Issue(s): Daredevil #129
Cover Date: Jan 76
Title: "Man-Bull in a China Town!"
Credits:
Marv Wolfman - Writer
Bob Brown - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker

Review/plot:
I don't love Bob Brown's art, and Klaus Janson hasn't been helping on his Daredevil run. But while the art in this issue is generally not what i would call good...

...it suddenly gets super cartoony for this one panel, as if the Man-Bull were redrawn by Carl Barks or something.

This issue opens with Matt Murdock pitted against District Attorney Foggy Nelson in a court of law. Matt is defending the Man-Bull on a murder charge. The issue at hand is that a shopkeeper fainted during a robbery by the Man-Bull, and six months later he died of a heart attack. Matt argues that the Man-Bull is not guilty of premeditated murder, but the jury disagrees on the grounds that a death that occurs during a premeditated crime is premeditated murder. The Man-Bull, at least, thinks the fact that he's a giant monster also had something to do with their decision, so he breaks free despite originally letting Matt convince him to let the justice system do its work.

He's contacted by a mysterious villain who (if you are a fan of Daredevil's absurd rogues gallery) is obviously the Matador.

The Matador convinces Man-Bull to steal a golden bull statue and then they'll split the proceeds.

The statue winds up getting destroyed when Daredevil tracks Man-Bull down.

Man-Bull is portrayed as a kind of misunderstood monster in this issue, and Daredevil partially lets him go / partially is too tired to pursue him at the end of the fight. I think after the Man-Bull's first appearance, when he was a victim of Mr. Kline, the Man-Bull could very plausibly claim that he had been transformed against his will and was forced to do crime. But it's been a while since then and the character hasn't exactly shown himself to be a nice guy (especially in his Cat appearance), so it may be a little too late for that now.

In any event, he does decide to try something different with his life, starting by ending his partnership with the Matador.

The issue ends with both of them falling into the Brooklyn Bay, with neither resurfacing on panel.

Foggy meets with Blake Tower this issue and finds that he's actually a nice guy after all.

Blake denies involvement in the phony campaign ads that were being broadcast, which now give way to even stranger news.

This is all a build up to an upcoming Jester story.

This is the least utterly insane issue of Marv Wolfman's run so far.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The Man-Bull was created in Daredevil #78-79.
  
• He had a second run-in with Daredevil in Daredevil #95-96, and he also fought the Cat in Cat #4 and, most recently, Iron Man in Iron Man #72.
  
• The golden bull statue is the same one that Thor stole in Thor #146.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

That appears to be Walter Cronkite as the newsreader.

Peter Gillis has a letter here.

Despite the destruction of the Golden Bull in this issue, I'm pretty sure it reappears later restored to one piece. Though I guess it's not impossible that a dedicated restorer with a LOT of crazy glue put it back together.

The destruction of a statue like that would be headline news all around the world.