ULTIMATE DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA #1 (of 4)

By: Tony Whitt
Review Date: Thursday, November 14, 2002

Of all the inevitable titles we'll be deluged with this coming year because of the DAREDEVIL movie, ULTIMATE DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA may end up being the only one worth the price of admission. Equally, if the producers want to do DD's story right, they'd be well advised to look to Greg Rucka's script when crafting their own.

Sure, the story of Matt Murdock's early life has been handled before - Jeph Loeb's DAREDEVIL: YELLOW is the most recent and exceptional version - but to my knowledge no one has taken a lengthy look at the first blush of Matt's relationship with the assassin-to-be Elektra Natchios. Here it's Elektra we meet first as she arrives at college for the first time, becomes bosom buddies with her roommate Phoebe McAllister, and defends her new friend Melissa Beckerman from an incident involving a spoiled rich boy. We don't even get to see Matt Murdock for seventeen pages, but when we do see him working out in the gymnasium, we see him through Elektra's eyes. That, and three brief little scenes in which Elektra shows her stuff, are the only indications we have that these two will be anything more than a couple of kids falling in love.

I've mentioned before how little appeal the character of Elektra has had for me, but Rucka is one of the few writers that's made her come alive so well. The "ultimate" version of Elektra is likeable, intelligent, fun loving, somewhat inexperienced, even shy when it comes to her attraction to Matt - these are all sides of the character we rarely get to see. It's equally clear that the "ultimate" Elektra is nothing like the one Jennifer Garner will play in the movie. Elektra as drawn by Salvador Larroca and Danny Miki is more like a younger version of Julianna Margulies than a supermodel with a bad attitude. It would be hard to imagine even a younger version of Garner giving Matt Murdock roses as Elektra does here, but it's the sort of scene that Margulies would make her own. As for Matt, our first views of him are of a man far more confident and forward than we're used to, even in his adult incarnation. Perhaps Rucka's thinking ahead to how Ben Affleck will play the part, but no matter how badly Affleck does it, here's the template for how he should do it.

Sadly, the movie is called DAREDEVIL, not DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA, so while Elektra may play a large role in it, it's not a story about her, or even about them. But this book is, and as such it's one of the more special offerings we can expect to see this year - especially before the movie dam busts loose and we get drowned in all the crap that's bound to come out afterwards.


Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at
feedback@cinescape.com.