| Product: |
Elektra: Assassin Comics in general |
| Date: |
12.04.01 (92 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Complex and engaging
Disadvantages: Perhaps tries a bit too hard
The 1980s was an exciting time in the world of comics. Seminal work by the likes of Alan Moore and Frank Miller had proved that comics about superheroes could appeal to an adult audience.
Elektra Assassin was one such work. Written in 1986 by Frank Miller at about the same time as his more famous Batman The Dark Knight Returns, it follwed on from his earlier work on the Marvel series Daredevil. Elektra, a ninja assassin, had been the love interest for Daredevil before Miller had her brutally murdered, an extremely shocking development for its day, when recurring characters in superhero comics hardly ever died.
This series is set before the Daredevil stories. The plot is rather complicated, but basically it involves Elektra's attempts to prevent the evil cult of ninjas known as The Hand from possessing the mind of the President of the US, and causing World War Three.
The artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz is incredible. Nothing like it had been seen before in a Marvel comic, and it's still stunning today. It largely abandons the kind of pseudo realism that you find in most superhero comics, instead using a variety of different styles of painted artwork that range from grotesque caricature to extremely basic line drawings. The way you react to the art is going to determine whether or not you like the graphic novel. A lot of fans at the time found the artwork a little bit too extreme for their tastes.
Although I personally think this is a great comic, I definitely get the sense that Miller and Sienkiewicz were trying a bit too hard to be extreme. The art is perhaps a bit too elaborate, and Miller's plot is a bit hard to follow at times, at least on a first reading. Maybe he felt that he had to compete with the complexity of the art. They definitely seem to trying to show just how complex a comic can be, and occasionally it shows.
The dialogue is generally pretty good, especially that of Garrett, the unreliable secret
agent who Elektra exploits in order to get the job done. Although the story is set within the Marvel Universe, and some long-running characters do appear, the references are minimal enough not to discourage a reader unfamiliar with 25 years of superhero continuity.
Summary:
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