Ultimate Elektra: Devil's Due by Mike Carey & Salvador Larroca (Marvel, 2005) Part of an ongoing series revisiting graphic novels and collected editions from days gone by.... The story of Ultimate Elektra picks up pretty much where Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra left off. (I'm not really sure why this wasn't titled Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra, Vol. 2, since both characters are back in play.) Elektra Natchios's father is trying to pick up the pieces after the malicious destruction of his business, but his only way out involves an offer of help from a couple of shady cousins. Meanwhile, pre-law student Matt Murdock is starting an internship with a law firm. When Matt and Elektra meet, they fight (with potentially deadly weapons) for no apparent reason. I guess it was a nasty breakup. But things heat up when the Natchios family is drawn into a money laundering scheme fronted by none other than the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. The district attorney is trying to land a criminal bookkeeper who possesses an incriminating ledger with names and numbers that could put Fisk away, so the Kingpin calls in an assassin named Benjamin Poindexter, codename Bullseye, to help handle matters. Elektra, too, tries to fix things for her father, although she makes promises she might find hard to keep. Matt, although his relationship with Elektra is over and his adherence to legal options differs widely from hers, does his best to lend a hand ... but their efforts go awry when Elektra's father is framed for a murder, and the Kingpin might offer the only way out. Mike Carey takes over from Greg Rucka as writer, but they seem to share a similar take on the characters. Salvador Larroca returns as artist, and the illustrations are every bit as good as they were in the previous volume. As I mentioned in my review of Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra, the Ultimate line didn't hold my interest for terribly long. This was, I believe, the end of Daredevil and Elektra's role in the Ultimate universe, which is a shame -- I think a continuation of their story might have kept me reading for a much longer time. |
Rambles.NET review by Tom Knapp 28 September 2024 Agree? Disagree? Send us your opinions! |