ELEKTRA: DEVIL’S DUE
September 22nd 2009 02:35
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
Production Team: Mike Carey – writer, Salvador Larroca – pencils, Crimelab Studios – inks, Liquid’s Aron Lusen – colours & Chris Eliopoulos - letters
Cost: US$11.99
You know I can remember a few years back going and seeing the Elektra movie starring Jennifer Garner with a friend at my local cinema. I have to say it was one of the lamest movies I had ever seen purely because of the simple fact that the story was all over the place like the remnants of a box of tomatoes that has fallen onto the ground from a second story window. So when I saw this particular work sitting on the shelf at the local library I have to admit I borrowed it with a great deal of trepidation. Once I managed to find the time to sit down and read it though thankfully my trepidation was completely and totally dispelled, this particular work did not have a story line that was all over the place. Far from it in fact, Mike Carey has scripted a nice tight story that works perfectly.
Now if you have managed to read my previous reviews on the various works of DC and Marvel you’ll have noticed that I have tended to get on the soapbox of no more mega cataclysms or colliding realities. It certainly seems to have been something of a mainstay in the stories published by these two major comic publishers, if it isn’t conflicts over superhuman registration polarising the world or infinite realities colliding its world threatening menaces of some other kind. That or else we get some kind of angsty emotive story about how do superheroes cope with certain tragedies or aspects of their personal life. While such stories might seem to be well thought out pieces by certain artsy fartsy types, it is my considered opinion that they just plain suck; quite often such tales are downright depressing and rarely entertaining.
Why do I mention this? Well it’s because every now and then, and it seems to be getting rarer as time goes by you get a story that gets back to the heart of the whole superhero shtick. And when it all comes down to it the emphasis should be on the hero’s struggle with some particular foe for whatever particular reason that has resulted in this collision course of interests. Personal or familial involvements are fine if it plays a part of the narrative, but if it’s just there for fluff why bother mentioning it? If a character is gay well that’s all very nice and well, but unless it has a major bearing on the actual story do we the audience really need to know their sexual orientation? No we don’t but sad to say this kind of thing keeps creeping into comics no doubt in a vain effort to target a niche audience.
Elektra; Devil’s Due thankfully keeps it all nice, taut and tight, it doesn’t run off into fluff that has no place whatsoever within its narrative. It takes the superhero drama right back to the gritty mean streets of New York City, the Big Apple which frankly is exactly how it should be. Here in this story we see Elektra Natchios, a young Greek American woman struggling with the fact that her father has got himself into a spot of bother with a family relative, Leander Natchios, a man who is about as straight as the proverbial banana. Leander is involved in shady business but he is not the main figure on the scene, far from it, he in turn answers to the infamous Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, who effectively controls a significant portion of organised crime within the Big Apple.
Things begin to go pear shaped when Leander’s book keeper, Mr Cullen, who handles all the laundering of the dirty money decides he’s had enough of this joker. Not getting the respect or pay he feels he deserves he goes to his lawyer who in turn offers up his testimony to the DA in order to cut a deal for Cullen. What Cullen doesn’t realise is that his employers have a plant in the lawyer’s office and they decide to take steps that will be decidedly terminal for Cullen, as the book keeper has some serious dirt on them and the Kingpin, dirt that could literally put them away if the authorities get a hold of it. Even though the Kingpin is assured by Leander that it’s all under control he elects to take out some insurance, insurance in the form of the assassin known as Bullseye.
Of courses what neither Fisk nor Leander realise is that Elektra has some idea of what is happening as does Matt Murdock, the Man with No Fear aka Daredevil. Things look set for a collision of titanic proportions, or at least that is how it would initially seem. But this tale seems to be at the early stage of the careers of both Daredevil and Elektra, the final confrontation with Kingpin is not to be. But a fight between the leggy raven tressed Greek American martial artist and the hired gun Bullseye is very much a given although it occurs in a most unusual fashion and is resolved with a rather nifty trick employed by Elektra.
It’s interesting to note that of a lot of superhero characters Elektra would have to be one of the few who actually uses her real name as her moniker. The only other character that I can think who follows this pattern in the superhero world is Professor Charles Xavier, sure he’s Professor X but that isn’t too far from his own name. The big disadvantage to using her first name would surely be that it’d be easier for enemies to work out who she was, where she lived, who her family are etc. Still it doesn’t seem to crop up, plot contrivance no doubt in all her other appearances. The other interesting aspect of the character is she is a lot more human than some, and I’m not talking purely about her abilities or skills those are fairly phenomenal, no see is a bit more emotive and thinks at a very narrow perspective. For Elektra the focus is her father and her immediate family and doing right by them not saving the world, thus her drive to take on Bullseye is very much based on personal reasons but these reasons are a key part of the narrative and work well. Like I said earlier on Mike Carey has written a taut, tight story that has been given life by the rest of the production team and ended up being an enjoyable read. And I honestly feel that as long as they keep focused on the mean streets, on street level stories then Marvel can produces some finely crafted works that give their various heroes’ depth and room to manoeuvre for various writers.
Production Team: Mike Carey – writer, Salvador Larroca – pencils, Crimelab Studios – inks, Liquid’s Aron Lusen – colours & Chris Eliopoulos - letters
Cost: US$11.99
You know I can remember a few years back going and seeing the Elektra movie starring Jennifer Garner with a friend at my local cinema. I have to say it was one of the lamest movies I had ever seen purely because of the simple fact that the story was all over the place like the remnants of a box of tomatoes that has fallen onto the ground from a second story window. So when I saw this particular work sitting on the shelf at the local library I have to admit I borrowed it with a great deal of trepidation. Once I managed to find the time to sit down and read it though thankfully my trepidation was completely and totally dispelled, this particular work did not have a story line that was all over the place. Far from it in fact, Mike Carey has scripted a nice tight story that works perfectly.
Elektra; Devil’s Due thankfully keeps it all nice, taut and tight, it doesn’t run off into fluff that has no place whatsoever within its narrative. It takes the superhero drama right back to the gritty mean streets of New York City, the Big Apple which frankly is exactly how it should be. Here in this story we see Elektra Natchios, a young Greek American woman struggling with the fact that her father has got himself into a spot of bother with a family relative, Leander Natchios, a man who is about as straight as the proverbial banana. Leander is involved in shady business but he is not the main figure on the scene, far from it, he in turn answers to the infamous Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, who effectively controls a significant portion of organised crime within the Big Apple.
Things begin to go pear shaped when Leander’s book keeper, Mr Cullen, who handles all the laundering of the dirty money decides he’s had enough of this joker. Not getting the respect or pay he feels he deserves he goes to his lawyer who in turn offers up his testimony to the DA in order to cut a deal for Cullen. What Cullen doesn’t realise is that his employers have a plant in the lawyer’s office and they decide to take steps that will be decidedly terminal for Cullen, as the book keeper has some serious dirt on them and the Kingpin, dirt that could literally put them away if the authorities get a hold of it. Even though the Kingpin is assured by Leander that it’s all under control he elects to take out some insurance, insurance in the form of the assassin known as Bullseye.
Of courses what neither Fisk nor Leander realise is that Elektra has some idea of what is happening as does Matt Murdock, the Man with No Fear aka Daredevil. Things look set for a collision of titanic proportions, or at least that is how it would initially seem. But this tale seems to be at the early stage of the careers of both Daredevil and Elektra, the final confrontation with Kingpin is not to be. But a fight between the leggy raven tressed Greek American martial artist and the hired gun Bullseye is very much a given although it occurs in a most unusual fashion and is resolved with a rather nifty trick employed by Elektra.
It’s interesting to note that of a lot of superhero characters Elektra would have to be one of the few who actually uses her real name as her moniker. The only other character that I can think who follows this pattern in the superhero world is Professor Charles Xavier, sure he’s Professor X but that isn’t too far from his own name. The big disadvantage to using her first name would surely be that it’d be easier for enemies to work out who she was, where she lived, who her family are etc. Still it doesn’t seem to crop up, plot contrivance no doubt in all her other appearances. The other interesting aspect of the character is she is a lot more human than some, and I’m not talking purely about her abilities or skills those are fairly phenomenal, no see is a bit more emotive and thinks at a very narrow perspective. For Elektra the focus is her father and her immediate family and doing right by them not saving the world, thus her drive to take on Bullseye is very much based on personal reasons but these reasons are a key part of the narrative and work well. Like I said earlier on Mike Carey has written a taut, tight story that has been given life by the rest of the production team and ended up being an enjoyable read. And I honestly feel that as long as they keep focused on the mean streets, on street level stories then Marvel can produces some finely crafted works that give their various heroes’ depth and room to manoeuvre for various writers.
| 28 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
