Our story opens with Daredevil in his civilian guise as Bart Hill, accompanying his girlfriend Tonia Saunders as they congratulate their newlywed friends Jeff & Sue Smith. Sue tells Tonia their honeymoon will be aboard Jeff's yacht in the Pacific and she invites Tonia and Bart to join her. Tonia really wants to go so suggests to Bart that travelling in the Pacific could be very dangerous. That piques Bart's 'Daredevil' nature and he agrees to accompanying their friends on their honeymoon. Which is a little weird.
It seems the island Jeff wants to visit is uncharted and the yacht's captain isn't too certain about locating it. Soon the waters get rough and they see a lighthouse in the distance. The yacht strikes a reef and the lighthouse soon disappears from view. By dawn, they spy an uncharted island ahead which the lighthouse guided them toward. A motorboat comes up to the yacht bearing one Hans Meyer, who introduces himself by stating "I am somewhat of a dictator here!" Friends, don't accept hospitality from people who introduce themselves as dictators.
The one-eyed Hans invites Bart, Tonia, Jeff and Sue to visit the island while the yacht's crew make their repairs, which are estimated to take two days. We see a bird's eye view of the yacht nearby the island and boy, this island is comically small! In the evening, Sue is alarmed to find Jeff missing. Bart and Tonia recall hearing Hans invite Jeff to see the island so obviously the best time of day to tour the grounds would be in the middle of the night while Sue is asleep. Bart decides to investigate this as Daredevil because he's obviously very concerned about maintaining his secret identity.
Daredevil happens upon Jeff, unconscious, with Hans about to kill him with a hatchet. "I, Hans Meyer, da greatest sportsman on Earth have added another trophy to mine large collection," the giant galoot intones. Daredevil closes in and fights Hans until he accidentally steps in one of Hans' animal traps. "Dey are too dumb, but men... ah... dey are sport! Great sport! To hunt men iss also a contest of vits, not alone brawn!" Hans is especially excited because the men on his island eaach came with a woman and Hans claims the women of the men he kills. He also explains his injuries came from previous men he hunted, explaining how a French sailor slashed his stomach with a stone hatchet and a wrestler took out his right eye. Hans decides to leave Daredevil down in the hole until he's ready to hunt him.
An hour later, two of Hans' servants let down a ladder to release Daredevil. Daredevil uses the ladder to knock the two men into the hole, then finds a heavily-armed Hans awaiting him. However, Daredevil dodges Hans' attacks, steals a knife and cuts off Hans' belt so his pants fall down. Daredevil discovers a miniature portable lighthouse which was responsible for the lights which attracted the yacht the day before. Hans tries to kill Daredevil with an avalanche of rocks then returns ot his home to force Tonia to marry him (not sure where Hans' servant got his license to perform ceremonies).
Daredevil breaks into the wedding, causing a furious Hans to boast, "Now I blitzkreig him for good!" He draws a bow and arrow to kill Daredevil but Jeff has finally revived and shoots Hans dead with his pistol, then collapses again. When Jeff revives he doesn't remember anything other than Hans - he never saw Daredevil. Thanks to random chance, Daredevil's secret identity is secure and the repaired yacht takes the two couples home.
All images from The Digital Comic Museum.
Summing Up: This story certainly owes a lot to the 1932 film of The Most Dangerous Game - the idea of the hunter killing a man then claiming a woman comes from there and Hans hunts with a bow, as did the film version of Zaroff. There's no good reason for the protagonist, Bart Hill, to ever don his Daredevil costume, though. He doesn't even use his boomerang! Any of the feats he performed as Daredevil could have been done in his civilian garb without risking his secret identity.
The Hunter:
- A
RussianGerman nobleman (3/4 points) - Who is a big game hunter (4/4 points)
- But is no longer challenged by big game (4/4 points)
- So he hunts men on his secluded island (4/4 points)
Justifying this through a eugenics/Darwinian philosophy(0/4 points)- He is aided by his servants
, including a disfigured mute(3/4 points) And his vicious hunting dogs(0/4 points)- He obtains his prey by scuttling nearby ships (4/4 points)
His victims are given a time limit of 3 days; if they are alive at the deadline, they win the hunt(0/4 points)- As a further example of his sense of "sportsmanship", he will deliberately prolong the hunt if he finds it interesting (1/4 points)
- His victims are placed on display in his trophy room... or at least, he refers to his victims as "trophies" (1/4 points)
The Hunted:
A famous big game hunter(0/4 points)Who philosophizes about what (if anything) animals sense while being hunted(0/4 points)- He is
cast overboard and finds himselfin for repairs on the hunter's island, alonewith his friends (1/4 points) The hunter knows him because of his reputation(0/4 points)When he learns the hunter's scheme he refuses to hunt alongside him(0/4 points)Hunted by the hunter, he flees into the wilderness trying to avoid detection(0/4 points)His only tool is a knife which the hunter gave him(0/4 points)In time he constructs traps to kill the hunter or his servants(0/4 points)He survives the ordeal by leaping over a cliff(0/4 points)- Although the hunt is over, he confronts the hunter and
duels him to the deathsomeone else finishes off the hunter (1/4 points)
The Island:
- Is a tropical island in the
CaribbeanPacific (3/4 points) - Surrounded by dangerous reefs which wreck ships (4/4 points)
The island has a dangerous swamp(0/4 points)And high cliffs(0/4 points)
Total score: 33/100
More hunting to come!
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