IF: THE LIVING WEAPON / BATMAN ETERNAL / ALL-NEW ULTIMATES [Reviews]: An ‘Iron Fist’ful.

Apologies to the congregation! In addition to a fried laptop, convention planning — with WonderCon on the horizon! — and some spring cleaning over at the Moody Manse, we’ve been on a little hiatus. But fear not, for our own Cooke the Cleric is back with another attack of the Number 1’s…and it doesn’t appear as if this trend will end anytime soon.

The Fistful!

IRON FIST: THE LIVING WEAPON #1

What can I say? I love me some kung fu. I’ve been a fan of the Immortal Iron Fist and Shang-Chi for about as long as I’ve been reading comics. Both have had great runs of comics, but Iron Fist seems to get the better portion of that. Is this another of those?

Street Fight THIS, Capcom.

Certainly. Kaare Andrews (Astonishing X-Men) did the work and then some. He’s put together a comic that is just head and shoulders above countless others out there. This is a kung fu comic like the days of old, and it’s printed to look like those old newsprints we used to tear through as kids and read fifteen times just to get the feel for Danny Rand.

And that’s what Kaare has done. He has the feeling of Danny Rand flowing through these pages. Danny is an outsider to everything. He’s a lost puppy. He’s a lonely man getting older by the day and he can’t talk to anyone because.. he’s a warrior and a simple guy with simple pleasures. You know, kicking the crap out of zombie ninjas, it just so happens, and also having a glowing fist that can take out a helicopter.

Chinese Cereal.

But here’s the thing: it’s not just all chop suey and kung fu. There’s a story to be told. Not only are we looking deep into the heart of Danny Rand, we’re going back to the beginning. The story of his youth. The story of his father’s death. The story of everything that lead him to K’un Lun. The story of how he got to be the Iron Fist. And that’s the only problem I can see coming up in this book. I’m not a fortune teller and I can’t see the future, but we know that story. We’ve heard it. Numerous times. Done by people like Larry Hama and Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker and countless others. The tale of Danny’s father and the tale of how Danny got stuck in K’un Lun is an old story.

What I want? I want the future of Danny Rand. He’s been to hell and back. He’s fought dragons. Held off the Phoenix from defeating the entire universe. He has done so much and I think going back is not the right choice.

Still, I loved it. The feeling of The Living Weapon #1. The way the pages look like the old school comics. The callbacks and the knowledge of the past. The art and story and everything Kaare is doing is cinematic and incredible. The origin tale is what keeps this new All-New Iron Fist from being the perfect comic.

4 (out of 5) Bibles.

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