Elektra, Vol. 2: Everything Old is New Again

Elektra (2001) (Collected Editions)

by Greg Rucka, Carlo Pagulayan (Artist), Joe Bennett (Artist)

Armed with superior fighting skills and her razor-sharp sais, for years the femme fatale Elektra has offered her killing touch to the highest bidder. Now, after being confronted with the choice to change or die, Elektra chooses to amend her murderous ways... but can she really reach out for help and find a life beyond killing and death?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2003

About the author

Greg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.

Reviews

[Μιχάλης · Rating 3 out of 5]

Πολύ μέτριο κόμικ, με πολλά κλισέ για εκπαίδευση πολεμικών τεχνών, ο δεύτερος σχεδιαστής δε μου άρεσε καθόλου ενώ το όλο στορυ μου φάνηκε ότι έπασχε από ρυθμο.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elektra, Vol. 2: Everything Old Is New Again is a collection of seven issues (issues 16-22) from the Marvel Knights: Elektra series of comic books that ran from 2001 to 2004. This particular arc is Greg Rucka's direct sequel to Introspect, and I have to say that after finishing Introspect, I could not wait to read Everything Old Is New Again to find out where the story would go. As previously stated, Everything Old Is New Again collects seven issues of Marvel Knights: Elektra. The first two issues featured are titled "Standing Outside the Temple in the Rain," and the next five issues are titled "Everything Old Is New Again." As also previously mentioned, Greg Rucka is the writer for all seven issues, although the artists do change. Both parts of "Standing Outside the Temple in the Rain" are penciled by Joe Bennett. Parts 1, 4, and 5 of "Everything Old Is New Again" feature penciling by Carlo Pagualyan, but parts 2 and 3 are penciled by Carlos Meglia, and I have to admit that I am not at all a fan of Meglia's work - a big part of the reason why I docked two stars from my rating. His art is very cartoonish, and the characters' appearances look like caricatures. It's especially jarring when it's supposed to be part of the same arc as Pagualyan's art, and I also dislike Meglia's art because it's art that is very typical of the male gaze. The titular Elektra Natchios has a very disproportionate body with unnaturally large breasts and behind. The art can also be easily construed as racist because of the racial stereotypes that it seems to depict, as Drake (who is an exceptional character), her brother, and her father (all black characters) are all depicted with obnoxiously large lips. Other than Meglia's art featured in two of the issues, however, I overall enjoyed Everything Old Is New Again. I absolutely adore the relationship that develops between Elektra and her new sensei Drake, and I love Greg Rucka's writing especially because of how characters' actions have long-term consequences. You see Elektra in this story as very human - experiencing guilt, self-pity, and fear, and I do feel really sorry for her, especially when she pleads with Drake to teach her, pitifully saying, "I need this." This story really shows just how resilient that Elektra is as a character, and I love that aspect of it. I also love how we get to see Elektra in her white outfit, and the new color makes a lot of sense given the plot developing when she wears it (although I don't want to say much more than that because I don't want to spoil anyone who hasn't read this collection but would like to read it). The only other reason why I docked two stars off my rating, however, is that I find myself very disappointed with how it ends, but I am hoping that I will feel better about the ending after continuing the series with issue #23. Although I do have some issues (see what I did there?) with it, I definitely recommend Elektra, Vol. 2: Everything Old Is New Again to fans of the character, but you should definitely read Rucka's Elektra, Vol. 1: Introspect first.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book of Elektra's Marvel Knights series sees her trying to break free of her past as both a warrior of the Chaste and an assassin of the Hand. However, apprenticing herself to a new teacher, she learns that what she truly needs to break free from is her addiction to violence itself.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this story of a trained killer having to reconnect with her humanity but at the same time there's nothing terribly ground-breaking about it either.
This book rolls through any number of clichés as Elektra meets a sensei who initially doesn't want to train her and whilst Drake specifically states that they can skip the painting-the-fence type of training, she still immediately has Elektra help her to repair a children's playground. It's like Rucka was aware of the clichés but couldn't help falling into them anyway.

There are some nicely menacing villains at play here, with the sadistic Hand killers known as Pain, Thought and Shadow attempting to hunt down Elektra and return her to the fold; however, their menace is completely undercut by Carlos Meglia's stylised and cartoonish artwork. I don't hate Meglia's style, but here it feels totally inappropriate to the tone of the story and clashes badly with the art style featured before and after it.

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[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a very intriguing setup in Elektra, Vol. 1: Introspect, this was a let down. The story is very much a paint by numbers superhero redemption story. There are no surprises. The newly introduced mentor has precisely the story arc I imagined as soon as she was introduced, even her origin story being a little eye rolly.

I think the fewer comics you've read, the better this story will seem, as it's not poorly told, it's just familiar and predictable. And seeing as its set in the midst of Brian Michael Bendis's Daredevil by Bendis & Maleev: Ultimate Collection, Book 1 and Alias Omnibus, it's pretty disappointing.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like the art change in the middle of these issues, it made everything cartoonish and quite frankly ugly. But this was also the first Elektra comic that made care for the supporting characters. Kudos to Drake and Carson, I wish we got more of them!

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well my hopes for this series are just not being met and its time to read something else. There doesn't seem to be a strong vision or goal this series is working towards which makes it feel aimless. The tone and character of Elektra seems to change in each story. She goes from being a strong warrior to totally weak and begging for help and then right back to a strong fighter. She doesn't really have any supporting characters for the reader to latch onto either. While the previous story arc explored some good ideas, here we just have bad villains from The Hand that are totally flat and uninteresting. To make matters worse, the art goes from some awful coloring with early digital technology to a wildly exaggerated cartoon style (which doesn't fit the book) to the more realistic cartoon/superhero style. This just adds to the inconsistent feeling. It is a shame Elektra didn't get a series that told a focused story and really developed her as a character. She is amazing in tandem with Daredevil, but Marvel definitely let the character down in her own series.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the aspects I've enjoyed most about Everything Old is New Again is the art. I really really like Carlo Pagulayan's Elektra: dynamic, not white, not sexualized, awesome hair. The switch to Carlos Meglia's style is jarring, but I do like his cartoonish style, which weirdly fits the middle issues of this story. It's a hit or miss, and it was a hit for me.

The story itself addressed the concerns I had about white men acting as saviors of Elektra and of 'lost women' at large. Some characters actually talk about this several times throughout the trade - this made me very happy, since Rucka is acknowledging that this arc might be problematic. The ending fits in nicely with this interpretation - let Elektra be herself. Yet it comes off as unbelievable, since Elektra has been a different person in every issue: cold-hearted, just, weak, strong, needy. Who is Elektra? After 22 issues I'm still not sure, but it would be great if someone wrote a good run for this fantastic assassin because she deserves it.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exciting storyline. Electra finds a new sensei to help her deal with being something more than just a killer.

The Greg Horn covers are pretty bad. The CGI covers are very dated. The technique at the time was amazing, I'm sure but not so anymore.

The art is uneven because of the shifting artist. Some of the artists aren't cut out for heavy action.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good. Solid and good story telling. I wasn't too sure about the direction of Elektra not being totally cold blooded assassin, but it worked.
Sadly, there was art by Carlos Meglia and that was crap. I just loathe comics that look like graffiti.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than Volume 1, but I still didn't love it. There was also an art switch for one issue and I reallyyyy didn't like the style & didn't think it worked with the tone of the story.

[Matt Bouchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall decent, could do without the flip flopping of artists.