Daredevil #111 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Clay Mann
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Issue Rating
Story: 8/10
Art: 8.2/10
Overall: 8.1/10

Issue Summary
Matt takes Dakota to Danny Rand (aka Iron Fist) to heal her shoulder with his chi to speed up her body's healing process. Matt and Dakota leave Danny's place but do not realize they are being watched by Lady Bullseye. As Lady Bullseye starts jumping from roof to roof she gives details of her origin.

Evidently when she was a child she was locked up and used as a sex slave by the Japannese mafia but was save by Bullseye twenty years ago when he took out all there members. She was very impressed by Bullseye and upon receiving her freedom from what he did she started to live the life of an assassin vowing never to let a man touch her again.

Back in the present Matt and Dakota take a walk at night in the park talking about all that has happen recently. They end up going back to Matt's apartment were Matt decides to train with Dakota instead of going out to do his Daredevil thing. After a bit of training Matt and Dakota share a moment and kiss.

Elsewhere in the city Lady Daredevil kills a buch of thugs and leaves only one of them alive and instructs him to pass on a message to the cops about who killed his friends. She later goes to meet the leader of The Hand and tells him information about the people she was ordered to hunt: Danny Rand, Carlos Lamuerto (Black Tarantula), Logan, a mysterious old man, and Matt Murdock. Out of these men she was unable to track down Logan and the mysterious old man. She also says that Matt is no threat since he'll be busy for the next few days.

In the morning Matt wakes up next to Dakota after a night of sex thinking to himself what he has just done by cheating on his wife. Matt goes to get the newspaper Daredevil has been framed for murder. End of Issue.

Highlights of the Issue

"Iron Fist shows of his magic touch."

"A hero every kid could look up to!"

"Lady Bullseye shows she has some skills."

"You can't blame Matt for hitting that. Especially since his wife is now in the loony bin."

Review
Daredevil #111 was an excellent set up issue to what looks to have all the elements for an martial arts epic. The issue also serves as an origin story for Lady Bullseye who will play a large role in the self name story arc. This is a great jumping on point for those interested in Daredevil who have been wanting to pick up this title.

Even though Brubaker was able to get me interested into the Lady Bullseye character I still hate the fact she is called Lady Bullseye. The reason I hate it is because I just hate derivation characters all together and just find it uncreative on the writers side to use the name of a previous villain that already exist in that universe. When ever you are trying to create a new character, especially a new villain, it is better for the longevity of a character that they have their own name instead of taking some elses name.

With that said I found it interesting that even though we are told that her name is Lady Bullseye that at no point in the issue does she herself refer to herself as Lady Bullseye. It is interesting that The Hand has chosen her to hunt down some of The Hand's most dangerous enemies. It has been no secret that The Hand, like The League of Assassins over in the DCU, have taken a beaten the past few years and they have become less of a threat in the Marvel Universe. Which is a shame because The Hand use to be such a great villain organization but it seems that Brubaker is going to try and slowly begin to put The Hand back to there former glory.

I did find it funny that out all the people Lady Bullseye was ordered to hunt it is Logan that she was unable to track down. Considering Logan is in twenty places at once Logan should be the first one she finds. But outside of Logan I found the people Lady Bullseye to hunt down and kill was an interesting group of master martial artists. A list that contains Matt, Danny, and Logan should be tough for any assassin to take down and for The Hand leader to have faith in Lady Bullseye to hunt down these men makes me wonder how skilled she must have. Add Black Tarantula and a mysterious old man just gets me excited to see how she fares with even one of these men.

I understand that some people might have a problem that Matt technically cheated on his wife but I really don't see a problem with it. Personally I have never been a big fan of Matt's marriage with Milla because I never really felt a good romantic chemistry between the two characters. I actually like the Matt and Dakota relationship much more because they just have much more chemistry together than Matt and Milla. Can you really blame Matt for sleeping with Dakota because with all the crap he has been through that includes a wife that is in the nut house Matt needs a strong romantic interest. But knowing Matt and his deep Catholic beliefs Matt is going to beat himself up for the sin he has committed.

Now even though I like the Matt/Dakota relationship anytime someone is named Bullseye is involved in a storyline it makes me think that Dakota might meet her end at the hands of Lady Bullseye. I really hope that does not happen because not only do I like the Dakota character but it would be to unoriginal which would ruin this story arc especially coming off an arc were Matt already had his wife go psycho. But with Brubaker's track record he has earned my trust that he will not go down that unoriginal path.

Clay Mann's had some awesome art in this issue. I especially like the flashback scene with Bullseye mercilessly killing the Japanese mafia. A great flashback. The only problem I had with the art is that I wish that Lady Bullseye costume would have used the dark red and white color sheme from the cover instead of the black and white color scheme that was actually used.