ELEKTRA #2
Writer: Matt Owens
Penciler: Juan Cabal
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC’S Cory Petit
Release Date: 03/22/17
Price: $3.99
Elektra continues her trip through Vegas – still being in trouble. Vowing to leave and avoid trouble she instead gets dragged into a fight with Arcade.
Plot
Elektra quickly abandons the bartender, Lauren, she saves in the last issue. Before she can leave and begin hiding she gets attacked by the Court – a group of robots of Arcade. She finally tracks down the leads she’s been following and confronts X-Men villain, Arcade. What ensues if a MurderWorld contest with Elektra playing the game (with a bunch of celebrities no less). The issue remains to be mainly fighting with Elektra dealing with her issues of herself through fighting.
Story
Issue #1 of Elektra was a fun new start for a great character. With #2 the story begins to fall apart and lacks the compelling moments that made #1 fun while also staying true to the character. Also, the antagonist of Arcade is unconvincing as a villain and does not feel like a threat to Elektra. Owens write Elektra entirely predictably this issue. Every move is the right move and things happen way too easy. Sometimes, predictability works in comics, but a character as Elektra who often is morally ambiguous should always have readers guessing.
The overall story so far also remains to feel slightly empty. The other characters felt like background characters and Lauren, who Elektra befriended in issue #1 was suddenly not important anymore. With the background characters being fairly unimportant it’s difficult to feel sympathy for anyone caught up with Arcade. Here’s hoping once this Vegas storyline is done a more interesting one opens up for Elektra.
Art
The art done by Juan Cabal and Antonio Fabela is what makes this issue worth salvaging. The colors and art style are fluid which makes the fight scenes a thing of beauty. If you’re a comic about an assassin you better have exciting fighting scenes!
The background colors being a rose gold color for the most part except for important fighting sounds or weapons makes it fun to read. All their motions seem realistic, adding the noises for impact also makes it fun. The one major flaw with the art is that the expressions are quite a bore.
The expressions of Elektra herself give off nothing of what she is going through – there is no insight into her character. Facial expressions are an essential part of comics as a medium so them being boring or lacking makes them worth very little. On top of that, the background characters often have literally no expression present on their face. It is so faint and bland that it adds on to the background characters being useless and unexciting.
Verdict
This story is still beginning so it is hard to put a finger on it. Elektra is a great character to have a solo series focused on, especially after her appearance in Netflix Daredevil season 2. Owens is starting to create something fun with her in his take but it is still lacking anything of substance so far. The art from Cabal and Fabela is the best part of the series so far bu even then is still not fully complete. Even if you are a fan of Elektra as a character – for now it may be best to wait and see where this series goes from here before committing.
Star Rating
2/5