This auction is now closed.
The bookcase purge for charity continues! You can see a complete list of all auctions here, in chronological order starting with the latest, here. Full auction details are included at the end of the article, but to bring the new folks up to speed real quick:
Every weekday until Friday, June 5th, we publish a new Shelf Bound article announcing a bind or bound set up for auction.
Each bind auction’s bidding starts when its article is published and ends 72 hours later, so today’s auction will close at 4 PM EST on May 7, 2020.
Bids must be posted in an item’s comment section to be considered for that item; highest bid posted before close of auction wins.
Bids from outside the U.S. are welcome, although shipping outside the U.S. may incur additional fee.
The winning bidder emails me (greg at multiversity comics dot com) to verify donation particulars, then makes the donation and send me verification.
I send out the bind.
Everyone wins.
30 weekdays. 34 binds. All proceeds going to charity. Sound good? Let’s get to it!
THE ELEKTRA SAGA
Written by: Frank Miller
Drawn by: Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Bill Sienkiewicz
Inked by: Klaus Janson, Bill Sienkiewicz
Colored by: Klaus Janson, Bill Sienkiewicz
Lettered by: Joe Rosen, Jim NovakPublished by: Marvel Comics | Epic Comics
Collecting:
- The Elektra Saga #1-4 (Feb 1984 – May 1984)
- Elektra: Assassin #1-8 (Aug 1986 – Mar 1987)
Additional Material: Bill Sienkiewicz interview from Comics Interview #34, June 1986.
Bind Details:
- Oversewn binding
- Chili Pepper Arrestox cover material
- Black/white headbands
- White endpapers
- EPIC COMICS stamp used
- Page edges top & bottom trimmed
Signatures: Yes (Sienkiewicz)
Sketches: None
Bound by: Herring & Robinson Bindery.
Introduced by Frank Miller as a femme fatale love interest for Matt Murdock in his first Daredevil issue as artist AND writer, Elektra Natchios quickly became not only an integral part of that run’s success, but arguably THE bad girl of the Eighties. Even before gaining mythic status under Bill Sienkiewicz’s brush for the Elektra: Assassin miniseries, Miller and Klaus Janson gave the character an arc so potent that when Marvel was looking for content to fill its line of Baxter-paper Special Edition minis, telling the complete Elektra story was a no-brainer.
That Elektra Saga mini lifts the Elektra-related content out of those Daredevil comics and uses some editing and juxtaposition, in addition to NEW MATERIAL FROM MILLER & JANSON, to offer it as a standalone narrative. For example, take DD #181, the Bullseye-narrated issue where he breaks out of Ryker’s Island and goes hunting for Murdock, only to run across Elektra first. Instead of going from his workout scene to prison-yard chat with Frank Castle to his escape, Saga inserts pages from a subplot of the Kingpin trying to install a corrupt politician as New York’s mayor. It’s Daredevil’s thwarting of this that makes Kingpin target Foggy Nelson for assassination by Elektra, which is where she crosses paths with Bullseye.
Between those types of re-edits to Miller rescripting existing pages (first person Bullseye narration switches to third person omniscient) to all-new content, Saga draws straighter connecting lines to plot points and characterizations spread out over the monthly sprawl. It also looks like colorist Janson used the opportunity of the better paper stock to adjust some of the original color choices.
Moving on to Assassin . . . I’m not sure what else there is to say about it, honestly. It absolutely holds up as a completely original narrative experience, even 34 years after it first came out. I used the original comics for this bind: one because I liked the glossier paper stock for Sienkiewicz’s art, and two because I wanted to keep the letters pages (there were letters pages!) and original ads for context.
Speaking of context, this bind does include a contemporaneous interview with Sienkiewicz from one of the better fanzines of the day: Comics Interview. This was one of the few times I actually included the original issue in the bind instead of transferring the text over to Word and printing out a reconfigured version. The trim size of the Comics Interview portion was just bigger than standard comic size (you can see the edge poking out of the side in some of the pics above). Jim over at H&R thought trimming the edges would cut too close to the interview pages, so he recommended leaving that side ‘raw’ and adjusting the size of the hardcover case to compensate. I think it worked out fine.
Continued below
Why You Should Bid
Elektra: Assassin might be in print may times over as I type this, but the Elektra Saga version of the story isn’t. To my knowledge, it was collected once in an early TPB and then reprinted as a 2-issue Elektra Megazine in 1996. Some of the Comics Interview material has technically been reprinted, but good luck finding it.
So you COULD take the time & effort to track down the issues or the reprints, turn them into your own book via a binder using the techniques & approaches we cover every month in Shelf Bound, then track down Sienkiewicz’s signature at a convention whenever we get back to having those things . . .
OR
you could bid on the bind we’re auctioning today, get the benefit of someone else doing all that work for you, AND do some good for the comics community we all love in the process!
Starting Bid: $25
Auction Ends: May 7, 2020 at 4 pm
Proceeds Benefit: The Hero Initiative
AUCTION FINE PRINT
- This auction ends 72 hours after the date & time of this article’s posting.
- Bids MUST be placed as comments below to be valid.
- DO NOT TRY BIDDING FOR THE BOOK BY REPLYING TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT TWEET!!!!! BIDS SENT IN THIS MANNER WILL BE IGNORED!!!!!
- Highest bid posted before the end of the auction wins. The winning bidder has 24 hours to contact me via twitter or email (see below) to set up payment. If contact is not made in this timeframe, the winning bid is invalidated and the next highest bid will be the winner.
- Winning bidder will make the donation in the amount of the winning bid to the agreed-upon charity. Upon successful donation and receipt of receipt (hehe) by me, the bind will be mailed out via Media Mail on the following Saturday unless an alternate schedule is agreed upon by all parties.
- Feel free to post any additional questions you may have prior to the end of the auction below; I will do my best to answer them ASAP. Additional and/or specific pictures of the bind are available on request.
- Thanks in advance to anyone bidding on these binds. Good luck!
