Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra

Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra collects Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra #1-4.

Written by Greg Rucka with art by Salvador Larroca.

I never much liked Daredevil as a comic book character. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t capture my attention that much. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t have powers as much as he just deals with a disability really well. Perhaps it’s because if I was blind, I’d stay in the house and wouldn’t go looking for trouble regardless of my hearing ability. Perhaps it’s because of Ben Affleck. Either way, the Man Without Fear is incredibly popular and, along with others such as Echo and Professor X, ensures that Marvel at least gets a tax deduction for including people with disabilities in their roster and it was only a matter of time before he got the Ultimate treatment.

Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra follows the story of Elektra Natchios as she begins her first semester at Columbia University. There, she meets a blind gymnast named Matt Murdock and she asks him out in a very feminist way: by giving him flowers. Shortly afterwards, Elektra’s friend, Mel, is raped by the university jerk, Calvin Langstrom the Third (whom everyone calls Trey). Elektra, infuriated by the crime, is further incensed by the fact that Trey gets off with the crime without so much as a slap on the wrist. He is seemingly well-connected. Elektra then decides to take the law into her own hands.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that the title of the series and trade paperback is not called Ultimate Daredevil, but Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra. You’ll also notice that there are only four issues collected and the trade paperback is optimistically numbered as Volume One, despite the fact that there was no sequel to the series as the storyline is continued in Ultimate Elektra. This is called foreshadowing.

Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra is not very good. “But sir,” I hear you bellow over your high blood pressure, “how can you say such a thing? You have never had a comic published! You are in no position to criticise.” A fine point, student, but I am a critic and I am here to critique and I repeat: Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra is not very good. To begin, the title: Daredevil doesn’t really turn up that much, either as Matt or in costume as a crime fighter. He kind of mopes in the background as the story focuses on Elektra as she comes to terms with the tragic miscarriage of justice that her friend is subject to. She, as mentioned, takes the law into her own hands and breaks into Trey’s apartment to threaten him and brings her traumatised friend to learn self-defence with her old sensei. A suspicious attack on Elektra’s father’s business leaves them homeless and Daredevil decides to take a leaf from her book, and, instead of threatening Trey, use his detective skills to figure out who was responsible for the arson.

Greg Rucka is the writer of this unflavoured piece and, to his credit, we’re treated to the two opposing sides of the story. Elektra, fuelled by reckless emotion, acts before thinking and instinctively plots and executes her plans for revenge against Trey, whom she believes must pay for his crimes even if the law can’t touch him. Daredevil, however, as a lawyer in training, believes that the judicial system must punish Trey and that Elektra’s violent rage is unjust. Normally, I’d agree with him simply because it is the Lawful Good way to do things, but in Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra, so much time is dedicated to Elektra that by the end of it, we want Trey to die, one way or another. Rucka even attempts to show us some of Trey’s homelife – an overbearing, abusive father, too much money and not enough morals – to allow us to see his motivation and empathise with him, but the background actually damages his image further, reducing him to a cowardly, spoilt shell of a person. Although you know, in the back of your head, that he should be dragged to the police station, you can’t help but wish that his body turns up in several pieces.

I reiterate: Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra is not very good. The writing and plot and art are fine, but that’s all they are, just fine, they never move beyond that. It is certainly not a bad comic, and I don’t regret reading it, I just think that it’s incredibly disappointing. It could have shown us how awesome an Ultimate version of Daredevil and Elektra could have been. They have the spotlight and it’s sad to say that they’re both portrayed better during their cameos in Ultimate Spider-Man. There is no mention of how Matt gained the ability to see without seeing, and besides a short scene where he sits on a roof and hears hundreds of conversations throughout New York, a new reader would be led to believe that he’s not really blind or has some sort of magical power. Elektra swiftly moves from college student with extensive martial arts training to professional criminal in a few short panels. There is little character development as the attention is on the exposition.

The art is… different. It’s not bad art, it’s just out of place when compared to the rest of the Ultimate Universe. Perhaps there is a reason for its lack of colour or blandness, but I didn’t like it too much. “Sir!” you pipe up, gritting your teeth, tasting the bitter tang of ground molars, “I must protest! You find it difficult to draw stick men and you have the audacity to spit such vitriolic nonsense about Salvador Larroca?!” I know, dear friend, such statements are abhorrent, however, to paraphrase Twain, I may not know much about art, but I know what I like and I do not particularly like the art in Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra. However, as mentioned, I am a critic and this, as such, is just an opinion, regardless of how many people disagree.

BREAKDOWN:

Plot: It kind of plods, or merely exists. Although it shows all sides and ticks the boxes, it isn’t executing particularly well. 6/10

Writing: Nothing to write home about and I don’t remember laughing or feeling any emotion other than boredom. 5/10

Art: Bland. 5/10

Continuity: Doesn’t connect to any other series in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, thus, no complaints. 10/10

Enjoyment: Not bad, but certainly not good. 5/10

Total: 31/50

Verdict: Is destined to be forgotten, so that when the zombie apocalypse comes, instead of being used as tinder for my fires or preserved for future generations, I’ll just forget about it and it will sit there, alone and friendless, covered in the brains of my former loved ones.