Comic Info
Comic Name: Elektra: Assassin
Publisher: Marvel Comics/Epic
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
# of Issues: 8
Release Date: 2012
Elektra: Assassin #4
Reprints Elektra: Assassin #1-8 (August 1986-March 1987). Elektra Natchios has a goal. She intends to assassinate Ken Wind, the candidate for President of the United States of America. Unseen by most, Ken Wind actually is the Beast…and intent on causing nuclear war. With a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Garrett under her control, Elektra must battle through a determined S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Chastity and a sociopath named Perry if she hopes to stop Wind’s plans and save the world.
Written by Frank Miller and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, Elektra: Assassin was an eight issue limited series published under Marvel’s Epic Comics. The series was critically acclaimed and collected multiple times. It was nominated for an Eisner for Best Finite Series in 1988.
Coming off his historic Daredevil run which introduced Elektra in Daredevil (1) #168 (January 1981) and The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller could do no wrong and he probably had a lot of leeway with stories. Elektra: Assassin took the popular character and wrote a Marvel Comics series specifically aimed at adults where there were no restrictions…and ended up creating a strange masterpiece.
Elektra: Assassin #5
Elektra: Assassin is a strange jumbled story. I’m not going to pretend that it is easy to follow and that it doesn’t get extremely dense at points, but it is a fun story to try to follow. The story is dated (like much of Miller’s work) and is a product of the time in which it was written. With references to Reagan and the political climate of the period, the story might not be very accessible for readers who didn’t grow up in the time.
In addition to bizarre storytelling, the series features one of the oddest artists of the ’80s. I can say that Bill Sienkiewicz was one of the reasons I started reading comics. His run on New Mutants was so bizarre that I had to get more comics to understand it. Here, his style of art works with Miller’s writing style and it adds to the oddity of the series.
Elektra: Assassin is a classic. I can’t recommend it for everyone (Miller’s Daredevil I can recommend for any comic fan). The story is almost secondary to the experience, and even if you don’t enjoy the series, it is a different read that at least makes you think critically about what you are reading. Elektra has been reused, rehashed, and recreated multiple times since (this is generally not considered Marvel canon), but here she is at her bloodiest best.
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