Written by: Charlie Huston
Arted by: Shawn MartinbroughThere was a year when no one knew where he was. When Bullseye — the world’s greatest assassin — simply vanished without a trace. In the glare of the white hot lights, no one noticed the lanky stranger with the rubber arm, throwing heat that could, well, take off a man’s head. See, every man needs a challenge, a moment when he faces impossible odds, when he looks deep inside himself and sees what he’s really made of. Bullseye’s next pitch is one for the history books.
I gotta admit, when I first heard about this two issue mini-mini-series my interest was piqued. I mean, combining Bullseye (one of my absolute favorite Marvel Villains) with the sport of baseball (the only sport worth following…suck it, soccer) with the phenomenal Charlie Huston writing and the immensely underrated Shawn Martinbrough on pencils, the result SHOULD have hit it out of the park (a three run homer, if not a grand slam.) I mean, everything said about this in-continuity but chronologically ambiguous tale prior to its release lead me to believe it would include some hot and heavy baseball action (I mean, the title of the book is a baseball reference), and yet for most of this issue we get the newest look into a page of Bullseye’s past (a story basis that has been tapped SEVERAL times before, most notably over the last few years), only about a quarter of which had to do explicitly with baseball. Now, that isn’t to say the non-ball related stuff wasn’t good, because it seriously was…I just can’t help but feel a little let down that so little of the issue, which is itself HALF of the series, was devoted to the game.
I could tell that most of the first half of the issue was just Huston putting some of his wildest Bullseye fantasies onto the page. While some of these kills were unique and well represented, I kinda felt like he was, well, stalling for time (or filling pages…whichever you prefer) and I kinda felt myself sinking into the “okay this is good but when does the story start” mode…which is okay for a few pages of fun build-up…but this lasted for almost a third of the issue…not the best start. The best part of this whole “greatest hits” section was the revelation of the Bullseye statisticians. Rabid fans who follow his every move and track the numbers and specifics of his entire career in much the same way that baseball fans would follow their favorite player. Following that we get a bit of an inside look at Bullseye dealing with his manager. Yes, Bullseye had a manager setting up these kills for him, which, let’s be honest, kinda makes perfect sense. Talent managers these days, especially at the high level that Bullseye must operate, can be pretty seedy and as Huston puts it, “ten perfect is ten percent.” It’s at this point that we learn the high point of Bullseye’s career may have been his murder of Elektra, and that no kill since then has given him the pure, unbridled joy that that kill did. After turning down several high paying jobs due to lack of excitement, Bullseye takes a gig to take out a corrupt Major League pitcher with a so-so career that crossed some very bad men in a very bad way.
It’s at this point that the issue FINALLY picks up the baseball sub-plot that SHOULD have been in play since the very beginning…which is depressing since it does it with about five pages left to go in the issue. After detailing that history of this crooked, slovenly walking dead man ball player, it’s revealed that Bullseye worked, through as yet undetermined means, himself through the system and into the major leagues in order to complete this kill. While I do appreciate that Bullseye considered becoming a professional ballplayer more valuable to his career than killing the president, I’m not sure that it makes a whole lot of sense in the grand sense of the Marvel Universe, despite fulfilling the motivations behind the series. By the time the last page rolls around, all that’s been established is that Bullseye has entered the system…which strikes (no pun intended) me as something that could have been done in three pages right at the top, not with an ENTIRE ISSUE OF A TWO ISSUE MINI-SERIES. While Marvel has become known for its decompressed storytelling in recent years, this is taking it just a little too far…which is unfortunate since this really is a good “Bullseye is bored” story…but it is NOT the “Bullseye playing ball” story that we were promised and that drew me to the book.
Continued belowOn the art side though, Martinbrough ends up being the saving grace of this book. My only other exposure to his work was with the Morlocks mini-series from WAY the hell back in 2002. However, after researching what he’s done since, I could not find anything very substantial, which is unfortunate since he is absolutely and Sean Phillips level talent and with an increased interest in gritty, street level noir-type books in the industry, it’s about time he got a break on a book that isn’t going to come and go in two to four months. Put him and his dark, angular pencils on a Punisher or Iron Fist ongoing and let him get his due!
Alright, so this is a pretty hard verdict to give, since the book really did not live up to the expectations I had or that it projected for itself, but it did FINALLY start telling the story I wanted to see at the end, which assumingly means the next (and final) issue will be the bloody baseball romp I was promised, which kinda makes it hard for me to not pick up given that I already have this issue. However, if you have not picked this up and are, like me, looking for a Bullseye story deeply entrenched in America’s favorite pass-time then you should probably not spring for it. However, if you want a decently told, supremely illustrated Bullseye story IN GENERAL, then you could do no worse…I guess.
Final Verdict: 7.3 — Buy but feel slightly let down once you read it.
