The Immortal Iron Fist 13 (May 2008)

It’s not the deepest issue, it’s probably not the best written, but it’s completely awesome. Everything comes together here (with the promise of a big fight next issue).

Unfortunately, Aja’s not along for the ride. Instead, it’s Zonjic doing most of the art. He’s a lot like Javier Pulido. He’s fine, but I was used to Aja on the title.

Brubaker and Fraction get in a lot more about K’un-L’un here, stuff they probably should have made clear a lot earlier. The book moves real fast–this issue’s fight sequence is between Davos and the Thunderer, but otherwise it’s mostly talking heads as everyone prepares for next issue.

It’s interesting how this story arc has had an annual and a special published alongside it, both essential reading to keep up. It suggests something big. I wish there’d been more specials, actually, for the supporting cast.

It’s a great issue.

CREDITS

The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, Part 6; writers, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction; artists, Kano, Tonci Zonjic and David Aja; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Artmonkeys Studios; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist 12 (February 2008)

Is there even a fight this issue? Wait, yes. Davos gets beat up for being a tool last issue.

The art chores are apparently getting to be too much for Aja, as Javier Pulido fills in on some of the pages. Pulido covers the stuff with Luke, Misty and Colleen, but also some of the K’un-L’un stuff… so it’s not like there’s any rhyme or reason to it. In fact, at the beginning I just thought it was Aja trying a new style. Pulido’s great… so great one might wish he was doing the whole book.

Kano does the flashbacks, which feature Danny’s father fleeing K’un-L’un.

Brubaker and Fraction give the background on the revolution here. The Thunderer is going up against the ruler, Yu-Ti, who is revealed to be a tyrant. Shame they couldn’t foreshadowed it.

It’s good–there’s some great dialogue–but it’s real jumbled.

CREDITS

The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, Part 5; writers, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction; artists, Kano, Javier Pulido and David Aja; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Artmonkeys Studios; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist 11 (January 2008)

I feel like I’m missing something. It seems like Yu-Ti (the “mayor” of K’un-L’un) is secretly bad, but I’m not sure if it’s in the comic or if I’m just remembering it. I mean, he seems really bad. But he could just be a sexist jerk too.

Some more great Kano art for the flashback, this time concentrating on Davos. The flashbacks work differently here, with them being intercut a lot less organically. It’s jarring–it comes in the middle of a tournament fight–but effective.

Danny briefly teams up with Luke, Misty and Colleen to fight some Hydra agents. It’s barely a fight scene, so it’s not clear why he was worried about it. We also get to see the big Hydra plan–to attack K’un-L’un–and apparently Danny’s figured this out too.

It’s a faster read than usual, with Brubaker and Fraction experimenting with tone.

CREDITS

The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, Part 4; writers, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction; artists, David Aja and Kano; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Artmonkeys Studios; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist 10 (December 2007)

It’s nice Danny gets the cover, because he’s not in the issue at all.

The intrigue really starts coming together here, with the Thunderer revealed to be in some secret society with Orson’s daughter, terror priests (guessing priest has a different connotation in K’un-L’un) sent out into the world to hunt for Danny, the Hydra bad guy getting busy with his attack, the Thunderer and Davos’s unspoken family problems… the list goes on and on.

Not to mention Misty’s GPS doesn’t work!

Plus there’s a tournament match, which shows off the nastiness of one of Danny’s (presumed) future opponents.

The flashback art is great this time–it’s Kano showing Wendell Rand in his pursuit of the Iron Fist mantle. It’s a shame Kano doesn’t get more work.

Brubaker and Fraction fill the issue; it’s a bridging issue for the arc–introducing the intrigue and drama–but it works great.

CREDITS

The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, Part 3; writers, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction; artists, David Aja and Kano; colorists, Matt Hollingsworth, Aja and Kano; letterer, Artmonkeys Studios; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist 9 (November 2007)

Koblish’s flashback pages start all right, but in the second set, he draws Wendall Rand rapidly punching and it looks like he’s got eight arms. It really drags one out of the narrative.

The principal story, with Danny losing his match in the competition so he can go out and save the world, moves a little fast. We find out the blue-eyed K’un-L’un girl is really Orson’s daughter (or she says she is… Danny sort of just accepts it). There’s almost nothing with anyone else in K’un-L’un, though there are some hints of personality coming through.

It’s hard to tell if Brubaker and Fraction just didn’t have space or if they wanted to be so abbreviated. When Luke, Misty and Colleen show up at the end (I’ll bet their paths cross with Danny’s eventually), it’s a welcome breather. The writers savor the scene.

It’s solid as ever.

CREDITS

The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, Part 2; writers, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction; pencillers, David Aja and Scott Koblish; inkers, Aja, Raul Allen and Roy Allan Martinez; colorists, Matt Hollingsworth and June Chung; letterer, Artmonkeys Studios; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #8

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The big Enter the Dragon fight competition starts off here… only there’s not a matched fight. Instead, we get to see Danny in K’un-L’un. It’s interesting, sort of, to see Danny trying to acclimate. But he’s mostly trying to figure out what’s happened to Jeryn (his mix of Alfred and Lucius Fox).

Turns out Jeryn’s building a thing for Steel Serpent–I kind of remember this arc and they’re definitely up to no good, like bringing a capital city of heaven down to earth.

The flashback art (to Danny’s father) is from Martinez and he does a good job. He does such a good job, I just thought Aja was trying out a new style at the beginning.

Brubaker and Fraction maintain the action and humor, bringing in a bunch of little elements (intrigue over some girl, conflict with Steel Serpent) to good effect.

It’s too fast, but good.

The Immortal Iron Fist 8 (October 2007)

Turns out Jeryn’s building a thing for Steel Serpent–I kind of remember this arc and they’re definitely up to no good, like bringing a capital city of heaven down to earth.

The flashback art (to Danny’s father) is from Martinez and he does a good job. He does such a good job, I just thought Aja was trying out a new style at the beginning.

Brubaker and Fraction maintain the action and humor, bringing in a bunch of little elements (intrigue over some girl, conflict with Steel Serpent) to good effect.

It’s too fast, but good.

CREDITS

The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, Part 1; writers, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction; artists, David Aja and Roy Allan Martinez; colorists, Matt Hollingsworth and June Chung; letterer, Artmonkeys Studios; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Warren Simons; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #6

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What Brubaker brings to his Marvel work is a retro vibe. His good comics feel like familiar seventies comics modernized. What Fraction brings is a smart blockbuster. His comics feel like big Hollywood movies written by John Sayles. Lots of set pieces, sure, but lots of humanity.

I’m not sure this issue is the perfect combination–I haven’t read seventies Iron Fist–but it sure seems like it. When the Heroes for Hire show up to save the day, when Danny and Misty reconcile in a sentence… it all feels like perfect Marvel Brubaker.

And the ending, when Orson sacrifices himself to give Danny the power to beat Davos–Steel Serpent, still not sure how it makes sense for him to have known about Orson but Danny never did (ah, the Brubaker retcon)–it works. Fraction makes the scene work. It’s not cheap, it’s not weak, it’s glorious.

Great issue.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #5

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The Travel Foreman back up art really does not work here. Well, some of it does, but when he flashes back to Orson’s origin… it’s awful. Ed McGuinness proportions. Yucky. It’s such an awkward flashback, it tears the reader out of the book.

The book needs the flashback to work not just for Orson’s emotional state or expository purposes, but also to keep up the action pace. Brubaker and Fraction open on a big action scene, then slow down to a talking heads book. The flashback needs to bridge. Instead it jars.

But the weak art isn’t just Foreman. Aja has a particular bad page with Luke and Misty and the girl with the sword whose name I don’t know. It’s far more rushed than the rest of Aja’s art, which is usually sublime.

There’s some good stuff (the Iron Fist mythology) this issue, but not without some definite problems.

The Immortal Iron Fist (2007) #4

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I expected more from the Buscema and Palmer pages. The art feels like they were supposed to be going retro instead of bringing a specific style.

It’s sort of strange how much Brubaker and Fraction skip here. The issue starts with Orson and Danny being big buddies. Orson’s been showing him tricks, which we also don’t get to see.

In some ways it works–it suggests time passing between the issues, so even if they read fast, it’s not like there isn’t more going on. A downside is missing important scenes. Not Orson showing off the Jedi mind tricks, but just some character development.

Brubaker and Fraction split the issue between the bad guy–I can’t remember his name after just one mention, Steel Something or Silver Something–and the two Iron Fists. The Iron Fist stuff is a lot better.

Aja’s visualization of Orson in costume is exceptional; Danny looks left out.