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ELEKTRA #10
"Unemployment"
Recommended (8/10)
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Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights imprint
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Joe Bennett
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stuart Moore
Price: $2.99 US/$4.75 CAN |
Taking a bit of a departure from the way Elektra has been written in the past, Rucka and Bennett use this issue to humanize her a bit, showing what she does on her downtime. Though the violence is present as always, this issue looks more at Elektra's life between jobs, including how she travels and how she manages to keep her identity hidden. It's an interesting look at the life of an assassin, a self-contained story for those who want to see what Rucka is up to and the beginning of an interesting direction for Elektra's
next arc.
Rucka has always had a handle
on the details that make the unfamiliar and dangerous jobs he writes about
approachable for those of us who have never been near anything like them.
Elektra's methods of getting through customs are simple but very effective,
making for a cute and mildly funny scene as she shifts into her more abrasive
real personality but also showing off that the easiest way to avoid trouble is
to make others underestimate you.
Throughout the course of the
issue, Elektra actually assumes any number of different personalities. What's
interesting is not just the variety that Rucka gives her, from a brusque
upper-class woman to a frinedly girl with friends at a local tavern, but the
fact that none of them are her real personality. We glimpse her real
personality, such as it is, in her meeting with her "broker," and it's a cold
and almost inhumane template upon which she can easily place other
personalities. Rucka gives the sense that Elektra is always thinking in terms of
tactics, not as focused on conversations but more on the potential dangers
around her.
Bennett isn't the regular
artist on this title, but he does a capable job filling in between Chuck
Austen's departure and the arrival of the new artist. I could have wished for
inks, or at least thicker lines, because the forms sometimes felt a little too
vague, but in general the storytelling is very strong, and Bennett's work here
actually reminded me of urban noir specialists like Eduardo Risso or Sean
Phillips. The transitions from locales, and the fight from the point-of-view of
a sniper, were both particular highlights for me.
Elektra is an odd choice for
an ongoing book, because she is a bit of a cipher even when written well, but
Rucka is taking an interesting approach. Focusing in on Elektra's high profile
and making it a liability, as well as pitting her against her support network,
promises to show readers a little of how she operates, even as it gives us an
action-packed story.
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