IMMORTAL IRON FIST #12
Written by Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker
Art by David Aja
Bring me my wenches of reviewing, this is another glorious issue of Immortal Iron Fist. Everything came together perfectly in this issue. I can't believe I was worried this issue might not live up to my lofty expectations with the solicits about Prince of Orphans involvement in this issue. It was incredible, to say the least, and I hope Marvel lets Fraction and Brubaker write this book for as long as they want.
Starting in the past sounds like a good place to the start. We've been getting flashbacks to Wendell Rand's past training to become the next Iron Fist and the fleshed out history he had with Davos. That story seems to have come to its final conclusion with this chapter of the story detailing how Wendell ran away from his battle with the dragon and showed his final conversation with Davos before having Wendell flee K'un-Lun for Earth. These flashbacks are every bit as required reading as the present day story and I would love to see a "Tales of the Iron Fist" type book that recalled stories of previous Iron Fists.
As for the present day, I suppose the most important thing to talk about is Fat Cobra's request for more wenches and his attempts to put the moves on the injured Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, but, to be fair to everyone who is not Fat Cobra, I'll skip that and talk about Prince of Orphans' battle. While he was supposed to fight Fat Cobra, he made a special request to fight Davos.
We finally got to see Prince's face in this issue and he's an older, bald man with what looks like cracks along his face (could be wrinkles or scars though, hard to tell with the art) as he literally beats the living shit out of Davos with some kind of etheral or ghost-like form that reduces Davos to a wimpering husk that can barely form words properly when he is later visited by the Thunderer. Both Fat Cobra and Iron Fist are crapping their pants in the stands as both wonder to each other what the heck just happened. Turns out the Prince requested Davos because he wanted to teach him a lesson about how to treat his opponents in response to his treatment of Tiger's Beautiful Daughter last issue.
The final thing of note from this issue is the confirmation that the Thunderer has been preparing an army to overthrow the Yu-Ti. While Danny is meditating that night, the Prince of Orphans shows up and reveals the Thunderer's mark on his chest, showing his allegiance to the rebellion. The Prince's name is John Aman and he was listed in Orson Randall's life story that Danny recently acquired.
However, it wasn't all good this issue. The art was...different. It lists Aja as the artist, but every page in the book was allocated to either the flashback story artist or a fill-in artist for the main story. While some scenes look perfectly fine, like the Prince vs. Davos fight, others, like the reveal of the Thunderer's army, among many others, look like skeleton images with no actual detail. As if they were either rushed out with no effort put into them to meet a deadline or the fill in artist was simply trying to imitate Aja's art to various degrees of success. It's hard to describe, as it looks like Aja's work but not at the same time. It is only a minor distraction on mostly the transition pages, but worth noting.
Verdict - Must Read. Asie from minor art issues, this was simply perfect. This arc seemed to be dragging a little the last couple issues, but it is firmly back on track and looks to be a powder keg ready to explode at this point.
Starting in the past sounds like a good place to the start. We've been getting flashbacks to Wendell Rand's past training to become the next Iron Fist and the fleshed out history he had with Davos. That story seems to have come to its final conclusion with this chapter of the story detailing how Wendell ran away from his battle with the dragon and showed his final conversation with Davos before having Wendell flee K'un-Lun for Earth. These flashbacks are every bit as required reading as the present day story and I would love to see a "Tales of the Iron Fist" type book that recalled stories of previous Iron Fists.
As for the present day, I suppose the most important thing to talk about is Fat Cobra's request for more wenches and his attempts to put the moves on the injured Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, but, to be fair to everyone who is not Fat Cobra, I'll skip that and talk about Prince of Orphans' battle. While he was supposed to fight Fat Cobra, he made a special request to fight Davos.
We finally got to see Prince's face in this issue and he's an older, bald man with what looks like cracks along his face (could be wrinkles or scars though, hard to tell with the art) as he literally beats the living shit out of Davos with some kind of etheral or ghost-like form that reduces Davos to a wimpering husk that can barely form words properly when he is later visited by the Thunderer. Both Fat Cobra and Iron Fist are crapping their pants in the stands as both wonder to each other what the heck just happened. Turns out the Prince requested Davos because he wanted to teach him a lesson about how to treat his opponents in response to his treatment of Tiger's Beautiful Daughter last issue.
The final thing of note from this issue is the confirmation that the Thunderer has been preparing an army to overthrow the Yu-Ti. While Danny is meditating that night, the Prince of Orphans shows up and reveals the Thunderer's mark on his chest, showing his allegiance to the rebellion. The Prince's name is John Aman and he was listed in Orson Randall's life story that Danny recently acquired.
However, it wasn't all good this issue. The art was...different. It lists Aja as the artist, but every page in the book was allocated to either the flashback story artist or a fill-in artist for the main story. While some scenes look perfectly fine, like the Prince vs. Davos fight, others, like the reveal of the Thunderer's army, among many others, look like skeleton images with no actual detail. As if they were either rushed out with no effort put into them to meet a deadline or the fill in artist was simply trying to imitate Aja's art to various degrees of success. It's hard to describe, as it looks like Aja's work but not at the same time. It is only a minor distraction on mostly the transition pages, but worth noting.
Verdict - Must Read. Asie from minor art issues, this was simply perfect. This arc seemed to be dragging a little the last couple issues, but it is firmly back on track and looks to be a powder keg ready to explode at this point.
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