Daredevil Message Board

[Mike Murdock]

Daredevil Vol. 2 #115 - Lady Bullseye Part Five

[Dimetre]

This issue brings the "Lady Bullseye" arc to a close, and there are still aspects of this story that confuse me.

Which part of Lady Bullseye's conduct ran counter to what Lord Hirochi asked? It seems that Hirochi was in on the campaign to recruit Daredevil to be the new leader of the Hand, and that seems to be what Lady Bullseye was working toward for four issues. So in what way was she being a renegade, and working toward "her own agenda"?

My other -- larger -- problem is: Why do the Hand want Daredevil to lead them? There are numerous possible reasons. One way to eliminate a foe is to absorb them into your organization, but then you can't be sure if they'll corrupt your organization from within. I can't remember if the next arc makes the Hand's motivation for recruiting Matt more specific, but it didn't make much sense to me at the time.

The reveal of the Hand and Lady Bullseye's motivation made this an effective closing to this arc, and helped clarify some of this story's more confusing elements. Michael Lark did some amazing work with this issue's fights, particularly that between Izo and Hirochi.

If there is a weakness to this issue, it's the transitions from location to location. We have Daredevil and Lady Bullseye fighting in one place, Izo and Hirochi in another, then Black Tarantula and White Tiger fighting Iron Fist in another. Ed Brubaker and Lark flip rapidly between all three locations, and it can be hard to tell who the captions in the panels belong to. If colourist Matt Hollingsworth had painted Lady Bullseye's captions a consistent colour to separate them from everyone else's dialogue, that would have helped me out.

I thought Danny Rand went down way too easily, and it seemed to me that Carlos and Angela's dialogue was a little mixed up. The transitions between all these fights was a little sloppy. At the issue's end Matt doesn't seem too concerned about Carlos and Angela's well-being, and it's frustrating to read that he's still trying to hold on to Milla, although I think he's a little more aware that he's being selfish.

As sloppy as this issue can be, it's pretty good. Master Izo was surprisingly enjoyable for me. I think it's his confident and light-hearted demeanour. It was a strong end to an uneven arc. I give this a 3.5 out of 5.

[Mike Murdock]

For some reason, until this read-through, it never really occurred to me that Ed Brubaker is basically drawing his Iron Fist work into this book. I guess it's because (a) I read this before Iron Fist and (b) I usually associate that with Matt Fraction. But it's very clear when seeing this book start by talking about the Book of the Iron Fist. It's used to focus on Izo and his mysterious back story. I like that it's just hinted at without any real clear sense of what's real and what's not.

A lot of this issue is a fight scene. It's actually pretty solid with some twists and turns, but it's not spectacular either. I don't think there's any real sense of grace or action. It leads to the twist that the Hand were offering Matt the job. Some of it I can buy - freeing Matt from the obligation of his wife, but a lot of it doesn't really make a ton of sense or is very convoluted. And it honestly ends a bit anticlimactically.

Four Stars. This was a bit more of a let-down than I remember from the first time reading it. It's got some good moments, but the ending is very unsatisfying.
_________________
Matt Murdock's cooler twin brother

Not sure what to read next? Check out the Book Club for some ideas!

I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons