Reviewer: Tim Sheridan
Story Title: N/A
Written by:Mike Carey
Penciled by: Salvador Larroca
Inked by: Danny Miki
Colored by: Aron Lusen
Lettered by: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Ok, I’m gonna get started by saying whoever has not read the first Ultimate Elektra miniseries that was out a few years ago should go out and do that before picking up this issue. If not, you’ll be sort of lost, as we pick up shortly after that ended. I was originally fine with the first mini. It was just “ok” when I read it. But I picked it up to read again last week when I saw this was gonna be out. And I was really surprised by it. It was quite good. Not earth-shattering Frank Miller Elektra, or even way too hot to be real Jennifer Garner Elektra, but decent story Elektra.
This girl is a bit of a departure from the (ugh) “616” Marvel Elektra. She’s a college freshman, who last semester got quite cozy with fellow student Matt Murdock. But when they found out about each other’s nighttime activities, things got…awkward. She broke up with him for one of those reasons that always works out in comics, but like in real life, you know this oh-so-perfect couple is just gonna relapse and team up again (in bed and on streets).
So here we are. This issue is a great looking comic thanks for Salvador Larroca. His style is always so clean and stylistic and it really gels with the story here. In the first mini, we got see some of the problem that Elektra’s father Nicholas Natchios (heavens, what a terrible last name, no wonder why Elektra just goes by a solo name like Madonna and Sade) was having. His shop burned down, and here we see that the mob (that his family is all hooked up with) is helping him. Reading comics, watching movies, or television teaches us that this will somehow go awry.
Elektra is a very compelling character in this comic. Personally I have always been a little daunted by the “616” version of her. She has a lot of back stoy, so it’s great to just get some good stories from this character, so having her as an “ultimate” is a great idea.
Anyway, Mike Carey crafts a very enjoyable story here with Matt Murdock making an unforced reappearance back into this title, and we get to see the always sexy looking Kingpin, who come in full effect with his pimp cane. The 22-pages here built up with a nice pace to a very satisfying climax, with everything weaving together to give us a nice cliffhanger to next month.
The Final Word: While I don’t think the readers were clamoring for another Elektra mini, or the return of the Ultimate incarnation, I’ll welcome her back. Fun stuff.
