The Immortal Iron Fist #1
Published By: Marvel Comics
Writers: Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
Artists: David Aja, Travel Foreman, & Derek Fridolfs
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona
Editor: Warren Simons
Rated T+

24 pages

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Premise: This is going to be a pretty standard origin story - even if it takes a few issues to sort out.

Synopsis:

We open with a three-page intro (art by Foreman and Fridolfs) showing us the original (?) Iron Fist in 13th-century China (the Song Dynasty - I looked it up). We then cut to the present to witness the new Iron Fist (Danny Rand) putting the beat-down on Hydra. We get some flashbacks to his becoming the Iron Fist and also to his previous workday. Hydra brings out the big guns, and Danny Rand’s fate is in question. Cut to Bangkok, and some people are really interested in a guy in an opium den.

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Review:

The book begins with this three-page sequence with Bei Ming-Tian - Iron Fist of c. 1227 A.D. getting ready to battle it out with some Mongol hordes. The overall color scheme is a bit muted - especially compared to the rest of the book. It’s only slightly reminiscent of Song Dynasty painting - done in inks on silk or early forms of paper. Over time those inks have faded, and the material has - in some instances - become more golden as it has aged. Despite the usage of color to bring this about, the pencil and inkwork seems almost too cartoony, and the effect is essentially lost.

The art in the rest of the book is decent. I’d like to see the originals, because it looks like something was lost in the re-sizing. It’s as if some fine lines were used that disappeared upon reduction. Maybe it was intentional - but that’s what it looks like to me. A lot of variation is done with the eyes of both Iron Mask and Hydra. Since everyone in a battle scene is masked, the artist has to figure some way to show emotion, and this is how Aja has gone about it. I can’t say that it’s realistic, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

There’s something else that I’m not really finding appealing. There are three spots where a character makes or receives a fierce blow, and it is highlighted in the panel with some sort of red/orange targeting reticle. I understand that it highlights the impact, but it’s also a bit distracting, and doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason as far as placement is concerned.

Oh, and one last word about the art and pacing. There are some multiple panels that could have been combined into a single panel - same action in both panels - there’s just a break to decompress the timing. I’m just not a big fan of this particular technique. It’s just something else to distract me from the story. I stop and think, “Is this a single panel split into multiple panels, or are there multiple actions happening here?”

The story’s good. I wish I had picked this up earlier. I mean, I like Brubaker. I like Fraction. I think I had let my anti-Marvel bias keep me away. Also, I was never really impressed with the artwork when I flipped through it at the stands, so it was really easy to put it back. Now, after a few weeks of “You’re reading Iron Fist, right?” I’ve gone and given it a go.

I’m interested to see where the story goes from here. Where do these different Iron Fists tie together? I wouldn’t be against some changes in the art, but I’m a story guy, and that’s what weighs my reviews more than anything.