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Obscure Comics: Elektra On The Rise with Palmiotti, Gray & Leonardi

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There are comic book series almost every comic fan knows, there are comic book characters that most everyone knows, there are specific comic books most every comic reader knows, and then there are the more obscure issues that slip through the cracks.  What makes obscure comics so interesting and vital is discovering those books that most don't know were ever printed, or that top tier creators worked on "that book" or on "that character." Obscure comic books are fun to find, interesting to know about, but that border between being great reads and terrible comics.

Elektra, the Daredevil Spin-Off from Fox

Before the era of comic book movies dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the many Marvel movies from different companies tried with various degrees of success to be franchises and obtain the level of success Superman The Movie and the 1989 Batman movie, or at least the Blade movies. Fox tried with Daredevil in 2003, starring Ben Affleck, which was a decent success, so Fox decided to spin off Jennifer Garner as Elektra in 2005, which was a commercial failure.  Despite that, much like Daredevil before it, Elektra had two DVD releases.

The first in April 2005, and a "Director's Cut" in October of 2005; however, the main attraction of the Collector's Edition / Director's Cut DVD release was the special Elektra On The Rise comic included.

Elektra On the Rise

Following on their earlier team-up on a Marvel movie tie-in comic, Blade Nightstalking, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray wrote Elektra On the Rise.  Like Blade Nightstalking, the comic serves as a prequel to the movie explaining how Elektra went from her "death" in Daredevil to alive and well again in the Elektra movie.  The comic shows how Stick rescued her body from the Hand, and she comes back to life with him watching over her.

Again, a great Amanda Conner cover is on this comic, but unlike Blade Nightstalking, Rick Leonardi draws this issue.  The artist, best known for Spider-Man 2099, works with Palmiotti and Gray to give us a good story that fills in the gaps between the two movies.

Now for most, this would not be an incentive to pick up this comic, but when read, the comic serves as a great followup to Daredevil #190. Again the continuity doesn't match perfectly. However, Leonardi's great artwork and the clear approach to Daredevil and Elektra looking like their comic book counterparts, instead of the movie versions, makes the book a better read, a nice Death of Elektra followup, and a better use of time than watching the Elektra movie (either version).

Elektra, Hard to Find

The comic book was printed and included on with the Special Edition DVD, and has never seen another printing or re-printing, even in the Elektra Comic Book Adaptation TPB.  Unlike Blade Trinity and Blade Nightstalking, there are actually few copies of the Special Edition DVD to be found for sale, even on secondary sites like eBay, and none list the comic as being included with the DVDs for sale.  Even sites selling comic books do not have it in stock or list a price, so its market value is unknown, and the ease of finding it for purchase seems to be low at this time.

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Ian MeltonAbout Ian Melton

Japanese Teacher, Comic Book, Manga, & Anime collector, LCBS worker, father of 2, fan of far too many things for far too long...
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