Marvel Comics
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Rafael de Latorre
Color Artist: Federico Blee
Letter: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #3 picks up right where the first two did. More gorgeously rendered, highly stylized scenes of Elektra and Matt Murdock making love. However, the final installment in this Devil’s Reign mini starts putting some of the pieces together. Of course, it ends with one bloody as all hell question mark.
After Elektra and Matt got together in Devil’s Reign #1, the two had an in depth conversation. Elektra laid her cards on the table, and Matt accepted them. This empowers Elektra, yet also leaves her a more vulnerable fighter. She notes this over the course of her nigh issue-spanning battle with Kraven, calling herself Matt’s fool. With Matt on her mind, she is not as quick, not as crisp.
Latorre and Blee’s opening page is truly beautiful, with an unusual color scheme that is simultaneously comforting, violent, and disorienting. Elektra and Matt are shaded blue against a red-soaked background, with unexpected splashes of olive and gray.
In addition to the fight scene, the issue features near-constant captions from Elektra. At times, she provides a few interesting lines regarding Elektra’s views on herself as a superhero, as opposed to an assassin. “I’m not Matthew,” she thinks at one point. “I pretend to be the people’s Daredevil, but it’s not who I am.” She refers to New York as Matthew’s city, not her own.
After so much great artwork and the decision to draw this final issue as an almost all-action extravaganza, the fight sequence is a bit undercooked. Despite the tried and true application of action lines, we don’t feel Kraven’s power, Elektra’s quickness. The art is great, but the movement lacks.
That said, there is a precision to both the combat and artistry. Things certainly pickup as Elektra moves the fight indoors, with striking panels of Elektra piercing Kraven with a sai, or the profile of her fist forming a “sharp breeze.” Elektra looks particularly stylish as the fight draws to a conclusion, donning her amazing Daredevil kit, but sans mask.
As the fight ends, Aka teases one major plot point involving Elektra’s determination to end the Hand for good and who might be helping her. Another tease is dumped like a corpse into Elektra’s lap, leaving her with a most familiar feeling entering the event’s final leg: bloodlust.
Elektra’s journey continues in Devil’s Reign #5, though spoiler-averse readers may wish to check that issue out before this one.
The Woman Without Fear send off could have been a bit more ambitious with its action, but the art remains beautiful and we're treated to major plot threads for both Devil's Reign and Elektra's post-event dealings.
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