Daredevil (Vol.2) #116

Background

A hand assassin by the name of Lady Bullseye has been making trouble for Daredevil around Hell's Kitchen. She's turned a few of his friends into Hand resurrectees including the Tarantula and White Tiger. In their most recent encounter she offer Murdock leadership of the Hand.

Wilson Fisk has been traveling around trying to forget his life as the Kingpin to honor the memory of his late wife Vanessa. His travels bring him to the Costa Da Morte in Spain...

Story 'Return of the King: Prologue on the Costa da Morte'

We see what appears to be a combination of a flashback and a flash forward of Fisk as an adult with blood on his hands and as a kid with blood in his mouth from his father's ear. Then we see Fisk in what can only be present time with two swords in him, surrounded by hand ninjas and sadly looking upon the body of a dead woman.

One year prior to having two sword stuck into him, Fisk arrived at Costa Da Morte, a part of Spain the Vanessa loved. He wants to feel closer to her and at peace but instead feels alone and empty. The sound of the ocean only serves to annoy him until he meets a kind woman who offers him her umbrella.

The kind woman is named Marta, a the two date for a while. He even starts teaching English and Japanese to her two kids, who call him "Uncle Wheelie". On a date, Fisk attempts to tell Marta about his past but she shushes him telling him that she knows that he has history and that he wants to change. Changing seems hard but not impossible for Fisk when Marta talks him away from choking a man for insulting him.

Fisk thinks of his fights with Daredevil and Spider-man and of his ties with mobsters and assassins. He wants to lock that part away and forget it. He knows that he can because he's done it once before for Vanessa. He tries to remember when he decided that he loved Vanessa more than he loved being the Kingpin. This train of thoughts brings Fisk to the realization that fear and happiness are partners and that happiness is fragile. Every time he walks to Marta's house he ends up running there expecting some sort of tragedy to be happening. He's wrong every time and is greeted by Marta and the kids.

One night upon arriving at Marta's house, he is greeted by a lone tennis shoe and several ninjas. After a short battle, he is stabbed by two swords and looking upon the dead body of Marta who he feels responsible for killing. Lady Bullseye appears and Fisk asks her, "Why?" She says manages to blame Daredevil and slashes Fisk a couple of times with a sword.

His new line of thinking is that Vanessa wanted to inflict this agony on him posthumously. He curses her, Daredevil and Costa Da Morte as he burns Marta's house.

General Comments

This book was well written and well drawn. Its a story that's been told time and again but that doesn't make it bad at all. It's only flaw is that it is a little predictable. I mean the moment you see Marta you know they're going to fall in love and you know that she's going to die tragically. The cool part is that you don't know that Lady Bullseye orchestrates her demise and manages to set Kingpin against Daredevil.

My biggest complaint with these kinds of stories is the lack of the title character in the book. I remember buying a Daredevil comic not a Kingpin book. It's a petty complaint but one that I feel needs to be stated.

Overall Rating

Four webs. No horn-head and a tad predictable but art, story and set-up potential are there.