Review by Ian Keogh

The Woman Without Fear is Elektra, who took the Daredevil identity to prove her good intentions to Matt Murdock, then in jail. Find the full circumstances in Daredevil: Doing Time. Early in Devil’s Reign she’s given a message by the Kingpin and rushes away. After the dramatic set-up, it’s disappointing to discover it’s just to Murdock, now no longer in jail.

Chip Zdarsky uses Woman Without Fear to run through Elektra’s background, introduce a continuity implant and move Elektra toward her mission to destroy the Hand, the group of deadly ninjas that resurrected her, and whom she once led. As an adventure it works well enough, setting Elektra against Kraven the Hunter and reinforcing her love for Matt Murdock, although that’s over-written, but the continuity implant is problematical.

As a character Elektra’s greatest strength is her utter supremacy. She always has an absolute certainty about her course, can’t be bested in physical combat and has a single-minded dedication. Love being an exception, there’s otherwise never any room for doubt in Elektra’s world. It may not make her a likeable character, but it makes her a good one. Zdarsky introduces Aja, who apparently first encountered Elektra during her period training with Stick, and easily won her over by teaching her techniques Stick kept from her. It defines their relationship, relegating Elektra to a subservient role, and the uncertainties of youth are very difficult to shake, meaning that even in the present day Aja can get under Elektra’s skin and raise the doubts that undermine her character.

Rafael De Latorre draws everything with some finesse, using the weather for atmosphere and having an intuition for athletic combat. He’s certainly far preferable to Sid Kotian’s grimacing women in exploitative poses in what follows.

Once Kraven has been dealt with the further story has Ann Nocenti revisiting Typhoid Mary’s past. Since Nocenti created the character no-one ought to have greater affinity, but this is difficult reading, as it trawls through Mary’s multiple personalities with Elektra a secondary character. Much like Mary’s personality disorder it makes jumps, after which what had previously been important is forgotten, and there’s barely anything Elektra does that requires the role to be hers. A short back-up by Declan Shalvey and Stefano Raffaele configures Daredevil and Elektra’s training as a dance, and it’s far more accomplished than the lead story.

This is a flawed collection, Zdarsky’s three chapters presumably setting up a fall and rise redemption arc for his forthcoming material, but it severely undermines Elektra’s viability. This material can also be found in Daredevil: To Heaven Through Hell Vol. 4.