Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear #2 // Review
Mayor Fisk wants the masked vigilante Elektra Natchios dead. She's a trained assassin herself, so it's not going to be easy to take her down. That's why he's brought in a rather impressive assassin to eliminate her: a Russian hunter known as Kraven. Elektra has got a hell of a fight on her hands in Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear #2. Writer Chip Zdarsky continues a very kinetic story with the aid of artist Rafael De Latorre and colorist Federico Blee. The wintery hunt stylishly mixes scenes of aggression between Elektra and Kraven with scenes of love between Elektra and boyfriend Matt Murdock. It's a very primal contrast in an enjoyable second issue.
Wilson Fisk has sent Kraven after Elektra. The two tangle in the middle of the woods in the middle of winter. Elektra knows full well that Kraven is dangerous. Cunning, deadly predation can be life-threatening. So can love. Elektra's passions with a blind lawyer can make for a danger all its own as Elektra walks a line between two different lives that splash across the page in contrasting moments, which slowly build to a kind of crescendo. Elektra is dancing a very fine line with very high stakes.
Zdarsky has found poetry in the cliché of an assassin with heart. It's not an easy thing to do. The characters have been around for a long time. The edge that she walks is very well mapped out. Allowing her to wear the mask all her lover adds a certain depth to her personality, which amplifies some of the dichotomy is that her character has always played against. Zdarsky has drawn some rather powerful elements into a straightforward story with a nice gravity. A hunter. The Hand. The Kingpin. Love. Hunting Passion. It's all very stylish.
Of course, a stylishly-written comic book is only as good as the art that's rendering it for the page. De Latorre does a very sharp job of bringing it all together with style. As many times as Elektra has sprung into action on the page before, it's that much more interesting seeing her do so in a stylized Daredevil costume that has been placed in the panels at sharp angles by De Latorre. Blee adds to the power of the aggression in the visuals with some very visceral contrasts between the cold violence in gently falling snow contrasting against strong emotional warmth in the embrace between Elektra and Matt.
Framing the contrast is really nice. But it's only going to go so far. The opening issue firmly established Elektra's inner conflict. Hear that inner conflict is expanded on. Zdarsky and Company are doing a good job of bringing it all to the page in a way that seems simple enough to almost achieve a kind of flawlessness. Without a greater scope in issues to come, the story might have some difficulty maintaining a sense of direction moving forward, but Zdarsky has done a good job of keeping the action moving so far.
