CREDIT: Marvel
Rating: 3.5/5 – Elektra in the Bright Lights of Las Vegas.
By ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
I’ll start out by saying that Elektra isn’t on my list of favorite characters. While Daredevil is one of my favorites and while I enjoyed Elektra during the classic Frank Miller run, Elektra never really connected with me and I’ve always thought she should have remained dead after being killed by Bullseye. That being said, I really enjoyed the 2014 series with Elektra, but that was primarily because of the Mike Del Mundo art. After picking up the new Bullseye and Kingpin series that also have the “Running with the Devil” headline on the cover, I thought I’d give Elektra a try.
Written by Matt Owens and drawn by Juan Cabal, we first see Elektra undercover in a Vegas hotel that she suspects is providing more than just gambling for money. Her investigations prove to be correct and she comes across a young woman in need of the types of services that Elektra can offer. Elektra does have some adult themes to the story like abuse against women for example, but it’s never done in a tasteless way to Owens’ credit and this female character is at the center of it. Owens makes you root for Elektra because of this, but the story ends up being a rather simple “revenge” tale that, like mentioned above is good, but nothing you haven’t seen or read plenty of times before. It’s not until the very end that the story presents more potential for what could be with a villain I’m not sure Elektra’s ever encountered before. The art by Juan Cabal is very clean and bright, which didn’t connect with me as I felt that it wasn’t a good choice for Elektra. Cabal’s art is definitely solid and with the bright lights of Vegas, the colors by Antonio Fabela and Marcio Menyz really brighten up the book, but that just seemed off for how I view the character .
Elektra is taken to the bright lights of Las Vegas in this new series where she seems to be helping those in need, while being watched by a classic villain outside of those usually seen in Daredevil family books. This first issue still has a solid story and art that others may really enjoy, though it was too bright for my personal view of Elektra. I’m not sure if there was enough to make me want to stick around for this series, mostly because of the departure from how we have usually seen the character, though that may be a plus for other readers.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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