Well it’s Trade Tuesday and you know what that means- the cable bill is late! Well no, not really, but I am forced at gun point to talk about a trade I have recently read… and almost on cue here comes Simon with a gun. So on that note, it is time for me to start writing about it.

The trade I picked this week was Marvel Comics’ Daredevil: Lady Bullseye written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Michael Lark, which collects issues 111 – 115 of Daredevil. This story has some back ground from the previous arcs by the same team and while it is not required to know it , it would be a good thing to dig in a little and discover Brubaker’s phenomenal run on this book. Brubaker has taken the likes of Captain America and  Iron Fist who are characters that needed a bit of work and has really just piled  on the history, making the characters come out of the shadows and into the lime light. He has not disappointed in Daredevil- likewise, Michael Lark really gives you that pulp inspired feel in every frame of the comic utilizing the medium to its fullest potential.

The story itself starts with Lady Bullseye who is tracking different people down and, it would appear, working with The Hand. We get a bit of an inside look into who she is, why she is Lady Bullseye (no relation to the psycho villain) and what she is really up to. We then get to follow the increasingly tragic life of Matt “Daredevil” Murdock. To catch you up, his life is a mess, his wife was driven nuts and placed into an asylum, and of course Matt feels both responsible and remorseful. Poor guy, but I am not sure how good a happy Daredevil book would be… I mean he is like the Emo Superhero to a certain degree. Matt is dealing with all this in his head as well as trying to hold his feelings at bay for P.I. friend Dakota North who also feels pretty drawn to him as well.

The Hand then zeros in on a few different people who also happen to have had history with them. These parts are great as we get to see Daredevil and Iron Fist fight along side each other against The Hand! We are also introduced to Master Izo who is a cross between Yoda, Mr. Miyagi and our very own Simon.

As Brubaker takes us deeper into the story we find out that The Hand has been looking for a new leader because the death of the Elektra Skrull threw the whole organization into an uproar, breaking The Hand into different factions instead of uniting them to find what they truly needed which was direction, and a leader. This is basically the entire reason Lady Bullseye is there….or so it would seem. Daredevil and crew fight with everything they have against both Lady Bullseye and The Hand until at the very end Daredevil is propositioned to lead them. Will he do it to make an unusual alliance? Well the only way you will ever know is to read the trade and that is all I will say.

Sheldon Lee

Sheldon@comicimpact.com

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