The South Central sensei Drake takes on Elektra as a student, while the Hand realizes where she is and tries to bring her back to their ranks.

There’s a lot of history and development for both Elektra and Drake here.  Drake, ultimately, is an irrelevant character—so you may not find it very rewarding.

We learn that she was raised by an American solider living in Japan and became involved with The Chaste—as did her father.  Drake quit the clan after a conflict involving her sister, was recruited by The Hand, and, on their orders, killed many Chaste members—including her own father.

At that point, she came to South Central to set up a dojo and help the community—renouncing violence.

Elektra learns from Drake to break her own addiction to killing, but then the Hand attack and she is forced to choose between her old life and this new way.  Drake dies in the extended battle, and then is forced to kill Jeremy Locke—the man who sent her to Drake to “cure” her.

This is Rucka’s final story—he has returned Elektra to the state he found her in. 

This need to bring characters back to the status quo can be very unsatisfying.  We just spent over a year reading about Elektra coming to terms with her own history of violence and trying to learn new ways, only to have it undone so that some new writer can play with the same “toys.”

Hm.