord #133

Wasteland #18

Web of Spider-Man #129

Weird War Tales #124

Werewolf by Night #6

What The--?! #26

The Witching Hour #85

Wolverine #13

Wonder Woman #329

World's Finest Comics #323

Xander in Lost Universe #8

X-Men #41

X-Men: Evolution #9

X-Men: Gold #36

X-Statix #26

X-51: the Machine Man #12

Young All-Stars #31

Young Justice #25

Young Justice #55

2000 A.D. Showcase #54

2099: World of Tomorrow #8

And the rest! There are still somehow a few that weren't blogged year-end.

Double ugh: the next task, besides maybe clearing a few extra line-breaks, would be putting the year behind each entry; to justify things like why "Suicide Squad #66" is ahead of "Suicide Squad #15." Although you can just click through and figure it out, so...

Read more!

I had a really nice bike ride yesterday (as I write this) in terrible conditions: I waited until about the hottest time of the day, and it was pretty windy for here. Which made for slow going into the wind, but just flying on the way back! Way more fun than I expected. Today, on the other hand, is tire-melting weather; and I'm trying to cover some posts for when I'm out, so we get a classic, that somewhat annoyingly isn't reprinted where you would expect! From 1984, Captain America #289, "Tomorrow, the World?" Written by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Mike Zeck, inks by John Beatty.

This issue isn't included in Deathlok the Demolisher: the Complete Collection or Captain America: Deathlok Lives, although it seems like, um, the conclusion? Will Cap be able to stop Deathlok's horrible future (of 1990...) from happening? Are earth's heroes doomed? Deathlok only appears in flashback, so I guess they figured his job was done and this was Cap's problem now. (Also, I would'a sworn there was a Deathlok Lives trade with that sick Zeck cover from Cap #286.)

The Brand Corporation (and its parent company, Roxxon) was about to finally launch the Nth Project and its Nth Commandos: sure, it's a bunch of goons in green jumpsuits, but their guns were the special part. Each commando had a hand-held "Nth Projector" capable of banishing any target to another reality, where they would immediately die. Their targets, for a simultaneous attack, were the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men! For day one, anyway. Then maybe a day to recharge (the guns, not the goons, the goons were totally expendable) before they hit the solo guys; figure about a week to wipe out every superhuman in the United States. One of the goons was Godwulf, who in the future would regret his actions and had just sent Captain America back to try and stop it--and himself, although Godwulf pretty obviously hated his past self, who we see later in the issue about to lead his squad into the Baxter Building.

Cap is stymied by Ma Bell, though, as he didn't have twenty cents for the pay phone to warn anyone! Wow, that'll date this issue more than anything. Instead, Cap is forced to rush the Nth Project's secret front office, the Broadway branch of Metro Bank! Smashing through the front window, Cap tells the guard he's there to rob the joint, and to call the cops; but the guard calls his boss instead, who tells him to just keep it quiet and clean up the mess. Godwulf had given Cap the codes for the doors, and Cap was hoping to get to the Nth Generator: while the projectors would be able to take out even the mightiest hero in one shot, they took a ton of extradimensionally funneled power, which was their weakness. With the benefit of Godwulf's info, Cap is able to fight through a room full of goons, then lasers, and then gas. But not even Godwulf knew the last line of defense...a giant-ass robot! That reads Cap's mind, nearly burns though his shield, and no-sales said shield right back at him!

Shaken, Cap is on the verge of quitting, but doesn't have that in him: instead, he rallies, seemingly effortlessly dashing through the robot's legs, vaulting up its back, and smashing its roboskull, all while making a speech! In real time, it might not have been quite as impressive: the robot wasn't real, just "psycho-waves" blasted into the room. The suit running the Nth Project can't fathom why Cap wasn't driven hopelessly insane: because he's Captain America, stupid. The Nth generator blows, leaving the Nth Commandos up a creek: a smug squad is remarkably less so, when the projectors don't work after they trash-talked Thor, She-Hulk, and a very pissed-off Wasp. Cap leaves the clean-up to Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D...huh, wrapped up sooner than usual today.

Because it was Marvel's Assistant Editor Month! Which gave the creative crews some leeway to take swings, or make jokes. Or both! Assistant editor Mike Carlin, dressed as the Watcher, presents "Bernie America, Sentinel of Liberty!" Cap's girl Bernie Rosenthal wonders what it would be like, if she were the one always running off to save the world or New Jersey or whatever, and her "ever-loyal, sheepish, and not-especially-bright love interest Steve Rogers" was left behind to cry about it. But, as fun as it is for her to imagine the shoe being on the other foot, she's still overjoyed when the real Steve shows up. 

There's some swell writing this ish, but Zeck absolutely crushes it: I dunno if the book had looked that good in years, or would look that good again for years! This is also one of maybe...four? issues for Assistant Editor's Month that I read at the time: Conan the King #20 took a swing, with "The Prince is Dead" and changing to a bit more long-form stories. Star Wars #79 is a solid adventure but also funny in a way I don't think we'll ever see that franchise get to be again. Despite what he may have become, Fantastic Four #262, "The Trial of Reed Richards" is like John Byrne at the height of his powers. And speaking of Byrne, I didn't get this until much, much later, but we've seen the Thing #7 here, as well as the Hembeck hijinks of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #86. Further back, we glanced at ROM #50, but mostly from the viewpoint of the Skrulls. If you go all the way back, like twenty years ago we looked at Moon Knight #35 a few times! 

Also this issue: ads for both Popeye and War Room videogames! I had them both on the ColecoVision and enjoyed the hell out of them, although just saying "ColecoVision" ages a person like ten years...

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Updated: an Index to "The End" Week!

To give myself a little time to recover, here's an updated list and links to all the last issues we've done since 2009!

Action Comics Weekly #642

Agent X #15

The All-New Batman: the Brave and the Bold #16

All-Star Western #34

Anarky #8

Aquaman #13

Aquaman #63

Aquaman and the Others #11

Area 88 #42

Avengers West Coast #102

Aztek #10

Batgirl #24

Batman Aventures #17

The Batman Adventures #36

Batman Confidential #54

Batman: Gotham Adventures #60

The Batman Strikes #50

Batman '66 #30

Blackhawk #273

Black Widow #12

Blood of the Demon #17

Bloodhound #10

Blue Beetle #24

Blue Devil #31

Booster Gold #25

The Brave and the Bold #200

Cable & Deadpool #50

Captain America #19

Captain America #454

Captain Atom #57

Catwoman #82

Claw the Unconquered #12

Cloak and Dagger #11

Conan the Barbarian #275

Conan the King #55

Contest of Champions #10

The Creeper #1,000,000

Daken: Dark Wolverine #23

Daredevil #18

Daredevil #380

Dead of Night #11

Deadpool Team-Up #883

Deathlok #34

the Demon #16

Detective Comics #881

Doom Patrol #22

Doom 2099 #44

Drax #11

Dreadstar #64

Eclipso #18

Excalibur #125

Exiles #4

Exiles #100

Extraordinary X-Men #20

Extreme Justice #18

Fantastic Four #416

Fantastic Four #611

Fantastic Four #16, 645

Fell #9

Firearm #18

Firestorm #100

Flash #230

Flash #350

Force Works #22

Freedom Fighters #15

Gen 13 #77

Ghost Rider #81, #94

Godzilla #24

Gotham Central #40

Gotham City Sirens #26

Green Lantern #67

Green Lantern Corps #63

Green Lantern: Mosaic #18

Guardians of the Galaxy #27

Hawkman #17

Hawkgirl #66

Herc #10

The Hulk #27 (magazine)

Incredible Hulk #474

The Intimates #12

Invaders #15

Invaders #41

Iron Man #332

JLA #125

JLA Classified #54

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #28

Jonah Hex #92

Judge Dredd #18

Justice League of America #113

Justice League Task Force #37

Justice League Quarterly #17

Justice Society #10

Kamandi #59

Ka-Zar the Savage #34

Kobalt #16

Kull #10

Legends of the DC Universe #41

Legion Lost #16

Legion of Super-Heroes #23

Legion of Super-Heroes #63

Major Bummer #15

Manhunter #24

Marvel Comics Presents #175

Marvel Super-Heroes #15

Marvel Universe #7

Master of Kung Fu #125

Masters of the Universe #13

Micronauts #11

Micronauts #11 (IDW)

Micronauts #20

Micronauts #59

Mockingbird #8

Moon Knight #12

Moon Knight #17

Moon Knight #38

Moon Knight, Fist of Khonshu #6

Mutant X #32

Mystery in Space #117

New Mutants #50

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #47

Nightcrawler #12

Nightstalkers #18

Nomad #25

Nova #25

Nth Man #16

OMAC #8

Orion #25

Power Girl #27

Power of the Atom #18

Punisher #103/Punisher War Zone #41/Punisher War Journal #80

PunisherMAX #22

Quasar #60

The Question #36

R.E.B.E.L.s '96 #17

R.E.B.E.L.s #28

Red Hood/Arsenal #13

Robocop #23

Rune #7

Secret Defenders #25

Secret Six #36

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #167

Shogun Warriors #20

Silver Surfer #14

Silver Surfer #146

Spider-Man 2099 #46

Spidey #12

Starman #45

Star Trek #56

Star Trek #80

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #15

Star Trek #18/Star Trek: the Next Generation #80/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #32

Star Wars #20

Static #45

Stormwatch #50

Strikeforce Morituri #31

Suicide Squad #66

Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Superior Iron Man #9

Superman Family Adventures #12

Super-Villian Team-Up #17

Teen Titans #100

The Thing #36

Thor #502

Thunderbolts #81

Thunderstrike #24

Transformers: Generation 2 #12

Uncanny Origins #14

Unexpected #222

Unknown Soldier #25

Unknown Soldier #268

Warlock and the Infinity Watch #42

Warlord #16

Warlord #133

Weird War Tales #124

Werewolf by Night #6

What The--?! #26

Wonder Woman #329

World's Finest Comics #323

Xander in Lost Universe #8

X-Statix #26

X-51: the Machine Man #12

Young All-Stars #31

Young Justice #25

Young Justice #55

2000 A.D. Showcase #54

2099: World of Tomorrow #8

And the rest! There are still somehow a few that weren't blogged year-end.


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From about a million posts ago: Captain America was killed off in Captain America #50 in 2002, an issue that featured Cap's funeral and a ton of testimonials from heroes and villains. (That part of the issue was written by Evan Dorkin with art by Kevin Maguire!) Then Cap was back almost immediately, with no explanation, for this mini-series: Captain America: Dead Men Running #1-3, written by Darko Macan, art by Danijel Zezelj.

Cap is back in action and seemingly larger than life, as he parachutes into the Colombian jungle to help a group of soldiers on the run from the "coke mafia." The soldiers also have several children with them that they "liberated," but their story is full of holes. They turn on Cap before the end of the first issue, revealing they had been trying to rip off a drug lord, and took his kids as hostages.

Drugged, Cap spends most of the next issue unconscious, as the soldiers use him to bluff their way into a convent, in the hopes they could defend there until Cap's evac plane arrived. Several are killed, including a nun; but the convent is later bombed by the soldiers' commanding officer, who wants to destroy any evidence. Cap and the children survive since they were in a cell, and help the surviving soldiers out of the rubble, with Cap telling them they all have choices, and "what others do...is no excuse." The soldiers stay to fight the coke mob, who conveniently show up in skeleton suits for some reason, except it's a nice visual for a soldier's fight while wearing Cap's mask. Cap gets the kids and the nuns out, then heads to his next series, which was under the Marvel Knights imprint for a while, and I don't recall as being super-great. That was right after 9/11, and it's not surprising Marvel had some trouble finding a new footing for Cap, even after this dark detour.

I didn't love this one either, since it made Cap's "death" even less worthwhile than super-hero death usually is, for Cap to just show up to help out some guys that had no business being where they were. I had to look it up, but I had seen Zezelj's art in Vertigo's El Diablo, and he was the artist for Warren Ellis's Desolation Jones after J.H. Williams, but the series surprisingly ended two issues into a six-issue story! I think putting him on this book was an intentional choice, since the previous run had featured Dan Jurgens cleaner, more traditionally super-hero art.


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Remember Ann Nocenti? Of course I...aw, damnit!

Crapity crap. The Fortress Keeper recently (recently, being like six months ago now!) had a rebuttal to an Occasional Superheroine post that reminded readers of Ann Nocenti and her classic run on Daredevil, and I was like, "Hells, yeah. Nocenti's run got pretty weird and pretty awesome there. Her second-to-last issue is one of my favorite comics ever. In fact, I probably blogged about it...huh, that should be right about...what the...?"

Oh, I mentioned it well over two years ago, sure. But then I never came back to it! An egregious mistake, but one we're going to fix, darn it! This is going to be a more scan-heavy post, so more after the bump!

First, some set up: after returning from hell, and a battle involving the Silver Surfer, Mephisto, and Karnak and Gorgon of the Inhumans; a freaked out Matt tries to convince himself that didn't really happen. (He would end up back there briefly, in the Nighthawk limited series...) Already a bit fragile, DD guest-stars in the Streets of Poison storyline in Captain America, but they don't exactly roll out the red carpet for him: first the drugged-up Captain, then monstrously tough thug Crossbones, deliver pretty substantial beatings to DD. (Crossbones actually takes a peek behind DD's mask, just because he's a jerk.)

Matt ends up losing his memory, then his costume. Meeting a young street thief, he briefly becomes a thief himself, but his strong sense of justice doesn't let that sit well. He also realizes that there's something wrong with his eyes: while he can "see," he can't see colors or read paper without touching it. Eventually, he becomes a boxer, like his father; although Matt has the gimmick of fighting blindfolded. He regains his memory in his last fight.

Meanwhile, also fresh from fighting Cap in Streets of Poison, Bullseye acquires Daredevil's costume (I believe he finds it in a garbage can, shades of Amazing Spider-Man #50 there) and either to draw DD out or just to be a dick, starts wearing it while committing an escalating series of crimes. Once he finally remembers who he is, Matt goes to kick Bullseye's ass, and this might seem odd to more recent readers: Matt is just looking to get back at Bullseye for the costume thing, not for any of the other crap Bullseye had already done to him even back then, like killing Elektra.

Matt finds Bullseye's seedy apartment, which does have a large fortune in stolen goods inside, that Bullseye doesn't care about: the crimes were incidental to ruining Daredevil's reputation, with the added bonus of general dickery. Although Bullseye isn't there, his old costume is.

Now it's on.
This is easily my favorite Bullseye/Daredevil fight, in fact, one of my favorite fight scenes ever. Even though neither of them know the other's secret identity, they still know more than enough to cut deeply with their observations. And although it's a surprisingly violent battle, it's also like a Tom and Jerry cartoon, with Tom disguised as Jerry and vice versa.

Matt throws himself into the role of Bullseye, with perhaps a bit too much zest:

If it was liberating for a blind man to dress up as Daredevil, then it must be even more so to dress up as Bullseye: no moral code, no guilt, no obligations or responsibilities...but Bullseye/Daredevil doesn't go down easily. It may be easy to be Bullseye, but Bullseye doesn't have the strength to make the most of it.

In the end, like in all good super-hero comics, it all comes down to punching. Lots of punching.

In Matt's last line, I hope he's referring to his and Bullseye's tendency towards violence, since that's about the only thing I see those two as ever having in common. It is kind of ironic that the biggest glimpses we've ever gotten to Bullseye's character have come while wearing DD's mask, but it scarcely matters now that he's usually portrayed as a single-minded psychopath.

Also in this issue: Kingpin sets out to buy his own newspaper (which, now completely dates this story...) and television station, which of course involves as much bloodletting as you'd expect. And a guilt-ridden Foggy Nelson laments "I'm not making law anymore, Matt, I'm just making sausage," as he talks to a picture of his old girlfriend Glorianna and Matt's reinstated law license. Nocenti was nice enough to set up two points that D.G. Chichester would later use in his run.

Daredevil #290, "Bullseye!" Written by Ann Nocenti, art by Kieron Dwyer, inks by Fred Fredricks. Love the art. Dwyer did a pretty good run on Captain America back in the day as well, but I don't recognize the inker. By the way, on the splash page, an obscured headline reads "Daredevil Writer Quits--I can't think of everything" right above "Editor Acquitted of Murder of Artist, Jury accepts defense plea that book shipped late due to penciller 'Deserved to Die they say'" Harsh. Wonder what a jury would say about Daredevil: the Target?

There's also the ever-popular U.S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership, too. Line C, total paid circulation: average preceding 12 months: 169,805. Single issue nearest to filing date: 165,250.
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