05-22-98Had to jot this down while it was fresh in my head.
What makes the character of ELEKTRA so memorable? When I say "Elektra" I refer to Miller's creation, not the apparition that has been running around the halls of Marveldom the past couple years.
So what's the answer? Give up? Okay, the answer----who cares! The fact that she was so popular (and after only a dozen issues or so) and then killed off, made her postmortem existence even more celebrated. I re-read some of the letters written to the DD letter column after her death in #181. People were outraged, mortified, speechless.
This is my key to a successful Elektra. To provide the audience with something they crave but...only enough to wet their appetites and then BAM! pull the rug from under them.
My Elektra? She is surrounded in the shadows---mysterious, exotic. Her entire appearance in the script will be like an "apparition." Quite honestly, the audience won't even know if she actually exists or not. Can't trust Bullseye's version; always fabricating his tales. Can't trust the Kingpin; why should he reveal anything (it's his key to success). Can't we at least trust Daredevil?? Hmmm, yes (for the most part). But where Matt Murdock (the lawyer/crime-fighter) is very even-headed and tells a straight story, Matt Murdock (man-whose-heart-was-ripped-apart- by-his-vanished-love) can't always tell the difference from his head and his heart.
Miller's after-life issues (#182-191?) drew much attention to the Elektra character just like the real life characters of Hoffa, Elvis, and Hitler draw attention. Are they dead? Are they alive? Whether people love, hate, or have no opinion of the person, they will always wonder. Same with Elektra.
Am I being sort of vague? Yes; sorry. Elektra's character is quite indeed mysterious hence I can't divulge too much. She is an assassin; trained in the oriental arts of combat. Her father, an affluent businessman, was killed by the Greek mob. She left her ex-love (Matt) for no apparent reason many years prior. She's returned to the States to give the NY underworld a taste of blind justice. Then again, maybe she's just a phantom lurking in the shadows.
A phantom similar to the boatman "Charon," waiting for the right moment to take the unsuspecting characters of Bulls, King, & DD across the river Styx to the land of the dead.
Stayed tuned....