Iron Fist: The Living Weapon Appreciation

[Tien Long]

Ahhhh, I loved all of it. I wish this book could just keep going. Sparrow finally confronting Davos has me hyped. That trashtalk she threw him was A+. We had a lot of things happen this issue and the revelations about Fooh and The One were very well done imo. Danny using those weapons were sweet. The way the panels were set up flowed perfectly with the kung fu action. We even have the old Danny starting to emerge. Cracking jokes must be how he relaxes during fights haha.

So many great quotes from this issue.

We finally get to see a supercharged Iron Fist with the power of K'un L'un next issue! This is gonna be epic! This truly feels like it's all been building up perfectly to that moment.

Here here. I particularly liked Fooh's revelation, that he and Danny are somewhere between life and death. It's a nice acknowledgement of the the theme that Kaare has discussed previously, that initially Danny chose death over immortal life. So, since it's the second time around, what will Danny choose now? Great dramatic moment.

As for the art, yeah, I liked the layout. That splash page with The One smashing the floor was cool. Anyone else notice the word "DEATH" in this issue? Quirky, yet clever!

[Of Atlantis]

Here here. I particularly liked Fooh's revelation, that he and Danny are somewhere between life and death. It's a nice acknowledgement of the the theme that Kaare has discussed previously, that initially Danny chose death over immortal life. So, since it's the second time around, what will Danny choose now? Great dramatic moment.

As for the art, yeah, I liked the layout. That splash page with The One smashing the floor was cool. Anyone else notice the word "DEATH" in this issue? Quirky, yet clever!

I found that interesting too. That and the fact that Fooh seems to be Danny's spiritual guide throughout this journey. Odd how despite apparently "talking to ghosts" hasn't made Sparrow question Danny's capabilities. Even he still believes he's crazy.

[Pav]

Seeing Danny and Sparrow go through hordes of Crane Daughters and Terror Monks was pretty cool (and a nice sense of continuity with Brubaker and Faction's runs).

Speaking of which, Danny's meeting with The One was certainly the highlight of the issue. Though I haven't read all of the past issues, I could tell that it was the culmination of a lot of plot threads. It was fairly creepy to see some of The One's origins.

From the last page, one can tell where this is heading. Danny, the chi of the people of K'un L'un flowing through his veins, will do battle against this evil mish-mash of a monster. But man, yeah, I'm looking forward to that!

Ahhhh, I loved all of it. I wish this book could just keep going. Sparrow finally confronting Davos has me hyped. That trashtalk she threw him was A+. We had a lot of things happen this issue and the revelations about Fooh and The One were very well done imo. Danny using those weapons were sweet. The way the panels were set up flowed perfectly with the kung fu action. We even have the old Danny starting to emerge. Cracking jokes must be how he relaxes during fights haha. We finally get to see a supercharged Iron Fist with the power of K'un L'un next issue! This is gonna be epic! This truly feels like it's all been building up perfectly to that moment.

Here here. I particularly liked Fooh's revelation, that he and Danny are somewhere between life and death. It's a nice acknowledgement of the the theme that Kaare has discussed previously, that initially Danny chose death over immortal life. So, since it's the second time around, what will Danny choose now? Great dramatic moment.

As for the art, yeah, I liked the layout. That splash page with The One smashing the floor was cool. Anyone else notice the word "DEATH" in this issue? Quirky, yet clever!

Great points all around guys. I liked finally getting some explanation from The One on how "he" came to be, although I feel like there's still info we aren't being told. For example, what is exactly is the conspiracy that is being played out? Are all the Cities of Heaven attempting to converge with Earth and therefore aligned with The One? Btw, While I definitely remember the Crane Daughters, I forget where the Terror Monks come from. Can someone enlighten me?

Definitely didn't see the revelation regarding the Fooh coming, but I liked the explanation. Danny originally chose death when offered life, but I think we're about to see what happens when an Iron Fist chooses life. How that plays out in terms of the rebuilding of K'un-Lun remains to be seen, though.

Looking forward to Sparrow and Davos throwing down, especially if it means we get more insight into Davos' is supposed to get from all this. What did The One promise him? Loved seeing Davos get described as a distraction, too!

I miss "Kung fu girl" and look forward to seeing how Brenda factors into all this.

Not wild about the new Iron Fist costume, but whatevs. I don't hate it.

As this runs ends, I think it'll feel even more like a continuation of the IIF series, and I hope that we might begin to again see more about the societies of the Immortal Cities. Though as others have pointed out, Marvel may have more street-level stuff planned to coincide with the Defenders series.

-Pav, who hopes the Immortal Weapons make a surprise appearance in the final issues...

[Trident]

You Pav, Prince of O, Tien pretty much covered everything I wanted to say! This issue was by far one of the best if not the best of the series. So many great moments and Feats to boot!

Such as.....Danny displaying tremendous strength of will and focus to be able to climb an elevator shaft with a shattered hand.

or How Danny and Sparrow took on one group of deadly ninja assassin only to face another.


Doing it with so much style and grace. I loved this issue!

[Tien Long]

Great points all around guys. I liked finally getting some explanation from The One on how "he" came to be, although I feel like there's still info we aren't being told. For example, what is exactly is the conspiracy that is being played out? Are all the Cities of Heaven attempting to converge with Earth and therefore aligned with The One? Btw, While I definitely remember the Crane Daughters, I forget where the Terror Monks come from. Can someone enlighten me?

I remember that the Shaolin Terror Monks were featured during the tournament arc in "Immortal Iron Fist." I think they were some of the henchmen for Nu-An.

In any case, I just want to mention that I got issues 2-7 of the series. Reading everything up until the current issue, I've been really impressed with with the series. Though I was hesitant with the premise in the past, I've very come to appreciate the story elements brought about by Danny's psychological trauma. I like how Kaare has really analyzed Danny's father's psychological instability and his mother's death and examined how much they affected Danny. I appreciated how K'un Lun didn't exactly help Danny deal with that trauma insomuch as replace it with anger and vengeance. Using a negative to replace a negative doesn't usually turn out well. Seeing all of these issues boil over with the destruction of K'un Lun and The One breaking Danny's fists were the most intense moments out of a series of intense moments. I do get a sense that Danny's healing and redemption with Fooh and Sparrow could have gone longer, maybe for an extra issue. However, it's good to see that a lot of time is devoted to Danny's encounter with The One.

One of the other aspects of the series that really intrigues me is Danny's meeting with Brenda. I like how throughout the issues Kaare plays with that moment. He shows that there was a lot that went on in that initial encounter than what was depicted in the first issue. Brenda certainly appears to have some secrets hidden under that airheaded journalist facade.

And oh yeah, man, Kaare's art is crazy good! It's stylized enough to be dynamic and exciting without going into "WTF" territory.

I'll be honest, I've still lingering doubts as to how this all fits in with Danny's previous stories. I'm going to have to look back and see if Kaare's work can be reconciled with what's gone on before. However, I've read just enough to keep me intrigued and willing to see this story to the end.

[Of Atlantis]

I'll be honest, I've still lingering doubts as to how this all fits in with Danny's previous stories. I'm going to have to look back and see if Kaare's work can be reconciled with what's gone on before. However, I've read just enough to keep me intrigued and willing to see this story to the end.

For me personally, reading some of his interviews with CBR really helped regarding this. There were some things I initially thought he took liberties with but reading his explanations really helped me understand what he was doing. I'd highly recommend it.

[Trident]

For me personally, reading some of his interviews with CBR really helped regarding this. There were some things I initially thought he took liberties with but reading his explanations really helped me understand what he was doing. I'd highly recommend it.

This.

But it also helped that I bought the issue and waited to read them until the first "chapter" was done. Sometimes reading things as a whole verse reading them in invidual stories really helps immersion and overall likability of a story.

[rhymeswithparc]

Has it been confirmed that the series is ending? The solicit doesn't mention that's it's a final issue but I'm not sure if that's typical for a small book like this.

[Panic]

I don't think the three volumes are still in print (at least the HCs aren't), but you can get the three of them together in one book, Immortal Iron Fist: The Complete Collection Volume 1. It collects the entire Brubaker/Fraction run.

Concerning other issues, it is probably better that you wait a couple of months, we are getting three Iron Fists trades this year:

• July: Iron Fist Epic Collection: The Fury of Iron Fist, which collects the original Iron Fist run, including his first stories in Marvel Premiere and the two Marvel Team-up issues that finished the dangling plot threads from it. Other collections reprinting this stuff are mostly out of print.
• April: Iron Fist: The Return of K'un Lun, which will collect a lot of short runs from various years, with various degrees of quality.
• August: Power Man & Iron Fist Epic Collection: Heroes for Hire, collecting the first part of their run together.

My recommendation is picking up the first volume of the Complete Collection, and if you enjoy that one, you may want to get the second volume, which collects the rest of the series by another team and the Immortal Weapons miniseries; and waiting for the first Epic Collection to read the start of the character.

There are also two Power Man collections concerning a disciple of Iron Fist, but you should pick those ones only if you read and enjoy the Heroes for Hire era.

Are any of those volumes going to reprint the black and white Deadly Hands of Kung Fu story? That had some wonderful art by Rudy Nebres:


I'd love to own a copy of that story - I've only seen scans from the web.

[Trident]

@Tien Long

If you want to catch up for cheap Comixology is doing a buy one get one free all weekend for any marvel comic. You can get the whole run for half the price.

[Of Atlantis]

Has it been confirmed that the series is ending? The solicit doesn't mention that's it's a final issue but I'm not sure if that's typical for a small book like this.

It's confirmed, unfortunately.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/02/...solicitations/

[rhymeswithparc]

It's confirmed, unfortunately.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/02/...solicitations/

Damn. I was hoping for a continuation even if under a new writer but I guess the Danny will come back for the Netflix series as people have said; I'm hoping it'll be another solo series.

[taozen]

Damn. I was hoping for a continuation even if under a new writer but I guess the Danny will come back for the Netflix series as people have said; I'm hoping it'll be another solo series.

It seems it will take a creative team with a decent fan following to keep an Iron Fist series going. I also think that Danny's never used in a significant capacity in any of the successful team books like his run in the Avengers series. Therefore his fanbase does not grow. Also Andrews take on Danny and K'un-L'un has been controversal. As a result he lost a lot of readers with his story. It is an decent read but it reads like an elseworld or alternate reality version of Danny Rand Iron Fist.

[Tien Long]

For me personally, reading some of his interviews with CBR really helped regarding this. There were some things I initially thought he took liberties with but reading his explanations really helped me understand what he was doing. I'd highly recommend it.

Oh yeah, I read a couple of Kaare's interviews. His explanations (coupled with my own experiences with psychological issues/depression) helped me to accept this particular take on Danny. A person can be very mellow and have their very centered moments while still harboring psychological trauma. Still, even with that, there are a couple of points I'm not too sure about. Was Wendell really that obsessed with K'un Lun? I'll have to look further.

Are any of those volumes going to reprint the black and white Deadly Hands of Kung Fu story? That had some wonderful art by Rudy Nebres:


I'd love to own a copy of that story - I've only seen scans from the web.

Damn, that's some great art!

@Tien Long

If you want to catch up for cheap Comixology is doing a buy one get one free all weekend for any marvel comic. You can get the whole run for half the price.

Crap! I bought the issues off of Comixology just a few days ago! Oh the bitter irony fist!

[Trident]

Oh yeah, I read a couple of Kaare's interviews. His explanations (coupled with my own experiences with psychological issues/depression) helped me to accept this particular take on Danny. A person can be very mellow and have their very centered moments while still harboring psychological trauma. Still, even with that, there are a couple of points I'm not too sure about. Was Wendell really that obsessed with K'un Lun? I'll have to look further.

That part for me wasn't that hard to accept. When I first read Danny's origin I thought at one point to myself ..."This guys must be a irresponsible parent or at the very least not all there to take his 9 year old kid with him on a trip like that" but since it was comics I quickly rationalized it as being as such and kept moving. But the idea that someone in there right mind would take their family especially on a child on a trip like that is a little more far fetched than the other way around when you think about it.

The idea that Danny's mom was cheating on his father however....well it's a liberty that wasn't essential. It also gave Harold more of a reason to be there I guess, while also adding something else to the pot for current and later development but as of right now not sure it really adds much of anything to Danny's story.