Carey does an excellent job of picking up where Greg Rucka left off in Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra a while back. There's a consistent tone in the script; these are the same grounded versions of the characters we met in the previous limited series. The problem here is that the plot isn't nearly as grounded and compelling. Instead, we get a cliched story about gangsters taking advantage of a small businessman's desperation and fear. We've seen this sort of story before, and to be honest, the characters' behavior just doesn't ring true for me. Larroca's art is pleasing to the eye, though a few minor characters are a little too interchangable in terms of appearance.
After exacting revenge on a fellow student for his sexual assault on a friend, Elektra Natchios has cut herself off from her college life and friends, including the love of her life, blind law student Matt Murdock. Elektra's father has problems as well. His laundry business is in trouble, and a cousin arrives on the scene with an offer to help. Unfortunately, that offer comes with a lot of strings attached, including involvement in criminal enterprises. Elektra is determined to help her father out of a jam, but it brings her face to face with New York's most feared underworld figure.
Larroca's linework is fluid and graceful, and it suits the movements of the title character nicely. The most important contribution the penciller makes to the book is conveying just how angry Elektra is. She's seething with rage in her encounters with Matt and her mobster cousin. The colors add to the softness of the art and add depth and texture to the visuals, reinforcing the realism of the art. My one qualm stems from how Larroca depicts many of the less important male characters. They realy don't differ all that much in appearance. Save for hair color, Leander Natchios and the defence lawyer representating the mob accountant look prtty much the same.
Honest businessman gets in over his head, and a rogue champion -- in this case, his daughter -- sets out to free him from his mob-imposed bonds. It's a cliched story, but what really doesn't sit well with me isn't so much the tired nature of the plot, but how unconvincing it is. Elektra's father knows from the start what he's getting into, and I just don't see why he doesn't just walk away for the safety of his family. One doesn't get an inflated sense of pride from the character or an ignorance of what's really being proposed. He is reluctant to agree, but he does for no other reason than so the plot can move forward. Furthremore, the aspects of the plot that bring Elektra and Matt back together in the end of this issue rely far too much on coincidence.
What I do enjoy about this book -- and the Rucka-scribed series that preceded it -- is that the title character and Matt Murdock aren't portrayed as super-heroes. They're extraordinary people with extraordinary problems, yes, but they're wearing street clothes and living in regular homes. I like these more grounded versions of the characters, and the emotional conflicts here are convincing and palpable.
