My love for the Immortal Iron Fist, champion of the mystical city of K’un Lun, and best buddy to Luke Cage/Power Man is well documented here. The reintroduction of Daniel Rand into the Marvel Universe so beautifully orchestrated by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction is nothing short of a modern classic.
By all means Iron Fist is probably a C-list character (well maybe B minus) in the grand scheme of things he is far less recognizable to non-comic folk than say Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four.
When it was announced that Disney/Marvel would be exploring the possibility of smaller budget feature films featuring the likes of Iron Fist, Dazzle, & Luke Cage I was very excited. It is well known that an Iron Fist movie was in the works almost ten years ago with Ray Park attached to star.
While the hiring of a screenwriter does not necessarily we will actually see Iron Fist in multiplexes in 2012 or 2013, it is is very encouraging to fans. Even if the screenwriter in question is responsible for xXx, The Jerky Boys, and Airheads.
It wasn’t until very recently within the Marvel Universe that Danny Rand, better known as the Immortal Iron Fist, was to be taken seriously. Which is easy to be seen, when looking at the scan below. His ass is on fire, and he’s in a tuxedo … modeled after his costume.
Initially created as a way to cash in on the kung-fu craze of the 1970’s, Iron Fist enjoyed his debut and a run through the Marvel Premiere title, before getting his own series which lasted for two years ending in 1977. It was then that he joined up with Luke Cage aka “Power Man” as a founding member of Heroes For Hire, which was basically a superhero mercenary group based out of New York City. Their team-up became the title Power Man & Iron Fist which enjoyed a successful run.
Unfortunately for Danny & Luke, as Heroes For Hire they got jobs that took them to dangerous places which can be seen in Power Man & Iron Fist #110 … “O Deadly Debutante!”. That’s right our heroes are escorting a client’s daughter to her debutante ball (which apparently was a big thing still in 1984?!?!). What really drives this issue into hilarity has to be Danny & Luke’s tuxedo’s which are tailored after their actual costumes
What made Power Man & Iron Fist such a good book was that is was essentially a buddy comic. These two guys were best friends and backed each other up when they were in a jam. The old stuff is great, and given that people aren’t always thrilled with current creative direction, it’s good to grab this stuff while you can.
While the costumes aren’t as ridiculous, Danny Rand still retains some of that aloofness in his current run which I implore you to pick up. Do so, or Fat Cobra will come for you, and believe me … you don’t want that.
I’ll openly admit that I’ve been slacking greatly in my comic reviews. It’s been a crazy month, and it wasn’t until this past Saturday that I was able to pick up my stack of stuff (over two weeks worth). Among that pile was Immortal Iron Fist #14, which concluded Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker’s arc, “The 7 Capital Cities of Heaven”. When we last left Danny Rand, K’un-Lun’s Immortal Weapon, he had organized the other combatants in the Heart of Heaven Tournament to fight the Hydra Horde, set on destroying K’un Lun and all of it inhabitants.
I’ve stated on multiple occasions that Immortal Iron Fist is consistently one of the best titles on the Marvel roster, and this issue really does a great job of pulling all of the arcs together laid out by Fraction & Brubaker … Immortal Iron Fist #14 is in fact full of awesome.
Continue reading 'My Pull List: Immortal Iron Fist #14'»
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Major Spoilers has a sneak peek at the covers for Marvel’s forthcoming Secret Invasion … Yu’s artwork suuuuuucks [Major Spoilers]
Space Shuttle Endeavour is assembling a giant robot on the International Space Station. SkyNet has become self aware [CNN]
I have spoken pretty regularly about the awesomeness of The Immortal Iron Fist here for the better part of a year. Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction have been able to take a B character form the 1970s and redefine him as a relevant hero for Marvel’s current climate.
This past week saw Issue #11, which is a continuation of the current storyline “The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven” in which the backdrop is a Mortal Kombat-esque tournament among the unseen and eternal elements of our world. When people ask me what books I read, Iron Fist is usually the first title out of my mouth. The only thing I can say is go and pick up the back issues and get up to speed.
Rachelle over at Living Between Wednesdays is quite a fan as well, where she descibes it as being:
This series rules so much because its pretty much the lone representative on the shelves currently of a very classic genre of pulp entertainment. And it’s a really, really good representative…
She couldn’t be any more concise in her observations regarding what is probably one of the best (and under utilized) titles currently being published by the House of Ideas. Let’s just hope that Joe Q stays far far away from Danny Rand and doesn’t frak it up like he’s doing with Spidey with that ridiculous One More Day storyline.
I’ll be perfectly honest, I really didn’t care much for or know anything about Iron Fist until last year. All I knew was that he was some mystical kung fu guy that partnered up with Luke Cage every once in a while. My formal introduction to the Iron Fist came in Daredevil #87 where it was revealed that Danny Rand aka Iron Fist had donned the costume of Daredevil to help his close friend Matt Murdoch during “The Devil in Cellblock D” arc. That big reveal was a significant point of contention during Civil War. Very shortly thereafter it was announced that Ed Brubaker, who brought Daredevil back into relevance would be co-writing Iron Fist’s new monthly ongoing. Sign me up.
What I am digging about Iron Fist right now is the legacy aspect that has been introduced. Danny Rand finds himself partnered with the predecessor, Orson Randall who has shown him a few new tricks. While Orson Randall is a skilled martial artist, he shows Danny that you don’t just have to use your fists. Danny is learning how to increase his powers through hypnosis and channeling through the power to increase their deadliness. In this issue we find that Orson is on the run from deeper and darker mystical beings from K’un-Lun. They are pretty pissed off at Orson, and now he has brought this burden upon Danny.
There was so pretty deep stuff in this issue, but as in all things Brubaker there are moments of levity. Such as the one below, when Danny explains how he owns more real estate in Manhattan than anyone else. When Orson questions his motiviation, Danny has a great comeback.
The final panel featured the Steel Serpent and his Army of Hot Asian girls, further reinforced by a contingent of Hydra ready to end the Iron Fist legacy then and there. As if Danny Rand doesn’t have enough problems with a hostile takeover of Rand Corp and his allegiance with the Underground Avengers.
I had a pretty good morning. There was snow on the ground, work was going to be quiet (especially after yesterday’s pisser) and most importantly Wednesdays are always great because: New Comics are shipped. Through the power of the Interweb, my local shop … Bagged & Boarded has an awesome webscription service that takes the effort out of actually get the new books in your hot little hand. Anyway, I usually head over to B&B, and chat with Josh & Co. during my lunch hour. The big issue today (for me at least) was Captain America #25.
The aftermath of Civil War saw Tony Stark becoming Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Spiderman go underground, and Steve Rogers (Captain America) surrender to S.H.I.E.L.D.. It was the logical endgame to an ‘event’ that totally frakked up the Marvel Universe as we knew it. The interweb was brewing of something huge happening in #25, and I just had to hold out until 1pm …. that didn’t happen.
Continue reading 'Steve Rogers, American Hero 1917-2007'»
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