Greg Rucka, �Elektra: Introspect�
Ah Christ, the last review for the year of 2003.
Without going back and checking my reviews, this book seems to epitome my feelings toward the majority of books I�ve read this year � high expectations and diminished returns. After all, I read less this year than I did last year, and fewer things struck me as truly great.
Moreover, I had more multiple titles by authors I had read previously, and usually these weren�t as good. I haven�t read anything by Rucka before, but Elektra is an offshoot of Daredevil, and that�s a hard level of excellence to meet.
The sad truth of the matter is Elektra just isn�t a strong enough character to support her own title. You would think that after three failed series, Marvel Comics would figure this out. But like the media�s infatuation with sexual promiscuity, Elektra is sexy. In fact, she is definitely one hot babe.
And so these series try to build off of this one factor. This current run even apparently even had one comic that featured a full frontal nude shot of the character before it was pulled, and now the comic sells off eBay for over 20 bucks.
No, people that read comics aren�t pathetic. Really.
I have the full run of Elektra comics from the last time they tried to run her as an independent feature character, only because they were selling the entire run for dirt-cheap. I soon found out why, as that series sucked. This time around, they�re building up the violence factor, ala The Punisher. (Another character that I think is too shallow to front their own series.)
And well, I can say this � it�s better than last time. But Rucka, who apparently doesn�t come from comic writing perspective, rehashes a lot of ideas from films instead. Maybe if I wasn�t such a geek and got out more I wouldn�t notice the similarities, but this comic has Film Geek written all over it. From the beginning premise, stolen from Death and the Maiden to the escape sequence, taken from First Blood and the subsequent dispatching (read: execution) of her pursuers, stolen from The Road Warrior and Surviving the Game this was rehash hell.
She is hot, however.
