Issue(s): Daredevil annual #6
Cover Date: 1990
Title: "Predator / Truth or dare? / Innocent bystander? / Two schizos"
Credits:
Gregory Wright - Writer
Cam Kennedy / Gary Hartle / Tom Sutton / Michael Bair - Penciler
Cam Kennedy / Mike DeCarlo / Tom Sutton / Michael Bair - Inker
Mike Rockwitz - Assistant Editor
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
This is the only part of the Lifeform event to not be written by the regular series writer. I'm not sure that's a bad thing. The pathos of George Prufrock's transformation into Lifeform seems right up Ann Nocenti's ally, but on the other hand her writing style doesn't really make her a team player when it comes to Marvel continuity, so sitting out the event might have been the right move.

Lifeform has survived his encounter with the Punisher, and Daredevil has a near encounter with him after Lifeform murders and devours someone in an ally. Oot, oot!

Meanwhile, Ben Urich is contacted by a Lamar Kwait, a Progamma employee that claims that he can subdue Lifeform (if you're wondering about the "set yourself on fire" comment, a running bit in this issue is people complaining about Ben smoking).

This issue shows Urich as being motivated by getting a Pulitzer which seems like a perfectly normal motivation for a reporter but it comes up almost like it's a bad thing.

Lifeform next encounters the "Wildboys", Jet and Spit.

Daredevil shows up before they get killed. Note the two voices from Lifeform.

Jet actually manages to shoot off one of Lifeform's arms. They then try to flee, and run into some corrupt cops expecting their regularly scheduled payoff. But the cops get sucked into the Lifeform case. Lifeform runs off for now.

Urich later contacts Matt Murdock and gives him the info from Kwait, along with a CB radio that will allow Daredevil to contact Urich and Kwait if he runs into Lifeform again. Meanwhile, one of the cops turns out to be infected from the encounter with Lifeform, and he dies.

Here's Daredevil wondering about Urich's motives.

Daredevil then finds Lifeform again. We again see that there are two personalities within Lifeform.

Note the talk of a "beast". Lifeform refers to Daredevil as the beast, and then Kwait starts talking about a beast as well.

It turns out that Kwait is actually infected with the Progamma strain as well, and he was hoping to capture Lifeform to find a cure for himself. Kwait does have tranquilizers that temporarily weaken Lifeform, allowing the police to shoot it over Daredevil's protests.

One nice thing about this annual is that the back-ups are all at least tangentially related to the main story. The first shows the Fatboy/Bratpack kids daring each other to steal a skateboard from an older gang, and getting menaced by Lifeform while they're being chased.

The second shows the death of the cop that was infected by Lifeform.

And the third shows Lifeform encountering Typhoid Mary, with the story playing off the fact that they both have dual personalities.

Maybe it's just a symptom of being the middle part of a story that concludes elsewhere, but it feels like this story doesn't really go anywhere. Urich's investigation into the origin of Lifeform is incomplete and he doesn't come away with any insights from the affair. A final scene in the main story shows him at his typewriter writing up the story, which is usually a device used to provide a moral to the story, but instead it just ends with Urich saying that whatever Lifeform was, at least his threat is ended, while showing the creature bubbling back to life like a traditional horror movie ending. And whatever Wright was trying to say about Urich's motivations doesn't come across clearly. Daredevil is pretty much incidental to this story, and Typhoid Mary's encounter with the monster is equally inconsequential. Again, as part two of a four part story, there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but normally you expect a writer to put their own spin on their chapter.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Daredevil is in New York for this story, placing it after Daredevil #283. Continues from Punisher annual #3 and continues in Hulk annual #16.

References:

• There's a brief recap of the events from Punisher annual #3.

Crossover: Lifeform

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

It's very complicated placing this story, since Daredevil 283 takes place during Streets of Poison. And the Hulk Annual seems to be intended to take place before Banner finds Betty in Hulk 371.

Cam Kennedy primarily did work for DC, British comics, Epic, and Steve Bissette's "Taboo" anthology series.