Customer Reviews

Dark Reign: Elektra

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best handling of Elektra since Miller and Sienkiewicz's Elektra Assassin over 20 years ago(seems like yesterday). Although the result of her battle with an old nemesis required some suspension of disbelief, the rest of the book is almost a masterpiece, both in terms of story and art. If Elektra Assassin is a 10, this is an 8, but a damn fine 8, and definitely worth buying.

For those of you who do not know her (or if you haven't seen the

Daredevil or Elektra movies--and I wouldn't blame you if you haven't), Elektra Natchios is the Marvel Universe's greatest assassin. Draped in blood-red and wielding a deadly pair of sai, she is a true force to be reckoned with. Not even death can stop her: Elektra has been killed and revived on more than one occasion. This penchant for resurrections garnered the interest of the Skrull Empire, who captured the assassin in order to learn her secrets of everlasting life.

After being imprisoned for months, she was subjected to heinous experiments so that her captors could learn her secrets. Additionally, they sent an agent of their own down to Earth to pose as the assassin and further their endgame of taking over the planet. When Elektra was finally freed, she learned that the Skrull posing as her made a few enemies...enemies Elektra herself must now deal with. Standing in her way is "rehabilitated" supervillain Norman Osborn, now heading the world's largest spy agency, who sends a familiar face to take Elektra down: Bullseye, the man who once killed her with her own sai...and will gladly do so again.

Zeb Wells is one of the best--and most underrated--writers working in comics today. He manages to deftly weave together superb storytelling with years of continuity that captivates new readers and delights old fans. This review falls in the former category, as I was never a fan of the Elektra character (even during Frank Miller's acclaimed run on Daredevil, I could never really get into the character). Thus, I haven't kept up with her recent adventures, so I was a tad hesitant to read this series. But Zeb Wells rarely disappoints, and I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.

And I'm glad I did. While I initially feared I'd be lost since I haven't read an Elektra comic in years, Wells quickly lets his reader know who Elektra is, what Secret Invasion was, and how it all plays together, without leaving his audience feeling bogged down under the weight of exposition. What he does leave us with, however, is a tightly woven, fast paced story with enough twists, turns--and yes, even a few vivisections--to make any comic fan stand at attention.

On art duties is former Daredevil artist Clay Mann, whose work captures Wells' tone perfectly. Mann's artistic style is elegant although tinged with a hint of darkness, not unlike Elektra herself, making him the perfect choice for this tale. And kudos must go to Mann as the artist does not chose to oversexualize our heroine, a crime all too many comic book artists today are guilty of. Instead, he gives us a strong, powerful female figure, one who is equal parts graceful and deadly. By the looks of Mann's rendition of Elektra, the character could easily break your heart or break your neck.

The team of Zeb Wells and Clay Mann has put together a rousing tale of espionage and intrigue while somehow managing to keep the story grounded, despite such plot elements as reborn ninja assassins and alien impostors. A fun tale for anyone looking for a good alternative to standard superhero fare, Dark Reign: Elektra will have your heart racing until the very end.
-- Stephen Giordano

I read this on a whim. I don't normally read Elektra, though I'm a big fan of Daredevil so I do follow her occasionally. I'm really glad I checked this out!

There is great writing in this small collection. At first, there was some confusion, as this heavily references events that happen before (H.A.M.M.E.R seems to randomly assume control of a S.H.I.E.L.D facility early on, which left me quite confused since that is related to events outside this book). However, there is enough information to figure out what's going on. Despite any confusion, and there were a few panels here and there that I found somewhat unclear at first, this book tells a great story. The characterization of Elektra is really strong, even though she is silent or quiet throughout. She is confused as to why these particular people want her killed, and can't remember the circumstances they refer to. You can feel her character and how her choices change the more she learns.

Beautifully drawn with great moments in the quiet and during the action. There is a real cinematic quality to the art, moments of stillness interspersed with frames that imply such dynamic movement. It combines with the writing to make a story that absolutely cannot be put down.

I've really been enjoying reading all of the Marvel books that have fallen under and been touched by the Dark Reign story arc that began at the end of Secret Invasion. For those who missed this book, you'll probably want to pick it up and read that first, so you can understand how Norman Osborn (aka The Green Goblin) came to be in charge of keeping peace in the United States. Unlike most Marvel events, Dark Reign has no core mini-series around which all the tie-in books orbit. Instead, Marvel concurrently ran several small mini-series that are all, essentially, tie-in books to the big theme of the bad guys taking control of the enforcement power in the United States. Along with this, several of the core Marvel books adopted new titles with the adjective "Dark" preceding the regular title, so we had Dark Wolverine (Dark Wolverine Vol. 1: The Prince), Dark Avengers (Dark Avengers, Vol. 1: Assemble), Dark X-Men (Dark X-Men Premiere HC), etc.

Picking up immediately at the end of Secret Invasion, This book shows the battered, but free, Elektra stumbling away from the battlefield. Having recently made good on escape from the invading Skrulls, she now looks for a place to hide and heal while she struggles to find out just what has happened to her world during the time of her imprisonment and torture. Unfortunately for her, she is quickly spotted and identified and taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers. This would be bad enough for her all by itself, but with Norman Osborn taking over in the wake of the events following the invasion, this becomes especially bad for her.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Elektra finds herself (once again) captured and tortured by a superior force, and while mercenary assassins secretly move in to take her out, she finds herself more vulnerable than she's ever been.

Both the writing and the artwork on this book were excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it through in one sitting - something I don't usually do unless the book has really gripped me. This book is the best Elektra book to come along in many years. The last good Elektra book/story was probably Elektra: The Scorpio Key (Daredevil), and that was way back in 2002! This book was a nice surprise, and while I doubt it signals any sort of upcoming rise to prominence for the character in the Marvel universe, it does shine some light on the potential the character still possesses when placed in the hands of a capable writer.

Well worth the money, I'd recommend this book to any fans of Elektra, Daredevil, Bullseye, or the Dark Reign events.

In an attept to start over after the civil war,a skrull invasion happened and things were reset in the marvel universe as a result. Dark reign is the eraser were every one is lining themselves up to create a decent story while bringing back old and dead charecters. In this case we have Elektra (my favorite charecter in the Marvel U) brought back and to make her story some what intresting she was the only one tortured and experamented on by the skrulls; what ensues is the typical nothing gets realy resolved exept for some minor charecters and if you've already read an Elektra book you know the type. nothing really stands out the artwork is decent and the writing is prety good as well. it's not a terrible book, but it's not going to hook any new fans, but it will make long time fans feal distant. If you havn't read the skrull invation you might be lost. In short everything you loved about Elektra is now just a clean slate.