By Frank Miller & Lynn Varley (Marvel/Epic Comics)
ISBN (hardback):0-87135-738-0 ISBN13 (softcover): 978-0-7851-0890-0
I’m looking at the superb hardback released in 1990 but the most recent release was an oversized paperback in 2002 of this impressive and contemplative psychological thriller of obsession and loss.
Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer who fights crime and injustice as Daredevil, a costumed acrobat whose other senses are so super-sensitive he can track a bullet leaving a gun, hear pulse-rates across a street and even identify felons by their scent. In college he loved and lost a girl named Elektra whose father was murdered before her eyes. She left Matt and became a ninja assassin. Years later they briefly reunited before she was murdered by Bullseye, one of Daredevil’s greatest foes.
Her Ninja masters The Hand brought her back from death before Murdock granted her final redemption and peace. He was left not knowing if she was actually dead or alive.
Now plagued by nightmares in which her murdered victims are pursuing her, the blind Murdock is being driven mad by visions of Elektra. In the waking world The Hand are back and they plan to kill Bullseye and reanimate him as their Prime Assassin. Elektra is alive and intends to stop them…
This cold, lyrical tale of love and horror is a powerful example of Frank Miller’s ability to tell a story. Although an uncomfortable fit for the continuity-conscious, the bleak and desolate scenario, the balletic grace of the action sequences, superbly finished with the icy palette of Lynn Varley’s painted colours, and the sheer depth of characterisation makes this one of the best Daredevil stories ever told, although not one to read if unfamiliar with Elektra’s back-story.
Best to track down those stories first (most recently collected as Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller: Volume II , ISBN: 978-0-7851-0771-2) then …
© 1990 Epic Comics. © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Love this book