Warning: may contain spoilers for recent issues of Daredevil!

Chip Zdarsky’s recent run on Daredevil has shaken up the Man Without Fear’s status quo, sending Matt Murdock to jail, with Elektra taking up the mantle of Daredevil in his absence. Despite the run’s heavy reliance on Elektra, Zdarsky recently revealed that he was not excited about writing the character initially but came around to her by the end.

Zdarsky broke into American comics thanks to titles such as Howard the Duck and Jughead, among others. In 2019, he took over writing duties on Daredevil, immediately throwing the character’s world into disarray. While bringing a low-level criminal to justice, Daredevil accidentally killed him. Forced to stand trial, Murdock opted to be tried as Daredevil. Found guilty of second-degree murder, he was sentenced to prison. Once there, he uncovered a plan to dose prisoners with mood-altering drugs, making them more prone to commit crimes and thus return to prison, ensuring a steady supply of prisoners to profit from. While Daredevil has been in jail, Elektra has stepped up to become the protector of Hell’s Kitchen; she has been forced to contend with an army of cloned Bullseyes, created by the Kingpin to be soldiers. Zdarsky has positioned Elektra front and center in his run, ironic in light of the fact Zdarsky was not a fan when he started.

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The writer recently held an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit. Zdarsky was asked if there had been any characters he was not initially excited to write but grew to like later. He cited Elektra, saying he felt she would be just a way to “get Matt where I needed him to be.” Zdarsky went onto say that once he put Elektra in the Daredevil costume “everything kind of clicked.” Fans responded, praising Zdarsky for his handling of the character, with one calling Elektra’s arc “a solid masterpiece.”

Daredevil Elektra

Part of the appeal of Chip Zdarsky’s Daredevil is that the run celebrates the almost 60 years of stories. Many major characters from Daredevil’s life, such as Foggy Nelson, Bullseye, Kingpin and Elektra are present. Rather than rehash old stories, however, Zdarsky is sending them in new directions, and creating some of the best Daredevil stories in recent memory. Elektra’s arc has been one of the run’s highlights; Zdarsky has a firm grasp on what makes Elektra the hero she is, as well as the relationship she shares with Matt Murdock.

Elektra is one of the most enduring characters in the Daredevil mythos for a reason, and Zdarsky learned this early on. Elektra’s time as Daredevil is drawing to a close, as is the first act of Chip Zdarsky’s run. It will be remembered as one of the greats, part of the reason being Elektra’s arc.

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Source: Reddit