Immortal Iron Fist – “The Last Iron Fist Story”
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
Artist: Travel Foreman & David Aja
I’ve been a fan of Iron Fist since I was a kid. I told this story on an episode of the podcast, but when I was in junior high a friend of my dads gave him a few boxes of comics for me to read and keep. In them was the entire original Iron Fist saga, including first appearance and everything. It was pretty awesome. Back then I was aware of the value of comics, but not to the extent that I am now. I remember reading those books, along with the Ghost Riders I got and pretty much every 70’s “Marvel …” book printed. He had Marvel Team-up, Marvel Presents, Marvel Spotlight, Marvel You Name It Title from that time frame so I got to read a lot of interesting stories. I really wish the market would allow a book like that to strive today and there would be less emphasis on “world stories” and more on “stories”. These books were great because they allowed creative people to try out ideas. Honestly though, I don’t know how they do this in the current world of DC and Marvel because I stopped reading the big two a few years ago. I got tired of stories crossing over into 20 other books and nothing making sense unless you read everything.
Anyway, back to Iron Fist. I always felt he was a silly character, but I loved him. I loved him on the Spider-Man cartoon, I loved him in the original comics, hell I even loved his NetFlix show. I had been wanting to read this series for awhile and when I got Comixology Unlimited I got the chance. I sat in bed and read the whole first volume in a few nights. Honestly, I loved it. I loved every bit of it. I loved the different art styles to tell different parts of the stories in different times. I felt that worked incredibly well. I loved the over all fell of the story, his interactions with Daredevil (even though it’s only a little bit in one small part at the end, I loved it) and it makes me want to read the rest of the series and read the Daredevil run it interacts with. You all know (if you’ve listened to the podcast) that I have loved Daredevil since I was…well, since I got those Iron Fist comics because in those boxes was every Daredevil comic from the 70’s and some from the 60’s.
I know I come across as the ‘DC GUY’ on the podcast with my overwhelming love for Superman, but I have enough love in me to look past publisher. I think we all should. If you stick to one publisher you are doing yourself a disservice. Iron Fist always intrigued me because he is a man out of touch with his own world and an outsider in any world he is in. He’s an outsider in K’un Lun, he’s an outsider in New York, he’s an outsider on any super hero team he’s on. I also loved, and still love, that his best friend is freakin’ Power-Man! Luke Cage is such a cool character of his time that has had trouble adapting to new comics and stories, recently they have done well with him and his NetFlix show was awesome. Those two together are awesome.
Back to this series (man, I’m getting way off track here, sorry) It’s worth a read. The story is paced well, the art is amazing, and it tells the tale of the Immortal Iron Fist and Steel Serpent and an ancient competition. The first volume is all the lead up to this, and Danny Rand finding out there is a previous Iron Fist still alive and…and…man, just read it! It’s really good!