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This was one that was a no-brainer to pick up. I have all the original Frank Miller/Daredevil comics and loved reading them a few years back and one of the great things to that whole run was Elektra. Elektra went through Daredevil like a burst of lightning (appearing in #168 and dying in #181, a span of only 14 issues) but her brief stay would not be easily forgotten. The demand for Elektra was so high that she couldn’t be just left to languish in comic-book purgatory. The comic-gods smiled upon us and Frank Miller would pick up his pen and create what would be contained in this volume.
-Bizarre Adventures #28- Daredevil #181 (Elektra’s death) was published on April 1982, but this predated that by a few months (October 1981). It’s a short story (9-pages) of Elektra performing a hit then killing the guy who ordered it because he was just a jack-ass.
-What If #35- This is from October 1982, the first story Frank did on Elektra after her death. I had read this one already since I own the entire run of Vol 1, and it was half the issue and wasn’t all that different from what you’d expect. Murdock and Elektra leave NY to a deserted isle where they’ll together, happily, until the end.
-Elektra: Assassin #’s 1-8- This was a monumental 8-issue mini-series that ran from August 1986 to March 1987. This was just an amazing piece of work. It has a plot that is confusing at first but once you get through the first issue you can’t put this thing down. Elektra ends up on a South American country where she murders their president and takes out some SHIELD agents in the process. She’s captured and tests are run, but she escapes with the help of one of the agents she maimed. She seems to have some sort of mind control over him, influencing him. We learn that Elektra is on a mission to kill the man running for president in the late 80’s, a time where the Cold War was still going on. She leads the SHIELD agent on a wild trip through the country to America the doorstep of what is now the president-elect. This is just a wild story, illustrated fabulously by Bill Sienkiewicz. I must tell you that this isn’t like conventional comic book storytelling, the art is definitely an acquired taste and the story takes about an issue or two before you get into it, but for any Elektra fan, this the definitive Elektra story, showing how she can not only get into the minds of the people she meets, but how she uses that to her advantage. The ending at the end was just great, too. Highly recommended.
-Elektra Lives Again Graphic Novel- This was from 1990, though they don’t mention what month it was released. This was about 70 pages and is the usual Miller-illustrated works. There are grandiose battle scenes, lots of violence and nudity, and a plot that actually takes a while to come around to. This is Matt coming to terms with Elektra’s death, and dreaming about her rebirth. Bullseye ends up tied up in the whole thing, though his inclusion is not an important plot point. The last few pages really sums up what this is, Matt not being able to let go of Elektra, and when he finally does, it is like a heavy veil has been lifted off his face. I wasn’t as awed by this as I was with Assassin, but Assassin was just a phenomenal piece of work.
-The Bottom Line-Elektra was truly Frank’s baby and the character was never right unless he wrote it. The Elektra: Assassin story is a perfect reason why. This is THE Elektra story. This not only has the opus that is Assassin, but all the other works from Miller featuring Elektra (that wasn’t in a DD book). Throw in an old 1987 foreword by Jo Duffy (who edited Assassin) and a new one by Ralph Macchio (editor of the GN), as well as the three pages Frank did for the Elektra Saga comics, complete with their covers and top it off with some really cool Sienkiewicz extras and this is the complete Elektra as done by the one and only Frank Miller in his prime. Definitely worth a look if you don’t know why everyone talks about Miller and Elektra in revered tones.
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