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| Tuesday, January 25, 2005 12:36 PM |
| The Elektra Review |
 by Fëanor |
This is not a review of the recent movie, but of Elektra: Assassin, a graphic novel by Frank Miller which covers an adventure in Elektra's life that takes place before we meet her in the Daredevil comics. It took me a while to find my footing in the book, as it delights in tossing you into the middle of the action and letting you figure out what's going on as the story progresses. It doesn't help that we're often being told the story from the perspective of a particular character, who may or may not be insane or under some kind of mind control, and that the book is loaded with the abstract, surreal, charicaturized art we've come to expect from artists who collaborate with Frank Miller (in this case, the artist is Bill Sienkiewicz, and he does a smashing job). The opening in particular is a shattered montage of memories (mostly out of sequence), dreams, and present events viewed through the filter of drugs, sickness, and possibly madness. Most of this is from Elektra's perspective, but then suddenly we're watching Elektra watch someone else's memories. Things get more confusing, but then you can start to put together the threads of a complex series of events that involves a number of assassinations of government officials who may be the members of a conspiracy or cult, which are just leading up to an attempt on the life of the next president of the United States, Ken Wind, who may or may not be the anti-Christ.
I don't want to give away much more. Suffice it to say, the book is complex and multi-layered, full of interesting details and character development, ninjas and demons, hilarious comedy and sickening violence, shocking feats of magic and technology, and all the stuff we've come to expect from Frank Miller: characters being beaten and bloodied, both physically and mentally, far beyond the point of normal human endurance (which in this case is explained away by ninja training and/or enhancements from a special division of S.H.I.E.L.D. called ExTechOp); bitterly satirical political commentary (he takes shots at the tiny, twisted, ugly ex-President with delusions of grandeur--who is clearly meant to be Nixon--as well as at the clean-cut, liberal, Kennedy-esque, possibly Satanic president-to-be); sexy but dangerous ice queens (in the form of our title character, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Chastity, who at one point disguises herself as a nun); and a fantastic action-packed story that you just can't put down.
The art is also fantastic; a fascinating collage of highly detailed and realistic, but at the same time cartoonish, paintings, which are often repeated across a page in Warholesque fashion. If you want to see what I mean, check out this gallery of art from the book.
What I'm trying to say is, Elektra: Assassin is excellent and definitely worth a read. Just don't expect anything about Daredevil in there--Matt Murdoch makes a one-panel appearance in one of Elektra's memories, and that's it. No, this book belongs mainly to a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Garrett whom Elektra turns to her side, and, of course, to Elektra herself--ninja assassin extraordinaire. It's another masterpiece from Miller and Co.
In other news, I finally decided to sit down and start watching my DVD of THX-1138, and it's time to get back to it. Good night everybody. |
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