Captain Cascader's Reviews

I've got a secret to tell. I've never liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The TV show just never did it for me and although I've later come to adore Whedon penned comics and the TV show Firefly, the cute high school vampire slayer just didn't do it for me. However, somehow I really like Fray. Maybe it's the artwork by Moline and Stewart, or maybe it's just that it's set in the future. Either way I really enjoyed these books, despite the short run. If you've ever thought of picking it up but were scared off by it's pedigree I'd give it a shot. It has some awesome panels and a fairly decent, though obviously not original storyline.

Ok, so maybe I'll get flack for this, but Elektra Assassin is my favorite comic series of all time. Sure it's outside the conical Elektra stories and I'm sure a lot of Frank Miller haters despise it for that, but it's purely on the whole, the greatest comic series I've ever read.

Why?

Sienkiewicz for one. His art is... well it's Sienkiewicz. No one matched his style back then, and no one even bothers to imitate it now. This is coming from a guy who loves the Miller style and loves Miller's Daredevil. Sienkiewicz changed my world. The way he draws/paints took it out of the medium and made it pure art. He's the only guy that could compliment Miller's wordy prose. His Elektra, and the environment she lives in, is one of chaos and misdirection. The story and the art are pure emotion, nothing less.

I'll be honest, I've read this series at least five times now and have no idea what's going on. What I can tell you is that Elektra is the most bad ass super heroine/villain in comics and the only reason I believe that is because of this book. She's not just an assassin, she's the ghost in your closet this series. Plus she exudes sex. Not in the usual big boobs comic way, but in the I'm a naughty girl and you're gonna like it way. Outside of the New Jersey turnpike stylings of Sienkiewicz's depiction Elektra is all allure.

This is my favorite comic series of all time. It's one of the reasons I adore the medium and is just one of the reasons I love Frank Miller.

Seriously, I don't get the hate on DK2. Look I loved Dark Knight Returns as much as anyone but to hate DK2 just because of its sequel status is idiotic. It's got a lot going for it.

One of the major things I love about the series it Batman's fight with Superman. Miller paints Superman as the ultimate boy scout, a man concerned not so much with justice, but the rule set it's built upon. In contrast, Bruce cares not for society, but his own brand of personal justice, writing wrongs the same way he has for year, but with a vengeance that speaks closer to a bitter old soul.

So why hate DK2? Personally I don't get it. The appearance of Supergirl, in some of the best panels in comics, as well as the sacrifice of Shazam! are some of the coolest cameos I know of in comics. I've never got Shazam, I likely never will, but his... moment in DK2 is one of the most powerful panels I've ever read in comics. Just brilliant stuff.

And then there is the artwork. Crazy and stylized and just a mess. It speaks more for the anger and disillusionment of the protagonist then for a planned style. We've got chaos here, we're got Batman thinking in his most primal of states, not a man, not a bat, just a dude pissed off and trying to make things right.

Great, great stuff. DK2 may not be as good as its predecessor, but this is some heady stuff, worthy of praise.