Daredevil: Lady Bullseye [Paperback]

Ed Brubaker (Author), Clay Mann (Illustrator), Michael Lark (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Daredevil; The Devil Inside and Out | Publication Date: April 8, 2009

Matt Murdock encounters a shocking new face - Lady Bullseye! Who is she? Where did she come from? What does she want? And will she be a foe to Daredevil... or a friend? An alarming new chapter in the acclaimed Daredevil run by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark! Collects Daredevil #111-115.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (April 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785131817
• ISBN-13: 978-0785131816
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brubaker's Daredevil returns to form., April 7, 2009

By 

Sean Curley (Charlottetown, PE, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daredevil: Lady Bullseye (Paperback)

Ed Brubaker, arguably the most talented writer currently working at Marvel Comics (Fred Van Lente being the most prominent competition), started his run on Daredevil with a bang: "The Devil in Cell-Block D" (collected in "Daredevil: The Devil, Inside and Out v.1"), which saw the title character deal with imprisonment and exposure. Following that, Brubaker's run tapered off a bit. Daredevil's European tour and his return to a New York status quo lacked the snap of the first arc, and the following "Without Fear" mega-arc lasted a year, and, while it reads better collected, in the single-issue format it dragged (Brubaker is normally the most practiced craftsman in the slow-burn writing school). Then, Brubaker's old "Gotham Central" co-writer, Greg Rucka, arrived on the book for an arc focussing on Daredevil and Dakota North, his private eye ally, which recharged the series. "Lady Bullseye continues that upward trend.

This five-issue arc (#111-115) follows two major plot threads. The first of these is the introduction of the title character, Lady Bullseye. Now, the revelation of the name set numerous people a-groaning at what sounded like a very lame concept. The distaff counterpart to a more established male character has a lengthy history in comics, beginning with Captain Marvel's sister Mary Marvel. The idea has become something of a cliche, so anyone looking to use it has to bring something new or really sell the core concept. Brubaker is a master at both innovation and reviving the best parts of the superhero formula, and he succeeds once again here. Lady Bullseye, an assassin for Daredevil's ninja enemies the Hand, is my favourite new villain of 2008. Brubaker constructs her as a black inversion of the traditional concept of heroic inspiration: after being 'rescued' by Bullseye, she sees his sadistic brutality as admirable.

Continuing the theme of Daredevil's troubles with women, Brubaker delivers fascinating developments in Daredevil's personal life. At the end of "Without Fear", Daredevil's wife Milla was driven insane by the villainous Mister Fear. In the following arc, Milla's parents intervened, suing to obtain custody of their daughter from him, and cutting off his access to see her. Driven into a state of despair, Matt finds himself drawn towards Dakota. There are only a few characters with which this sort of thing would work, and Daredevil is one of them. One can understand and sympathize with Matt's situation.

Brubaker introduces a cliffhanger final plot point that sets the stage for his next arc (and apparently also his final one) on the series, which so far has been excellent. Add in some strong new characters like Lady Bullseye and Master Izo, skillful use of guest heroes like Iron Fist (it's nice to see Brubake writing him again), Black Tarantula, and White Tiger, and excellent art from both series regular Michael Lark and guest Clay Man. Brubaker's run looks to be headed for a strong finale.

Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well executed, but..., November 3, 2009

By 

Sean Rueter "s1rude" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daredevil: Lady Bullseye (Paperback)

Brubaker and Lark's Daredevil has been a consistently solid read, and this volume is no exception. Brubaker knows his noir, and there have been several devastating turns throughout the run that have cemented Matt Murdock as The superhero version of the doomed protagonist that genre is known for. That he continues to fight in spite of the tragedies that his life mounts on his plate is essential to the character, and Brubaker knows that. What irks in this volume is that he comes across as whiney and psychologically unsophisticated - there's making bad decisions and feeling the inevitable consequences, and then there's being an emotional masochist. Matt leans too far to the latter for my tastes in this volume, and that makes him hard to root for or empathize with.

My other knock on this volume is that it feels like part of a story. That's the name of the game in comic book collections from Marvel and DC these days, I suppose, but as it's unclear why the "villian" is operating against Daredevil's interests - and since he seems to be really good at doing that without any help - the ending of this book seems a little more unsatisfactory than most.

This all sounds more negative then it should. I hold the creative team to high standards. Lady Bullseye is above average superhero comics with a strong crime fiction influence. Michael Lark is one of the masters of the comic book form, and his dynamic layouts never get in the way of his impecable storytelling. Not as strong as their work on Gotham Central for DC (for example, Gotham Central Book One: In the Line of Duty), and those who like this or want to see them at their best should definitely check that out.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lady Bullseye? come on....., May 2, 2010

By 

pig doctor (cali) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Daredevil: Lady Bullseye (Paperback)

I know, Lady Bullseye sounds ridiculous (like all other-sex counterparts to established heroes/villains), but after you read this you might give kudos for Brubaker for creating her. This arc begins the end story in Brubaker'r run on Daredevil, and it stays pretty brutal and messed up until the end. In this arc, I really started to lose the fictitious respect I had for DD. It wasn't because he cheats on his wife (he's promiscuous anyways and he's done it before i.e. he cheated on his soon-to-be-dead girlfriend, Karen Page, with his ex, the Black Widow, in DD#370). No, I lost respect because of all the whining and 8*tching DD does because he doesn't get what he wants. Luckily, Brubaker understands how some readers might take on a new dislike of Matt Murdock because of this, and he voices those readers opinions through characters in the story. You have characters calling Matt names that you were thinking before you read them, genius.

Anyways, the writing is good. The art is top-notch. I even think Matt Hollingsworth started experimenting different with the coloring, making the colors much more richer than the previous issues. The two most hardcore characters to emerge since Elektra and Stick are introduced, Lady Bullseye and Master Izo. But with their emergence it really makes it seem like Brubaker should have stuck around for longer. Maybe once he turned Matt into a jerk he started to dislike the book, haha.

writing: [9/10]
art: [8/10]