Sienkiewicz, Bill - Elektra Assassin, issue 3, cover (Oct 1986)
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz (All)
8,074 Views - 31 Comments - 8 Likes
Artwork Details
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DescriptionFor me, this one is big. I am, and always have been, an enormous Sienkiewicz fan - and this piece is from what I think may be his best work. Bill helped redefine what comic art could be with this series and I am humbled to have it in my gallery.Written by Frank Miller and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, Elektra: Assassin was an eight-issue limited series published by Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, between August 1986 and March 1987. Miller and Sienkiewicz were at the height of their popularity when this series was released shortly on the heels of Miller's hugely successful Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Miller & Sienkiewicz's Marvel graphic novel, Daredevil: Love and War. As with Daredevil: Love and War, Sienkiewicz illustrated Elektra: Assassin using watercolors as opposed to the traditional penciling/inking method. His exaggerated art was unique amongst mainstream comics of the time. The story tells the tale of Elektra’s confrontation with the Beast, a demon long worshipped by the clandestine ninja organization known as The Hand (whose formation dates back to feudal Japan and whose membership once included a young Elektra – she was trained by them before departing to become the top freelance assassin in NYC for the Kingpin). The Beast's motives are unclear at first, but it is gradually revealed that it is attempting to bring about a nuclear war, primarily via launching the presidential campaign of Ken Wind (a Dan Quayle look-alike whose resemblance is a coincidence – at least according to Sienkiewicz – as it is a Sienkiewicz self-portrait). When Wind assumes the Presidency, he intends to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, thereby initiating a global nuclear war and the end of the world. The Beast does manage to get Wind elected president, but Elektra thwarts its’ endgame – but not before we are introduced to a crazy cast of characters that includes the alcoholic S.H.I.E.L.D agent Garrett (who Elektra blows up and who has his surviving head attached to a robotic body by S.H.I.E.L.D.’s experimental cybernetics division), his former partner, Perry (who is revealed to be a sociopath after Elektra kills him – he is also reconstructed into a cyborg by S.H.I.E.L.D. before becoming an agent of the Beast; S.H.I.E.L.D. is clearly a government operation) and the incomparable, by-the-book S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Chastity McBryde. In the final confrontation, Elektra transfers the mind of Garrett into Ken Wind. The story ends with President Wind (Garrett) being debriefed by Chastity McBryde on the story’s events. It is deliberately left vague whether the events in Elektra: Assassin take place prior to Elektra's initial appearances in Daredevil, or whether it details a subsequent resurrection. Former Marvel editor Mary Jo Duffy, in the introduction to the Elektra omnibus, claims that Frank Miller conceived the series as taking place before Elektra's Daredevil appearance. As a result, the series has been dismissed by many as non-canonical. However, during his run as Daredevil writer in the 1990s, D.G. Chichester used Garret as a character, thereby establishing the series as being part of the mainstream Daredevil continuity. Garrett also shows up in a cameo role in Miller and Lynn Varley's 1990 graphic novel, Elektra Lives Again. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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Jonathan H 
Member Since 2005
Posted on 1/8/2010
You've been on a roll lately and this is another beauty! Congrats!
Joseph Melchior
Member Since 2005
Posted on 1/8/2010
You're killing me, a gorgeous cover from what I certainly consider to be Sink's finest hour. Back to the hunt...
Giuseppe V
Member Since 2007
Posted on 1/9/2010
Fantastic and historic piece! Bill at his best! Congrats!
Alberto Giavoni
Member Since 2005
Posted on 1/9/2010
Ronan! you have just given me my first heart attack!
J. Sid
Member Since 2004
Posted on 1/9/2010
Wow. My mind is as blown as Elektra's is on this cover!... Beautiful!
LB Jefferies
Member Since 2003
Posted on 1/10/2010
Always a treat to finish up a weekend seeing your new pickups!
Andrew Van Embden
Member Since 2006
Posted on 5/20/2010
What a great piece of art! Bill Sienkiewicz, in my opinion, is the best artist to have ever illustrated Elektra. His art always blows me away with it's power and raw energy. Nobody draws like Sienkiewicz !!!!!
comicinkking. com
Member Since 2004
Posted on 5/25/2010
WOW! Missed this art day - great series and great cover!!
E DLS
Member Since 2005
Posted on 8/10/2010
Don't know how many more "WOW's" and "AWESOME's" I can add here, but this piece certainly deserves them all.
George H
Member Since 2009
Posted on 8/12/2010
This is truly a unique and eye-catching cover! Congrats!
Peter P
Member Since 2009
Posted on 8/25/2010
Can't believe I haven't left a comment yet! One of my favourite pieces in your collection, magnificent cover! =)
Mario Giorno
Member Since 2009
Posted on 12/12/2010
You have to love the dark humor of this cover. Sienkiewicz has a great talent for balancing violent imagery with a kind of madcap hilarity!!
Jonathan Mueller
Member Since 2005
Posted on 1/27/2011
One of my Best of 2010 Lowry choices... thanks for sharing! ~:)
Michael Kenyon
Member Since 2008
Posted on 8/18/2012
Ronan scores another genius piece of art. Sienkiewicz accomplishes a brutal depiction of Elektra as game trophy. Visually jarring image that stays with you. You have one of my favorite galleries Ronan. Very daring, never boring.
Emanuele Peveri
Member Since 2011
Posted on 12/23/2012
Breathtaking and heartbreaking piece from a genius! Thanks for sharing.
Edward Grekoski
Member Since 2006
Posted on 4/6/2015
Pure genius cover concept and rendition..congrats!
Max C
Member Since 2004
Posted on 11/25/2015
Stunning piece from one of my favorite comic book. Congratz again, your collection is top class
Bill J
Member Since 2009
Posted on 8/26/2020
Incredible cover. Bill Sienkiewicz's talent never fails to amaze.
Malcolm Bourne
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 10/17/2020
I've always loved this piece and this book / I re-read it recently and your commentary here - excellent as always - helped me understand it better. I've always felt this series should be bracketed with Watchmen and TDKR as the seminal books of the second half of the 80s that propelled comics forwards.
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