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Daredevil (1964) #131-132, 146, 169, 181, 191
Daredevil vs. Bullseye
The devil and the death-dealer. Enmity towards each other casts a shadow across the bodies of Matt Murdock's loved ones, all the way to the big screen. Now, see how the first target was drawn in this collection of the earliest battles between Bullseye, Marvel's deadliest assassin, and Daredevil, the Man Without Fear!
144 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
About the author
Marv Wolfman
2,286 books309 followersMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 1, 2010
3.0 stars. Read these issues when they first came out in the 80's. Bullseye was always my favorite DD villian (despite the gut-wrenching protrayal in the movie) and this trade paperback collects their first sveral meetings. The first meeting was rather cheesy and brings the collection down a star. The later work, including the classic battle with Elektra by Frank Miller, are much better.
November 10, 2011
The first few issues here are a bit old school for my tastes but Frank Miller is just my cup of tea. Half way through the collection and all of a sudden we have pages of action free from corny dialogue; Miller's own drawings allowed to tell the story. The dialogue he does use is of a much better standard and the stories flow much more naturally. Overall, a very enjoyable read!
October 17, 2023
This collection made me happy for the main reason I finally got to read the first appearance of Bullseye. I had always been curious but never gotten a collection with that two-part story in it. It has a nice Shooter/Gil Kane story and some amazing Miller stories and one Miller dud.
So the first two parter by Marv Wolfman started out amazing. It was so good I was thinking "I need to buy all Marv Wolfman/Daredevil stories". But then it sadly devolved into the 70's writing I know and avoid. Why it started so good was the story moved at a good pace, the villain was new and interesting and had reasonable motives and he was a good match for our hero's powers. The dialogue and narrative was solid and there was clever writing. Why it ended so bad was...Bullseye decides to take Daredevil on in the circus. No reason - just...let's do this in a circus. So what started off smart and interesting turned into the illogical slugfest you see in a lot of comics. No character, no point, other than "wouldn't it be fun to see them fight in a circus even though it makes no sense". No interesting use of the villain's powers, no interesting twist of how the hero overcame the odds to defeat the villain.
The Shooter/Gil Kane story had some great Gil Kane art (I love his art) and started off good, with the hero using his enhanced senses to track down the villain but then...hero gets his powers taken away through a random hit to the head and then has to battle the villain without them. I mean - this could have been more interesting. Miller kind of did something like this in his run but he had Daredevil overcome the loss by training again and uncovering his inner traumas so he could be a hero and fight again. Here we just have Daredevil ...try harder?...and overcome his loss of radar. In other words, it was too quick a solution without any drama.
Then we get some classic Miller Bullseye stories. He elevated this villain to what we know and love now. I would tell any reader "get those Miller Daredevil collections instead of this one because you get ALL the stories not just a couple of random ones". Then the last story is a Miller one I must have read before but it was so bad it didn't stick with me. Not only is it bad it could not be considered a Bullseye story in any meaningful way. Daredevil just talks to a paralyzed Bullseye about a completely different story. Not a good story to end on. I would have used the Thunderbolt Bullseye story by Warren Ellis instead.
Anyway - not a great collection (due to the fact only random Bullseye stories were chosen - not every one chronologically) but there are some classic stories in it that made it entertaining.
So the first two parter by Marv Wolfman started out amazing. It was so good I was thinking "I need to buy all Marv Wolfman/Daredevil stories". But then it sadly devolved into the 70's writing I know and avoid. Why it started so good was the story moved at a good pace, the villain was new and interesting and had reasonable motives and he was a good match for our hero's powers. The dialogue and narrative was solid and there was clever writing. Why it ended so bad was...Bullseye decides to take Daredevil on in the circus. No reason - just...let's do this in a circus. So what started off smart and interesting turned into the illogical slugfest you see in a lot of comics. No character, no point, other than "wouldn't it be fun to see them fight in a circus even though it makes no sense". No interesting use of the villain's powers, no interesting twist of how the hero overcame the odds to defeat the villain.
The Shooter/Gil Kane story had some great Gil Kane art (I love his art) and started off good, with the hero using his enhanced senses to track down the villain but then...hero gets his powers taken away through a random hit to the head and then has to battle the villain without them. I mean - this could have been more interesting. Miller kind of did something like this in his run but he had Daredevil overcome the loss by training again and uncovering his inner traumas so he could be a hero and fight again. Here we just have Daredevil ...try harder?...and overcome his loss of radar. In other words, it was too quick a solution without any drama.
Then we get some classic Miller Bullseye stories. He elevated this villain to what we know and love now. I would tell any reader "get those Miller Daredevil collections instead of this one because you get ALL the stories not just a couple of random ones". Then the last story is a Miller one I must have read before but it was so bad it didn't stick with me. Not only is it bad it could not be considered a Bullseye story in any meaningful way. Daredevil just talks to a paralyzed Bullseye about a completely different story. Not a good story to end on. I would have used the Thunderbolt Bullseye story by Warren Ellis instead.
Anyway - not a great collection (due to the fact only random Bullseye stories were chosen - not every one chronologically) but there are some classic stories in it that made it entertaining.
May 3, 2022
This collection of stories detailing the initial encounters between Daredevil and Bullseye is mixed in terms of tone and quality, like most anthologies tend to be, but does illustrate the relationship between these two which has informed both characters up through the modern day.
The initial story is from the mid-seventies and is very emblematic of Marvel’s publications at the time. Lovely, bright artwork with overly dramatic speechifying and somewhat zany (though less than DC’s stuff at the time) plot elements. Bullseye doesn’t feel particularly fleshed out as much as a standardized baddie, but his capabilities to weaponize even household objects is entertaining.
After the initial story, the art becomes darker and to match the more moody tone of the 80s. The writing also improves pretty significantly. Bullseye’s threat level is a lot more apparent without the 70s cheese, and his engagement with Elektra (who’s part in the story is woefully short, since this is unfortunately a collection which is less interested in her then the title characters) is as exciting as it is horrifying to watch. The last stories are my favorite, specifically seeing how deep Matt has sunk, and how much rage he feels towards Bullseye. You can feel Matt’s desire to kill Bullseye radiate off the page. If the first story was a passable 2 out of five, the last was easily a four out of five. So let’s meet in the middle and say the whole presentation is a solid 3 random household objects made into deadly projectile weapons out of five.
The initial story is from the mid-seventies and is very emblematic of Marvel’s publications at the time. Lovely, bright artwork with overly dramatic speechifying and somewhat zany (though less than DC’s stuff at the time) plot elements. Bullseye doesn’t feel particularly fleshed out as much as a standardized baddie, but his capabilities to weaponize even household objects is entertaining.
After the initial story, the art becomes darker and to match the more moody tone of the 80s. The writing also improves pretty significantly. Bullseye’s threat level is a lot more apparent without the 70s cheese, and his engagement with Elektra (who’s part in the story is woefully short, since this is unfortunately a collection which is less interested in her then the title characters) is as exciting as it is horrifying to watch. The last stories are my favorite, specifically seeing how deep Matt has sunk, and how much rage he feels towards Bullseye. You can feel Matt’s desire to kill Bullseye radiate off the page. If the first story was a passable 2 out of five, the last was easily a four out of five. So let’s meet in the middle and say the whole presentation is a solid 3 random household objects made into deadly projectile weapons out of five.
June 2, 2013
Daredevil is still not my favorite hero, but I did find it refreshing that he doesn't banter that much when he's fighting.
October 13, 2015
The last 20 pages or so were absolutely AMAZING, but ultimately not enough to redeem this book - the rest of the story was confusing, melodramatic, and poorly drawn.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews