Random Happenstance

The Lilac City Comicon is coming up this weekend, so maybe I should read some of the comics I bought last con. Feels like I'm not making a lot of headway; but I hadn't read this issue before and really liked it! From 1983, Daredevil #193, "Bitsy's Revenge" Written by Larry Hama, art by Klaus Janson.

Daredevil sees a truck loading at the army armory; and decides to swing by and say hey to an old friend, Sarge. Instead of a friendly cup of coffee, he finds Sarge with a sucking chest wound, shot in a robbery. DD can literally hear him fading, but Sarge seems more upset the culprits stole his gun, Bitsy: a .45, that saved his life in Vietnam. He dies midway through retelling DD a story he'd probably told him a hundred times before. DD catches up with three of the thieves, who loaded a truck with missiles but then got ditched. One spills his guts: their planner, Carmine Pesca, was going to be on a cruise ship tomorrow, since the missiles were part of a plan for a diamond heist. Time for Matt Murdock to take a little vacation!

From a deck chair, Matt listens as Carmine gets slapped by a woman as tall as he was, who then asks Matt what he was looking at: well, nothing. Still, it's an icebreaker; and she introduces herself as Willow the Phantasmagoric, a magician working on the ship. She uses Matt in her act that night, which includes a wire harness to make him disappear. Matt's senses have to make a magic show interesting; as he can 'see' the audience looking at things he knows aren't there! Later that night, DD patrols the ship, and notices Carmine staring out into the sea; but then one of the missiles takes out the ship's radio mast. Worse, the radar dish is knocked so it's pointing at the ship, messing up DD's own radar-sense. From their submarine, the pirates demand the diamonds, and the captain doesn't feel like he has any choice.

While the diamonds are being lowered down to a waiting raft, Daredevil has gotten a fire ax, and climbed up the radio mast to chop down the radar dish. Which, he then realizes, is falling straight at Carmine, and DD has to dive to save him. Even though he was a murderer--or was he? Carmine claims to be an actor, hired as an audience plant by Willow. Her plan has a ton of misdirection, with a hologram sub, fake raft, and then hiding the diamonds in plain sight as rhinestone costuming. Willow doesn't give up easy: she seems pretty game, even in an evening dress and heels; then pulls out Sarge's gun. DD tries to talk her out of it: there's a reason why this was called "Bitsy's Revenge" after all. I won't spoil it, I liked the twist but not sure everyone would: go find it! 

I just realized, we saw DD #192 here about a year and a half ago: it was written by Alan Brennert, this issue by Hama, and the next issue by Denny O'Neil, who would be the regular writer for a bit, since Frank Miller had left with #191. Still, with Janson still on, it seems like a smoother transition.