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Elektra Lives Again
Despite the fact that Elektra died in his arms, Daredevil is plagued by recurring nightmares and terrible premonitions that his former lover and world's top assassin-for-hire is not only alive, but active once more.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
4 people are currently reading
500 people want to read
About the author
Frank Miller
1,355 books5,348 followersFrank Miller is an American writer, artist and film director best known for his film noir-style comic book stories. He is one of the most widely-recognized and popular creators in comics, and is one of the most influential comics creators of his generation. His most notable works include Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One and 300.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
December 3, 2025
I know continuity isn’t the most important thing in a GN but I would be curious to know where this was intended to slot it.
Karen is in LA and Matt has a pretty nice office. The Karen bit isn’t too odd, given that we haven’t seen her in the main comics for a while.
But the fact that Matt has money is a little weird. Where did he get it?
Anyway, that’s nit-picking.
While I didn't love the way Matt was drawn, I thought Elektra was done well.
The landscapes were quite beautiful.
I may have missed some other meaning or lessons but my takeaway was that it's hard and painful but you shouldn’t hold so tightly onto the past, you need to let it go.
Karen is in LA and Matt has a pretty nice office. The Karen bit isn’t too odd, given that we haven’t seen her in the main comics for a while.
But the fact that Matt has money is a little weird. Where did he get it?
Anyway, that’s nit-picking.
While I didn't love the way Matt was drawn, I thought Elektra was done well.
The landscapes were quite beautiful.
I may have missed some other meaning or lessons but my takeaway was that it's hard and painful but you shouldn’t hold so tightly onto the past, you need to let it go.
March 22, 2011
Para arrancar con este tomo tuve que hacer trampa: como no encontré los Daredevil de Frank Miller del 4 en adelante, directamente salté a esta historia ignorando lo que pasa en el medio. Aunque lo básico ya lo sabía: Bullseye mata a Elektra y acá parece que resucita. Y es esto último lo que más me gustó de la obra: aunque el libro se llama "Elektra vive de nuevo", ella no abre la boca en ningún momento, y una lectura más "poética" nos puede dar que en realidad nunca resucita, que toda la historia transcurre en la torturada psique de Matt Murdock, y que no hay verdadera diferencia entre sus pesadillas y presagios y todas las sangrientas escenas de luchas que se suceden cada vez más seguido pasando la mitad del libro. Y hablando de luchas, es en el aspecto visual que más resalta esta obra. El trazo de Miller es cien veces mejor que cuando arrancó con Daredevil, y esa misma soltura gráfica la tiene a la hora de armar las páginas, los planos, las escenografías, los personajes que caminan por el fondo (incluyendo varios cameos famosos, como Clark Kent). Todo aporta algo, aunque sea mínimo, al resultado final, y la espectacularidad resuena en cada página. Un detalle quizás menor que no me dejó de sorprender es que hubiera tetas. Sí, así de tondo como suena es la primera vez que veo que en Marvel se animen a mostrar pezones en uno de sus comics. ¡Hasta se ven culos y pitos (flácidos, por supuesto)! Sin duda este comic fue concebido como un producto adulto y eso se nota hasta el final.
Si hablo de la historia en sí, no creo que sea de lo más espectacular, pero tampoco creo que eso importe demasiado. Este comic ("graphic novel" dirán los sibaritas del arte secuencial) se trata de sensaciones, de pesares y de un hombre atormentado por un fantasma que a su vez es atormentada por los de aquellos a los que segó. Un experimento expresionista e íntimo que sin dudas funcionó. Casi casi lo colocaría al nivel de Dark Knight Returns, que sin duda sigue siendo mi obra de Miller favorita, pero si no lo hago no es porque este no sea un excelente comic, sino porque lo veo más como una parte de una historia mayor. Una tragedia griega que, como no podía ser de otra forma, termina con muertes y catarsis a rolete.
Si hablo de la historia en sí, no creo que sea de lo más espectacular, pero tampoco creo que eso importe demasiado. Este comic ("graphic novel" dirán los sibaritas del arte secuencial) se trata de sensaciones, de pesares y de un hombre atormentado por un fantasma que a su vez es atormentada por los de aquellos a los que segó. Un experimento expresionista e íntimo que sin dudas funcionó. Casi casi lo colocaría al nivel de Dark Knight Returns, que sin duda sigue siendo mi obra de Miller favorita, pero si no lo hago no es porque este no sea un excelente comic, sino porque lo veo más como una parte de una historia mayor. Una tragedia griega que, como no podía ser de otra forma, termina con muertes y catarsis a rolete.
May 28, 2018
(Edited)
Frank Miller actually wrote a lot of stuff to do with Elektra after his main run. And I don't know exactly where this fits in with all the other Elektra lore, but I'm pretty sure this takes place before Daredevil Born Again because of a scene with Karen Page. So I really wasn't expecting much from this book, but after reading it, I kind of loved this little story. It is an extremely dreamlike, haunting, and completely human ride through Matt Murdock's MAJOR psychological breakdown because of Elektra's death. Seriously. This guy is messed up. My favourite parts of the book are just the little things that Matt does to try and divert his mind from her. Like playing the piano, going on dates or taking a bath. It makes him even more of a compelling character that you do feel bad for. This is a prime example of how to write a great lead character. The insane dream sequences with the graveyard and cross imagery is just amazing. Miller and Varley's art is pretty damn good. Most of the time. Lynn Varley's colouring is the most consistently impressive thing. Really I only have some issues with Frank Miller's usual weird-ass style. But some art looked incredible and some did not. At all. Some surprisingly important things happen in this story and I feel like readers of Daredevil should know some of this shit. Really where the book goes down in quality is near the end when it flies off the rails and kind of loses its shit. I would have preferred the rest of the story to be just about Matt's life trying to cope with his loss.
There are 2 easter eggs in this book. Oddly both of them are from Miller's DC books. I saw a Mutant from Dark Knight Returns and someone mentions the name "Falcone". In the end, this book was fantastic until the end. A haunting story with some great character work and art. This is a fairly underrated book. Letter Grade: (A-)
Frank Miller actually wrote a lot of stuff to do with Elektra after his main run. And I don't know exactly where this fits in with all the other Elektra lore, but I'm pretty sure this takes place before Daredevil Born Again because of a scene with Karen Page. So I really wasn't expecting much from this book, but after reading it, I kind of loved this little story. It is an extremely dreamlike, haunting, and completely human ride through Matt Murdock's MAJOR psychological breakdown because of Elektra's death. Seriously. This guy is messed up. My favourite parts of the book are just the little things that Matt does to try and divert his mind from her. Like playing the piano, going on dates or taking a bath. It makes him even more of a compelling character that you do feel bad for. This is a prime example of how to write a great lead character. The insane dream sequences with the graveyard and cross imagery is just amazing. Miller and Varley's art is pretty damn good. Most of the time. Lynn Varley's colouring is the most consistently impressive thing. Really I only have some issues with Frank Miller's usual weird-ass style. But some art looked incredible and some did not. At all. Some surprisingly important things happen in this story and I feel like readers of Daredevil should know some of this shit. Really where the book goes down in quality is near the end when it flies off the rails and kind of loses its shit. I would have preferred the rest of the story to be just about Matt's life trying to cope with his loss.
There are 2 easter eggs in this book. Oddly both of them are from Miller's DC books. I saw a Mutant from Dark Knight Returns and someone mentions the name "Falcone". In the end, this book was fantastic until the end. A haunting story with some great character work and art. This is a fairly underrated book. Letter Grade: (A-)
February 27, 2010
I gave this book an extra star because of the artwork. While drawing style is not my favorite (everything just feels a little bit too squared off for me), the colors are just phenomenal. You can really see how much effort was put into them and they bring life to drawings that to me feel kind of flat.
Elektra is a character I really want to like, but when I read the books I always feel disappointed for one reason or another. A big part of that with this book is that it's really more Matt Murdock's story then Elektra's. It hints at what is to come and really focuses on Matt trying to deal with her death and his fears regarding her possible resurrection. This is an okay story, but it's more that it's a story that has been told a million times with a million different characters. It's the artwork that really makes this book a standout.
Elektra is a character I really want to like, but when I read the books I always feel disappointed for one reason or another. A big part of that with this book is that it's really more Matt Murdock's story then Elektra's. It hints at what is to come and really focuses on Matt trying to deal with her death and his fears regarding her possible resurrection. This is an okay story, but it's more that it's a story that has been told a million times with a million different characters. It's the artwork that really makes this book a standout.
August 9, 2016
This was simply magic. I can't even explain how pivotal this book was to retaining adults in comics as a hobby, but I tend to think it had more of an emotional impact than did Dark Knight Returns.
Before Adobe Illustrator, before the internet, before billion dollar video game launches and before CGI movies, we just had guys who loved to draw with a dip pen and guys who loved to write with a typewriter. And if that's really all it takes to make something wonderful like this book happen, I have to wonder why the hell we don't have more like this if all these other tools are supposed to make the graphics themselves and the distribution of the material all that much more efficient.
If you don't feel something when Elektra says goodbye one last time, there is something dead in your heart.
Before Adobe Illustrator, before the internet, before billion dollar video game launches and before CGI movies, we just had guys who loved to draw with a dip pen and guys who loved to write with a typewriter. And if that's really all it takes to make something wonderful like this book happen, I have to wonder why the hell we don't have more like this if all these other tools are supposed to make the graphics themselves and the distribution of the material all that much more efficient.
If you don't feel something when Elektra says goodbye one last time, there is something dead in your heart.
October 17, 2017
Elektra se murio, y Matt no lo supera, la ve en sueños perseguida por monstruos que la torturan y quieren algo mas que matarla...¿o no es un sueño?.
Miller y Varley se reunen y se marcan un comic hermoso, de homenaje a Elektra, a Daredevil, a el duelo, al amor y la violencia, todo contado por el Miller que era una bestia de los comics , que le importaba contar una historia y no tanto Hollywood ,mientras que Varley se marca lo que para mi, es el mejor trabajo de su carrera y eso es mucho decir, siendo que es uno de los coloristas mas grandes de todos los tiempos, acá, se unen y nos regalan un arte precioso que podría estar enmarcado en cualquier museo.
Miller y Varley se reunen y se marcan un comic hermoso, de homenaje a Elektra, a Daredevil, a el duelo, al amor y la violencia, todo contado por el Miller que era una bestia de los comics , que le importaba contar una historia y no tanto Hollywood ,mientras que Varley se marca lo que para mi, es el mejor trabajo de su carrera y eso es mucho decir, siendo que es uno de los coloristas mas grandes de todos los tiempos, acá, se unen y nos regalan un arte precioso que podría estar enmarcado en cualquier museo.
December 19, 2021
Pretty strange and trippy tale of daredevil and him wondering if Elektra is alive or not. Couldn’t make sense of the story overall, but I like the art, which kind of hinted or gave glimpses as to where sin city art was heading.
Am I the only one who couldn’t make sense of the story?!?!?
Am I the only one who couldn’t make sense of the story?!?!?
January 9, 2015
Bello, magico, doloroso.
Bellissimi disegni e colori.
Storia bellissima
Bellissimi disegni e colori.
Storia bellissima
March 19, 2025
[relecture]
Matt est profondément hanté par la mort d’Elektra. Il rêve constamment qu’elle est encore en vie, il n’arrive plus à distinguer la réalité de la fiction et le fantôme de la femme qu’il a aimé ne fait que le tourmenter.
Une histoire certes non linéaire mais envoûtante sui nous plonge dans les tréfonds sombres d’un Matt Murdock torturé. J’apprécie particulièrement le traitement d’Elektra comme un être spécial, une femme qui ne serait pas soumise aux même règles que les autres, une personne qui même dans la mort continue de hanter le narratif et de causer du tord à Matt.
L’artstyle et les couleurs sont très beaux, les planches dans le cimetière et dans l’église sont très marquantes.
Matt est profondément hanté par la mort d’Elektra. Il rêve constamment qu’elle est encore en vie, il n’arrive plus à distinguer la réalité de la fiction et le fantôme de la femme qu’il a aimé ne fait que le tourmenter.
Une histoire certes non linéaire mais envoûtante sui nous plonge dans les tréfonds sombres d’un Matt Murdock torturé. J’apprécie particulièrement le traitement d’Elektra comme un être spécial, une femme qui ne serait pas soumise aux même règles que les autres, une personne qui même dans la mort continue de hanter le narratif et de causer du tord à Matt.
L’artstyle et les couleurs sont très beaux, les planches dans le cimetière et dans l’église sont très marquantes.
May 12, 2025
Great artwork by Varley, incoherent and repetitive storytelling by Miller. That sort of sums it up.
I wanted so bad for this to be good. But it's mediocre at best.
I wanted so bad for this to be good. But it's mediocre at best.
May 23, 2024
Недавно я писав про лімітку "Elektra Assassin" Френка Міллера для імпринту "Epic Comics", однак це не єдиний комікс Міллера в назві якого є ім'я асасинки і який виходив у цьому імпринті. Сьогодні поговоримо про графічний роман "Elektra Lives Again".
Сюжет коміксу є однією великою рефлексією Метта Мердока за Електрою. Йому постійно сняться сни в яких вона є головною героїнею та жертвою, ба більше, навіть коли наш герой притомний думки про мертву кохану продовжують переслідувати його. Біль і сум за нею стають настільки сильними, що він ненароком починає задумуватися чи є вона взагалі мертвою. Так проходить перша половина історія. Друга ж половина зосереджується на протистоянні з ніндзя Руки які мають намір вбити Булзая та воскресити його для певної роботи.
Скажу чесно, після провалу яким виявилася для мене минула праця Міллера про Електру, я брався за серію дещо скептично, однак я дарма переживав тому, що різниця між цими двома коміксами просто небо і земля. Міллер написав та намалював, разом з колористкою Лів Марлі, чудову й захопливу історію, яка неймовірно передає переживання Метта. Перша половина, як на мене, за рахунок цього як раз таки мені найбільше зачепила, плюс сподобалося як тримається інтрига навколо того чи це справді Електра повернулася до життя чи це Метт потихеньку сходить з розуму.
Щодо мінусів, то головним я можу виділити певну рваність в оповіді яку особилво видно в другій половині історії, все-таки деякі події відбуваються занадто різко й інколи таке відчуття, що беруться нізвідки. Також трохи смішно бачити, що цей комікс рахується як частина спадкової нумерації Електри враховуючи що великий фокус тут йде саме на Метта… і те, що цей графічний роман довгий час вважався неканонічним, як я зрозумів. За, що я особисто ненавиджу ту гниду яка його додала до нумерації, в результаті чого зробивши його канонічним, через, що я ледь не поїхав коли розбирався куди його поставити в порядку читання ДД.
Якщо підбивати підсумки, то "Elektra Lives Again" вийшла чудовою роботою Міллера та Марлі, якою я був приємно здивований. Раджу ознайомитися.
Сюжет коміксу є однією великою рефлексією Метта Мердока за Електрою. Йому постійно сняться сни в яких вона є головною героїнею та жертвою, ба більше, навіть коли наш герой притомний думки про мертву кохану продовжують переслідувати його. Біль і сум за нею стають настільки сильними, що він ненароком починає задумуватися чи є вона взагалі мертвою. Так проходить перша половина історія. Друга ж половина зосереджується на протистоянні з ніндзя Руки які мають намір вбити Булзая та воскресити його для певної роботи.
Скажу чесно, після провалу яким виявилася для мене минула праця Міллера про Електру, я брався за серію дещо скептично, однак я дарма переживав тому, що різниця між цими двома коміксами просто небо і земля. Міллер написав та намалював, разом з колористкою Лів Марлі, чудову й захопливу історію, яка неймовірно передає переживання Метта. Перша половина, як на мене, за рахунок цього як раз таки мені найбільше зачепила, плюс сподобалося як тримається інтрига навколо того чи це справді Електра повернулася до життя чи це Метт потихеньку сходить з розуму.
Щодо мінусів, то головним я можу виділити певну рваність в оповіді яку особилво видно в другій половині історії, все-таки деякі події відбуваються занадто різко й інколи таке відчуття, що беруться нізвідки. Також трохи смішно бачити, що цей комікс рахується як частина спадкової нумерації Електри враховуючи що великий фокус тут йде саме на Метта… і те, що цей графічний роман довгий час вважався неканонічним, як я зрозумів. За, що я особисто ненавиджу ту гниду яка його додала до нумерації, в результаті чого зробивши його канонічним, через, що я ледь не поїхав коли розбирався куди його поставити в порядку читання ДД.
Якщо підбивати підсумки, то "Elektra Lives Again" вийшла чудовою роботою Міллера та Марлі, якою я був приємно здивований. Раджу ознайомитися.
August 26, 2017
Daredevil ei ole minulle millään muotoa tuttu supersankarihahmo ja Elektrankin tiedän vain muutaman vuoden takaisesta elokuvasta. Niinpä Elektra Lives Again ei pystynyt tarjoamaan minulle sitä kaikkea, mitä hahmoihin ja heidän historiaansa perehtyneiden uskon albumista irti saavan.
Elektra on supersankari, jolla ei ole ihmevoimia. Mutta hänellä on melkoiset taistelutaidot. Hän tuntuu olevan jonkinlainen ninjan ja naissoturin risteytys. Jossain hamassa historiassa Elektra heilasteli Daredevilin kanssa, mutta hommat meni miten meni ja Elektra sai surmansa. Alunperin Elektra oli siis Daredevil-tarinan sivuhahmoja.
Elektra Lives Again -albumissa selviää, ettei Matt Murdock (Daredevilin siviiliminä) ole päässyt Elektran kuolemasta yli ja rakastaa häntä edelleen. Tarina alkaa siitä kuinka Matt tunnustaa tämän papille. Matt näkee painajaisia Elektran kuolemasta ja hän alkaa epäillä, että onko kaikki pelkästään unta. Elääkö Elektra sittenkin?
Piirrosjälki on tässä albumissa maalauksellista, runsasta ja värit ovat erittäin onnistuneet. Kuvakulmat ovat hienoja ja kekseliäitä. Visuaalisesti paketti on siis upea. Tarinakin toimii, mutta kannattaa tutustua ensin Daredeviliin. Uskon tarinan saavan enemmän syvyyttä sitä kautta.
Elektra on supersankari, jolla ei ole ihmevoimia. Mutta hänellä on melkoiset taistelutaidot. Hän tuntuu olevan jonkinlainen ninjan ja naissoturin risteytys. Jossain hamassa historiassa Elektra heilasteli Daredevilin kanssa, mutta hommat meni miten meni ja Elektra sai surmansa. Alunperin Elektra oli siis Daredevil-tarinan sivuhahmoja.
Elektra Lives Again -albumissa selviää, ettei Matt Murdock (Daredevilin siviiliminä) ole päässyt Elektran kuolemasta yli ja rakastaa häntä edelleen. Tarina alkaa siitä kuinka Matt tunnustaa tämän papille. Matt näkee painajaisia Elektran kuolemasta ja hän alkaa epäillä, että onko kaikki pelkästään unta. Elääkö Elektra sittenkin?
Piirrosjälki on tässä albumissa maalauksellista, runsasta ja värit ovat erittäin onnistuneet. Kuvakulmat ovat hienoja ja kekseliäitä. Visuaalisesti paketti on siis upea. Tarinakin toimii, mutta kannattaa tutustua ensin Daredeviliin. Uskon tarinan saavan enemmän syvyyttä sitä kautta.
May 13, 2023
I know Frank Miller is a legend in comics and that he’s created some truly monumental books but his work has always been kind of hit-or-miss for me, especially when he returns to the well, so to speak. “The Dark Knight” is a stone cold classic but “The Dark Knight Returns” was unnecessary, to say the least. So I was a little cautious picking up “Elektra Lives Again,” Miller’s follow-up to his groundbreaking Daredevil run, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it ended up being. The oversized format really lets Miller’s chunky artwork shine, especially when he drops the panel-per-page count and lets the action scenes breathe a little. The coloring is absolutely gorgeous, eschewing the flatness of his late-career work for an almost Renaissance-ish maximalism. The story is a little slight and relies more on a dreamy moodiness than a linear plot but it’s enough to keep the pages turning. Miller may not always get it right - particularly lately - but he did this time.
May 13, 2024
Frank Miller's sketches here are among his finest. And the secret is probably Lynn Varley's colors.
July 14, 2019
Frank Miller, Lynn Carlet, Daredevil, Elektra, Novela gráfica, años 90... Lo tiene todo. Y sin embargo falla. Grandes dibujos que no son capaces de transmitir narración. Fotos fijas barrocas e inconexas. Posturas forzadas y encuadres confusos en una historia onírica en la que no sabes si algo ocurre o Murdock se lo imagina. Muertos que resucitan para morir de nuevo y en definitiva una paja mental en la que nada cambia y ni siquiera queda claro que haya ocurrido algo...
Miller tiene en su haber grandes hitos de la historia del cómic, pero se las arregla para compensarlos con verdaderos horrores en forma de secuelas. Esta es una de ellas. Hagamos como si no hubiese ocurrido...
Miller tiene en su haber grandes hitos de la historia del cómic, pero se las arregla para compensarlos con verdaderos horrores en forma de secuelas. Esta es una de ellas. Hagamos como si no hubiese ocurrido...
April 23, 2016
Glad I re-read this one. How did I only give this 3 stars? A great story of loss and mourning and ninjas (of course) taking place between Miller's famous original Daredevil run and Born Again. Beautiful and controlled and so very well designed. Matt Murdock has one sweet apartment and we get to see every inch of it here (and the way Miller and Varley use lighting in it is more thrilling than a thousand fight scenes). No wonder Fisk blowing it up made him insane.
June 8, 2017
Esta pildorita de Frank Miller ha sido uno de los cómics suyos que más me han gustado. El dibujo es bastante aceptable para ser el suyo, que aunque sea su estilo, suele ser algo irregular dentro de sus parámetros. Probablemente le ayuda el color de Varley.
Cuando Miller no mete muchas de sus paranoias es capaz de hacer historias de buen nivel narrativo, como pasa en esta. 80 páginas muy intensas y por qué no decirlo, muy bellas.
Cuando Miller no mete muchas de sus paranoias es capaz de hacer historias de buen nivel narrativo, como pasa en esta. 80 páginas muy intensas y por qué no decirlo, muy bellas.
November 16, 2022
es Frank Miller.
No soy nada fan de este autor pero reconozco sus maneras y entiendo por qué es importante.
Me gusta como juega en este tomo con la idea de la persecución a un fantasma, a algo que ya no está.
Juega con la vida y muerte de Elektra y eso solo hace el final más destroazante.
Es un relato sobre dejar ir.
"Quizá no era ella la que me atormentaba a mi, era yo la que la atormentaba a ella."
No soy nada fan de este autor pero reconozco sus maneras y entiendo por qué es importante.
Me gusta como juega en este tomo con la idea de la persecución a un fantasma, a algo que ya no está.
Juega con la vida y muerte de Elektra y eso solo hace el final más destroazante.
Es un relato sobre dejar ir.
"Quizá no era ella la que me atormentaba a mi, era yo la que la atormentaba a ella."
August 28, 2019
Frank Miller sigue sin lo suyo, dibujo y guión de diez, tal vez peca un poco del uso de la religión, pero no me ha afectado a su lectura. Esta vez es más protagonista Matt y su lucha interna en su amor hacia Elektra. El cómic me ha parecido oscuro y triste, ese final te deja un sabor más agrio que dulce.
January 23, 2025
Concebida para una sola aparición, Elektra Natchios desplegó tal energía y carisma que acabó modelando el semblante trágico de su contraparte, el justiciero Matt Murdock. Los códigos del género negro y un dinamismo que mira al manga fueron el teatro de la femme fatale que marcó un precedente entre los superhéroes y adelanta la época más fructífera del autor.
August 16, 2017
Miller is the shadowsman and Lynn Varley brings New York to life in the parts between the black and grey.
In this Proto-Sin City story for Epic Comics, you're never really sure where the nightmare is diminishing and the ninja nastiness is beginning.
In this Proto-Sin City story for Epic Comics, you're never really sure where the nightmare is diminishing and the ninja nastiness is beginning.
April 8, 2024
Read it twice- it's only 70 pages. The first time I was absorbing the layouts and design. The second time was for the story (it was mostly explained in the middle.)
March 23, 2025
Frank Miller's writing is poetic and punchy and his ink line work-- in that start-and-stop dashed-out style-- is incredible, however, the real star is Lynn Varley's color work. Miller scratches down the lines on the paper, but Varley is the one who uses expressive color to turn those lines into bricks, pipes, sunset skies and folding bed sheets and turns silhouettes into living breathing flesh.
A quick pulpy yarn about learning when to stop, undo your fist, open your hand and let go of what you love and want to hold.
A quick pulpy yarn about learning when to stop, undo your fist, open your hand and let go of what you love and want to hold.
March 16, 2025
Short story that has it's moments. Contains classic Frank Miller art style with beautifully painted with water colors. I enjoyed the action sequences and the panel layout design. Overall though too much filler dialougue with no real payoffs. Pretty much rehash of many elements from his original Elektra arc in dardevil and no additional closure for the characters.
August 6, 2025
«No me imaginaba que pensaría en ella en una mañana como esta. Pero claro, he tenido toda la noche para practicar».
Matt Murdock descubre que en la memoria nadie muere..
Matt Murdock descubre que en la memoria nadie muere..
December 1, 2025
Distinctive, even if not as brilliant as her creation in the 80s
February 4, 2025
I have a mixed feeling about this one. May be I’ll revisit it again
July 28, 2021
Despite my love of Frank Miller's art, I must say this was light years away from his best work. Matt's hulky beefcake body was a kind of homoerotic wish fulfillment for backwards-baseball cap homophobes who drive around in lifted trucks with No Fear stickers in on the back. Tedious and predictable. Maybe it's just my own preference for less triangular male forms, but frankly, isn't Matt supposed to be some kind of intellectual? Does he have to be held up to this tiresome Captain of the Football Team masculine beauty standard, too? The idolization of this body type is like something a ten year old raised on Fruitloops and merchandised Saturday morning cartoons would be hung up on, but the fact remains that this is a plot for adults by adults. Why can't we have a bit more subtlety and nuance than porn or a GI Joe cartoon?
But this story is about Elektra, right? So why am I going on so much about Daredevil's ox-broad shoulders and garrish 6-pack? Well, that's the second reason I'm giving this 2 stars. Despite the name, and some Aeon-Flux-esque lady-ninja flipping around in thigh-high dominatrix boots, it's mostly about Matt moping around missing Elektra, and all these "This one's for the ladies ;-) "* pin-up shots of him sulking in the nude. (*As I stated, I don't think it IS for the ladies. The wink is code. I think mostly just methinks-the-lady-doth-protest men's rights advocate types fetishizing the male body in this masturbatory fashion; and that's fine - for them - I just happen to be a woman wanting to read a comic about a woman, whereas this is about the impact of the woman on a man, a 2D Larry Sue who isn't especially interesting - or even, at the very least, sexy by what I assume are most women's standards so much as a heroic avatar for little insecure men who aren't comfortable with their own bodies and choose to live vicariously through yet another uninspired normie Marvel character posing as a moody outsider.)
I guess my problems with this book extend to that of Marvel in general. Even the "outsider" or "fringe" characters are almost without exclusion written from the limited suburban perspective of the latte-swigging, talk-show watching Starbucks crowd (nerdy little guys who, despite their upper middle class salaries, still idolize the people who bullied them in high school), who assume that the wish of every outsider is either just to be 1) a brooding tough guy who stands naked in the rain - sometimes on a motorcycle - or 2) finally be accepted by the mainstream. Their understanding of character, the psychological nuance and subtext of their characters is nearly always lacking, and to date there are only a handful of exceptions to that.
This isn't one. And even dear Frank Miller couldn't solve that problem.
The other issue, which some other reviewers have pointed out, is how constrained and uniform the panel format is. This isn't something that bothers me in a Sunday newspaper comic strip, but for a story where the many of the panels contain very similar perspectives, and the faces of each character (especially Elektra) are drawn in the either a 1980s hair salon poster permasnarl or brilliantine-and-beach-sand Sports Illustrated pout, it is distractingly redundant. You really start to wish the geometry of the pages was more dynamic and varied, in keeping with the lines of motion being portrayed. Why is everyone in a box? It seems to echo the square predictability of the plot and feeble dialogue.
I'm assuming ya'all catch my drift here, because I think I've been clear, but I suppose in these polarized times, it's prudent to add a disclaimer that I am fully in favor of homoerotic wish fulfillment as a rule. I'm just a little cynical, admittedly, and fed up to the back teeth with the sneaky, self-loathing Texan senator version of it. Preferring things nice and honest, up front. When a comic is about a woman, let's have it be about women, eh? Or declare outright that it's about the dude, and I'll know that I don't really like this poorly developed, annoyingly drawn main character and won't bother to read it next time.
(Then again, if the 'dude' in question was Dr. Strange, it would be a whole other story...literally. And a very different review. Maybe the problem is I just hate Daredevil. Why am I here? Oh well, just ignore me. Ya'all know what you like, I reckon.)
But this story is about Elektra, right? So why am I going on so much about Daredevil's ox-broad shoulders and garrish 6-pack? Well, that's the second reason I'm giving this 2 stars. Despite the name, and some Aeon-Flux-esque lady-ninja flipping around in thigh-high dominatrix boots, it's mostly about Matt moping around missing Elektra, and all these "This one's for the ladies ;-) "* pin-up shots of him sulking in the nude. (*As I stated, I don't think it IS for the ladies. The wink is code. I think mostly just methinks-the-lady-doth-protest men's rights advocate types fetishizing the male body in this masturbatory fashion; and that's fine - for them - I just happen to be a woman wanting to read a comic about a woman, whereas this is about the impact of the woman on a man, a 2D Larry Sue who isn't especially interesting - or even, at the very least, sexy by what I assume are most women's standards so much as a heroic avatar for little insecure men who aren't comfortable with their own bodies and choose to live vicariously through yet another uninspired normie Marvel character posing as a moody outsider.)
I guess my problems with this book extend to that of Marvel in general. Even the "outsider" or "fringe" characters are almost without exclusion written from the limited suburban perspective of the latte-swigging, talk-show watching Starbucks crowd (nerdy little guys who, despite their upper middle class salaries, still idolize the people who bullied them in high school), who assume that the wish of every outsider is either just to be 1) a brooding tough guy who stands naked in the rain - sometimes on a motorcycle - or 2) finally be accepted by the mainstream. Their understanding of character, the psychological nuance and subtext of their characters is nearly always lacking, and to date there are only a handful of exceptions to that.
This isn't one. And even dear Frank Miller couldn't solve that problem.
The other issue, which some other reviewers have pointed out, is how constrained and uniform the panel format is. This isn't something that bothers me in a Sunday newspaper comic strip, but for a story where the many of the panels contain very similar perspectives, and the faces of each character (especially Elektra) are drawn in the either a 1980s hair salon poster permasnarl or brilliantine-and-beach-sand Sports Illustrated pout, it is distractingly redundant. You really start to wish the geometry of the pages was more dynamic and varied, in keeping with the lines of motion being portrayed. Why is everyone in a box? It seems to echo the square predictability of the plot and feeble dialogue.
I'm assuming ya'all catch my drift here, because I think I've been clear, but I suppose in these polarized times, it's prudent to add a disclaimer that I am fully in favor of homoerotic wish fulfillment as a rule. I'm just a little cynical, admittedly, and fed up to the back teeth with the sneaky, self-loathing Texan senator version of it. Preferring things nice and honest, up front. When a comic is about a woman, let's have it be about women, eh? Or declare outright that it's about the dude, and I'll know that I don't really like this poorly developed, annoyingly drawn main character and won't bother to read it next time.
(Then again, if the 'dude' in question was Dr. Strange, it would be a whole other story...literally. And a very different review. Maybe the problem is I just hate Daredevil. Why am I here? Oh well, just ignore me. Ya'all know what you like, I reckon.)
May 27, 2019
If Will Eisner made comic books an acceptable artform, Frank Miller is the creator who made them accessible to the masses. Movies adapted from his comics in the early years of the millennium (Sin City, but more importantly 300) proved there was real value, not only visually but in the storytelling. And yet, his reputation, wide as it was at that point, has begun to shrink around a single work, The Dark Knight Returns. Is it his best work? How about I make a case for Elektra Lives Again instead.
Miller's Daredevil was a naked predecessor to his Batman. He actually spent more time with Daredevil than the Dark Knight. They ended up crystalizing around Matt Murdock's relationship with the assassin Elektra. In recent years Batman's relationship with Catwoman has danced around similar ground, but where Batman's greatest loss was the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, Daredevil's was Elektra's. As with many comic book deaths (hey! even Jason Todd!), Elektra's wouldn't be exactly permanent.
But Elektra Lives Again might best be understood as a fever dream.
Or a series of them. Daredevil keeps having tormenting dreams about Elektra's corpse being violated, the ninja clan she once ran with refusing to let her even rest in peace, for having dared reject them for another life. Eventually it seems as if it's really happening. It probably isn't. It doesn't really matter if it is. The point remains that this is a superhero story about a man in immense pain.
After Miller transitioned to writing Sin City comics for Dark Horse, Jeph Loeb came along, and along with Tim Sale ended up writing comics like Batman: The Long Halloween, which tapped into the vein Miller had explored with Batman: Year One. Loeb and Sale's partnership eventually migrated to Marvel, where they proceeded to create character studies for several of the company's best-known characters (Daredevil was, of course, among them).
Now, comics have done a lot of things over the years, but character studies are still fairly rare. Miller's work was among the earliest. These are stories that are less concerned with traditional superhero action (although that can happen in these tales, too) than the face behind the mask. Watchmen still remains the most famous of these. In short, while they remain a hard sell at the movies (DC's recent movies), they are still among the most popular and influential comic book material ever published.
Elektra Lives Again is a character study. It's all about Matt Murdock's continued grief over Elektra's death. (It's worth noting that Loeb and Sale's Marvel tales were all written from the perspective of those left behind.) The Daredevil costume barely makes an appearance. It reads, in retrospect, like a preview of Miller's hardboiled noir in Sin City. It's gorgeously illustrated. It goes well beyond what most superhero comics typically do, or have even attempted in the nearly thirty years since it was first published.
Marvel made its reputation by grounding superheroes in pain. No, not necessarily the traditional painful origin story, but what happened along the way, after the origin, when these characters suffered through life, as typified by Spider-Man, just like the rest of us. What sets Elektra Lives Again apart, so strikingly, is that it doesn't pretend that it's easy to reconcile this pain with typical superhero adventuring. Eventually there comes a point (and in contrast to Dark Knight Returns, not even in some distant future encumbered with an aging body) when the pain becomes overwhelming, when it can't just be shaken off. Eventually it results in a Daredevil story without Daredevil, just plain Matt Murdock, and his horrible memories.
So I think this is a pretty important story. A story told with every creative virtue Frank Miller ever had, but one in which he gets to look well beyond the mask, not because the superhero had to move on, but because, if even for a moment, he couldn't.
Miller's Daredevil was a naked predecessor to his Batman. He actually spent more time with Daredevil than the Dark Knight. They ended up crystalizing around Matt Murdock's relationship with the assassin Elektra. In recent years Batman's relationship with Catwoman has danced around similar ground, but where Batman's greatest loss was the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, Daredevil's was Elektra's. As with many comic book deaths (hey! even Jason Todd!), Elektra's wouldn't be exactly permanent.
But Elektra Lives Again might best be understood as a fever dream.
Or a series of them. Daredevil keeps having tormenting dreams about Elektra's corpse being violated, the ninja clan she once ran with refusing to let her even rest in peace, for having dared reject them for another life. Eventually it seems as if it's really happening. It probably isn't. It doesn't really matter if it is. The point remains that this is a superhero story about a man in immense pain.
After Miller transitioned to writing Sin City comics for Dark Horse, Jeph Loeb came along, and along with Tim Sale ended up writing comics like Batman: The Long Halloween, which tapped into the vein Miller had explored with Batman: Year One. Loeb and Sale's partnership eventually migrated to Marvel, where they proceeded to create character studies for several of the company's best-known characters (Daredevil was, of course, among them).
Now, comics have done a lot of things over the years, but character studies are still fairly rare. Miller's work was among the earliest. These are stories that are less concerned with traditional superhero action (although that can happen in these tales, too) than the face behind the mask. Watchmen still remains the most famous of these. In short, while they remain a hard sell at the movies (DC's recent movies), they are still among the most popular and influential comic book material ever published.
Elektra Lives Again is a character study. It's all about Matt Murdock's continued grief over Elektra's death. (It's worth noting that Loeb and Sale's Marvel tales were all written from the perspective of those left behind.) The Daredevil costume barely makes an appearance. It reads, in retrospect, like a preview of Miller's hardboiled noir in Sin City. It's gorgeously illustrated. It goes well beyond what most superhero comics typically do, or have even attempted in the nearly thirty years since it was first published.
Marvel made its reputation by grounding superheroes in pain. No, not necessarily the traditional painful origin story, but what happened along the way, after the origin, when these characters suffered through life, as typified by Spider-Man, just like the rest of us. What sets Elektra Lives Again apart, so strikingly, is that it doesn't pretend that it's easy to reconcile this pain with typical superhero adventuring. Eventually there comes a point (and in contrast to Dark Knight Returns, not even in some distant future encumbered with an aging body) when the pain becomes overwhelming, when it can't just be shaken off. Eventually it results in a Daredevil story without Daredevil, just plain Matt Murdock, and his horrible memories.
So I think this is a pretty important story. A story told with every creative virtue Frank Miller ever had, but one in which he gets to look well beyond the mask, not because the superhero had to move on, but because, if even for a moment, he couldn't.
Read
February 25, 2019Among the six-or-so comics by Frank Miller that I have read this one really stands out, and I loved it. (Or at least the first two thirds, the quality drops a little towards the end.) The story is simple—Matt Murdock goes through a few days in New York City haunted by prophetic dreams foretelling Elektra coming back to life—but the art is really stunning. Miller once said his job is “finding ways to charm or amuse the eye in ways that make you linger”, and here each page is full of clever visual ideas which do just that.
I guess the real main character of the comic is the city locations: the cathedral, the streets, Matt's luxury apartment, the morgue, and in particular the very three-dimensional roof-top scenes. Everything feels slightly surreal, with scattered symbolic objects and exaggerated perspectives, which makes sense for a story where Matt keeps slipping in and out of dreams. None of these pictures are clichéd, Miller and Varley keep finding new interesting camera angles, new surprising details to highlight, new color schemes and ways to abstract away details.
The way the pages play with two-dimensional patterns is also beautiful. The art simplifies and abstracts to highlight things like the Mondrian-like stained glass windows in Matt's apartment, the patterns on his quilt, or the porcelain tiles in the bathrooms. The shadows from the venetian blind forms diagonal stripes at an angle to the border of the frames. The use of negative space in the page layouts is beautiful, as is the rythm of dense tiny frames set off against luxurious full-page spreads.
Lynn Varley's striking colors create some of the most memorable images in the book, for example the recurring stained glass motif, or the scenes in a snow landscapes where the muted greys are stained with red blood. Calling it "coloring" understates Varley's contribution, since they are often full paintings without any corresponding line art.
It's interesting how unpolished Miller's faces and figures are. I don't get the impression that he drew them that way because that's how he wanted them to look; it's more as if he refused to make any corrections in order to keep the drawings fresh. The scenery around the figures is much more careful, and perhaps the fact that this is a collaboration is helpful, because the color painting is very carefully rendered and makes the art look "finished" even when the lines are rough.
Unlike the scenes where the focus is on the locations, I thought the combat scenes didn't work. They are cluttered and hard to read, and the figures somehow never seem to move; it's like people are suspended in mid-air in an elaborate still-life. (Incidentally, I noticed that this weakness is already mentioned in a review from 1983 of one of Miller's comics.)
The story is nearly non-existent, just an excuse to show a series of ninja fights, and the characterization of the grieving Matt feels stereotyped and one-dimensional. There's nothing like The Dark Knight Returns's clever deconstruction of superhero tropes and their political valence. Likewise, despite the title the comic is all about Matt, and Elektra does not really appear as a character. Miller's politics and attitudes to women being what they are, this is not necessarily a bad thing: I remember Elektra: Assassin (1986-87) as being more ambitious in this respect, but not very successful. Even in this book we get a little bit of Miller misogyny—the entire premise is an exercise in fridging, and it's made worse by the final scene. But it's easy enough to ignore the plot and just admire the art.
I guess the real main character of the comic is the city locations: the cathedral, the streets, Matt's luxury apartment, the morgue, and in particular the very three-dimensional roof-top scenes. Everything feels slightly surreal, with scattered symbolic objects and exaggerated perspectives, which makes sense for a story where Matt keeps slipping in and out of dreams. None of these pictures are clichéd, Miller and Varley keep finding new interesting camera angles, new surprising details to highlight, new color schemes and ways to abstract away details.
The way the pages play with two-dimensional patterns is also beautiful. The art simplifies and abstracts to highlight things like the Mondrian-like stained glass windows in Matt's apartment, the patterns on his quilt, or the porcelain tiles in the bathrooms. The shadows from the venetian blind forms diagonal stripes at an angle to the border of the frames. The use of negative space in the page layouts is beautiful, as is the rythm of dense tiny frames set off against luxurious full-page spreads.
Lynn Varley's striking colors create some of the most memorable images in the book, for example the recurring stained glass motif, or the scenes in a snow landscapes where the muted greys are stained with red blood. Calling it "coloring" understates Varley's contribution, since they are often full paintings without any corresponding line art.
It's interesting how unpolished Miller's faces and figures are. I don't get the impression that he drew them that way because that's how he wanted them to look; it's more as if he refused to make any corrections in order to keep the drawings fresh. The scenery around the figures is much more careful, and perhaps the fact that this is a collaboration is helpful, because the color painting is very carefully rendered and makes the art look "finished" even when the lines are rough.
Unlike the scenes where the focus is on the locations, I thought the combat scenes didn't work. They are cluttered and hard to read, and the figures somehow never seem to move; it's like people are suspended in mid-air in an elaborate still-life. (Incidentally, I noticed that this weakness is already mentioned in a review from 1983 of one of Miller's comics.)
The story is nearly non-existent, just an excuse to show a series of ninja fights, and the characterization of the grieving Matt feels stereotyped and one-dimensional. There's nothing like The Dark Knight Returns's clever deconstruction of superhero tropes and their political valence. Likewise, despite the title the comic is all about Matt, and Elektra does not really appear as a character. Miller's politics and attitudes to women being what they are, this is not necessarily a bad thing: I remember Elektra: Assassin (1986-87) as being more ambitious in this respect, but not very successful. Even in this book we get a little bit of Miller misogyny—the entire premise is an exercise in fridging, and it's made worse by the final scene. But it's easy enough to ignore the plot and just admire the art.
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