One of the best stories Marvel Comics has ever produced began back in 2006. Not only were the writers faithful to the history of the character, but they acknowledged all the previous continuity and expanded the character in ways no one ever dreamed of, keeping it all within the aesthetic of the character and themes (meaning they didn't do anything crazy or out of left field with the character, you know, like turning the Punisher into a Frankenstein Monster or sending Jonah Hex into space... yeah, those actually happened). THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST represents one of the finest examples of what great writers can do, the potential lying in wait for all comic book heroes, and what great comic books are all about.
If you like Hong Kong martial arts action, Chinese mysticism and mythology, badass characters and some of the best action in all comicdom then this book was made for you. Like all great stories it starts off small, draws you into the plot and the title character and then expands to something larger and magnificent. The writers are aware of the history and continuity of the character as well as the practically unknown status of the character to most of the world at large. They take both the character's history and relative obscurity and use it to their advantage, retelling his origin accurately while simultaneously building upon it. The result is masterful. If you've never read an Iron Fist story before you will be brought up to speed and if you are very familiar with him you will feel gratified by the experience. The story makes you feel like you haven't missed anything and you don't have to read anything prior to this yet drawing you in so deeply you want to read more.
Iron Fist is quickly rising in relevance and popularity. NETFLIX has set the stage for an upcoming big budget Iron Fist original tv series with the success of their DAREDEVIL series. They've announced that this year (more likely 2016) that there will be an Iron Fist series. This series will take place in the same world as their Daredevil series as well as the same world of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Avengers franchise). Marvel has been pushing him in comic books too fairly heavily since 2006 in an attempt to familiarize readers with the character. Iron Fist is a regular supporting character in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series as well as a playable character in the Disney/Marvel Infinity video game. Soon we will all know who this great character is if we don't know already.
What really establishes a character and gives them longevity is a defining story. Nostalgia can take a character to a point but it can't make the character legendary. Iron Fist has had hundreds of stories prior to 2006, some better than others. Nostalgia carried him quite a distance. The early stories by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Doug Moench, Chris Claremont, and John Byrne from the 1970's are wonderful and the character couldn't be what he is today without them. But the real defining story for Iron Fist wouldn't happen until more recently.
THE PLOT SYNOPSIS BEGINS (SPOILERS)
The Immortal Iron Fist volume 1 begins with a six issue story arc titled ominously: THE LAST IRON FIST STORY. The landscape of the Marvel Universe had recently been changed by the events of the super hero civil war. Heroes now have to register with the government and SHIELD before they go about heroics or they go to prison as per the Super Hero Registration Act. As a result many heroes have gone underground, still fighting the badguys but now also on the run from the goodguys, men and women who were once their friends now charged with hunting down unregistered heroes. Iron Fist is one such unregistered hero.
We find Iron Fist in the first issue fighting against a HYDRA cell. The fight occurs at the famous New York Rand Tower, the headquarters of the RAND MEACHUM corporation. The Hydra agents are after the plans for a new experimental magnetic train system being developed by the Rand Corp. Iron Fist's real name is Danny Rand. It's his own company Hydra is attempting to break into. Danny successfully repels the invaders, but Hydra doesn't give up so easily. They make another attempt at the company and on Iron Fist's life. Everything goes smoothly until Danny suddenly loses the power of the Iron Fist...
Meanwhile halfway across the world a man comes out of hiding to join the fray. Being pursued by deadly assassins and martial arts experts, the man named Orson Randall bring his $#!+ storm to the party. Danny watches in awe as Orson's fists light up with mystical chi energy, the same energy that should be flowing through himself. Orson and Danny escape the fracas barely keeping their lives. Orson says he's the immortal Iron Fist... If he's the Iron Fist, then what is Danny?
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| Orson Randall |
Orson reveals to Danny a secret history that Danny was never told, a history he needed to know, the history of the Iron Fists. There have been 64 Iron Fists in the past. Only ever one Iron Fist alive at one time. Orson was Danny's predecessor, the 65th Iron Fist, making Danny the 66th and current Iron Fist. He tells Danny of a book which holds every secret and history of every Iron Fist to come before him, everything they've learned and every ability they've uncovered. This book can only be read by the Iron Fist. Orson had been in hiding, diluting his mystical chi so thinly it could not be detected. It was believed he had perished. Now there are two Iron Fists and Orson comes bearing a warning.
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| Two Iron Fists |
The Hydra cell and the assassins after Orson come together under the command of Danny's arch rival, Davos ~ The Steel Serpent. The assassins with him are all women wielding a mystical power, different but not unlike the power flowing through the Iron Fist. Danny has defeated Davos many times in the past but the Steel Serpent has access to a new power. The women under his command offer up their lives, transferring their lifeforce and power unto him. Davos overflows with deadly power, stronger than he has ever been before.
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| Davos ~ The Steel Serpent |
Orson and Danny travel deep beneath the streets of New York. Orson tells Danny it was the Randall family fortune that built the Rand Corporation. Orson's father had ties to the mystical city K'un Lun, the heavenly city where the power of the Iron Fist comes from, and was working on a secret railway station for them. Orson takes Danny to the railway station, but they are not alone. Davos, his assassins, and Hydra storm the station. The final showdown begins. Danny gets his power back. The two Iron Fists stand back to back ready to fight. Danny's friends from the Heroes For Hire arrive, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing. The five of them make a last stand.
The Hydra agents fall to Danny's friends while the Iron Fists battle the Steel Serpent. Davos's power proves too great. He defeats Danny. Orson, with his long years of experience, puts up a good fight, but even he isn't strong enough to defeat Davos. The Steel Serpent kills Orson right in front of Danny's eyes and then moves to finish off Danny himself. A blinding flash of light stops everyone. The lords of K'un Lun emerge from the light, "Daniel Rand-Kai, your city needs you. The time of the Tournament of the Seven Heavens is upon us." The battle is interrupted. The remaining Hydra agents flee and Danny is taken back into the light, back to K'un Lun.
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| The Death of Orson Randall |
THE SEVEN CAPITOL CITIES OF HEAVEN: the title of the next story arc. K'un Lun is mystical city from Chinese myth, a land of immortals rumored to appear on our plain of existence only once every ten tears. A great dragon god named Shou Lao the Undying resides in K'un Lun and it is the power of this ancient and immortal dragon that flows through the Iron Fist. The Iron Fist is K'un Lun's champion, their immortal weapon. But K'un Lun isn't the only heavenly city. Six other such mystical cities orbit the heavens, each with their own immortal weapon, the cities intersecting once every 88 years. The cities literally and metaphysically spiral together, the point at which they meet creating a new landmass. It is on this neutral landmass that the Tournament of the Seven Heavens takes place.
The tournament pits each of the seven Immortal Weapons against each other, not to the death, but until the opponent yields. Death can result from the fighting however. Each of the Immortal Weapons is a master of their own unique style of martial arts, equip with special abilities granted to them by great deities that reside in their cities. The weapons are Fat Cobra, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, Dog Brother #1, The Prince of Orphans, The Bride of Nine Spiders, and the Iron Fist. And the seventh immortal weapon reveals themselves: Davos, changing his name from the Steel Serpent to the Steel Phoenix.
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| The Immortal Weapons ~ Fat Cobra, Bride of Nine Spiders, Dog Brother #1, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, Prince of Orphans, and Davos the Steel Phoenix. |
As the tournament commences the Hydra cell after Iron Fist continues to plot how to reach him and how to breach the barrier that separates the heavens and the earth. Meanwhile on K'un Lun another plot is brewing with the citizenry of the heavenly city, one that could change K'un Lun forever. All this is occurring while Danny secretly travels back to Earth between matches, learning more about the other Iron Fists before him and how to unlock more hidden powers. And sure enough everything comes to a head in one massive climax! At the very end however just before the final enemy is vanquished they reveal one huge secret... SPOILER ALERT!!! "There is an eighth city..."
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| The Immortals Weapons united against Hydra |
Next, after being victorious, the Immortal Weapons minus Davos, set about tracking down the location of the eighth city. As they proceed with their investigation Danny has his 33rd birthday. While researching more of the Book of the Iron Fist Danny notices something strange. Every Iron Fist either died after living 33 years or less. It was on Orson's 33rd birthday that he went into hiding and disappeared until recently. That night a powerful demon disguised as a man appears. He nearly kills Danny if not for the intervention of Luke Cage.
This demon has killed many Iron Fists in the past. It is the strongest opponent Danny has ever faced and he hasn't the strength to beat this demon alone. Good thing he's not alone... His fellow immortal weapons come to his aid along with the Heroes For Hire. Together they are able stave off the demon's onslaught. During the events leading up to the battle they learn that the demon is only a slave to higher power, a darker power, one that leads directly to the eighth city. They also learn the location of the eighth city... and it's not a heavenly city. A pit of monsters and demons and an untold number of innocent souls sent there only because of a corrupt ruler in heaven. The Immortal Weapons set out for the hidden city intent on rescuing all the innocents therein. As they stand before the gates none of them realize that inside will be the most difficult challenge any of them has ever faced.
THE PLOT SYNOPSIS ENDS
From beginning to end the story is compelling and exciting. Once the writing switches hands from issue #16 to #17 you notice only slightly. Each story arc flows together naturally and with fluidity. Unfortunately the art is rather inconsistent. This is a common problem with Marvel Comics as a company as they often give less attractive art to books they either don't believe in or books with low sales. As a result of this some stories which could have been legendary become merely cult classics. Such is the case here. David Aja's unique style of art works well for the most part but even within his art alone there are varying degrees of quality ranging from gorgeous to lack luster. But the art never gets to an unbearable level.
The storytelling alone is magnificent. After reading this volume Iron Fist feels like a truly wonderful character as amazing as any wall-crawler or as uncanny as any Westchester student or teacher. What's even more amazing is how well the supporting cast is depicted too. You really come to care for Orson Randall and want to know more about him. But for me it was the Immortal Weapons. These characters, including Davos, were so unique, so full of character, and so damn cool I would follow each of them into their own books if Marvel gave them the chance. The Bride of Nine Spiders and the Prince of Orphans are especially remarkable. In fact, there is a five issue mini series of the Immortal Weapons that for me is a part of this volume even though technically it is it's own. The volume is simply titled The Immortal Weapons.
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| The covers for the 5 Immortal Weapons issues |
After reading all 27 regular issues, the annual, two special one-shots, and the five issue Immortal Weapons mini series, you truly look at all these characters as something special and unique in a medium flooded by derivatives and mirrored storylines. And it's completely accessible to any reader who wants in. Accessible in a good way, not like so many of Marvel's "superstar" writers current works that barely acknowledge the decades of history and continuity and character depictions that vaguely resemble what came before. There's a place for comics like that, "gateway comics" that get you into this amazing world. And then there are comics like this which transcend the medium.
Jim Starlin said it best, the comic book industry piles book after book after book on the market. Some of it is alright, there's a lot of garbage too, but every now and then you find a diamond amid all that crap. The Immortal Iron Fist is one of those diamonds. When I first read it I had zero interest in the character of Iron Fist, hell I even used to make fun of him (only because I was ignorant and dumb). But a friend of mine talked it up so well he convinced me to give it a try. Now I will sing this book's praise until the day I die.
Overall Ranking: 9 out of 10
Nigh perfect
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